Bow priests (Awonawilona's sons)

spirit · United States · North America

In Ruth Benedict's version of the Zuni emergence, the people lived in darkness in the fourth world and recognized Awonawilona's two sons, the twin war gods, as their bow priests. The bow priests led the people upward, planting prayer sticks that grew into ladders, and shaped human bodies, cutting mouths, fingers, and toes and removing horns and tails.

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