Zapam Zucum
Zapam Zucum[1] or Zapam-zucún[2][3] is a voluptuous, dark-skinned, and white-handed goddess among the Aymara and Diaguita populations of northerly parts of Argentina and Chile as well as Bolivia. She is considered the protectoress of the algarrobo tree (Prosopis spp., conventionally translated as "carob"[a]).
Legend
[edit]Among the Aymara, whose population dwell in La Rioja Province in the Argentine Northwest, Bolivia, and northern Chile, the algarrobo tree ("carob") is held sacred.[1][a] The algarrobo tree (produces pods and beans) which can be made to into a sweet loaf (torta) called patay, or made into flour for baking, as well as being brewed into different kinds of beverages.[b]
According to the storytelling, while the women labor in the fields, the children are kept in the custody of the tree and nap in the tree's shades. If the goddess inhabits the tree, the sound of "Zapam... Zucum" can be heard, and the children stave their hunger for some reason.[1] The babysitting goddess can materialize in the form of a dark-skinned,[c] bare-naked beautiful lady, and will feed (breast-feed) the children in need or those who start crying.[1][2] She has long black hair and black eyes, but supple white hand of a skin-tone different from her general dark complexion. With those hands she will craft a cradle out of leaves and tuck in the toddlers to nap.[1] Her breasts are enormous, and makes the aforesaid "Zapam... Zucum" sound when she maneuvers, hence her name.[1][2][3]
The goddess is the guardian of the sacred algarrobo tree, and when she hears the "chac.. chac" noise of someone chopping at the tree with an ax, she will relentlessly abduct the logger to who knows where.[1] In a variant telling, the logger's children get spirited away.[2]
The goddess protects baby and juvenile animals from predatory beasts and hunters,[5] and according to José Zanardi (2019), metes out punishment particularly for killing the vicuña and stealing its children,[3][d] Sometimes she will wreak vengeance upon evil and abusive men by seducing and suffocating them.[2] In some regions, it is told how she will appear in gigantic form to hunt down lazy men who have loafed off of working in the fields, capture the men with her enormous breasts, and carry them off somewhere.[3]
The lore of this dark-skinned, small, white-handed, and large-breasted goddess also occurs among the Diaguita (of the Argentine Northwest and Norte Chico "little north" part of Chile).[8]
See also
[edit]Explanatory notes
[edit]- ^ a b Here algarrobo refers to Prosopis species.[4] In Martín's Spanish text, while the plant name algarrobo alone is ambiguous, the text mentions beverages e.g.
- ^ The aloja is a fermented alcoholic drink,[1] while añapa is a sweet juice or soft drink. There is also the arrope, also known as miel de algarrobo "honey of the algarrobo",pp which is another beverage.
- ^ Spanish: morena
- ^ However, according to other sources, Coquena (sometimes said to be Pachamama's consort) is the Diaguita-Calchaquí deity who protects vicuña, llama and other camelids.[5][6][7] The Aymara believe in the Yastay/Llastay to be protector of vicuña, condor, and other alpine animals.[5]
Citations
[edit]- ^ a b c d e f g h Martín, Paula (2014). "Zapam Zucum: Cuento Aymra del noroeste Argentino, Bolivia y norte de Chile" [Zapam Zucum: Aymra folktale from Northwestern Argentina, La Rioja, Bolivia, and Northern Chile]. In MacDonald, Margaret Read (ed.). Pachamama Tales: Folklore from Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Paraguay, Peru, and Uruguay (in Spanish and English). Translated by Paula Martín; Illustrations by Luna Núñez. Bloomsbury Publishing USA . pp. 196–197. ISBN 9781610698535.
- ^ a b c d e Kaplan, Martina; Buscaglia, Mariano (2023). Bestiario nacional: Criaturas del imaginario argentino (PDF) (in Spanish). Recoleta, Buenos Aires: Biblioteca Nacional Mariano Moreno. p. 63. ISBN 978-987-728-171-2.
- ^ a b c d Zanardi, José (2024-03-13). "Zapam-zucún". Enciclopedia de Yokais Sudamericanos (in Spanish). Ilustrada por César Zanardi. Rokurin-sha. ASIN B0CXD6GPRC. Table of Contents@Amazon
- ^ Gonzalez Rodriguez, Milton Fernando (2022). Ontologies and Natures: Knowledge about Health in Visual Culture. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield. p. 59. ISBN 9781666909500.
- ^ a b c Nucci, Armando M. Pérez de Nucci; Ros, Carlos Cowan (1988). "Capitulo 2. Pautas para una política sanitaria". Making Commons Dynamic: Understanding Change Through Commonisation and Decommonisation (in Spanish). New York: Ediciones Del Sol. p. 43. ISBN 950-9413-34-8.
- ^ Lichtenstein, Gabriela; Ros, Carlos Cowan (2021). "Chapter 6 Vicuña conservation an the reinvigoration of Indigenous communities in the Andes". In Nayak, Prateep Kumar (ed.). Making Commons Dynamic: Understanding Change Through Commonisation and Decommonisation. New York: Routledge. ISBN 9780429647598.
- ^ Santillán Güemes, Ricardo (March 1981). "Encuentro con el Señor de los Pájaros . Las comunidades del Noroeste argentino y sus relaciones con la naturaleza". Creación, reflexión, taller e imaginerias en la cultura casa del hombre (in Spanish) (1). Buenos Aires: Ediciones del Jaguar y la Máquina: 8.
- ^ Colombres, Adolfo (1997). Celebración del lenguaje: hacia una teoría intercultural de la literatura (in Spanish). Buenos Aires: Ediciones Del Sol. p. 299. ISBN 9789509413795.