After what has been said in elucidation of the theories involved in
the medical formulas, the most important and numerous of the series,
but little remains to be added in regard to the others, beyond what
is contained in the explanation accompanying each one. A few points,
however, may be briefly noted.
The religion of the Cherokees, like that of most of our North American
tribes, is zootheism or animal worship, with the survival of that
earlier stage designated by Powell as hecastotheism, or the worship
of all things tangible, and the beginnings of a higher system in
which the elements and the great powers of nature are deified. Their
pantheon includes gods in the heaven above, on the earth beneath, and
in the waters under the earth, but of these the animal gods constitute
by far the most numerous class, although the elemental gods are
more important. Among the animal gods insects and fishes occupy a
subordinate place, while quadrupeds, birds, and reptiles are invoked
almost constantly. The uktena (a mythic great horned serpent), the
rattlesnake, and the terrapin, the various species of hawk, and the
rabbit, the squirrel, and the dog are the principal animal gods. The
importance of the god bears no relation to the size of the animal,
and in fact the larger animals are but seldom invoked. The spider also
occupies a prominent place in the love and life-destroying formulas,
his duty being to entangle the soul of his victim in the meshes of his
web or to pluck it from the body of the doomed man and drag it way to
the black coffin in the Darkening Land.
Among what may be classed as elemental gods the principal are fire,
water, and the sun, all of which are addressed under figurative
names. The sun is called Une´‛lanû´hĭ, “the apportioner,” just as our
word moon means originally “the measurer.” Indians and Aryans alike,
having noticed how these great luminaries divide and measure day and
night, summer and winter, with never-varying regularity, have given to
each a name which should indicate these characteristics, thus showing
how the human mind constantly moves on along the same channels.
Missionaries have naturally, but incorrectly, assumed this apportioner
of all things to be the suppositional “Great Spirit” of the Cherokees,
and hence the word is used in the Bible translation as synonymous
with God. In ordinary conversation and in the lesser myths
the sun is called Nû´ⁿtâ. The sun is invoked chiefly by the
ball-player, while the hunter prays to the fire; but every important
ceremony--whether connected with medicine, love, hunting, or the ball
play--contains a prayer to the “Long Person,” the formulistic name for
water, or, more strictly speaking, for the river. The wind, the storm,
the cloud, and the frost are also invoked in different formulas.
But few inanimate gods are included in the category, the principal
being the Stone, to which the shaman prays while endeavoring to find a
lost article by means of a swinging pebble suspended by a string; the
Flint, invoked when the shaman is about to scarify the patient with
a flint arrow-head before rubbing on the medicine; and the Mountain,
which is addressed in one or two of the formulas thus far translated.
Plant gods do not appear prominently, the chief one seeming to be the
ginseng, addressed in the formulas as the “Great Man” or “Little Man,”
although its proper Cherokee name signifies the “Mountain Climber.”
A number of personal deities are also invoked, the principal being
the Red Man. He is one of the greatest of the gods, being repeatedly
called upon in formulas of all kinds, and is hardly subordinate to the
Fire, the Water, or the Sun. His identity is as yet uncertain, but he
seems to be intimately connected with the Thunder family. In a curious
marginal note in one of the Gahuni formulas (page 350), it is stated
that when the patient is a woman the doctor must pray to the Red
Man, but when treating a man he must pray to the Red Woman, so that
this personage seems to have dual sex characteristics. Another god
invoked in the hunting songs is Tsu´l’kalû´, or “Slanting Eyes”
(see Cherokee Myths), a giant hunter who lives in one of the great
mountains of the Blue Ridge and owns all the game. Others are the
Little Men, probably the two Thunder boys; the Little People, the
fairies who live in the rock cliffs; and even the De´tsata, a
diminutive sprite who holds the place of our Puck. One unwritten
formula, which could not be obtained correctly by dictation, was
addressed to the “Red-Headed Woman, whose hair hangs down to the
ground.”
The personage invoked is always selected in accordance with the theory
of the formula and the duty to be performed. Thus, when a sickness is
caused by a fish, the Fish-hawk, the Heron, or some other fish-eating
bird is implored to come and seize the intruder and destroy it, so
that the patient may find relief. When the trouble is caused by a
worm or an insect, some insectivorous bird is called in for the same
purpose. When a flock of redbirds is pecking at the vitals of the sick
man the Sparrow-hawk is brought down to scatter them, and when the
rabbit, the great mischief-maker, is the evil genius, he is driven
out by the Rabbit-hawk. Sometimes after the intruder has been thus
expelled “a small portion still remains,” in the words of the formula,
and accordingly the Whirlwind is called down from the treetops to
carry the remnant to the uplands and there scatter it so that it shall
never reappear. The hunter prays to the fire, from which he draws his
omens; to the reed, from which he makes his arrows; to Tsu´l’kalû,
the great lord of the game, and finally addresses in songs the very
animals which he intends to kill. The lover prays to the Spider to
hold fast the affections of his beloved one in the meshes of his web,
or to the Moon, which looks down upon him in the dance. The warrior
prays to the Red War-club, and the man about to set out on a dangerous
expedition prays to the Cloud to envelop him and conceal him from his
enemies.
Each spirit of good or evil has its distinct and appropriate place
of residence. The Rabbit is declared to live in the broomsage on the
hillside, the Fish dwells in a bend of the river under the pendant
hemlock branches, the Terrapin lives in the great pond in the West,
and the Whirlwind abides in the leafy treetops. Each disease animal,
when driven away from his prey by some more powerful animal, endeavors
to find shelter in his accustomed haunt. It must be stated here
that the animals of the formulas are not the ordinary, everyday
animals, but their great progenitors, who live in the upper world
(galû´ⁿlati) above the arch of the firmament.