The Sacred Formulas of the Cherokees: Seventh Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1885-1886, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1891, pages 301-398Mooney, James
Religion
The Sacred Formulas of the Cherokees: Seventh Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1885-1886, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1891, pages 301-398
Mooney, James
Cherokee Indians -- Religion; Cherokee language -- Texts; Indians of North America -- Medicine
The measuring-worm (Catharis) is also held to cause rheumatism, from
the resemblance of its motions to those of a rheumatic patient, and
the name of the worm _wahhĭlĭ´_ is frequently applied also to the
disease.
There are formulas to propitiate the slain animals, but these are a
part of the hunting code and can only be noticed here, although it may
be mentioned in passing that the hunter, when about to return to the
settlement, builds a fire in the path behind him, in order that the
deer chief may not be able to follow him to his home.
The disease, figuratively called the intruder (ulsgéta), is regarded
as a living being, and the verbs used in speaking of it show that it
is considered to be long, like a snake or fish. It is brought by the
deer chief and put into the body, generally the limbs, of the hunter,
who at once begins to suffer intense pain. It can be driven out only
by some more powerful animal spirit which is the natural enemy of the
deer, usually the dog or the Wolf. These animal gods live up above
beyond the seventh heaven and are the great prototypes of which the
earthly animals are only diminutive copies. They are commonly located
at the four cardinal points, each of which has a peculiar formulistic
name and a special color which applies to everything in the same
connection. Thus the east, north, west, and south are respectively the
Sun Land, the Frigid Land, the Darkening Land, and Wă´hală´, while
their respective mythologic colors are Red, Blue, Black, and White.
Wáhală is said to be a mountain far to the south. The white or red
spirits are generally invoked for peace, health, and other blessings,
the red alone for the success of an undertaking, the blue spirits to
defeat the schemes of an enemy or bring down troubles upon him, and
the black to compass his death. The white and red spirits are regarded
as the most powerful, and one of these two is generally called upon to
accomplish the final result.
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