Guayota, in

Guanche Guanche may refer to: *Guanches, the indigenous people of the Canary Islands *Guanche language, an extinct Berber language, spoken by the Guanches until the 16th or 17th century *''Conus guanche ''Conus guanche'' is a species of sea snail, a ma ...

mythology of

Tenerife Tenerife (; ; formerly spelled ''Teneriffe'') is the largest and most populous island of the Canary Islands. It is home to 43% of the total population of the archipelago. With a land area of and a population of 978,100 inhabitants as of Janu ...

(the Canary Islands), was the principal malignant deity and

Achamán Achamán is the supreme god of the Guanches on the island of Tenerife; he is the father god and creator. The name means literally "the skies", in allusion to the celestial vault (the sky). Achamán, an omnipotent and eternal god, created the land ...

's adversary.

Mythology

According to Guanche legend, Guayota lived inside the

Teide Teide, or Mount Teide, ( es, El Teide, Pico del Teide, , "Peak of Teide") is a volcano on Tenerife in the Canary Islands, Spain. Its summit (at ) is the highest point in Spain and the highest point above sea level in the List of islands in th ...

volcano, one of the gateways to the underworld. He was said to be represented as a black

dog The dog (''Canis familiaris'' or ''Canis lupus familiaris'') is a domesticated descendant of the wolf. Also called the domestic dog, it is derived from the extinct Pleistocene wolf, and the modern wolf is the dog's nearest living relative. Do ...

and was accompanied by demons, also in the form of black dogs, known as tibicenas. According to legend, Guayota kidnapped Magec (the

sun The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is a nearly perfect ball of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core. The Sun radiates this energy mainly as light, ultraviolet, and infrared radi ...

) and shut it up in

, plunging the world into darkness. Humans prayed to

who saved Magec and instead locked Guayota up in Teide. Guayota is the king of

evil Evil, in a general sense, is defined as the opposite or absence of good. It can be an extremely broad concept, although in everyday usage it is often more narrowly used to talk about profound wickedness and against common good. It is general ...

genie Jinn ( ar, , ') – also romanized as djinn or anglicized as genies (with the broader meaning of spirit or demon, depending on sources) – are invisible creatures in early pre-Islamic Arabian religious systems and later in Islamic myt ...

s, and was worshiped on the island of

in the Guanche religion.

Features

Guayota shares features similar to other malignant deity-inhabitants of volcanoes as in the case of the goddess Pele in

Hawaiian mythology Hawaiian religion refers to the indigenous religious beliefs and practices of native Hawaiians, also known as the kapu system. Hawaiian religion is based largely on the tapu religion common in Polynesia and likely originated among the Tahitian ...

, who lived in the

Kīlauea Kīlauea ( , ) is an active shield volcano in the Hawaiian Islands. Located along the southeastern shore of the Big Island of Hawaii, the volcano is between 210,000 and 280,000 years old and emerged above sea level about 100,000 years ago. His ...

volcano and was regarded by the native Hawaiians as responsible for the eruptions of the volcano.

In popular culture

Currently, like other aboriginal gods, Guayota remains a typical Canary creature folklore. His evocation is present in many and varied elements of popular culture: * In the northern city of

Puerto de la Cruz Puerto de la Cruz is a city and municipality in the northern part of the island of Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain. It was formerly known by its English translation, "Port of the Cross", although now it is known by its Spanish name in all lang ...

a pub is named after him: the ''Pub Guayota''. * In

Granadilla de Abona Granadilla de Abona is a municipality of Tenerife, located in the south of the island, occupying an area of 155 square kilometers. Its population in 2013 was 43,608. In recent years, the population has greatly increased due to an influx of immig ...

the association ''Bomberos Guayota'' (''Guayota Firemen'') is based. * There is also the ''Grupo Folklórico Guayota.'' * A heavy metal band is named after him. * The 2018 and 2019 champions of Spanish beach ultimate are named ''Guayota''. * Guayota is featured as the main antagonist in ''Night Broken'' by

Patricia Briggs Patricia Briggs (born 1965) is an American writer of fantasy since 1993, and author of the Mercy Thompson urban fantasy series. Biography Patricia Briggs was born in 1965 in Butte, Montana, United States. She now resides in Benton City, WA B ...

, the eighth novel in her Mercy Thompson series. * In the indie video game ''Gaurodan'', Guayota appears as the final boss.Una lucha titánica entre ciudades humanas y criaturas colosales
/ref> * In the 2015 book ''The Evil Among Us'', Guayota is mentioned.The evil among us. 2015. Roma.

References

External links

Guanche religion
{{Culture of Canary Islands Evil gods Guanche gods Jinn Volcano gods

Mythology

Features

In popular culture

See also

References

External links