This song, obtained from A’yû´nini in connection with the Cherokee story of the Origin of the Bear, as already mentioned, is sung by the bear hunter, in order to attract the bears, while on his way from the camp to the place where he expects to hunt during the day.
Cherokee Treatment for Snake Bites: This Is To Treat Them If They Are Bitten By A Snake. 1. Dûnu´wa, dûnu´wa, dûnu´wa, dûnu´wa, dûnu´wa, dûnu´wa. Listen! Ha! It is only a common frog which has passed by and put it (the intruder) into you. 2. Dayuha, dayuha, dayuha, dayuha, dayuha. Listen! Ha! It is only an Usu´’gi which has passed by and put it into you. (Prescription.)-Now this at the beginning is a song. One should say it twice and also say the second line twice. Rub tobacco (juice) on the bite for some time, or if there be no tobacco … Read more
This short formula, obtained from Â’wani´ta, is recited by the hunter while taking aim.
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 characters invented by Sikwâ´ya (Sequoyah) in 1821, and were obtained, with the explanations, either from the writers themselves or from their surviving relatives.