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
Tsĭgĕ´! Hĭkayû´[n]l-Une´ga, tsûltâ´histû´[n]
gûlitâ´hĭstani´ga. Nâ´gwa tsûda´ntâ talehĭ´sani´ga.
Sâ´gwa igûnsi´ya ts’skwâlĭ´ udû´nisate´stĭ, ts’su´ltĭ
nige´sû[n]na. Wane´(ĭ) tigi´gage(ĭ) tali´kanĕli´ga.
[U]´[n]talĭ udanû´hĭ tsăgista´‘tĭ.
Hĭkayû´[n]l-Une´ga, _anu´ya uwâtatâ´gĭ agi´stĭ
tătsiskâ´ltane´lûhĭ_. [U]´[n]talĭ u´danû´
_te´tûlskew´si´ga_.
Hĭkayû´[n]l-Une´ga, nû[n]na´(hĭ) kana´tĭ
skwatetâ´stani´ga. Unigwalû´[n]gĭ te´gatû[n]tsi´ga.
Nû[n]â´(hĭ) kana´tĭ tati´kiyû´[n]gwita´watise´stĭ.
Unigwalû´[n]gĭ tigû´[n]watû´tsanû´hĭ.
Hĭkayû´[n]l-Une´ga, Kana´tĭ, sk´salatâ´titege´stĭ,
sa‘ka´ni ginu´t’tĭ nige´sû[n]na. Sgĕ!
_Translation._
THIS IS FOR HUNTING BIRDS.
Listen! O Ancient White, where you dwell in peace I have come to rest.
Now let your spirit arise. Let it (the game brought down) be buried
in your stomach, and may your appetite never be satisfied. The red
hickories have tied themselves together. The clotted blood is your
recompense.
O Ancient White, * * * Accept the clotted blood (?)
O Ancient White, put me in the successful hunting trail. Hang the
mangled things upon me. Let me come along the successful trail with
them doubled up (under my belt). It (the road) is clothed with the
mangled things.
O Ancient White, O Kanati, support me continually, that I may never
become blue. Listen!
_Explanation._
This formula, from A‘yû[n]inĭ’s manuscript, is recited by the
bird-hunter in the morning while standing over the fire at his hunting
camp before starting out for the day’s hunt. A‘yû[n]inĭ stated that
seven blowgun arrows are first prepared, including a small one only a
“hand-length” (awâ´hilû) long. On rising in the morning the hunter,
standing over the fire, addresses it as the “Ancient White.” rubbing
his hands together while repeating the prayer. He then sets out for
the hunting ground, where he expects to spend the day, and on reaching
it he shoots away the short arrow at random, without attempting to
trace its flight. There is of course some significance attached
to this action and perhaps an accompanying prayer, but no further
information upon this point was obtainable. Having shot away the magic
arrow, the hunter utters a peculiar hissing sound, intended to call
up the birds, and then goes to work with his remaining arrows. On all
hunting expeditions it is the regular practice, religiously enforced,
to abstain from food until sunset.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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