Awonawilona

The Creator of the Void

Domain: Creation, Life & Sun
Alignment: Lawful Good
Element: Light
Relics of Power: Primordial Mist

Speak with Awonawilona

The full Codex

5 sections of this entry are open to everyone: the summary, the people, the symbols, the lineage and the sources. The other 9 (Name and epithets, In the ancient sources, The myths, Worship and archaeology, How the god was depicted, What scholars debate, After antiquity, Did you know?, Codex relic) are part of the full Codex: PRO opens the whole study of all 500 deities, and without a subscription you can read one full entry a day, just like in the app.

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The People

People

Native American peoples

Region

North America

Period

pre-colonial – present

These spirits and deities were worshipped by the many Native peoples of North America, from the Lakota to the Navajo and Iroquois. Their beliefs bind humans to the Great Spirit, to totem animals, and to balance with the land. Passed down orally, they survive in the Indigenous nations that endured colonization.

The Sun Dance gathered the Plains nations in fasting and sacrifice around the sacred tree. The Hopi dance with the kachinas, masked spirits of the rains, and the sacred pipe seals prayers and treaties — ceremonies still alive in today's nations.

At a glance

Áwonawílona (rendered in classical American ethnological records as Áwonawílona, translated by pioneer ethnologist Frank Hamilton Cushing as 'The Maker and Container of All' or 'The All-father Father') is the supreme, incorporeal, and all-sustaining creative potency in the sacred cosmology of the Zuni (A:shiwi) Pueblo people of New Mexico. Existing before the birth of time or material form, Áwonawílona dwelled solely within the primeval darkness of the void. Conceiving within himself the intent of cosmic unfoldment, he projected his thought outward into space, evolving potent vapors of growth and generative steams that gathered into the boundless primeval ocean. Manifesting visibly as Yatoka (the Sun-father), he drew forth vital substance (yépnane) from his celestial person to shape two radiant spheres which he cast upon the expanse of waters: the first expanded into Áwitelin Tsíta (the Earth-mother), while the second arched above as Ápoyan Ta'chu (the Sky-father). From the generative embrace of Earth and Sky within the nethermost of the four cave-wombs (Áwiten Téhu'hlnakwi), all mortal races and living creatures were conceived, eventually guided upward into daylight by the heroic Divine Twins and the primeval culture hero Póshaiyank'ya.

5 min read · Reviewed on September 29, 2026 · How we research

Sacred symbols

The sun, the mist, the green waters and the primordial void

Family

Awonawilona

Children

Yatoka (The Sun-father, luminous personification and prime visible projection conceived by Áwonawílona)Áwitelin Tsíta (The Earth-mother of the four nether wombs, evolved from the fertile scums of the primeval waters)Ápoyan Ta'chu (The Sky-father of the azure canopy, formed as an overarching dome over the waters)

Genealogy according to Frank Hamilton Cushing, Outlines of Zuñi Creation Myths (1896, pp. 379–385); Frank Hamilton Cushing, Zuñi Breadstuff (1884/1920, cap. 1); Matilda Coxe Stevenson, The Zuñi Indians (1904, pp. 22–28); Ruth L. Bunzel, Zuñi Origin Myths (1932, pp. 547–550)

Sources and further reading

Primary sources

Cushing, Frank Hamilton, Outlines of Zuñi Creation Myths (Thirteenth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology, pp. 321–447). translation: Government Printing Office, Washington, DC, 1896. read
Cushing, Frank Hamilton, Zuñi Breadstuff (Indian Notes and Monographs, Vol. 8). translation: Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation, New York, 1920 (Orig. 1884). read

Studies

Cushing, Frank Hamilton, Outline of Zuñi Mytho-Sociologic Organization. Internet Sacred Text Archive, 1896. open
Bill Stifler, Zuni Creation Myth (Excerpts from Cushing's Outlines of Zuñi Creation Myths). Bill Stifler Academic Archive, 2025. open
Internet Sacred Text Archive, Frank Hamilton Cushing on Zuñi Religion. Internet Sacred Text Archive, 2024. open

Name and epithets

The archaic Zuni theonym Áwonawílona is an intricate compound term: it combines the collective and distributive prefix awona- ('roads', 'life-ways', or 'possessions of all') with the participial root wílona ('he who hol…

In the ancient sources

Outlines of Zuñi Creation Myths, 1896 CE. Authoritative ethnographic account and translation by Frank Hamilton Cushing documenting the epic priestly chants of Zuni emergence and cosmic organization.

The myths

The Generation of the Mists and the Unfolding of Earth and Sky. As recorded in the priestly epic transcribed by Frank Hamilton Cushing ('The Genesis of the Worlds, or The Beginning of Newness'), only Áwonawílona possess…

Worship and archaeology

Veneration of the generative potencies emanating from Áwonawílona forms the bedrock of Zuni ceremonialism, curated by the rain priests of the directions (Ashiwani) and the Bow Priesthood (Apithlan Shiwani).

How the god was depicted

Áwonawílona is fundamentally aniconic and possesses no masks or carved effigies in the Kachina (Koko) dance rituals.

What scholars debate

. Within American ethnology, Cushing's transcription of Áwonawílona sparked scholarly debate: while early critics questioned whether Cushing had colored native beliefs with European philosophical concepts, subsequent fi…

After antiquity

The Zuni emergence epic exerted significant influence on early sociological theory; Émile Durkheim and Marcel Mauss prominently analyzed Cushing's documentation of Áwonawílona in 'Primitive Classification' (1903) to dem…

Did you know?

In traditional Zuni etiquette and ritual speech, praying or receiving a sacred blessing is described as 'taking in the breath' (yá-an-e).

Codex relic

Primordial Mist. The mist born of his sweat, with which he filled the void and brought forth sky and sea.

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