and by other names including Ouiamot, Tobet and Saor,[2] is an important mythological figure of the Mission Indians of coastal Southern California, a group of Takic-speaking peoples, today divided into the Payómkawichum (Luiseño), Tongva (Gabrieliño and Fernandeño), and Acjachemem (Juaneño) peoples.
Wiyot's murder brought death into the world, and as a consequence, the male creator Night divided the first human ancestors into distinct peoples, assigning them languages and territories.
[3] In June 2002, 50000 Quaoar, a large trans-Neptunian object and ringed dwarf planet, was discovered and named after this deity.
This character was first mentioned in a description of the beliefs of the native peoples who were associated with the Mission San Juan Capistrano in accounts written by the Franciscan missionary Gerónimo Boscana in the 1820s.
Some subsequent scholars have characterized Luiseño religion in general, or certain portions of it, or a set of some more widely shared traits, as a Chingichngish cult (DuBois 1908; Kroeber 1925; Moriarty 1969).
John Peabody Harrington (Boscana 1933) thought that Chingichngish might have been a historical figure, but most scholars have interpreted him as a deity.