View source for Muut

{{Short description|Cahuilla folklore figure}}
{{Distinguish|Mut}}
'''Muut''' was the personification and messenger of death in the culture of the [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|Native American]] [[Cahuilla]] people of southern [[California]] and northern [[Mexico]], and was usually depicted as an [[owl]] or as the unseen hooting of owls.<ref>{{cite book|last=Bean|first=Lowell John|title=Mukat's People: The Cahuilla Indians of Southern California|year=1974|publisher=University of California Press|page=167}}</ref> He was one of the most active and vividly remembered of the ''nukatem,'' a special classification of beings who were created by [[Mukat]], the Creator figure, in the 'beginning.'<ref>{{cite book|last=Bean|first=Lowell John|title=Mukat's People: The Cahuilla Indians of Southern California|year=1974|publisher=University of California Press|page=165}}</ref> [[Death]] was considered a necessary part of life by the Cahuilla, and thus Muut was seen as more of a [[psychopomp]] than a frightening [[grim reaper]] character. This role was assigned by Mukat, who argued that overpopulation would have dire consequences.
==References==
{{Reflist}}
[[Category:Cahuilla]]
[[Category:Gods of the indigenous peoples of North America]]
[[Category:Death gods]]
[[Category:Psychopomps]]
[[Category:Mythological birds of prey]]
{{NorthAm-myth-stub}}