The sacred formulas here given are selected from a collection of about six hundred, obtained on the Cherokee reservation in North Carolina in 1887 and 1888, and covering every subject pertaining to the daily life and thought of the Indian, including medicine, love, hunting, fishing, war, self-protection, destruction of enemies, witchcraft, the crops, the council, the ball play, etc., and, in fact, embodying almost the whole of the ancient religion of the Cherokees. The original manuscripts, now in the possession of the Bureau of Ethnology, were written by the shamans of the tribe, for their own use, in the Cherokee alphabet characters invented by Sikwâ´ya (Sequoyah) in 1821, and were obtained, with the explanations, either from the writers themselves or from their surviving relatives.
Some of these manuscripts are known to be at least thirty years old, and many are probably older. The medical formulas of all kinds constitute perhaps one-half of the whole number, while the love charms come next in number, closely followed by the songs and prayers used in hunting and fishing. The great number of love charms will doubtless be a surprise to those who have been educated in the old theory that the Indian is insensible to the attractions of woman. The comparatively small number of war formulas is explained by the fact that the last war in which the Cherokees, as a tribe, were engaged on their own account, closed with the Revolutionary War period, so that these things were well nigh forgotten before the invention of the alphabet, a generation later. The Cherokees who engaged in the Creek War and the late American Civil War fought in the interests of the whites, and their leaders were subordinated to white officers, hence there was not the same opportunity for the exercise of shamanistic rites that there would have been had Indians alone been concerned. The prayers for hunting, fishing, and the ball play being in more constant demand, have been better preserved.
In all tribes that still retain something of their ancient organization we find this sacred knowledge committed to the keeping of various secret societies, each of which has its peculiar ritual with regular initiation and degrees of advancement. From this analogy we may reasonably conclude that such was formerly the case with the Cherokees also, but by the breaking down of old customs consequent upon their long contact with the whites and the voluntary adoption of a civilized form of government in 1827, all traces of such society organization have long since disappeared, and at present each priest or shaman is isolated and independent, sometimes confining himself to a particular specialty, such as love or medicine, or even the treatment of two or three diseases, in other cases broadening his field of operations to include the whole range of mystic knowledge.
It frequently happens, however, that priests form personal friendships and thus are led to divulge their secrets to each other for their mutual advantage. Thus when one shaman meets another who he thinks can probably give him some valuable information; he says to him, “Let us sit down together.” This is understood by the other to mean, “Let us tell each other our secrets.” Should it seem probable that the seeker after knowledge can give as much as he receives, an agreement is generally arrived at, the two retire to some convenient spot secure from observation, and the first party begins by reciting one of his formulas with the explanations. The other then reciprocates with one of his own, unless it appears that the bargain is apt to prove a losing one, in which case the conference comes to an abrupt ending.
It is sometimes possible to obtain a formula by the payment of a coat, a quantity of cloth, or a sum of money. Like the Celtic Druids of old, the candidate for the priesthood in former times found it necessary to cultivate a long memory, as no formula was repeated more than once for his benefit. It was considered that one who failed to remember after the first hearing was not worthy to be accounted a shaman. This task, however, was not so difficult as might appear on first thought, when once the learner understood the theory involved, as the formulas are all constructed on regular principles, with constant repetition of the same set of words. The obvious effect of such a regulation was to increase the respect in which this sacred knowledge was held by restricting it to the possession of a chosen few.
Although the written formulas can be read without difficulty by any Cherokee educated in his own language, the shamans take good care that their sacred writings shall not fall into the hands of the laity or of their rivals in occult practices, and in performing the ceremonies the words used are uttered in such a low tone of voice as to be unintelligible even to the one for whose benefit the formula is repeated. Such being the case, it is in order to explain how the sacred formulas of the Cherokees were obtained.
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Sacred Formulas of the Cherokees
- The Cherokee Alphabet
- The Manuscripts
- The Kanâhe´ta Ani-Tsa´lagi Eti or Ancient Cherokee Formulas
- The Cherokee Religion
- Myth of the origin of disease and medicine
- Cherokee Theory of Disease, Animals, Ghosts, Witches
- Plants Used in Cherokee Medicine
- Cherokee Medical Practice
- Cherokee Indian Hygiene and Medicine
- Shamans in Cherokee Culture
- Ceremonies for Gathering Plants and Preparing Medicine
- The Cherokee gods and their abiding places
- Color symbolism
- Importance attached to names
- Language of the formulas
- Medicine
- To treat the crippler (rheumatism) – from Gahuni
- Song and Prescription for Snake Bites – from Gahuni
- When something is causing something to eat them (worms) – Gahuni and A’wanita
- For moving pains in the teeth (neuralgia?) – Gatigwanasti
- Song and prayer for the great chill – A’yûnini
- To make children jump down (child birth) – A’yûnini and Takwatihi
- Song and prayer for the black yellowness (biliousness) – A’yûnini
- To treat for ordeal diseases (witchcraft) – A’yûnini
- Prayers and Songs
- Concerning hunting – A’yûnini
- For hunting birds – A’yûnini
- To shoot dwellers in the wilderness – A’wanita
- Bear song – A’yûnini
- For catching large fish – A’yûnini
- Concerning living humanity – Gatigwanasti
- For going to water – Gatigwanasti
- Yûnwehi song for painting – Gatigwanasti
- Love Charms
- Cherokee Formula to Attract and Fix the Affections – A’yûnini
- Cherokee Formula for Separation of Lovers – A’yûnini
- Cherokee Formula to Fix the Affections – Gatigwanasti
- Miscellaneous
- To shorten a night goer on this side – A’yûnini
- To find lost articles – Gatigwanasti
- To frighten away a storm – A’yûnini
- To help warriors-A´wanita
- To destroy life (ceremony with beads) – A’yûnini
- To take to water for the ball play – A’yûnini