Cunning Canine Corporation

Question: Could we have a post on Native American coyote gods?

Yes, we can! The coyote is a very common totem among various Native American groups, and while like a lot of American gods he tends to be cast as a non-deity folktale figure or a pan-continental all-Native-American-tribes mega-figure, there are actually a lot of very specific (and interesting, and awesome!) different features and stories about coyote deities in various different areas of the country.

Of course, you guys know where my heart lies, so I'll start with the Aztecs. Their coyote god is named Huehuecoyotl - literally, "old, old coyote" - and he is a prankster extraordinaire, pulling tricks on his friends and the other gods and often ending up on the hook for them himself. He's occasionally said to be a son of Tezcatlipoca, which certainly explains his mischievous nature, or even sometimes an alternate aspect of Tezcatlipoca himself (in fact, some scholars even theorize that it was Huehuecoyotl, in the shape of Tezcatlipoca, who ruined the Third World by seducing Xochiquetzal away from Tlaloc). Look at this delightful motherfucker:

He also shares lordship over dance, music, tasty foods and partying with various other Aztec deities, so he's really just begging to hang out in an awesome club with Xochipilli, Patecatl and various other Mexican miscreants.

But farther north is where this question is really looking to dig in, with the coyote gods above the border. Starting up with the Ho-Chunk people of Wisconsin, we have Manikaksis, a coyote god who is not really much of a top dog. While he is definitely skilled at stealth and sneakery - even Wakdjunkaga, the major trickster of that pantheon, gave up on trying to equal him for sneakiness - he's also generally depicted as ineffective, comical and petty, even pitiful when compared to more powerful gods (especially his brother Sukcakega, the wolf god, considered his opposite number). This poor guy never wins in Ho-Chunk mythology, which should become extremely obvious when you consider the fact that the markings on coyote fur are supposedly the result of the star spirits pissing on him and leaving acidic stains after one of his pranks didn't go very well for him.

Sadly, I couldn't find a picture of Manikaksis, who apparently is elusive in art thanks to not being as important a god and therefore less popular for weaving or painting. If any of you guys out there have one, share it!

Zoom over west to the Oregon area, and the Salish coyote god Sinkalip (literally "the mimicker") is also a trickster god, but he's much more of an important figure, beloved for his high-spirited antics and hilarious shenanigans as well as his occasional heroic deeds, especially when it comes to slaying monsters and thus saving humanity (either on purpose or as a side effect of trying to impress everyone, but either way, good stuff, right?). In Salish mythology, he's paired not with a wolf but with a fox, and many of his escapades are accomplished with the good-natured help of his twin brother Whyayloo the fox god, who is also in charge of resurrecting him whenever his fool antics get him killed. Which is often, because that's kind of how the life of an American trickster god goes.

That's a guy who's off to screw some things up. Look at that face.

Then, nearby, we've got the Nez Perce coyote god, Itsayaya. He's also a trickster and he also makes terrifyingly bad decisions as a result - like that time he got all the bear god's children killed and then was like "Shit, I have just angered a bear god, I did not plan ahead for this" - but he also takes on even more of a centrally responsible role, not only killing monsters and other threats to humanity but also functioning as the original creator who made humans in the first place. His behavior ranges from the judicial and benevolent, such as when he turned the feuding wasp and ant into stone rather than let them squabble over food, to the nasty, such as when he tried to cheat a rival god out of meat and ended up getting one of his own sons killed in the process, but he's always important, regardless of what he's up to.

Even farther north, we have the Yakama people in Washington State, who worship the coyote god Spilyay, a rare case of a coyote god famous for being more intentionally helpful to humanity than some of his pantheon-mates. In particular, he's one of the first gods to predict the creation and civilization of mankind and goes out of his way to make sure that winter is mild and manageable and that that game animals are placed on earth and fish seeded in rivers and ponds, although of course later humanity fails to be properly grateful for this and he angrily goes about blowing up most of the food he placed to force the people to have to work hard to eke out a living. Alas, that typical coyote god temper never goes out of style.

He looks so innocent and helpful, though!

To the Karuk of northern California, Pihneefich is the coyote god, and tends to appear in fully zoomorphic form more often than some of the other American coyote deities, who are presumed to appear as humanoids most of the time. Pihneefich steals fire for the world, similar to Prometheus, and while still an important trickster figure does not have the great cosmic powers of some other canine deities from neighboring peoples. In fact, he's so pitiful when it comes to physical power and ability that the creator god Kareya took pity on him and gave him his supreme cunning in order to make up for his helplessness in other areas.

But he's pretty adorable, so it's hard not to love that face, right?

The Miwok of California have one of the most famous coyote gods: Olette, the creator, who created the earth, the ocean, other animals and humanity, in a large suite of myths about how he does so and what kinds of materials he uses that vary slightly from group to group within Miwok territory. He still has his moments of madness - getting into a giant brawl with fellow creator the lizard god over whether or not humans should have hands, a fight he obviously lost - but is generally more serious and benevolent. He, too, has a fox deity as a partner, in this case Silver Fox, his mate and the level-headed guiding force who makes sure that his sometimes reactionary handling of things doesn't prevent him from appropriately providing care and teaching to humanity.

Again, no art for this guy that I could positively identify as Miwok, so share 'em if you got 'em.

Jaunt east a bit more (we are all over the U.S., aren't we?) and we can find the Shoshone people of Wyoming, whose coyote god Itsappa is a classic trickster who steals food and relics, doesn't think ahead and often gets killed but resurrects himself to keep the fun going, and has more than enough rivalry going on with his brother Issa, the wolf god and main creator figure, to rival any other canine brotherhoods across the continent. Itsappa also steals fire and harasses his fellow gods, and plays less of a responsible and more of a comical role in myths.

And last but not least, Ma'ii, the Navajo coyote god, who splits his time between being a benevolent creator and inventor and a prankster who creates problems as a necessary chaotic balancing force. Ma'ii's responsible for creating things like time, stars and lunar cycles (because he thought just having normal day/night was boring for everyone), finding and guiding the first group of humans into the world to keep him company, and simultaneously stealing flame and creating the Milky Way as a by-product in order to get one over on a rival trickster god. As a trickster and notorious gamester, his occasional mean-spiritedness is often attributed to his hobbies, since competitiveness and disappointment lead to anger and misbehavior for those who don't always win.

By the way, I know those of us in the U.S. tend to think of coyotes as a southwestern phenomenon, only causing people much notice in places like Arizona and New mexico, but they're actually extremely widespread and common all the way up into Canada. Which means gods with coyote imagery can and do pop up anywhere and everywhere in North America!

And you guys, this post is long enough, so I'm going to stop there, but this is far from the total number of coyotes out there. The Ohlone, Lakota, Pomo and several other cultures also have coyote gods, and while some may be cross-pollinated borrowings from other nearby peoples, many of them have their own unique features and tales. It's a veritable smorgasbord of coyote gods, enough to form their own confederation of craziness if they wanted to (and could avoid blowing the whole thing up every few minutes). They are everywhere. They are Legion. They are going to ruin everyone's day.