Tirawa

"Atíʼas Tirawa, which means 'Our Father Above' in the Pawnee language (often translated, inaccurately, as "Great Spirit"), was the creator god. Another variant, perhaps most used, is Tirawahat. He was believed to have taught the Pawnee people tattooing, fire-building, hunting, agriculture, speech and clothing, religious rituals (including the use of tobacco and sacred bundles), and sacrifices. He was associated with most natural phenomena, including stars and planets, wind, lightning, rain, and thunder. The wife of Tirawa was Atira, goddess of the Earth." [Pawnee Mythology, Wikipedia]

At a Wichita village in Oklahoma, the people said that men are the children of Tirawa. The people called down the aid of Tirawa for protection from Yig during the corn harvest. [HPL Yig (online text)]

A Wichita chieftain named Grey Eagle said that Tirawa is with the Old Ones (3) underground (in K'n-yan). Grey Eagle said that Tirawa is all men's father, and that Tirawa does not die and does not get old. Grey Eagle had a very old charm for protection from the Old Ones, which went back almost to Tirawa; it was an octopus figure, evidently Tulu/Cthulhu. [HPL Mound (online text)] There might be some sort of linkage between Tirawa and Tulu, for just as Grey Eagle regarded Tirawa as all men's father, the Old Ones believed that Tulu "brought all men down from the stars."

These accounts of the Wichita worshiping Tirawa are odd. According to the sources I have found, Tirawa is a deity of the Pawnee rather than the Wichita, although the tribes lived near each other. The creator deity of the Wichita is called Kinnekasus (Man-Never-Known-On-Earth.) [Native Languages of the Americas: Wichita Indian Legends, Myths, and Stories, www.native-languages.org, ret. 11/18/2024] Possibly the Curse of Yig/Mound narrator confused the two tribes.

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