84
The sun fell a second time, either because the ties were not robust enough, or because
time weakened their strength. It was then when fire floods spread everywhere, and flames
that burned and consumed everything: trees, plants, animals and men. Few mocobís, to take
cover from the fires, dove into rivers and lagoons and turned into capybaras and caimans.
Two of them, husband and wife, sought refuge in the eminence of a very tall tree, from
where they watched rivers of fire flow, flooding the surface of the earth; but a flare snatched
unexpectedly, scorching their faces and turning them into monkeys. From them, the species
of these ridiculous animals was born (Guevara, 1969 [1764]: 562).
The notion of the sun as a sign of changes of era holds validity to this day:
Each year the young do not realize that when the sun leaves, it goes further north and when
in returns it goes further south, this was not the case before, and nobody realizes. [My aunt
Erminda] kept track with a plant and recently it was further north. Some do realize, others
do not. I asked my aunt why she had said that, and she answered that this was how it would
be tomorrow, that to the south the sun would go down lower and lower, there would be more
heat and people would die or the antichrist would come. With the sun, the earth can explode
(Martina Lalecorí, Colonia Cacique Catán, Chaco, 2010).
25
Martina’s account refers to the traditional importance of the observation of the
extreme points of the annual movement of the sun, the solstices, for the Moqoit. A
broadening of the arch of possible positions on the horizon is associated to a cataclysmic change of conditions on earth. The evangelical influence leads to the idea of
a change in the world to be expressed with a vocabulary akin to the book of
Apocalypse.
Eclipses were seen as events when both sun and moon were at risk of death,
attacked by celestial dogs (Lehmann-Nitsche, 1924b–1925: 70–71, 1927: 150). The
Moqoit tried to scare them away by making noise. Other versions suggest that lunar
eclipses were interpreted as signs that Luna—moon, masculine for the Moqoit—
was attacked by Sol—sun, female for the Moqoit—(Wilbert & Simmoneau,
1988: 14).
In this sense, Orlando Sánchez provides an interesting Qom example
26
:
… a day full of omens adverse climates due to the METEOROLOGICAL CHANGE that
causes a different climate change full of electrical charges in the atmosphere that they never
experienced before (Sánchez, 2004: 13)?
… people began to notice changes in the sky the earth from the stars, and some planets
unleash luminous objects with great speed and the auroras changed their shadowy reflections, the clouds changed their colors as announcing phenomena or catastrophes and the
Milky Way—So Nqa aic Qatar Mañic-, expands the rays or strange reflections loaded with
storms and signs of earthquakes, thunders and hail out of this time and the prediction of
eclipses the relative position of the earth and the sky seem to march together and they start
to infuriate the telluric forces of the lands and make their movements felt, a more remarkable thing was the appearance of the celestial bodies and their exits and entrances are highly
accelerated and the masses of radioactive minerals enter into a state of fusion, from this
25 Interview by Agustina Altman, personal communication.
26 Given the Moqoit, Toba and Pilagá belong to the same linguistic group and their peoples present
close cultural, social, and historical relations, we will use data from these groups throughout this
work to support our analysis.
A. M. López
The sun fell a second time, either because the ties were not robust enough, or because
time weakened their strength. It was then when fire floods spread everywhere, and flames
that burned and consumed everything: trees, plants, animals and men. Few mocobís, to take
cover from the fires, dove into rivers and lagoons and turned into capybaras and caimans.
Two of them, husband and wife, sought refuge in the eminence of a very tall tree, from
where they watched rivers of fire flow, flooding the surface of the earth; but a flare snatched
unexpectedly, scorching their faces and turning them into monkeys. From them, the species
of these ridiculous animals was born (Guevara, 1969 [1764]: 562).
The notion of the sun as a sign of changes of era holds validity to this day:
Each year the young do not realize that when the sun leaves, it goes further north and when
in returns it goes further south, this was not the case before, and nobody realizes. [My aunt
Erminda] kept track with a plant and recently it was further north. Some do realize, others
do not. I asked my aunt why she had said that, and she answered that this was how it would
be tomorrow, that to the south the sun would go down lower and lower, there would be more
heat and people would die or the antichrist would come. With the sun, the earth can explode
(Martina Lalecorí, Colonia Cacique Catán, Chaco, 2010).
25
Martina’s account refers to the traditional importance of the observation of the
extreme points of the annual movement of the sun, the solstices, for the Moqoit. A
broadening of the arch of possible positions on the horizon is associated to a cataclysmic change of conditions on earth. The evangelical influence leads to the idea of
a change in the world to be expressed with a vocabulary akin to the book of
Apocalypse.
Eclipses were seen as events when both sun and moon were at risk of death,
attacked by celestial dogs (Lehmann-Nitsche, 1924b–1925: 70–71, 1927: 150). The
Moqoit tried to scare them away by making noise. Other versions suggest that lunar
eclipses were interpreted as signs that Luna—moon, masculine for the Moqoit—
was attacked by Sol—sun, female for the Moqoit—(Wilbert & Simmoneau,
1988: 14).
In this sense, Orlando Sánchez provides an interesting Qom example
26
:
… a day full of omens adverse climates due to the METEOROLOGICAL CHANGE that
causes a different climate change full of electrical charges in the atmosphere that they never
experienced before (Sánchez, 2004: 13)?
… people began to notice changes in the sky the earth from the stars, and some planets
unleash luminous objects with great speed and the auroras changed their shadowy reflections, the clouds changed their colors as announcing phenomena or catastrophes and the
Milky Way—So Nqa aic Qatar Mañic-, expands the rays or strange reflections loaded with
storms and signs of earthquakes, thunders and hail out of this time and the prediction of
eclipses the relative position of the earth and the sky seem to march together and they start
to infuriate the telluric forces of the lands and make their movements felt, a more remarkable thing was the appearance of the celestial bodies and their exits and entrances are highly
accelerated and the masses of radioactive minerals enter into a state of fusion, from this
25 Interview by Agustina Altman, personal communication.
26 Given the Moqoit, Toba and Pilagá belong to the same linguistic group and their peoples present
close cultural, social, and historical relations, we will use data from these groups throughout this
work to support our analysis.
A. M. López