The People of the Black Sun (57 page)

Gaha
—The soft wind. She is spoken of as Elder Sister Gaha.

Gahai
—Spectral lights that guide sorcerers as they fly through the air on their evil journeys. Sometimes gahai lead their masters to victims, other times to places where they can find charms.

Hadui
—A violent wind.

Hanehwa
—Skin-beings. Witches sometimes skin their victims, enchant their skins, and force them to do their bidding. Hanehwa warn witches of danger by giving three shouts.

Hatho
—The Frost Spirit.

Haudenosaunee
—The People of the Longhouse, called “Iroquois” by the French.

Ohwachira
—The basic family unit. An ohwachira is a kinship group that traces its descent from a common female ancestor. The ohwachira bestows chieftainship titles, and holds the names of the great people of the past. It bestows those names by raising up the souls of the dead and requickening them in the bodies of newly elected chiefs, adoptees, or other people. In the same way, if a new chief disappoints the ohwachira, after consultation with the clan, it can take back the name, remove the soul, and depose the chief. It is also the sisterhood of ohwachiras that decides when to go to war and when to make peace.

Otkon
—One of the two halves of Spirit Power that inhabit the world. The other is Uki. Don't think of these as good and evil, however. Both powers share equally in light and dark. Otkon and Uki form a unified spiritual universe that must be kept in balance. Otkon has a trickster-like character. It's unpredictable and can be either beneficial or harmful to human beings. Its half of the day lasts from noon to midnight. Otkon is often associated with the Evil-Minded One, the hero twin also known as Flint.

People of the Flint
—The Mohawk nation. However, the word
Mohawk
is an Algonquian term meaning “flesh eaters.” They call themselves the Kanienkahaka, or Ganienkeh, meaning “People of the Flint.”

People of the Hills
—The Onondaga nation. The word
Onondaga
is an anglicized version of their name for themselves,
Onundagaono,
which means “People of the Hills.”

People of the Landing
—The Cayuga nation. Including People of the Landing, several other possible derivations have been offered for the word
Cayuga,
including “People of the Place Where Locusts Were Taken Out,” “People of the Mucky Land,” and “People of the Place Where Boats Are Taken Out.”

People of the Mountain
—The Seneca nation. They call themselves the
Onondowahgah
. Their name can also be translated as “People of the Great Hill.”

People of the Standing Stone
—The Oneida nation. The word
Oneida
may be a rather poor Anglicization of their name for themselves,
Onayotekaono,
meaning “Granite People,” or “People of the Standing Stone.”

Requickening Ceremony
—The raising up of souls for the purpose of placing them in other bodies, such as those of adoptees. This concept does not exactly correspond to the eastern religions' concept of reincarnation. For example, there's no idea of karma to be accounted for. Being reborn is neither punishment, nor reward. Instead, there is strong concept of duty to the People. Only strong souls were requickened, usually within the same maternal lineage. The ceremony was performed in the hopes of easing grief and restoring the spiritual strength of the clans, but a returning soul also had an obligation to help the People in times of crises. Many “Keepings” of the Peacemaker story say that Dekanawida was the returned soul of Tarenyawagon (also Tarachiawagon), the culture hero also known as Sapling, the Good-Minded One, who served as the Creator. Those same traditions identify Atotarho as Sapling's troublesome younger brother, Flint (Tawiscaro/Tawiscaron), who was called the Evil-Minded One. Jigonsaseh, similarly, was sometimes identified as the returned soul of Sky Woman's daughter, the Lynx.

Uki
—One of the two halves of Spirit Power that inhabit the world (see
Otkon
). Uki is never harmful to human beings. Its half of the day lasts from midnight to noon. Uki is often associated with the Good-Minded One, the hero twin also known as Sapling, or Tarenyawagon.

 

Selected Bibliography

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Custer, Jay F.

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Dye, David H.

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Fenton, William N.

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____
.

The Iroquois Eagle Dance: An Offshoot of the Calumet Dance.
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____
.

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.

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