The Guanches were the pre-colonial people of the Canary Islands. Both genetics and cultural links thoroughly connect them to North African peoples. Their mythology is in some ways a relic of the pre-Muslim religious landscape of the region.
Due to Spanish conquest and genocide, comparitively little material has survived. However, the remaining oral traditions and historical accounts paint a vivid picture of the local religions and their perception of the cosmos.
Each island had a Top God. La Palma had Abora (also rendered Ibru), Tenerife had Achamán, La Gomera Orahan, Gran Canaria Acoran and El Hierro Eraorahan. Beyond these there were vast pantheons, with particularly well known gods being Magec (the sun), Chaxiraxi (the sun mother), and Guayota (evil). A multitude of lesser gods and spirits were known as the Maxios and Tibicena.
Religious rites were performed in open spaces or in the mountains, there also being evidence of temple complexes. Priests were advisors to the local kings and performed both rituals as well as provide medicine and archive knowledge.
Tropes found in Guanche mythology include:
- Blow You Away: Achamán is the personified sky.
- God of Evil: Guayota. He kidnapped Magec, which was the last straw for the other gods who trapped him in Mount Teide.
- God of Light:
- Magec is the personified sun. The actual gender is unclear, but was a fairly important deity given how other deities were syncretised with it.
- Chaxiraxi is a goddess said to be the sun and the mother of all.
- Abora is a male god also believed to be solar in nature. As opposed to the Top God of other islands, which was a sky god.
- God of the Moon: Achuguayo. He is male, regardless of the gender of the sun.
- Hell Hound: Evil spirits often take the form of black dogs.
- Our Angels Are Different: Maxios are emissaries of Chaxiraxi, the sun mother.
- Our Demons Are Different: Tibicena are the children of Guayota. Like their father they take the form of black dogs and reside in the mountains, leaving at night to cause misery.
