Editing Guanches (section)

== System of beliefs ==
=== Religion and mythology ===
{{See also|Traditional Berber religion}}
[[File:MNH - Mencey-Stäbe.jpg|thumb|Chieftains' batons from La Palma|224x224px]]

Little is known of the religion of the Guanches. There was a general belief in a supreme being, called [[Achamán]] in Tenerife, [[Acoran]] in Gran Canaria, Eraoranhan in Hierro, and [[Abora]] in La Palma. The women of Hierro worshipped a goddess called [[Moneiba]]. According to tradition, the male and female gods lived in mountains, from which they descended to hear the prayers of the people. On other islands, the natives venerated the [[sun]], [[moon]], [[earth]], and [[star]]s. A belief in an evil spirit was general. The demon of Tenerife was called [[Guayota]] and lived at the peak of [[Teide]] volcano, which was the [[hell]] called [[Teide|Echeyde]];<ref name=EB1911/> in Tenerife and Gran Canaria, the minor demons took the form of wild black woolly dogs called Jucanchas<ref>{{cite web |url=http://insuloamaziq.blogspot.com.es/2012/09/jucancha.html |title=ÍNSULOAMAZIQ: Jucancha |access-date=21 October 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131021191122/http://insuloamaziq.blogspot.com.es/2012/09/jucancha.html |archive-date=21 October 2013}}</ref> in the first and [[Tibicena]]s<ref>{{cite web |url=http://insuloamaziq.blogspot.com.es/2012/09/tibicena.html |title=ÍNSULOAMAZIQ: Tibicena |access-date=21 October 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131021192545/http://insuloamaziq.blogspot.com.es/2012/09/tibicena.html |archive-date=21 October 2013}}</ref> in the latter, which lived in deep caves of the mountains, emerging at night to attack livestock and human beings.

[[File:Teide Tenerife3.jpg|thumb|Mount Teide on Tenerife]]

In [[Tenerife]], [[Magec]] (god of the Sun) and [[Chaxiraxi]] (the goddess mother) were also worshipped. In times of drought, the Guanches drove their flocks to consecrated grounds, where the lambs were separated from their mothers in the belief that their plaintive bleating would melt the heart of the Great Spirit.<ref name=EB1911/> During the religious feasts, hostilities were held in abeyance, from war to personal quarrels.

[[Cult image|Idols]] have been found in the islands, including the Idol of Tara ([[Museo Canario]], [[Las Palmas de Gran Canaria]]) and the [[Guatimac]] (Museum Archaeological of Puerto de la Cruz in Tenerife). But many more figures have been found in the rest of the archipelago.

Most researchers agree that the Guanches performed their worship in the open, under sacred trees such as [[pine]] or [[Dracaena draco|drago]], or near sacred mountains such as Mount [[Teide]], which was believed to be the abode of the devil [[Guayota]]. Mount Teide was sacred to the aboriginal Guanches and since 2007 is a [[World Heritage Site]]. But sometimes the Guanches also performed worship in caves, as in "Cave of Achbinico" in Tenerife. Until the 20th century, there were in the Canary Islands (especially in northern Tenerife) individuals called "Animeros." They were similar to healers and mystics with a syncretic beliefs combining elements of the Guanche religion and Christianity. As in other countries close to the islands (e.g. [[marabouts]] from the [[Maghreb]]), the [[Animero]]s were considered "persons blessed by God."<ref>{{cite web |first=Fernándo |last=Hernández |url=http://www.esencia21.com/03_CANARIAS_MISTERIOSA/15_ANIMEROS.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080505140747/http://www.esencia21.com/03_CANARIAS_MISTERIOSA/15_ANIMEROS.html |archive-date=5 May 2008 |title=Animeros en Canarias |trans-title=Animators in the Canary Islands |language=es}}</ref>

[[File:At Tenerife 2020 292.jpg|thumb|Guanche idol in the [[Museo Guanche]], [[Tenerife]]|254x254px]]

{| class="wikitable"
|+Principal gods of Tenerife
!God
!Role
|-
|[[Achamán]]
|The [[King of the Gods|supreme god]] of the Guanches on the island of Tenerife; he is the father god and creator.
|-
|[[Chaxiraxi]]
|The native Guanche goddess known as "supporter of he who holds the world [Abreu (''ca.'' 1590, III, 13) d. 1676: 90r]."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Reyes |first=Ignacio |date=2017-09-14 |title=Chaxiraxi |url=https://imeslan.com/2017/09/14/chaxiraxi/ |access-date=2023-12-04 |website=DICCIONARIO ÍNSULOAMAZIQ |language=es}}</ref>
|-
|[[Guaiaxerax|Guayaxerax]]
|A divine child, son of Chaxiraxi and "supporter of Heaven and Earth." [Abreu (''ca.'' 1590, III, 13) d. 1676: 90r].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Reyes |first=Ignacio |date=2017-09-14 |title=Achguayaxerax |url=https://imeslan.com/2017/09/14/achguayaxerax/ |access-date=2023-12-04 |website=DICCIONARIO ÍNSULOAMAZIQ |language=es}}</ref>
|-
|[[Magec]]
|The god of the [[Sun]] and the light, and also thought to be one of the principal [[divinities]].
|-
|[[Achuguayo]]
|The "Supreme Being," according to oral tradition. [Bethencourt Alfonso (1911) 1994b: 260].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Reyes |first=Ignacio |date=2017-10-23 |title=Achuguayo |url=https://imeslan.com/2017/10/23/achuguayo/ |access-date=2023-12-04 |website=DICCIONARIO ÍNSULOAMAZIQ |language=es}}</ref>
|-
|[[Achuhucanac]]
|[[Rain]] god, identified with the supreme god (Achamán).
|-
|[[Guayota]]
|The principal malignant deity and Achamán's adversary, who dwells inside Mount Teide.
|}

{| class="wikitable"
|+Mythical beings
!Being
!Role
|-
|[[Maxios]]
|Benevolent minor [[gods]] or genies; domestic spirits and guardians of specific places.
|-
|[[Tibicena]]s
|Demons in the form of black dogs, these were children of Guayota, the malignant deity.
|}

=== Aboriginal priests ===
The Guanches had [[priest]]s or [[shaman]]s who were connected with the gods and ordained hierarchically:

{| class="wikitable"
|-
!Religious authority
!Jurisdiction
!Definition
|-
|Guadameñe or [[Guañameñe]]
|Tenerife
|spiritual advisers to the [[Mencey]]es (Aboriginal kings), who directed the worship.
|-
|Faykan or Faicán
|Gran Canaria
|a spiritual and religious person in charge, who directed the worship.
|-
|Maguadas or Arimaguadas
|Tenerife
Gran Canaria
|women priestesses dedicated to worship. They took part in some rituals.
|-
|Kankus
|Tenerife
|the priests responsible for the worship of the ancestor spirits and Maxios (minor gods or genies).
|}

=== Guatimac ===
{{Main|Guatimac}}

=== Festivities ===
'''[[Beñesmen]]''' or '''Beñesmer''' was a festival of the agricultural calendar of the Guanches (the Guanche new year) to be held after the gathering of crops devoted to Chaxiraxi (on August 15). In this event the Guanches shared milk, [[gofio]], sheep or goat meat. At the present time, this coincides with the pilgrimage to the Basilica of the [[Virgin of Candelaria]] (Patron of Canary Islands).

Among the cultural events are significant traces of aboriginal traditions at the holidays and in the current Romería Relief in [[Güímar]] ([[Tenerife]]) and the lowering of the Rama, in Agaete (Gran Canaria).<ref>[[:es:Mitología guanche#Festividades|1]]</ref>

=== Funerals and mummies ===
[[File:Momia guanche museo santa cruz 27-07.JPG|thumb|right|250px|[[Mummy of San Andrés]], in the [[Museo de la Naturaleza y el Hombre]] ([[Tenerife]], [[Canary Islands]])]]
{{Main|Guanche mummies}}
[[Mummy|Mummification]] was not commonly practiced throughout the islands but was highly developed on [[Tenerife]] in particular. In [[Gran Canaria]] there is currently a debate on the true nature of the mummies of the ancient inhabitants of the island, as researchers point out that there was no real intention to mummify the deceased and that the good conservation of some of them is due rather to environmental factors.<ref>{{cite web|title=Conrado Rodríguez-Maffiote: "Estamos en uno de los mejores momentos en cuanto a la investigación sobre la cultura guanche"|url=https://blog.rtve.es/historiasecretamomias/2020/05/conrado.html|publisher=blog.rtve.es/File:Replica de momia guanche en la gruta del Parque del Drago, Icod de los Vinos, Tenerife, España, 2012-12-13, DD 01.jpgzaccess-date=6 June 2020|date=29 May 2020}}</ref> In [[La Palma]] they were preserved by these environmental factors and in [[La Gomera]], and [[El Hierro]] the existence of mummification is not verified. In [[Lanzarote]] and [[Fuerteventura]] this practice is ruled out.

[[File:Replica de momia guanche en la gruta del Parque del Drago, Icod de los Vinos, Tenerife, España, 2012-12-13, DD 01.jpg|thumb|Replica of a mummy burial in the cave of Parque del Drago, Tenerife|250x250px]]

The Guanches [[embalming|embalmed]] their dead; many mummies have been found in an extreme state of desiccation, each weighing not more than {{cvt|7|lb|0|disp=flip}}. Two almost inaccessible caves in a vertical rock by the shore {{cvt|3|mi|0|disp=flip}} from Santa Cruz on Tenerife are said still to contain remains. The process of embalming seems to have varied. In Tenerife and Gran Canaria, the corpse was simply wrapped up in goat and sheep skins, while in other islands a resinous substance was used to preserve the body, which was then placed in a cave difficult to access, or buried under a [[tumulus]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Troll|first1=Valentin R.|last2=Rodriguez-Gonzalez|first2=Alejandro|last3=Deegan|first3=Frances M.|last4=Perez-Torrado|first4=Francisco José|last5=Carracedo|first5=Juan Carlos|last6=Thomaidis|first6=Konstantinos|last7=Geiger|first7=Harri|last8=Meade|first8=Fiona C.|date=2019|title=Sacred ground; the Maipés necropolis of north-west Gran Canaria|url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/gto.12262|journal=Geology Today|language=en|volume=35|issue=2|pages=55–62|doi=10.1111/gto.12262|bibcode=2019GeolT..35...55T |s2cid=134369618|issn=1365-2451}}</ref> The work of embalming was reserved for a special class, with women tending to female corpses, and men for the male ones. Embalming seems not to have been universal.<ref name=EB1911/>

In the [[Museo de la Naturaleza y el Hombre]] ([[Santa Cruz de Tenerife]]) mummies of original inhabitants of the Canary Islands are displayed.

In 1933, the largest Guanche necropolis of the Canary Islands was found, at Uchova in the municipality of [[San Miguel de Abona]] in the south of the island of Tenerife. This cemetery was almost completely looted; it is estimated to have contained between 60 and 74 mummies.<ref>[https://archive.today/20120629124706/http://www.google.com/hostednews/epa/article/ALeqM5js8mukVnZJz1rSsQmaz2vQN8Evcg Un estudio recuerda el expolio de la mayor necrópolis guanche jamás hallada]</ref>

=== Sacrifices ===
Although little is known about this practice among them, it has been shown that they performed both [[animal sacrifices]] and [[human sacrifices]].<ref name="academia.edu">[https://www.academia.edu/6630296/Sacrificios_de_ni%C3%B1os_y_sustitutorios_de_ovic%C3%A1pridos_al_dios_sol_sms_en_el_litoral_atl%C3%A1ntico_norteafricano_Child_and_Substitute_Ovicaprids_Sacrifices_to_the_Sun_God_%C5%A1m%C5%A1_in_the_North_African_Atlantic_Coast_ Sacrificios entre los Aborígenes canarios]</ref>

In [[Tenerife]] during the summer solstice, the Guanches killed livestock and threw them into a fire as an offering to the gods.<ref name="academia.edu"/> Bethencourt Alfonso has claimed that goat kids were tied by the legs, alive, to a stake so that they could be heard bleating by the gods. It is likely that animals were also sacrificed on the other islands.<ref name="academia.edu"/>

As for human sacrifices, in Tenerife it was the custom to throw a living child from the ''Punta de Rasca'' at sunrise at the summer solstice. Sometimes these children came from all parts of the island, even from remote areas of ''Punta de Rasca''. It follows that it was a common custom of the island.<ref name="academia.edu"/> On this island sacrificing other human victims associated with the death of the king, where adult men rushed to the sea are also known. Embalmers who produced the [[Guanche mummies]] also had a habit of throwing themselves into the sea one year after the king's death.<ref name="academia.edu"/>

Bones of children mixed with lambs and kids were found in [[Gran Canaria]], and in Tenerife amphorae have been found with remains of children inside. This suggests a different kind of ritual infanticide than those who were thrown overboard.<ref name="books.google.es">[https://books.google.com/books?id=GaoPAQAAQBAJ&dq=sacrificios+humanos+guanches&pg=PT341 Aparición de sacrificios de niños entre los Aborígenes Canarios]</ref>

[[Child sacrifice]] has been seen in other cultures, especially in the [[Mediterranean]]—[[Carthage]] (now [[Tunisia]]), [[Ugarit]] in what is now [[Syria]], [[Cyprus]] and [[Crete]].<ref name="books.google.es"/>{{relevant?|date=February 2025}}