Before the arrival of the colonizers in Uruguay, near Lake Negra, a Guaraní tribe lived, surviving through hunting and fishing. Among the tribe members, there was a boy, Butiá Yatay, who every afternoon went to observe the sky and especially the god Tupá, the sun. Throughout the day, Tupá traversed the heavens. The little boy was intrigued by how Tupá was born and died each day at sunset.
Butiá sought an answer to his concern, and he thought that, just as in the tribe where subordinates sat around the Great Chief, Tupá, he was probably sitting at the center on his throne, while the stars and the moon rotated around him.
Batiá told his parents what he thought about Tupá, the stars, and the moon; but his worried parents advised the young Guaraní not to repeat such things, because Tupá could get angry and curse him.
One day, Batiá saw something approaching from the horizon dragged by the sea waters, and when it reached the shore, he realized it was an unseen tree before, a palm tree with red fruits, which, upon tasting, he found to be as sweet as honey.
Butiá Yatay made a decision, collected all the fruits from the palm tree, and returned to the tribe. He said goodbye to his parents and started a journey following the sun. Along all the paths he traveled, palm trees began to grow, germinated from the seeds of the fruits that Butiá dropped.
Butiá's parents waited in vain for the young Guaraní's return; until one afternoon, they saw a palm tree arriving at the shore, with the boy’s headband among its branches. From that moment, the tribe called that palm tree Butiá Yatai.
