The Sacred Formulas of the Cherokees by James Mooney (best ereader for epub .txt) 📖

listen. The relief has been caused to come. Yû!

Listen! You repose on high, O White Spider. Quickly you have brought and laid down the white path. O great ada´wehi, quickly you have brought down the white threads from above. The intruder in the tooth has spoken and it is only a worm. The tormentor has wrapped itself around the root of the tooth. Quickly you have dropped down the white threads, for it is just what you eat. Now it is for you to pick it up. The relief has been caused to come. Yû!

O Ancient White, you have drawn near to hearken, for you have said, “When I shall hear my grandchildren, I shall hold up their heads.” Because you have said it, now therefore you have drawn near to listen. The relief has been caused to come. Yû!

(Prescription)—This is to treat them if there are pains moving about in the teeth. It is only (necessary) to lay on the hands, or to blow, if one should prefer. One may use any kind of a tube, but usually they have the medicine in the mouth. It is the Yellow-rooted Grass (kane´ ska dalâ´nige unaste´tla; not identified.) One must abstain four nights from cooked corn (hominy), and kanâhe´na (fermented corn gruel) is especially forbidden during the same period.

Explanation.

This formula is taken from the manuscript book of Gatigwanasti, now dead, and must therefore be explained from general analogy. The ailment is described as “pains moving about in the teeth”—that is, affecting several teeth simultaneously—and appears to be neuralgia. The disease spirit is called “the intruder” and “the tormentor” and is declared to be a mere worm (tsgâ´ya), which has wrapped itself around the base of the tooth. This is the regular toothache theory. The doctor then calls upon the Red Spider of the Sunland to let down the red threads from above, along the red path, and to take up the intruder, which is just what the spider eats. The same prayer is addressed in turn to the Blue Spider in the north, the Black Spider in the west and the White Spider above (galûn´lati). It may be stated here that all these spirits are supposed to dwell above, but when no point of the compass is assigned, galûn´lati is understood to mean directly overhead, but far above everything of earth. The dweller in this overhead galûn´lati may be red, white, or brown in color. In this formula it is white, the ordinary color assigned spirits dwelling in the south. In another toothache formula the Squirrel is implored to take the worm and put it between the forking limbs of a tree on the north side of the mountain.

Following each supplication to the spider is another addressed to the Ancient White, the formulistic name for fire. The name refers to its antiquity and light-giving properties and perhaps also to the fact that when dead it is covered with a coat of white ashes. In those formulas in which the hunter draws omens from the live coals it is frequently addressed as the Ancient Red.

The directions are not explicit and must be interpreted from analogy. “Laying on the hands” refers to pressing the thumb against the jaw over the aching tooth, the hand having been previously warmed over the fire, this being a common method of treating toothache. The other method suggested is to blow upon the spot (tooth or outside of jaw?) a decoction of an herb described rather vaguely as “yellow-rooted grass” either through a tube or from the mouth of the operator. Igawĭ´, a toothache specialist, treats this ailment either by pressure with the warm thumb, or by blowing tobacco smoke from a pipe placed directly against the tooth. Hominy and fermented corn gruel (kanâhe´na) are prohibited for the regular term of four nights, or, as we are accustomed to say, four days, and special emphasis is laid upon the gruel tabu.

The prayer to the Spider is probably repeated while the doctor is warming his hands over the fire, and the following paragraph to the Ancient White (the Fire) while holding the warm thumb upon the aching spot. This reverses the usual order, which is to address the fire while warming the hands. In this connection it must be noted that the fire used by the doctor is never the ordinary fire on the hearth, but comes from four burning chips taken from the hearth fire and generally placed in an earthen vessel by the side of the patient. In some cases the decoction is heated by putting into it seven live coals taken from the fire on the hearth.

UNAWA STÎ EGWA (ADANÛnWÂTÏ). (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) Sgĕ! Galû´nlatĭ´ hinehi´ hinehi´yû hinida´we, utsinâ´wa adûnniga 12 12 22 34 33 566—Hayĭ´! (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) Sgĕ! Unwadâ´hi hinehi´, hinehi´yû hinida´we, utsinâ´wa adûnni´ga 12 12 22 34 33 566—Hayĭ´!

(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) Sgĕ! Nâtsihi´ hinehi´ hinehi´yû hinida´we utsinâ´wa adûnni´ga 12 12 22 34 33 566—Hayĭ´! (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) Sgĕ! Amâyi´ hinehi´, hinehi´yû hinida´we utsinâ´wa adûnni´ga 12 12 22 33 33 566—Hayĭ´!

Sgĕ! Ha-nâ´gwa hatû´nngani´ga, Agalu´ga Tsûsdi´ga, hida´wĕhĭ, â´tali tsusdiga´hĭ duda´w‘satû´n ditsûldâ´histĭ. (Hida´wĕhĭ, gahu´stĭ tsanu´lûnhûnsgĭ´ nige´sûnna.) Ha-nâ´gwa da´tûlehûngû´. Usdi´gi(yu) utiya´stanûn´(hĭ) (higese´i). (Hûn)hiyala´gistani´ga igâ´tĭ usdigâ´hĭ usa´hĭlagĭ´ Igâtu´ltĭ nûnnâ´hĭ wĭte´tsatănûn´ûnsĭ´. A´ne´tsâge´ta getsatûnĕhĭ nûngûlstani´ga igûn´wûlstanita´sti-gwû. Ati´gale´yata tsûtû´neli´ga. Utsĭnâ´wa 11 nigûntisge´stĭ.

Sgĕ! Ha-nâ´gwa hûnhatû´ngani´ga, Agalu´ga Hegwahigwû´. ´talĭ tsegwâ´hĭ duda´w‘satûn iyûnta ditsûldâ´histĭ. Agalu´ga He´gwa, hausĭnu´lĭ da´tûlehûngû. Usdi´giyu utiya´stanû´nhĭ. Hiyala´gistani´ga ulsge´ta igâ´t-egwâ´hĭ) usa´hĭlagĭ´. (Igat-(egwâ´hĭ iyûn´ta nûnnâ´hĭ wĭtetsatanû´nûnsĭ´. A´ne´tsâge´ta getsatûne´litise´sti igûn´wûlstanita´sti-gwû. Utsĭnâ´wa-gwû nutatanûnta. Nigagĭ´ Yû!

(Degâsi´sisgû´nĭ)—Unawa´stĭ e´gwa u´nitlûngâ´ĭ. Ta´ya gû´ntatĭ, ditsa´tista´‘ti. Tsâ´l-agayû´nlĭ yă´hă ulû´nkwati-gwû nasgwû´.

Translation. TO TREAT THE GREAT CHILL.

Listen! On high you dwell, On high you dwell—you dwell, you dwell. Forever you dwell, you anida´we, forever you dwell, forever you dwell. Relief has come—has come. Hayĭ!

Listen! On Ûnwadâ´hĭ you dwell, On Ûnwadâhĭ you dwell—you dwell, you dwell. Forever you dwell, you anida´we, forever you dwell, forever you dwell. Relief has come—has come. Hayĭ!

Listen! In the pines you dwell, In the pines you dwell—you dwell, you dwell. Forever you dwell, you anida´we, forever you dwell, forever you dwell. Relief has come—has come. Hayĭ!

Listen! In the water you dwell, In the water you dwell, you dwell, you dwell. Forever you dwell, you anida´we, forever you dwell, forever you dwell. Relief has come—has come. Hayiĭ!

Listen! O now you have drawn near to hearken, O Little Whirlwind, O ada´wehi, in the leafy shelter of the lower mountain, there you repose. O ada´wehi, you can never fail in anything. Ha! Now rise up. A very small portion [of the disease] remains. You have come to sweep it away into the small swamp on the upland. You have laid down your paths near the swamp. It is ordained that you shall scatter it as in play, so that it shall utterly disappear. By you it must be scattered. So shall there be relief.

Listen! O now again you have drawn near to hearken, O Whirlwind, surpassingly great. In the leafy shelter of the great mountain there you repose. O Great Whirlwind, arise quickly. A very small part [of the disease] remains. You have come to sweep the intruder into the great swamp on the upland. You have laid down your paths toward the great swamp. You shall scatter it as in play so that it shall utterly disappear. And now relief has come. All is done. Yû!

(Prescription.)—(This is to use) when they are sick with the great chill. Take a decoction of wild cherry to blow upon them. If you have Tsâ´l-agayû´nlĭ ("old tobacco"—Nicotiana rustica) it also is very effective.

Explanation.

Unawa´stĭ, “that which chills one,” is a generic name for intermittent fever, otherwise known as fever and ague. It is much dreaded by the Indian doctors, who recognize several varieties of the disease, and have various theories to account for them. The above formula was obtained from A‘yû´nni (Swimmer), who described the symptoms of this variety, the “Great Chill,” as blackness in the face, with alternate high fever and shaking chills. The disease generally appeared in spring or summer, and might return year after year. In the first stages the chill usually came on early in the morning, but came on later in the day as the disease progressed. There might be more than one chill during the day. There was no rule as to appetite, but the fever always produced an excessive thirst. In one instance the patient fainted from the heat and would even lie down in a stream to cool himself. The doctor believed the disease was caused by malicious tsgâ´ya, a general name for all small insects and worms, excepting intestinal worms. These tsgâ´ya—that is, the disease tsgâ´ya, not the real insects and worms—are held responsible for a large number of diseases, and in fact the tsgâ´ya doctrine is to the Cherokee practitioner what the microbe theory is to some modern scientists. The tsgâ´ya live in the earth, in the water, in the air, in the foliage of trees, in decaying wood, or wherever else insects lodge, and as they are constantly being crushed, burned or otherwise destroyed through the unthinking carelessness of the human race, they are continually actuated by a spirit of revenge. To accomplish their vengeance, according to the doctors, they “establish towns” under the skin of their victims, thus producing an irritation which results in fevers, boils, scrofula and other diseases.

The formula begins with a song of four verses, in which the doctor invokes in succession the spirits of the air, of the mountain, of the forest, and of the water. Galûnlatĭ, the word used in the first verse, signifies, as has been already explained, “on high” or “above everything,” and has been used by translators to mean heaven. Ûnwadâ´hĭ in the second verse is the name of a bald mountain east of Webster, North Carolina, and is used figuratively to denote any mountains of bold outline. The Cherokees have a tradition to account for the name, which is derived from Ûnwadâ´lĭ, “provision house.” Nâ´tsihĭ´ in the third verse signifies “pinery,” from nâ´‘tsĭ, “pine,” but is figuratively used to denote a forest of any kind.

In the recitation which follows the song, but is used only in serious cases, the doctor prays to the whirlwind, which is considered to dwell among the trees on the mountain side, where the trembling of the leaves always gives the first intimation of its presence. He declares that a small portion of the disease still remains, the spirits invoked in the song having already taken the rest, and calls upon the whirlwind to lay down a path for it and sweep it away into the swamp on the upland, referring to grassy marshes common in the small coves of the higher mountains, which, being remote from the settlements, are convenient places to which to banish the disease. Not satisfied with this, he goes on to direct the whirlwind to scatter the disease as it scatters the leaves of the forest, so that it shall utterly disappear. In the Cherokee formula the verb a‘ne´tsâge´ta means literally “to play,” and is generally understood to refer to the ball play, a´ne´tsâ, so that to a Cherokee the expression conveys the idea of catching up the disease and driving it onward as a player seizes the ball and sends it spinning through the air from between his ball sticks. Niga´gĭ is a solemn expression about equivalent to the Latin consummatum est.

The doctor beats up some bark from the trunk of the wild cherry and puts it into water together with seven coals of fire, the latter being intended to warm the decoction. The leaves of Tsâl-agayû´nli (Indian tobacco—Nicotiana rustica) are sometimes used in place of the wild cherry bark. The patient is placed facing the sunrise, and the doctor, taking the medicine in his mouth, blows it over the body of the sick man. First, standing between the patient and the sunrise and holding the medicine cup in his hand, he sings the first verse in a