I’itoi Ki

Listen, I’m no expert trying to impart Native American wisdom here. I’m just in love.

The Man in the Maze is an emblem of the Tohono O’odham Nation of Southern Arizona (formerly known as the Papago Indians). The man is I’itoi, a god who lives in a cave below Baboquivari Peak, a sacred place within the territory of the TO Nation where the Creator lives.

This labyrinth is believed by the Akimel O’odham (River People) and Tohono O’odham (TO) (Desert People) to be the maze of life - the complicated and difficult way a person must walk to find happiness and peace at the center.

Some people think the center is death, and some people think I’itoi is exiting the maze, going from darkness to light, but that’s not the TO belief. He is entering, going through the physical world, to find his own soul, back to Creator. I’itoi means Creator, and Ki means house. So to the Creator’s house.

For more TO and Papago stories:

The University of Arizona’s South Corner of Time

A Pima Past by Anna Moore Shaw

Sharing the Desert: The Tohono O’odham in History by Winston Erickson (a class resource of mine and I highly recommend)