A SHRINE TO TEMAVUS
Temavus: God of the flooding rivers, of dark waters, destroying and renewing, which pass, unrelenting, through and around every obstacle in its path. Its sheer force levels farms, towns, whole cities; whole civilizations built their legacy around the annual floods. Temavus is one such destroyer: His flood destroys all that lies in His path.
But He is of a dual nature: the flood is necessary to the land, to keep balance, to cleanse what is polluted and dead, to saturate the ground. In the wake of the flood, we rebuild. In the wake of destruction, we create. Such is the way of the rivers, of the sea. The Flood is something ingrained in the human psyche, an ancient fear; religious texts and folk tales revolve around them, spawning whole myths, entire religions. The Flood wipes the slate clean. Beginning anew is a fearful thing. The Flood may be benevolent, at times, in the aftermath, but Temavus is not a God of mercy. His prerogative is to destroy, to wipe out everything in His domain, to dislodge the trespassers and interlopers who have built up homes on land which is rightfully His, land claimed long ago by the river. The Land can tell you this, speaking in its rumbling tones: the Flood cannot be stopped, will not be defied, would not be ignored. This is the way of Temavus, and the way of the river: it lay here long before we arrived, and will remain long after we depart. |
Poem "Paean to Place" by Lorine Niedecker.
Art "Manabozho in the Flood" by R. C. Armour.
Art "Manabozho in the Flood" by R. C. Armour.