Seneca myths and folk tales

by Arthur C. Parker

PHONETIC KEY.

a as in father

ā preceding sound, prolonged

ă as in what

ä as in hat

â as in all

ai as in aisle

au as ou in out

c as sh in shall

ç as th in wealth

d pronounced with the tip of the tongue touching the upper teeth, as in enunciating English th in with; the only sound of d employed in writing native words

e as in they

ĕ as in met

f as in waif

g as in gig

h as in hot

i as in pique

ĭ as in pit

k as in kick

n as in run

ñ as ng in ring

o as in note

q as ch in German ich

r slightly trilled; this is its only sound

s as in sop

t pronounced with the tip of the tongue touching the upper teeth, as in enunciating the English th in with; this is its only sound

u as in rule

ŭ as in rut

w as in wit

y as in ye

dj as j in judge

hw as wh in what

tc as ch in church

ⁿ marks nasalized vowels, thus eⁿ, oⁿ, aiⁿ, ĕⁿ, äⁿ, âⁿ

‘ indicates an aspiration or soft emission of breath

’ marks the glottal stop, ä’, ĕⁿ’

t‘h In this combination t and h are separately uttered, as th in the English words hothouse, foothold

I
FUNDAMENTAL FACTORS IN SENECA FOLK-LORE

SENECA MYTHS AND FOLK-TALES

BASIC PREMISES OF SENECA FOLK-LORE.

The myths and legends of the Seneca are built upon certain well recognized and deeply rooted postulates. Each bit of folk-lore must have its consistency adjudged by these elements in order to be credible. Any myth or legend that offended the standards so set would immediately be rejected by the Seneca as spurious. To a large extent the premises of folk-lore are founded on folk-thought, and woe to the innovator who sought to direct his theme from the accepted thought patterns.

Among the basic beliefs upon which the folk-tale is built are the following:

Unseen spirits. Spirits pervade all nature and affect man for good or evil. Their desires and plans must be satisfied by man. There are both good and evil spirits. Spirits may inhabit anything in nature.

Conflict of good and evil spirits. Good spirits are constantly making war upon evil spirits.

Magical power. There is such a thing as orenda or magical power. Such power makes its possessor the master over the natural order of things. This orenda may be acquired in various ways. It may be residual, and therefore an attribute of the individual, or it may be inherent in some charm or fetish. Virtuous persons may be given a good orenda, which is always more powerful in the end than the evil orenda which is possessed by witches and sorcerers.

Transformation. Any being possessing orenda may transform himself into any form,—animate or inanimate, as his orenda gives power. Anything seen in nature may be a temporary or a permanent transformation of a being having orenda. Transformation may be by command or by entering the skin of the creature whose form one desires to assume. Animals having orenda may assume human form and mingle with human beings. A group of people, therefore, may in reality be a transformed group of animals, and likewise with individuals.

All nature is conscious. Everything in the Seneca philosophy lives and is conscious. It is a being and in communication with other parts of nature. Anything in nature may be spoken to and it will hear what one has said. It may be induced to act in one’s behalf.

All living creatures have souls. The Seneca believes that animals have souls that are alike in their nature to the souls of human beings. The hunter, therefore, propitiates the soul of the animal he kills, and explains why he killed it. The souls of friendly animals help man, if man has been courteous, and has properly propitiated them. Souls of evil animals injure men and must be “bought off.” The souls of all creatures return to the Maker of Souls just as man’s does.

Master of souls. There is in the heaven world a Master of life and soul. He allows his subordinate spirits to rule the earth-world and concerns himself generally with his own realm. Souls that return to him are taken apart and readjusted that they may function properly in the immortal realm. Evil is therefore conceived in a measure as a maladjustment of the soul’s parts.

Ghosts. The manes of departed men and animals wander over their familiar haunts and startle men by their “materializations.” Wandering ghosts generally want something and must have their desires satisfied. The evil of the living person is intensified in the ghost. A ghost is the body spirit and not the real psychic personality.

EDWARD CORNPLANTER—SOSONDOWA
Leading chief of the Cattaraugus Wolf Clan and High Priest of the Ganiodaiu religion. Mr. Cornplanter was probably the last of the New York Iroquois who knew by heart every one of the ancient ceremonial rituals. He died in June, 1918, aged 67, and was buried near the Newtown Long House.

Dreams. Dreams are experiences of the soul as it leaves the body during sleep. The dream god guides the soul to its dream experience. Dreams that prompt the individual to certain desires must be interpreted by a chosen person or by volunteer guessers, and the desire must be satisfied, or calamity will befall the dreamer as well as the unsuccessful guesser. Prophetic dreams must guide action and dream demands must not be lightly set aside.

Monsters. There are monsters that men seldom see. These affect the welfare and the destiny of man. They are generally evil and seek to destroy and sometimes to eat human beings.

Wizards. There are such beings as wizards, witches and sorcerers. These beings possess an evil orenda and seek to destroy innocent people.

GODS, MAJOR SPIRITS AND FOLK-BEASTS OF THE SENECA.

1. BEINGS OF THE PRIMAL ORDER.

The first of the God Being was Te‘haoⁿ‘hwĕñdjaiwă’´khoⁿ’ or Earth Holder. It was he who ruled the sky world and lived in the great celestial lodge beneath the celestial tree. As the result of a dream this chief, who also bears the title, Ancient One, was moved to take to himself as a wife a certain maiden, known as Awĕⁿhā´i‘, Mature Flower (Fertile Earth). Mature Flower consented to the betrothal, but due to the embrace of her lover inhaled his breath, and was given a child. The attention she gave this child caused the Ancient One to be moved to jealousy, this emotion being aroused in him through the machinations of the Fire Beast, whose invisibility rendered his work the more subtle. Little is known through mythology of Ancient One, since his field is a celestial one, and he seldom interferes with the doings of men of our present order. Of his unhappy wife, who was cast through the hole made by the uprooting of the celestial tree we learn more.[^[2]]

The wife of the Ancient One was Iageⁿ’´tci‘, also meaning Ancient One (Body). We recognize her in the Huron myths as recorded or mentioned in the Jesuit Relations as Ataentsic (Ataaentsik). In Onondaga this would be Eiă’tăgĕⁿ‘´tci‘. Her story is given in all versions of the creation myth.

Her personal name seldom appears, but Hewitt gives it as Awĕⁿ‘hā´i‘, this referring to her maturity, or ability to bring forth seed. In some versions the Chief casts his wife into the abyss made by uprooting the celestial tree, Gaiⁿiă’´tgä’´hei‘; in others her own curiosity is responsible. The tree in such versions is uprooted as a dream demand and her enraged husband pushes her into the hole made thereby through the crust of the heaven world. After the completion of the earth-world the sky mother returned by way of an etherial path that plainly was visible to her, this having been made by her daughter, the first born and the first to die of earth creatures.

Fire Beast (Gaăs‘ioñdie´t‘hă’), appears to have been one of the important primal beings, and to have exercised a malign influence even upon the inhabitants of the celestial world. He is described as of “sky color” or invisible, and he is only detected at all when he emits streams and flashes of light from his head. When a meteor flashes the Iroquois recognizes the Fire Beast. His appearance is counted as a sign of direful calamity and death.

THE THUNDER SPIRIT
This is the powerful Hihnon, one of the principal spirits in the Seneca pantheon. Drawing by Jesse Cornplanter.

Whirlwind (S‘hagodiiweⁿ‘´gōwā or Hadu’´i’), was also a primal power of great importance. He is the controller of the violent winds, and he takes his name, He-who-defends-us, from his promise to help mankind when threatened by calamity. His symbol is the crooked-mouthed false face. There is also the concept of the four defenders, one for each of the cardinal directions. It was Whirlwind who boasted his power to the Good Mind (Iouskeha) and who had the contest with him of mountain moving. The face became mutilated by the mountain coming too quickly against it, at the command of the Good Mind. Agreeing that he was now a subordinate he agreed furthermore, to drive away disease and pestilence and to defend men-beings, who should be thereafter created, from malign influences. His face carved in wood, after certain propitiatory and invocatory ceremonies, was and still is used by the conservative Iroquois in their ceremonial events, particularly at the mid-winter thanksgiving, when parties of masked figures go from house to house, singing the magical songs deemed potent for this purpose. The common name is Hadu’´i’, but in all ceremonies the full Seneca appellation is given, (Shagodiiwĕⁿ´‘gōwā).

The Thunderer, Hĭ’´noⁿ’, was another of the great beings, but he appears in the second order of mythology, as a servant to Iouskeha. He occupies a high place in the category of Iroquois gods, so high a place that it is an open question whether or not the Great Being whom the Iroquois now address as Hawĕñi´o’ is not identical with the Thunderer, though there is also a recognition of the Thunderer as a separate being. The name Hawĕñi´o’, apparently is derived from owĕñ´nă’, (voice) and i´o’ (good, great, majestic or beautiful). The initial Ha is the masculine sign. The name thus means, He-great-voice. This alludes to the thunder. The Thunderer is a mighty being, the maker of rains. He wrinkles his brow and the thunder rolls, he winks his eyes and lightnings flash like arrows of fire. The Thunderer hates all evil spirits, and he is charged with terrorizing the otgont or malicious dwellers of the under-world to return to their cave. He seeks to slay the under water serpent and all folk-beasts that would use evil magic.

The benificient earth-god was T‘hahoⁿ’hiawă’´koⁿ, the light or elder twin of the Sky Woman’s daughter. He is variously called Iouskeha (Huron), Hă’ni‘go‘´io’, Good Mind, Elder Brother, and Sky Holder. It was he who watched at the grave of his mother, and discovered the food plants. It was he who set forth on the journey “to the East” and obtained from his father the power to rule. He made the earth habitable for man, obtained the mastery over the Thunderer and the Whirlwind, and even made his grandmother, Eiă’tăgĕⁿ‘´tci‘ (Awĕⁿ‘hā´i‘) play the game of plum stones, the result of which should determine who should rule the earth. He animated his plum stone dice and gave them understanding, ordered them to arrange themselves as he directed, and thereby won the highest count in a single throw. This gave him mastery over his evil brother Tawis´karoⁿ (the icy or flinty one), for the grandmother sympathised with this ugly twin brother of his. In the heaven world, T‘hahoⁿ’hiawă’´koⁿ, now lives with his grandmother, in the reunited family of celestial beings, and though he grows very old he has the power of renewing himself at will, and exercises this power over good souls that come into the heaven world. He created man after observing his own reflection in a pool of water, after which he made miniature figures in clay and commanded them to live.

Tawis´karoⁿ, was the second born of the daughter of the Sky Woman. He was of destructive nature, and found his way to life through the axilla of his mother, killing her at birth. His heart was made of ice or of flint (the words are similar). His delight is in destroying living things, especially by freezing. He created all the evil beasts, serpents, insects and birds. He invented thorns, briars, and by kicking at the earth made cliffs and precipices. During his career he stole all the good animals and hid them in a cave; he drove all the birds away. His great feat was in stealing the sun and hiding it in the far southwest. Aided by the fires which his brother, T‘hahoⁿ’hiwă’´koⁿ, and his cohorts secured, the birds and animals were found and the sun was released. This of course typifies the annual triumph of summer over winter, the return of the migrating birds, and the return of the heat of the sun. Tawis´karoⁿ is then confined to his cavern, hence his name Hanis‘he´onoⁿ, meaning He who dwells in the earth. With the coming of the Christian missionaries, Tawiskaro was identified with the Christian devil, (Hă’nigoiĕt´gä‘, bad mind).[^[3]] Strangely, about this time it was the Thunder god, instead of the good-minded Sky Holder, who was metamorphosed into the Great Spirit, Hawĕñi´o’, this name being the Seneca equivalent for Jehovah (God).[^[4]]

Lesser known gods were Ai‘koⁿ’ the Dream god, Haskotă´hiāhāks, the Head Opener, and Deiodă‘sondăi’koⁿ‘, Thick Night. Aikon, caused the dreams which demanded interpretation, and Haskotahiahaks, opened the heads of soul-bodies as they passed over the sky-trail (Milky Way), and examined them for good and evil thoughts, after which he ate the brains.

Cosmic trees. There is a marvelous tree in the center of the heaven world. It bears all manner of fruits and flowers. (See cosmological myth, p. [59].)

There is a great tree in the center of the earth. Its top touches the sky. It grew in the world of the first order and it bore flowers of light. To touch this tree is to acquire great magical power. The Whirlwinds rub their rattles against it and become full of orenda.