Guayota facts for kids

Mount Teide on Tenerife, according to mythology, was the home of Guayota.

Guayota, in Guanche mythology of Tenerife (the Canary Islands), was the principal malignant deity and Achamán's adversary.

Mythology

According to Guanche legend, Guayota lived inside the Teide volcano, one of the gateways to the underworld. He was said to be represented as a black dog and was accompanied by demons, also in the form of black dogs, known as tibicenas.

According to legend, Guayota kidnapped Magec (the sun) and shut it up in Teide, plunging the world into darkness. Humans prayed to Achamán who saved Magec and instead locked Guayota up in Teide. Guayota is the king of evil genies, and was worshiped on the island of Tenerife in the Guanche religion.

Features

Guayota shares features similar to other malignant deity-inhabitants of volcanoes as in the case of the goddess Pele in Hawaiian mythology, who lived in the Kīlauea volcano and was regarded by the native Hawaiians as responsible for the eruptions of the volcano.

See also

In Spanish: Guayota para niños

• The Canarian lizard genus Gallotia and the species Gallotia galloti are named after the naturalist D Gallot, not after Guayota.