- Pemon language
:"Pemon" redirects here. For the
wasp genus , see "Pemon (wasp) Pemon (in Spanish: Pemón) is a Cariban language spoken mainly in
Venezuela , specifically in the Gran Sabana region ofBolivar State .According to the 2001 census there were 15,094 Pemon speakers inVenezuela . Other names used in the literature to describe Pemon speakers are: Pemong, Arecuna, Aricuna, Jaricuna, Kamarakoto, Camaracoto, Taurepan, Taulipang, Makuxi, Macuxi, Macushi.The
Makuxi , who are also Pemon speakers, are found inBrazil andGuyana in areas close to the Venezuelan border.Myths
The Pemon have a very rich mythic tradition which continues to this day, despite the conversion of many Pemon to Catholicism or Protestant religions spread by missionaries.
The first person to seriously study Pemon myths and language was the German ethnologist
Theodor Koch-Grunberg , who visited Roraima in 1912.Important myths describe the origins of the Sun and Moon, the creation of the
tepui mountains, which dramatically rise from the savannahs of theGran Sabana and the activities of the creator hero Makunaima and his brothers.Further reading
*
Theodor Koch-Grunberg 1917 - "Vom Roraima Zum Orinoco" ("From Roraima to the Orinoco")
* David John Thomas 1982 - "Order Without Government: The Society of the Pemon Indians of Venezuela" (University of Illinois Press)External links
* [http://venezuelanindian.blogspot.com/2007/08/angel-falls.html Pemon Myths and Legends]
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