Guayota, from Spain: what it is and what people believe

In Guanche belief on Tenerife, Guayota was the chief harmful god, the opponent of the good god Achamán. He was said to take a dog's shape, to dwell within the Teide volcano, and to have seized the sun, Magec, leaving the world dark until Achamán set it free.

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Guanche legend makes Guayota the chief harmful god of Tenerife and rival of Achamán
The tale says he shut the sun, Magec, inside Teide, and the world went dark
He is said to appear as a black dog, with dog demons called tibicenas around him
Mount Teide was held to be one of the passages into the underworld
Hawaiian myth has a parallel in Pele, a goddess tied to Kīlauea's eruptions

What it is

Guayota is the chief harmful god in the mythology of the Guanche, the aboriginal people of Tenerife. Guanche stories set him against Achamán, the good power of the same pantheon, and give him a home within the Teide volcano, named as one of the entry points to the underworld. He is said to take the shape of a black dog and to lead a pack of dog-shaped demons, the tibicenas. The best-known tale makes him a thief on a cosmic scale: he snatched Magec, the sun, and hid it in the mountain, and the world stayed dark until prayer to Achamán brought the light back. Guayota was then locked in Teide, and he survives today as a Canary folklore figure.

Where it comes from

Guayota comes from the mythology of the Guanche, the aboriginal people of Tenerife, one of the Canary Islands. In that body of story he holds a settled place as the destructive counterpart of Achamán, and the island's own landscape carries the legend: the great volcano Teide is told as both his dwelling and his prison, and as a way down to the underworld. The sun itself, in the person of Magec, is the prize in his best-known theft. The figure has outlasted the old belief as a character of Canary folklore, still familiar enough on the islands for local groups, teams and businesses to take his name.

Guayota, drawn and placed

Emblem black, with the feather shape. Drawn from this page, not a photograph.

Living
Revived
Fading
Historical
Legendary
Performed

Standing: Legendary Known from myth, story and legend rather than from recorded practice. This says whether people still do it, not whether it works.

A feather: used in cleansing and blessing in some traditions, worn as a sign of office, and carried as a charm.

Lineage: Guanche mythology of the Canary Islands

Where it sits The tradition it belongs to, and when it is done.

What it is for

In the tales, Guayota stands for the harm held within the volcano: when he acted, the sun was taken and darkness covered everything. The answer in the story is not to bargain with him but to appeal to the good god, Achamán, who frees Magec and shuts the offender back inside Teide. The myth also assigns him a rank among harmful spirits, calling him the master of wicked genies. Told this way, the story ends with the dangerous power contained and the benevolent god shown to answer those who call on him.

Peoples and places

Guayota belongs first to the Guanche, the aboriginal people of Tenerife, and the island's landscape carries his legend: in the stories the volcano Teide is both his home and his prison. Among Canary Islanders today he lives on as a folklore character, and his name is still put to local use, from a pub in Puerto de la Cruz to a firefighters' association in Granadilla de Abona and a folk group. The figure has also travelled: writers and game makers far from the islands have borrowed him to play the villain.

At a glance: who, where and when

Peoples

Guanche Canarians

Belief worlds

Folk and village custom

What people believe

The Guanche world of story, as this legend shows it, holds both a benevolent god, Achamán, and a destructive one, Guayota, with the sun personified as Magec between them. Certain places open onto other worlds: the volcano Teide is named as one of the ways into the underworld. Spirits there have shapes and ranks. Guayota's followers are demons that wear the shape of black dogs, called tibicenas, and he himself is accounted the master of evil genies, meaning spirits. The rules of the myth run both ways: the harmful god can seize the sun and leave the land in night, yet the good god can undo the theft and confine him, and the story ends with Teide holding its prisoner.

Compare and confuse

The same pattern of a harmful spirit living inside a volcano appears far from the Canaries. The clearest parallel named for Guayota is Pele of Hawaiian mythology, a goddess who was believed to dwell in the crater of Kīlauea and whom native Hawaiians held answerable for its eruptions. Within the Canary myths themselves, Guayota is related to Achamán as an opponent and to Magec as captor, and his dog demons, the tibicenas, are a distinct group under his command.

Today

Guayota has moved from old legend into everyday island culture. His name marks a pub in Puerto de la Cruz, a firefighters' association in Granadilla de Abona and a folk group, and a heavy metal band carries it too. Sport has taken it up as well: the Spanish champions of beach ultimate in 2018 and 2019 were called Guayota. In fiction he plays the heavy: he is the main antagonist of Night Broken, a novel by Patricia Briggs from her Mercy Thompson series, the final enemy in the indie video game Gaurodan, and a name checked in the 2015 book The Evil Among Us.

Questions people ask about Guayota

Who is Guayota?

In Guanche mythology, the body of belief of Tenerife's aboriginal people, Guayota is the main harmful deity and the opponent of the good god Achamán. Stories give him the shape of a black dog and rank him above evil genies.

Where is Guayota said to live?

Guanche legend places him inside Mount Teide, the great volcano of Tenerife, and counts that mountain among the entry points to the underworld. After Achamán defeated him, the same stories say, Guayota was locked in the volcano.

What happened to the sun in the story?

The tale says Guayota seized Magec, the sun, and hid it in Teide, so the world was left in darkness. People made their prayers to Achamán, who brought Magec out and shut Guayota in the mountain instead.

What are the tibicenas?

They are the demons said to keep Guayota company. Like him, they were thought to wear the shape of black dogs, and they belong to the same Guanche stories told on Tenerife.

Does Guayota still matter in the Canary Islands?

He is remembered there as a folklore figure. His name is used for a pub, a firefighters' association, a folk group and even sports teams, and he appears as a villain in novels and video games.

Good reading and sources

Where this page comes from

The facts on this page come from the Wikipedia article "Guayota", written by its contributors and used under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence, and from its Wikidata record (CC0). EveryJaadu rewrote the text in its own words, with AI assistance, and compares every page with the article to make sure no passage is copied. It may be reused under the same CC BY-SA 4.0 licence with a link back.

It may contain mistakes. Names and customs differ from one community to the next, and some knowledge is closed to outsiders and left out here. This page describes belief and practice. It does not say that any of it works, it is not a how-to, and it is not medical advice. If something is wrong, tell us. Last refreshed 2026-10-17.

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