Atira (goddess)

Atira [ətíɾəʔ], literally "our mother" or "Mother (vocative)",[1] is the title of the earth goddess (among others) in the Native American Pawnee tribal culture.[2]

The symbol used to represent the goddess Atira in the Pawnee Hako ceremony

She was the wife of Tirawa, the creator god. Her earthly manifestation is corn, which symbolizes the life that Mother Earth gives.[3][4]

The goddess was revered in a ceremony called Hako.[5][6] The ceremony used an ear of corn (maize) painted blue to represent the sky and white feathers attached to represent a cloud as a symbol of Atira.[7][8]

Her daughter was Uti Hiata who taught the Pawnee people how to make tools and grow food.[9]

Legacy

Notes

  1. Douglas Parks & Lula Pratt, A Dictionary of Skiri Pawnee, University of Nebraska Press, 2008.
  2. Auset, Brandi (2009-01-01). The Goddess Guide: Exploring the Attributes and Correspondences of the Divine Feminine. Llewellyn Worldwide. ISBN 9780738715513.
  3. Monaghan, Patricia (2009-12-18). Encyclopedia of Goddesses and Heroines. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 9780313349904.
  4. Alexander, Hartley B (1912). "A Pawnee Mystery (Illustrated)". The Open Court. 1912 (7). Retrieved 2015-11-27.
  5. Fletcher, Alice C. (2006). The Hako: A Pawnee Ceremony. Kessinger Publishing, LLC.
  6. Fletcher, Alice Cunningham. "The Hako: a Pawnee ceremony". www.ebooksread.com. Retrieved 2015-11-27.
  7. Monaghan
  8. "The Open Court magazine, July 1912, page 385 A Pawnee Mystery by Hartley B. Alexander". Retrieved 2012-06-29.
  9. Monaghan, Patricia (2009-12-31). Encyclopedia of Goddesses and Heroines By Patricia Monaghan page 534. ISBN 9780313349904. Retrieved 2012-06-29.
  10. "JPL Small-Body Database Browser". ssd.jpl.nasa.gov. Retrieved 2015-11-27.
  11. Greeley, Ronald; Batson, Raymond (2001-11-29). The Compact NASA Atlas of the Solar System. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521806336.
  12. "Brooklyn Museum: Atira". www.brooklynmuseum.org. Retrieved 2015-11-27.


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