Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1900-04-23
GODS OF OUR RED MEN,
THE HOME OF ALL INDIAN DEiTIES
is IN THE BLACK HILLS.

Tie Great Spirit Sits Upon the Highest
Mountain, Supposed to Be Harney's
Peak-Ascribe Supernatural Powers to
What They Don't Understand.
THE Indian has many deities.
Il, To him everything is
L "Wakan." The mysterious
and unknown is ruled by the
gods or deities of greater or lesser
'Wakan." Anything that is super
natural, mysterious or surerhuman is
"Wakan."
The Black Hills of South Dakota,
rom an Indian point of view, is the
home of the gods, from whom all
power originates. The wind and the
lightning are sent forth from the dark
recesses of p the mountains and the
very foundations of the hills are made
TO tremble, when the Great Spirit
gives vent to his anger The old In
dian tradition says that the Great
Spirit sits upon the highest mountain
in the Black Hills, supposed to be
Hnneys Peak, and from this exalt-
ed position, he directs the move
nebts of the lesser gods and his own
people. In his pleasant moods, lie
causes the sun to shine, the grass to
grow and the Indian tribes to be at
pegoe with one another. In his an
ery moments, he lets loose the winds
and lightning and the world is made
dark and the children of the Great
Spirit are punished by famine and
death. ... .. .
Many years ago the Great Spirit
kept o white man chained be-
meath the big mountain. The man
tresspassed upon the chosen hunt
ing ground of the children of the
Great Spirit and he was forthwith
captured and made example of before
all other trespassers of the palefaces.
The white man was a giant, whose
footprints in the sands were twenty
feet long and he was SO powerful in
his right arm that he could break the
buffalo's back and could twist from
its roots tho lofty pine; yet the Great
Spirit ruled him. -.....
PRIMITIVE RAINMAKER.
The Great Spirit had good many
lesser deities, who were given power
over animals, and things. Onkteri
was the god OF water. This deity in
outward appearance resembled On OK,
being much larger. A great part of
the religion of the Indians came from
the wakan influence of this god.
There are both male and female, the
former having control of the water and
tho earth beneath the water, and the
latter having an influence over the
land by the side Of the water. When
the god of water wants rain to fall he
lifts his tail and horns to the clouds
and imm ediately the rain falls. Onke-
tri assumes an important part in the
juggling and superstitous beliefs of
the Indians. The medicine men OBJ
tain their supernatural power from
this source. The god and goddess
are mortals and can propagate their
kind. They have power to impart
from their bodies mighty wakan in
huence.
Cha-o-ter-dah is the god of the for
est. His home is at the foot of the
highest mountain and he lives most
of the time in the top of the highest
tree on the mountain-top. His COM
panions are the birds of the air, who
act rs guards and sentinels. When he
wants anything he flies to his perch
in the tree top, which is as smooth as
glass. He calls together his friends
and sends them hither and thither.
He is in constant war with the god of
thunder, Wah-keen-yon. When Wah-
Kenyon passes over the mountain
top, casting here and there his bolts
of lightning, Cha-o-ter dah, the god OF
the forest, enters the water at the foot
of the tree and the Lightning cannot
touch him.
To tho Indian, Wah-keen- is
o mighty bird, and the noise that is
made, which shakes the foundations
of the mountains, is caused by the
big bird flying through the air with
his young ones. The old bird will
not injure the Indians, but the young
birds are foolish and do all the harm
they can. The name Wah- IN -yon
signifies flyer. There are four
varieties of the gods among the Wah-
kenyon. The image of the first one
is that of q great bird, black in color,
with very long beak and four joints
in each pinion. The second variety
is yellow in color, beakless, and also
has four joints in it's pinions. The
fourth god has remarkably long wings,
each of them containing eight joints.
1t is scarlet in color. The fourth god
is blue in color, and has no face, eyes
or ears. Immediately above where
the face should appear is semicircu-
lar line, resembling an inverted half
moon. The Wah kenyon gods live
on the top of q lefty mountain at the
western end of the earth's surface.
Guards stand at the open doors, which |
look out to the four points of the COM
pass. A butterfly stands at the east
door, bear at the west door, at tho
north door q reindeer, and beaver at
the south. The ah-keen-yon are
destructive and are at war with most
of the other gods. The Indians be.
lieye that the fossil remaina of tba