the myth The following account of the creation of the Awa Kwaiker is taken from the Xexus Ventana Cultural web page, and is collected by Awá ethnoeducator Jaime Miguel Silva. The creation of the Awa Kwaiker is as follows:
At first, nothing existed.
A herb was born which gave birth to two characters: God and the Devil; when they were born, they learned about the world.
Seeing that the world was empty, they decided to bring it to life, to create things according to their intentions. They sat down and began to make the earth.
God created the earth, the Devil made the rocks.
God made birds, the devil made bats.
God created iguanas, the Devil made snakes.
God created flowers, the Devil made plants with thorns.
So the Devil wanted to possess everything. So they started fighting. The Devil had a shotgun to kill God.
God told him:
-Shoot me – and the Devil shot him.
When he shot him, God took the bullets in his hand. Then God shot the Devil[and] he did not die, but he could not take the pellets in his hands as God had done.
God told him:
–Since you couldn't catch the balls, you lost.
So the Devil could not possess the whole world.
Then God and the Devil began to create people. God came out of the white earth a meter deep and began to make people.
When he finished making the drawings, they turned black, three clay dolls.
The Devil also made them, but of the same race as the Devil, these.
He created all the spirits of the selva or mountain. They scare, they create fear, sometimes they make people sick, sometimes they kill.
They eat the heart, or the soul, especially that of children, and people who are weak from blood.
Then God gave life to the clay dolls, and gave them advice not to bathe too much, but the first one who arrived would not listen and bathed more than necessary.
This one came out very white. Immediately the other entered the water,[which] was drying up,[and] he managed to bathe but came out with yellow skin. It was the Indian.
Finally, the other entered and was only able to bathe the palms of his hands and the soles of his feet. This one was black.
So God made animals and plants; the devil did just the opposite.
God made the deer, the devil made the worm; God made the cow, the devil the monchira (caterpillar?).
This concludes the creation of the Awa Kwaiker.
