The glyph of Quaoar stands at the centre. The branches around it show the symbolism in four colours: gods in gold, archetypes in blue, traditions in green and narratives in red. Touch a branch and its explanation opens below the map.
The creatorThe giver of life
In letters published in 1852, Hugo Reid writes that the people of the Los Angeles Basin believed in a single god who was the creator of all things and that his name was Qua-o-ar. Reid is known to have been married to a Tongva woman and to have gathered his information from her circle. Even so, his account is coloured by Christian ideas, and this should be kept in mind when reading it.
The unspoken nameIn a low voice
According to Reid, the name of the creator was so sacred that it was hardly ever used, and when it was used it was spoken in a low voice. In everyday speech a word meaning the Giver of Life took its place. Reid also notes that the Tongva language had a single word for both life and spirit.
The seven giantsThe cause of earthquakes
In Reid's record the world was once in turmoil, and then the creator gave it its present form and set it on the shoulders of seven giants made for that purpose. Each giant has a name, and when they move the earth quakes. The editor Robert Heizer notes that the belief tying earthquakes to a giant turning over as he sleeps underground was widespread among the native peoples of California.
People made from earthReid's record
According to Reid, after the giants the creator shaped the animals and last of all formed the man and the woman separately from earth and commanded them to live together. Reid gives the name of the first man as Tobohar and of the woman as Pabavit. Heizer points out that Tobohar comes from a root meaning earth and that in Southern California the earth was regarded as the first mother, and he writes that Reid may have been mistaken about these names.
The creator who rose to the skyReceiving the souls
According to Reid's record, when the creator had finished his work he rose to the sky and there receives the souls of the dead. Reid also writes that Tongva belief had no evil spirit and that the ideas of the devil and hell arrived with the Spanish.
The song of creationSong and dance
According to the account published at the time of the naming and approved by the Tongva, Quaoar is a formless creative power who brings the other beings into existence by singing and dancing. The 2009 Weywot record of the Minor Planet Center also states that Weywot was created as Quaoar sang the song of creation. This account has no exact counterpart in the nineteenth century records.
WeywotThe sky
In the Minor Planet Center record Weywot is the sky god of Tongva mythology, and the name was chosen by the Tongva. The moon of Quaoar was found with the Hubble Space Telescope in 2006 and received this name in 2009. In the naming account Weywot is the first being Quaoar created.
Tamit and MoarSun and Moon
In the Tongva word list compiled by Reid the Sun appears as Tamit, the Moon as Moar and the stars as Zoot. In the naming account Tamit is named as Grandfather Sun among the beings that came into existence through the song of Quaoar.
The name GabrielinoThe mission period
The Spanish founded the mission of San Gabriel Arcángel in 1771, and the native people tied to the mission were called Gabrielino. Tongva is the name this people used for themselves and is the name preferred today. The mission period was a time in which the language, the beliefs and the ceremonies were largely suppressed.
Canoes and islandsPimu
The Tongva kept up contact with the offshore islands in canoes built from wooden planks, above all with Pimu, the island now called Santa Catalina. The canoe shape in the glyph refers to this seafaring tradition.
The historian consultedMark Acuña
Trujillo and Brown consulted Mark Acuña, historian of the Tongva tribe. Acuña confirmed that the name was suitable, and the Tongva preferred the spelling Qua-o-ar. The discovery team used this spelling without the hyphens.
KwaʼuwarA newer spelling
The Unicode proposal of 2021 refers to the creator as Kwaʼuwar. This spelling is closer to the writing used in the work to revive the Tongva language. In the records of the International Astronomical Union the name of the body has remained Quaoar.
The Tongva todayA living people
The Tongva are a people who still live in the Los Angeles Basin, and they are represented by several separate organisations. They are not a tribe recognised by the US federal government. Work to revive the language and the ceremonies has continued since the late twentieth century.
The archetype of creation by soundSong, word, dance
The idea that the world is brought into being by song, by word or by dance appears in many traditions that are independent of one another. In the Quaoar account creation is told not as a command but as a song and a dance.
A distant ring2023
In 2023 observations of stellar occultations found a ring around Quaoar. The ring lies much farther out than the distance at which theory says a ring cannot survive without breaking up. A second ring was reported in the same year.
Quaoar in modern astrologyNo established reading
The 2016 Unicode proposal by David Faulks notes that Quaoar drew the attention of astrologers in 2002 and that websites and a book were written declaring it the tenth planet. That interest faded after the discovery of Sedna. There is no commonly accepted tradition of interpretation, and it has no link to the classical system of dignities.