Divinity Atlas

Sacred Correspondences
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Deity

Hahgwehdiyu (Sapling)

Haudenosaunee Deities
Hahgwehdiyu Sapling

Hahgwehdiyu, whose name is translated as Sapling, is the beneficent twin son of the sky goddess Atahensic, already recorded on this atlas, in Iroquois, or Haudenosaunee, creation tradition. Born in the ordinary way, he is credited with shaping much of the visible world after his mother's death: forming the sky and sun from her head, the moon and stars from her breasts, and giving humanity the corn that grew from her transformed body. He is understood as the constructive counterpart to his brother Hahgwehdaetgah, known as Flint, whose violent birth killed their mother and who worked throughout the myth to undo his brother's creations.

Facts
Attestation
Veneration Today
Actively venerated in a living tradition 1
Historicity
Not a historical person: a divine or other-than-human being 1
Function
Domain / Function
Creation and cosmogony 1
Identity
Gender
Male 1
Belief
Theology
Polytheistic: many gods 1
Sources
1. The Facts on File Encyclopedia of World Mythology and Legend
Anthony S. Mercatante, revised and expanded by James R. Dow, Facts on File
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