MANĬʹTOWŬK OF THE FOUR DIRECTIONS
The Lenape now in Oklahoma believe that when the earth was created, and everything finished, the Creator gave the four quarters of the earth to four powerful beings, or manĭʹtowŭk, whose duty it was to take care of these regions. These personages are the cause of the winds which blow from the different directions, with the exception of the tornado, which is thought to have a different origin. In the winter, it is said that the manĭʹtowŭk of the north and the south are playing the game of bowl and dice, with alternating fortunes. When the north wind is successful it is cold for a long time, until the south wind wins again. These manĭʹtowŭk are called Moxhomsaʹ Wähänjioʹpŭng‛, Grandfather at the East; No‛ʹoma Cawaneʹyŭng‛, Grandmother at the South; Moxhomsaʹ Eliosiʹgak, Grandfather at the West; and Moxhomsaʹ Lowaneʹyŭng‛, Grandfather at the North, the expression endalŭn towiʹyŭn, said to mean “who has charge of it” being frequently added after the name.
These are mentioned in the ritual of the Annual Ceremony, and the people often pray to them when gathering herbs or preparing medicines, at the same time offering tobacco.
The earliest record of this belief thus far found dates from 1616, and while it does not concern the Lenape proper, it illustrates a similar notion among a cognate people in Virginia. This is in Strachey’s work,[15] in which he states, “The other four [gods] have no visible shape, but are indeed the four winds, which keep the four corners of the earth.” Brainerd[16] mentions the same belief as being an old one among the Indians he knew, who were mainly Lenape, and as this was in 1745 we have at least a respectable antiquity established for “Our Grandparents at the Four Directions.” Loskiel also mentions them.[17]
THE SUN
To the Sun the Creator gave the duty of providing light for the people. The Unami say that he is a very powerful manĭʹto, and call him Gĭckokwiʹta. They speak of him as always clothed in the finest of deerskin garments, with his face handsomely painted, and wearing red feathers in his hair. Every day he travels across the heavens from east to west, stopping for a little while at mid-day, then going on. At night he comes back under the earth. The Minsi, according to James Wolf, called him Kiʹzho or Kiʹzhox, and Gickonĭkiʹzho is another Unami form of the name. When praying to the Sun, the Lenape usually addressed him as “Elder Brother.”
Little is found in early writings concerning the worship of the Sun, a mere mention in Brainerd,[18] and Loskiel,[19] by whom he is called “the sun or the god of the day.”
THE MOON
None of my Lenape informants had much to say of the Moon, except that it was regarded as the manĭʹto charged with the duty of supplying light by night, and that it was addressed, like the Sun, as Elder Brother. It is mentioned as a god, and called the “night sun” by Loskiel.[20] This is expressed by the Unami name Piskeʹwenikiʹzho.