Indigenous Peoples and Franciscan Sources: Gender and Ancestor Veneration among the Timucua of Spanish Florida

Gender played a key role the interaction between the living and the dead and the gods within Timucuan cosmology. The transformation from life to death was guided by two spirit persons, who embodied opposite ideas: man/woman, life/death, sacred/profane. Timucuan women maintained the connections between clans and their ancestors through feeding rituals and blood sacrifice. Moreover, the blood of Timucuan women served as a link between humanity and the gods.

Tamara Spike, North Georgia College and State University