Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1889-11-30
SOME INDIAN PRAYERS,
The Ethnological Bureau Strikes New
Vein of knowledge.
AN EXPEDITION TO THE CHEROKEE RESERVATION
IN NORTH CAROLINA BRINos RACK REPORTS
OF WONDERFUL DISCOVERIES REGARDING TIE
MYSTERIES OF INDIAN RELIGION.

OF WONDERFUL DISCOVERIES RreARDNG TIKI
MYsrERIEs OF INDIAN RELIGION.
The mass Of fascinating information with
which an expedition sent out from the bureau
Of ethnology here has just returned covers a
branch OF human knowledge hitherto un-
touched by the white man. Students Of race
history have long been eager TO find ont some
thing regarding the prayers of the Cherokee
Indian; but the subject has baffied investiga-
ton hitherto, owing TO the fact that the sup
psications in question are formula known only
to the priests of this people and handed down
by them through sacerdotal generations in
! archaic forms of language unfamiliar to
aboriginal laymen OF today. Now for the first
time collection of these formulas has been
secured, with infinite pains-thanks largely 90
the invention OF a Cherokee alphabet by a
native genins-in writing, with accurate trans
lations, several hundred of them in all. They
possess an inestimable value for the light they
throw over the whole scheme of Cherokee re-
Igion, and whether or not they are charmngly
interesting in themselves you can presently
judge.
WHERE THE RED MEN DWELL
I'm the most mountainous part of western
North Carolina, isolated among the widest and
toughest hills OF the Alleghenies, are 1000
pure-bred Cherokees on a reservation Of 1900
acres" said Mr.. James Mooney, chronological
expert, yesterday. The missionaries claim
that most of them are Christians. but extended
observation has convinced me that very few OF
them do anything mere than profess the white
mans religion. They like to gather at meeting
and crafty their musical instinct by singing
hymns, but that is usually as far as their con-
version carries them. At heart, in nearly all
cases, they remain true TO their ancient faith.
The final test. however, is found in the sick In
dian. When in good health he may be the
most promising convert imaginable, but the
moment he feels indisposed he calls in the ma
tive medicine men, with their charms and in
carnations. The latter address formula in the
ancient ritual language, among other things,
to various animals"
PRAYERS TO NATURE.
And why to animals?" asked The SrAR
reporter.
1T is the custom to address prayers to
| animals in sickness always The Cherokee
religion, you must understand. is a worship of
nature and all her manifestations birds
beasts, fish. water, the sun and MOON the noun
tains, storms, thunder and lightning, and SO
on indefinitely. If the patient has toothache
| Tor instance. the medicine man tells him that il
| Is worm in the tooth, and he prays: %. good
| Squirrel, do come and take out the worm from
this tooth, carry IL away to the dark side of
the mountain, and put it inside of an old dead
log. certain small fish is supposed TO cause
great deal of sickness You see. the fish are
angry at being caught and eaten. and their
| ghosts often come back to torture the people
who devoured them with various complaints
| When person is thus attacked by fish ghost
prayer is addressed to the blue cat who is the
| king of all the fishes, to come and drive ont
the other fish. IL the case is bad. the Red Man.
| the Blue Man, the White Man and the Black
| Man are invoked"
MEANINGS OF CoLoRs
"But who are they?"
"Wen, to explain it, had better begin by tell
ing you that the colors among the Cherokees Gil
mean something. For example. red signifies
| success and power; blue is failure trouble and
desolatlon; white Is peace and happiness. and
| black is death. Also, red is the east-probably
| so named from the glow of the rising sun: black
| Is the west, where the sun dies: blue is the
north, and white IL the south. Nav be the
north is blue because the troublesome cold
comes from thence. and the south white for an
| opposite reason. ANY way, when a Cherokee
desires the death of any enemy, he purchases
the proper formula from a native priest-unless
he prefers to hire the priest 10 pronounce it for
! hlm-and, turning toward the west prays: %,
Black Man, please go and kill so-and-so.' Or.
If he merely wishes the failure or defeat OF an
enemy, he faces toward the north and addresses
his supplcation to the Blue Man. In case he is
anxious to invoke happiness OF power for HIM
self or another, ne prays to the White Man in
the south or the Red Man in the west accord
ingly. When person Is very sick. as was
Just now saying. the priest doctor turns
to the east and prays Now listen
you Red Man who reposes in the east, and hasten
to me; here Is patient who needs your atten-
ton, &c. Next the priest prays 10 the Blue
Man, tine White Man and the Black Man 10
come and help remove the sickness. and the
four powerful spirits together are supposed to
take the disease and throw il into the great
western lakes. Everything among the Chero-
KEGS must go by fours, four beng sacred
number, and in praying to an animal the beast
must be addressed in the four quarters of the
compass. II the dog is invoked, the red dog in
the east, the blue dog in the north, the white
dog IN the south and the black dog in the west
must all be talked TO. Likewise it is with
everything except water and fire, which. being
always at hand, have no distant abiding places"
POETIC MYTHOLOGY.
''Water and fire are worshiped too?"
with great awe. Water is prayed to under
the name of the Long Man, who has his head
in the mountains and his foot in the ocean. To
the Cherokees the river is a live person 90
make me like you,' they say, who are so big
and SO strong that you carry immense logs Vast
distances and no power can resist you' And
fire Is called the Ancient White because IT is
very old, the dead ashes are white and the
flame is white. We don't call fame white, but
they do, their differentiation of colors being
less distinct than ours The red-hot Goals are
the Ancient Red. Lightning and thunder to-
gether they call the Great Red Man. He is
red, you see, because he is powerful red being
the color signifying power. The sun is called
the Measurer because 1t measures time. When
he is in love the Cherokee prays to beautiful
birds, to the river, to the sun, and to the moon
Most frequently he addresses the yelIow-ham-
mer, beseeching it to make him handsome and
attractive to the women. Also he prays to the
red spider-red being symbolical of success
to wind its meshes around the heart of his
loved one. OF the prayer formula used in sup
plicating all these objects and many more /
have brought back with me from North Caro-
lima a very complete collection. They are all
wonderfully poetical. Very prettily imagina-
tive is the prayer addressed to an approaching
storm that threatens the corn crop, which sup
plies their staple food The priest stands at
the corner of the corn patch with one hand up
lifted as If TO warn the storm away.
INVOCATION TO THE STORM
"'You are coming on in a terrible way he
says, and 1 am much afraid of you. But
know you are looking for your wife. Now, she
didn't come this way; she went over that way
and if you will follow her path above the tree
tops yonder you will not oe disturbed. So 90
away and don't interfere with the old woman
And, as he speaks, the priest waves the storm
away and blows with his breath against it,
The old woman he refers to is the corn, SO
called because 1t first sprang from the blood of
an old woman. But any lay Cherokee who
heard the priest refer to the corn as the old
woman would not understand what il meant
such poetical and NEUROLOGICAL terms being a
part of the archaic ritual known only to the