In Sioux mythology (Indigenous American mythological tradition that includes Lakota mythology), Anpao (Lakota: Aŋpáo[1]), or Anp, is a spirit with two faces that represents the dawn.

Anpao dances with Han, a primordial spirit of darkness, to ensure that Wi does not burn up the Earth, resulting in day and night.

George Bushotter (Yankton Dakota-Lakota, 1860–1892) wrote that when his younger brother was ill, the brother was told to pray to Anpao, the Dawn, and recovered.[2]

Anpao zi is the "yellow of the dawn", which oral history described as the meadowlark's breast.[3]

See also

  • Anog Ite, a two-faced goddess from Lakota mythology
  • Bangpūtys, two-faced Lithuanian god whose focus is on the weather and the sea
  • Hausos, PIE dawn goddess, reflexes of whom are common in daughter cultures
  • Ikenga, two-faced Igbo spirit of fate, fortune, and achievement
  • Isimud, two-faced Mesopotamian messenger god
  • Janus, two-faced Roman god whose focus is on doorways, endings, and beginnings in general
  • Two-Face, a monster from Plains Indian mythology
  • Sharp-Elbows, a monster from Ioway folklore sometimes described with two faces

References

  1. ↑ Ingham, Bruce (2001). English–Lakota Dictionary. Richmond, Surrey, UK: Curzon Press. p. 167. ISBN 0-7007-1378-6. Retrieved 23 February 2015.
  2. ↑ Powell, John W. (1894). Eleventh Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology: 1889-'90. Washington DC: Smithsonian Institution. p. 468.
  3. ↑ Swann, Brian; Krupat, Arnold, eds. (1987). Recovering the Word: Essays on Native American Literature. Berkeley: University of California Press. p. 434. ISBN 0-520-05964-6.


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