Juan Oso

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Juan Oso ("Johann Bear"), the son of the bear (Hijo del Oso , Cusco-Quechua Ukukuq wawan or Ukuku uña , Chanka-Quechua Ukumaripa churin or Maqta peludo) , is the myth of a half- bear - like , half- human hero, who emerged as a son from the union of a bear with a woman abducted by the bear. The myth is particularly widespread in the Spanish-speaking countries ( Spain , Latin America , New Mexico , California ), but also in parts of Asia . There are more than 300 versions in around 20 languages, in addition to Spanish, there are also indigenous languages ​​of America.

Basic act

In a very common version, a bear abducts a young woman (often a princess), locks her in his cave, where he looks after her, and with her fathered a son who is half bear and half human. One day in the absence of the bear, the woman flees home with her son, where he grows up as Juan Oso. The bear pursues the two, but dies in a bear trap or is killed by his son in a duel. In another version, the bear kidnaps the mother and her son, whom he raises as a bear (Juan Oso). Here, too, mother and son escape the bear, and the son manages to grow up to be a cultured and sensitive man.

Some variants

By Juan del Oso in Peru in different Quechua variants, but also Asháninka recorded versions of many in which the bear kidnapped a woman, their son but soon surpasses his father in strength and eventually kills in a duel. In a Quechua story from the Callejón de Conchucos ( Ancash region ), Juan Oso first kills his father and then frees his mother. She takes him to her village, where he grows up so quickly and eats so much that his grandfather can no longer support him. The village chief therefore wants to kill him, but every attempted murder fails and becomes an adventure for Juan Oso. The story of the Hombre-Oso (Bear Man), recorded in Tastayoc near Ollantaytambo ( Cusco region ) , who has stronger human traits compared to his two older brothers, "perfect bears" (perfectos ositos) , has a similar content . However, his supernatural bear power makes him a terrifying creature, because even as a child he can kill his playmates with a friendly slap on the back, as can a horse he wants to ride. The grandparents want to get rid of him by giving him dangerous tasks, but he solves them all. After all, he fulfills the task of ridding a village of a condenado , the damned soul of a man who has committed a terrible crime, a mortal sin , in his life . With his victory over the Condenado , Juan Oso receives his house, land and daughter and becomes a role model for honesty and hard work. In a version from the Apurímac region , on the other hand, it is the father of the woman who has returned with her three bear children who outsmarts the bear and kills it in a kettle of boiling water.

The narrator of a version in Chachapoyas-Quechua connects the bear dance celebrated on Saint Peter's Day, June 28 , which is also known as Baile de los ukukus among the Quechua in the Cusco region , with the story of Juan Puma, the Son of the bear. In Chachapoyas Quechua, the bear is referred to as puma , although both animals share their fearsome strength and supernatural powers. The story also describes the relationships between the "Christians" of the highlands and the "savages" of the lowlands ( chunchu in Quechua). The origin of the myth is, however, seen in Spain, even if some elements of the rites may be old American. Efraín Morote Best sees the myth of the kidnapper bear (oso raptor) , which is widespread in Peru, as symbolizing the first sexual experiences of adolescents in the Peruvian Andes.

There are reversed roles in the Quechua tale "of the priest and his sons of bears" (Tayta kuramantawan ukuku uñankunamantawan) from the south of the Cusco region . Here a bear kidnaps the Catholic priest and looks after him "like her husband". Such a role reversal is unusual in the Andean region and is associated with the supernatural world of the she-bear. The children of the bear and the priest succeed in integrating into human, “Christian” society in the following tasks.

In a Tzotzil version from Bochil in Chiapas ( Mexico ), the bear's son is called Chonman and becomes the protector of the weak against whose enemies, including the devil himself, he fights.

A bear's son also plays an important role in the founding myth of Korea . Hwan-woong, the son of the god Hwan-in, marries the bear-woman Woong-nyeo, who gives birth to the bear's son Dangun . This founded 2333 BC. As the progenitor of the Koreans, he ruled the land of Go-Joseon for 1500 years before he became a god at the age of 1908.

The bear dancers from Ausangate

In the Cusco region, the Quechua bear dance is widespread. The bear is called ukuku in Cusco-Quechua , but ukumari in parts of the Departamento Cusco , as it is called in the rest of the Quechua-speaking area. From the village of Sonqo ("heart") it is documented that ukuku stands for a sexually disinhibited, unsatisfied and aggressive man. Incidentally , ukuku stands for the bear dancer, usually played by adolescents or single young adults, who appears in a bear robe at the bear festival and speaks with a falsetto voice . According to Quechua tradition, these bear dancers are the children of a bear and a farmer's daughter, and here too often bear the name Juan Oso . In addition to human features, they have the characteristics of a bear, such as its supernatural power. They are considered to be the only beings who can kill the damned souls, the condensates , and thus free them from the curse. This battle is also fought annually at the Quyllur Rit'i ("Star Snow") festival in Ocongate on Ausangate Mountain . The ukuku are also the only ones who have the strength to climb the glacier on Qullqipunku ("Silver Gate", Hispanic Colquepuncu ) and bring its ice into the valley, which according to tradition has healing powers . This festival is seen both as a renewal of Mother Earth ( Pachamama ) and her people and as a victory over the evil forces of the spirit world. The story of the victory of the bear son on the Condenado (in the local Quechua gundinaru or kundinaru ) is known far beyond this festival out and, for example, in Usi province Quispicanchi and elsewhere in the regions of Cusco and Ayacucho, but also with the Aymara in Bolivia told where the bear is called jukumari in Aymara .

Adaptation in the film

In the Peruvian film Kukuli from 1961, the first Peruvian feature film ever, shot by Luis Figueroa, Eulogio Nishiyama, César Villanueva and Hernán Velarde with a narrator in Spanish and dialogues in Cusco-Quechua , the main character Kukuli falls in love with the farmer's son Alaku , who, like her, is on the way to Paucartambo . There killed a bear dancer in traditional Ukuku -Gewand the beloved alakú , robbed Kukuli , they dragged to the top of a mountain and raped her. Residents of Paucartambo take up the chase and catch up with the kidnapper on the summit. This succeeds in slaying several pursuers, where he also murdered Kukuli . Eventually the villagers kill the kidnapper, and pulling down the mask reveals that the corpse of a real Andean bear is hidden under the robe . In the last scene, two lamas can be seen caressing each other and interpreted as the murdered lovers. This film version of an Oso raptor is radically different from the traditional narratives. Gabriela Martínez sees the bear described here as more of a representation of the Spanish conquistadores and the mestizo descendants who murdered the indigenous peoples, robbed the land and raped the women. Francisco Pizarro and his murdering soldiers play an important role in the Quechua mythology of the regions of Cusco and Ayacucho, but are not linked to the bear myth, but on the one hand with the legend of Nak'aq ( Pishtaku in central Peru) and on the other hand with the Myth of Inkarrí or the Wiraquchapampa myth of Q'ero near Paucartambo.

In contrast to this, the 20-minute short film Ukuku by Gastón Vizcarra, which was also shot in Quechua and received the 2009 Peruvian film award from CONACINE, wants the traditional story by Juan Oso , the Ukuku bear dance for the Quyllur Rit'i festival and a modern interpretation of the story convey. The bear dancers ( ukukukuna , "bears") are the children of bears and human women who have the strength to climb the Ausangate glacier and get the ice that is important for the villagers from there . That is why they are expected every year with anticipation. The hero of the film, the son of a bear looking for the glacier, can no longer find any ice on the mountain. So he wants to get the ice cream from the freezer at a gas station, but is gunned down by the owner. At the end of the film, you learn that the actual melting of the glaciers makes future use of this ice spring impossible.

Adaptation for Quechua lessons

Be Chance are versions of the story of the son of the bear for the Quechua lessons adapted in Peru, the well of Chachapoyas known Juan Puma in a reading book for intercultural bilingual education in Lambayeque Quechua ( Lambayeque ) or adult in an Ayacucho Quechua -Textbook of the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Santos Pacco Ccama: Ukuku uñamanta [From the Bear's Son], Usi, August 9, 1994, in: César Itier: La littérature orale quechua de la region de Cuzco-Pérou . Éditions Karthala et INALCO, Paris 2004, p. 174. Also reprinted in Volveré, Revista electrónica, October 2014, year XIII, no. 46 (below)
  2. ↑ a b c Maqta peludo , in: José María Arguedas : Cuentos religioso-mágicos quechuas de Lucanamarca . Folklore Americano IX, No. 8-9, 1960-61. Pp. 176-180. Transcription online in: Gary J. Parker (comp.): Ayacucho Reader . Cornell University, Ithaca (NY) 1963. pp. 129-164.
  3. ↑ Homero Adame Martínez, 1998: Mitos, Cuentos y Leyendas Regionales: Tradición Oral de Nuevo León . Ediciones Castillo, SA de CV, pp. 142-143. Leyendas de Nuevo León: Juan Oso (versión escuchada en El Paraíso, Hualahuises, NL) ( Memento 9 September 2010 in the Internet Archive ) (blog de Homero Adame).
  4. ↑ a b David J. Weber Ch. (Ed.): Juan del Oso ( Memento of the original from February 2, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Lingüística Peruana series 26. Instituto Lingüístico de Verano ( SIL International ), Lima 1987.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www-01.sil.org
  5. ↑ Alma Alvarez Smith: Oso, Juan . In: Cordelia Candelaria, Peter J. García, Arturo J. Aldama (eds.): Encyclopedia of Latino Popular Culture, Volume Two (M – Z) . Greenwood Publishing Group, Westport (CT) 2004, p. 603.
  6. ↑ Efraín Morote Best: Introducción . In: David J. Weber Ch. (Ed.): Juan del Oso ( Memento of the original from February 2, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Lingüística Peruana series 26. Instituto Lingüístico de Verano ( SIL International ), Lima 1987, p. 7.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www-01.sil.org
  7. ^ A b c Francisco Carranza Romero (2005): Mito del hombre oso en Perú y Corea . Revista Latinoamericana de Estudios Etnolingüísticos 11, pp. 79-86.
  8. ↑ Valentín Martínez y Martínez: Estudio monográfico del Distrito de Ollantaytambo, Provincia de Urubamba, Departmento de Cuzco . 1971, pp. 109–112 (without specifying the publisher and place of publication).
  9. ↑ Noemí Rojas Cusi: kawsayninmanta Ukumariq . Quechua del Este de Apurímac, ILV , Pucallpa 2010.
  10. ↑ Gerald Taylor: Juan Puma, el Hijo del Oso. Cuento Quechua de La Jalca, Chachapoyas ( Memento of the original from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.ifeanet.org archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . En: Bulletin de l'Institut Français d'Études Andines, N ° special: "Tradición oral y mitología andinas", Lima, 1997, Tomo 26, Nº3.
  11. ↑ Efraín Morote Best: Aldeas sumergidas. Cultura popular y sociedad en los Andes . Centro de Estudios Rurales Andinos "Bartolomé de las Casas", Cusco 1988. Chapter El oso raptor , pp. 179-216.
  12. ↑ a b Valérie Robin: El cura y sus hijos o El recorrido civilizador de los hijos de un cura y una osa ( Memento of the original from September 23, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.comunidadandina.org archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . En: Bulletin de l'Institut Français d'Études Andines, N ° spécial: Tradición oral y mitología Andinas , Lima, 1997, Tomo 26, Nº3.
  13. ^ History of Korea . KBS World Radio, accessed January 26, 2015.
  14. ↑ Robert Randall (1982): Qoyllur Rit'i, an Inca fiesta of the Pleiades: reflections on time & space in the Andean world ( memento of the original from September 24, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.ifeanet.org archive link was automatically inserted and still Not checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Bulletin de l'Institut Français d'Etudes Andines XI, Nº 1-2, pp. 37-81. To ukuku : 43-44, 55-59.
  15. ↑ Juan Puma Condori (11 years, 3rd grade): Ukukumantawan p'asñamantawan (El oso y la joven). Biblioteca Virtual Miguel Cervantes, Alicante 2006.
  16. ↑ Juan de Dios Yapita: Jukumari - El oso andino . Jukumari ch'amani kuntinarunti nuwt'asi kuntinaruru jiwjayi mä sat'inti jiwayi. Jukumari de fuerza combate con el condenado mata al condenado con un sat'i . Ojarasca (Bolivia), March 19, 2007.
  17. ↑ Luis Figueroa, Eulogio Nishiyama, César Villanueva (1961): Kukuli (63 min), Escuela de Cine del Cusco, on Youtube .
  18. ↑ Gabriela Martínez: Kukuli ( Memento of the original from September 24, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.guamanpoma.org archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Centro Guaman Poma de Ayala (guamanpoma.org), Cusco, undated. Retrieved January 27, 2015.
  19. ↑ Thomas Müller and Helga Müller-Herbon: The children of the middle. The Q'ero Indians . Lamuv Verlag, Göttingen 1993.
  20. ↑ José María Arguedas (1956): Puquio, una cultura en proceso de cambio . Revista del Museo Nacional, Lima (Perú), Volume XXV, pp. 184-232.
  21. ↑ Gastón Vizcarra (2009): Ukuku (20 min), with commentary by Julio Cesar Palomino Huaynamarca on Youtube .
  22. ↑ Reader Juan Puma , quoted in Lambayeque felicita a docentes que elaboraron materiales de educación intercultural bilingüe . www.digeibir.gob.pe - Ministerio de Educación, República del Perú, Lima, November 18, 2013.
  23. ↑ Roberto Zariquiey. Gavina Córdova: Qayna, kunan, paqarin. Una introducción práctica al quechua chanca . Colección Intertextos N. ° 3. Facultad de Estudios Generales Letras, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú , Lima 2008. p. 158.

To hear

  • Ukukumanta (leyenda del ukuko, Quechua), with picture story