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
When it becomes known that a man is dangerously sick the witches from
far and near gather invisibly about his house after nightfall to worry
him and even force their way in to his bedside unless prevented by the
presence of a more powerful shaman within the house. They annoy the
sick man and thus hasten his death by stamping upon the roof and
beating upon the sides of the house; and if they can manage to get
inside they raise up the dying sufferer from the bed and let him fall
again or even drag him out upon the floor. The object of the witch in
doing this is to prolong his term of years by adding to his own life
as much as he can take from that of the sick man. Thus it is that
a witch who is successful in these practices lives to be very old.
Without going into extended details, it may be sufficient to state
that the one most dreaded, alike by the friends of the sick man and by
the lesser witches, is the Kâ´lana-ayeli´skĭ or Raven Mocker, so
called because he flies through the air at night in a shape of fire,
uttering sounds like the harsh croak of a raven.
The formula here given is short and simple as compared with some
others. There is evidently a mistake in regard to the Red Man, who is
here placed in the north, instead of in the east, as it should be.
The reference to the arrows will be explained further on. Purple,
mentioned in the second paragraph, has nearly the same symbolic
meaning as blue, viz: Trouble, vexation and defeat; hence the Purple
Man is called upon to frustrate the designs of the witch.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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