Observations placeholder
Ruth Warner Giddings - The Yaqui coyote woman who rolled on ants
Identifier
006444
Type of Spiritual Experience
Background
The Yaqui or Yoeme are indigenous people of Mexico whose ancestors originated in the valley of the Río Yaqui in the northern Mexican state of Sonora. Many Yaqui still live in their ancestral homeland. The Pascua Yaqui Tribe is based in Tucson, Arizona. Yaqui people live elsewhere in what is now the southwestern United States. I have classified them as Native American Indians, although one could argue they are South American too.
A description of the experience
Yaqui Myths and Legends – collected by Ruth Warner Giddings
Near Ousekari is an arroyo called Ba’atcbem. Here once lived a Yaqui called Mangwe Wakira or ‘Manuel the Weak’. Also in this place there was a little rancheria. Among those who lived there, was a Yaqui woman who enjoyed practising the art of witchcraft. She would turn herself into a coyote. This is how she would do it; she would go out into the monte, take off all her clothes and lie down and roll over in an ant hill. When she arose, she would be transformed into a coyote. In this form, she was referred to as Coyote Woman or Yoem Wo’i. She was greatly feared because of her strange powers.