According to Tohono O’odham storytellers in the American Southwest, the Earth Maker fashioned the world out of the dirt and sweat that he scraped from his skin, and then made the sky and the earth. The sky and earth then mated and birthed I’itoi or I’ithi, a mischievous creator god who resides in a cave below the peak of Baboquivari Mountain in Arizona, regarded by the O’odham Nation as the navel of the world—a place where the earth opened and the people emerged after a great flood. I’itoi continues to watch over Baboquivari Peak, understood by the O’odham as the spirit who resides at the center of all things.
Essential within the cosmology of the O’odham peoples, which include the Tohono O’odham, the Pima or Akimel O’odham, and the Hia C-ed O’odham, oral history describes I’itoi as both creator and destroyer, transporting people to this earth from the underworld. According to O’odham legend, I’itoi, assisted by Coyote, created humanity following a flood that had washed away an earlier people, giving the desert people the “crimson evening” and instructing them to live at the center of creation always. Within this story of human creation, because Earth Maker’s initial humans were poorly made, following Earth Maker’s death, I’itoi created the Hohokam people, providing them with the gift of the Himdag, a series of commandments guiding people to remain in balance with the world.
However, after disrupting their harmony, I’itoi was killed by the people themselves (or, in some narratives, by Buzzard). Following his death, I’itoi came back to life, journeying with the sun into the underworld to retrieve the Piman people, who defeated the Hohokam in battle. While responsible for creation, I’itoi is also associated with destruction and war, his story of revival and leading an army from the underworld a source of military inspiration for the Pimans. Central to O’odham cosmology, then, is the cyclicality of creation and the relationship between gods rescuing humanity.
Symbolically, I’itoi is most commonly depicted as the Man in the Maze, a reference to a design, which positions I’itoi at the entrance to a labyrinth, appearing on native basketry and petroglyphs. Viewing the labyrinth as the floor plan to I’itoi’s house and/or as a map giving directions to his house, the labyrinth design signifies the experiences and choices we humans make in our journey through life. While the maze is winding and often confusing, in the middle of the maze people find their dreams and goals—meaning, they find harmony and balance. Within O’odham folklore, upon reaching the center, people have a final opportunity (the last turn in the design) to look back upon their choices and path before the Sun God greets them, blesses them, and passes them into the next world.
Today, reference to I’itoi is most notably found in the man in the maze motif, which is used liberally in the American Southwest and most prominently by Tohono O’odham silversmiths and Pima basket weavers. Popular since the early 1900s, the design continues to symbolize life and life’s cycles, serving as both a symbol for the O’odham people and for the difficult journey that every individual must navigate to find deeper meaning in life. For this reason, when visiting the cave, guests are asked to bring a gift to ensure their safe return from its depths.
Yet there is no single meaning to the man in the maze motif; interpretations often varying from family to family. A common interpretation views the center of the maze—which is a circle—as standing for death. Thus the story of I’itoi is also the story of every human being, traveling through life as though through a maze, with death at the center always beckoning closer. But for the O’odham, the maze’s center symbolizes more than the end of life—death is also eternal existence, characterized in the experience of becoming one with I’itoi. Other interpretations see the male figure as representative of an individual, all of humankind, or even I’itoi himself. The son of the creator, I’itoi, emerges throughout O’odham folklore, a figure responsible for retrieving people out of the darkness of the preemergent world and thereafter symbolizing the difficult and winding path of uncovering the harmony located at the heart of all things.
Morgan Shipley
See also Coyote Tales; Creation Myth of the Tewa; Creation Stories of the Native Americans; Great Spirit; Spider Woman
Further Reading
Bahr, Donald, ed. 2001. O’odham Creation and Related Events: As Told to Ruth Benedict in 1927. Tucson: University of Arizona Press.
Erickson, Winston. 2003. Sharing the Desert: The Tohono O’odham in History. Tucson: University of Arizona Press.
McIntyre, Allan J. 2008. The Tohono O’odham and Pimeria Alta. Mount Pleasant, SC: Arcadia.
Saxton, Dean. 1973. Legends and Lore of the Papago and Pima Indians. Tucson: University of Arizona Press.
Shaw, Anna Moore. 1968. Pima Indian Legends. Tucson: University of Arizona Press.