The Sacred Formulas of the Cherokees Part 5

1. _Dnuwa_, dnuwa, dnuwa, dnuwa, dnuwa, dnuwa (_song_).

Sge! Ha-Walsi-gw ts[n]l[n]taniga.

2. _Dayuha_, dayuha, dayuha, dayuha dayuha (_song_).

Sge! Ha-_Usugi_-gw ts[n]-l[n]-taniga.

(Degsisisg[n]i).--Kangita nyga hia dilentisg[n]i. Tali ignkwtati, le taline tsutan[n]na nasgw tli ignkwtati. Tsla agan[n]lieski tsla yikanig[n]gi watsila-gw gan[n]liyeti unisklts[n]i. Nki nagadestisgi agan[n]liesg[n]i. Akskni gadestati, nki nagade sta h[n]tsatasgi.

Hia-n inat aktisi udesti yignka, naski-n tsagadlagisgi iyusti gatg[n]i.

_Translation._

THIS IS TO TREAT THEM IF THEY ARE BITTEN BY A SNAKE.

1. Dnuwa, dnuwa, dnuwa, dnuwa, dnuwa, dnuwa.

Listen! Ha! It is only a common frog which has pa.s.sed by and put it (the intruder) into you.

2. Dayuha, dayuha, dayuha, dayuha, dayuha.

Listen! Ha! It is only an _Usugi_ which has pa.s.sed 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 just rub on saliva once. In rubbing it on, one must go around four times. Go around toward the left and blow four times in a circle. This is because in lying down the snake always coils to the right and this is just the same (_lit._ means like) as uncoiling it.

_Explanation._

This is also from the ma.n.u.script book of Gahuni, deceased, so that no explanation could be obtained from the writer. The formula consists of a song of two verses, each followed by a short recitation. The whole is repeated, according to the directions, so as to make four verses or songs; four, as already stated, being the sacred number running through most of these formulas. Four blowings and four circuits in the rubbing are also specified. The words used in the songs are sometimes composed of unmeaning syllables, but in this case dnuwa and dayuha seem to have a meaning, although neither the interpreter nor the shaman consulted could explain them, which may be because the words have become altered in the song, as frequently happens. Dnuwa appears to be an old verb, meaning it has penetrated, probably referring to the tooth of the reptile. These medicine songs are always sung in a low plaintive tone, somewhat resembling a lullaby. Usugi also is without explanation, but is probably the name of some small reptile or batrachian.

As in this case the cause of the trouble is evident, the Indians have no theory to account for it. It may be remarked, however, that when one dreams of being bitten, the same treatment and ceremonies must be used as for the actual bite; otherwise, although perhaps years afterward, a similar inflammation will appear on the spot indicated in the dream, and will be followed by the same fatal consequences. The rattlesnake is regarded as a supernatural being or adawehi, whose favor must be propitiated, and great pains are taken not to offend him. In consonance with this idea it is never said among the people that a person has been bitten by a snake, but that he has been scratched by a brier. In the same way, when an eagle has been shot for a ceremonial dance, it is announced that a s...o...b..rd has been killed, the purpose being to deceive the rattlesnake or eagle spirits which might be listening.

The a.s.sertion that it is only a common frog or only an Usugi brings out another characteristic idea of these formulas. Whenever the ailment is of a serious character, or, according to the Indian theory, whenever it is due to the influence of some powerful disease spirit the doctor always endeavors to throw contempt upon the intruder, and convince it of his own superior power by a.s.serting the sickness to be the work of some inferior being, just as a white physician might encourage a patient far gone with consumption by telling him that the illness was only a slight cold. Sometimes there is a regular scale of depreciation, the doctor first ascribing the disease to a rabbit or groundhog or some other weak animal, then in succeeding paragraphs mentioning other still less important animals and finally declaring it to be the work of a mouse, a small fish, or some other insignificant creature. In this instance an ailment caused by the rattlesnake, the most dreaded of the animal spirits, is ascribed to a frog, one of the least importance.

In applying the remedy the song is probably sung while rubbing the tobacco juice around the wound. Then the short recitation is repeated and the doctor blows four times in a circle about the spot. The whole ceremony is repeated four times. The curious directions for uncoiling the snake have parallels in European folk medicine.

G[n]WANIGIST'I ADANU[n]WTI.

Sge! Ha-tsidaweiyu, gahusti aginlti niges[n]na.

G[n]gwadaganaddiy tsidaweiyu. Ha-Wahuhu-gw hitagusgastanehei. Ha-ngwa hukikah[n]

ha-dusugahi diges[n]i, iy[n]ta w[n]kidhistaniga.

Sge! Ha-tsidaweiyu, gahusti aginulti niges[n]na.

G[n]gwadaganaddiy tsidaweiyu. Ha-Uguku-gw hitagusgastanehei udhiyu tagusgastanehei.

Ha-nagwadina h[n]kikah[n]n. Ha-nnhi digesu[n]i iy[n]ta w[n]kidhistaniga.

Sge! Ha-tsidaweiyu, gahusti aginulti niges[n]na.

G[n]gwadaganaddiy tsidaweiyu. Ha-Tsistu-gw hitagusgastaneheiudhiyu tagusgastanehei.

Ha-ngwadina h[n]kikah[n]n. Ha-sun[n]dasi iy[n]ta kaneskawdihi diges[n]i, w[n]kidhistaniga.

Sge! Ha-tsidaweiyu, gahusti aginulti niges[n]na.

G[n]gwadaganaddiy tsidaweiyu. Ha-Detsata-gw (hi)tagusgastanehei udhiyu tagusgastanehei.

Ha-ngwadina h[n]kikah[n]a. Ha-udtaleta diges[n]i, iy[n]ta w[n]kidhistaniga.

(Degsisisg[n]i)--Hia-skini unsdiya dikan[n]wti tsanatsayihi tsaniskaihai; g[n]wanigistai hiandisgai. Ama dtsatistisgi nki tsus.h.i.+ta dikan[n]wti Ulsinidena dakan[n]wisgi. U[n]tsa iy[n]ta wituninidasti yigesi.

_Translation._

TO TREAT THEM WHEN SOMETHING IS CAUSING SOMETHING TO EAT THEM.

Listen! Ha! I am a great adawehi, I never fail in anything. I surpa.s.s all others--I am a great adawehi. Ha! It is a mere screech owl that has frightened him. Ha! now I have put it away in the laurel thickets. There I compel it to remain.

Listen! Ha! I am a great adawehi, I never fail in anything. I surpa.s.s all others--I am a great adawehi. Ha! It is a mere hooting owl that has frightened him. Undoubtedly that has frightened him. Ha!

At once I have put it away in the spruce thickets. Ha! There I compel it to remain.

Listen! Ha! I am a great adawehi, I never fail in anything. I surpa.s.s all others--I am a great adawehi. Ha! It is only a rabbit that has frightened him. Undoubtedly that has frightened him. Ha!

Instantly I have put it away on the mountain ridge. Ha! There in the broom sage I compel it to remain.

Listen! Ha! I am a great adawehi, I never fail in anything. I surpa.s.s all others--I am a great adawehi. Ha! It is only a mountain sprite that has frightened him. Undoubtedly that has frightened him.

Ha! Instantly I have put it away on the bluff. Ha! There I compel it to remain.

(Prescription)--Now this is to treat infants if they are affected by crying and nervous fright. (Then) it is said that something is causing something to eat them. To treat them one may blow water on them for four nights. Doctor them just before dark. Be sure not to carry them about outside the house.

_Explanation._

The Cherokee name for this disease is Gu[n]wanigisti, which signifies that something is causing something to eat, or gnaw the vitals of the patient. The disease attacks only infants of tender age and the symptoms are nervousness and troubled sleep, from which the child wakes suddenly crying as if frightened. The civilized doctor would regard these as symptoms of the presence of worms, but although the Cherokee name might seem to indicate the same belief, the real theory is very different.

Cherokee mothers sometimes hush crying children, by telling them that the screech owl is listening out in the woods or that the Detsata--a malicious little dwarf who lives in caves in the river bluffs--will come and get them. This quiets the child for the time and is so far successful, but the animals, or the Detsata, take offense at being spoken of in this way, and visit their displeasure upon the _children born to the mother afterward_. This they do by sending an animal into the body of the child to gnaw its vitals. The disease is very common and there are several specialists who devote their attention to it, using various formulas and prescriptions. It is also called atawinehi, signifying that it is caused by the dwellers in the forest, i.e., the wild game and birds, and some doctors declare that it is caused by the revengeful comrades of the animals, especially birds, killed by the father of the child, the animals tracking the slayer to his home by the blood drops on the leaves. The next formula will throw more light upon this theory.

In this formula the doctor, who is certainly not overburdened with modesty, starts out by a.s.serting that he is a great adawehi, who never fails and who surpa.s.ses all others. He then declares that the disease is caused by a mere screech owl, which he at once banishes to the laurel thicket. In the succeeding paragraphs he reiterates his former boasting, but a.s.serts in turn that the trouble is caused by a mere hooting owl, a rabbit, or even by the Detsata, whose greatest exploit is hiding the arrows of the boys, for which the youthful hunters do not hesitate to rate him soundly. These various mischief-makers the doctor banishes to their proper haunts, the hooting owl to the spruce thicket, the rabbit to the broom sage on the mountain side, and the Detsata to the bluffs along the river bank.

Some doctors use herb decoctions, which are blown upon the body of the child, but in this formula the only remedy prescribed is water, which must be blown upon the body of the little sufferer just before dark for four nights. The regular method is to blow once each at the end of the first, second, and third paragraphs and four times at the end of the fourth or last. In diseases of this kind, which are not supposed to be of a local character, the doctor blows first upon the back of the head, then upon the left shoulder, next upon the right shoulder, and finally upon the breast, the patient being generally sitting, or propped up in bed, facing the east. The child must not be taken out of doors during the four days, because should a bird chance to fly overhead so that its shadow would fall upon the infant, it would _fan the disease back_ into the body of the little one.

G[n]WANIGIST[n]I DITAN[n]WTIYI

Y! Sge! Usinuli hat[n]ganiga, Giyagiya Sakani, ewsatgi tsldahisti. Usinuli hatlasiga.

Tsiskwa-gw ulsgeta uwutlanilei. Usinuliyu atsahilugisiga. Utsinawa nutatan[n]ta. Y!

Y! Sge! Usinuli hat[n]ganiga, Digatiski Wtigei, gal[n]lati iy[n]ta ditsldhisti. Ha-ngwa usinuli hatlasiga. Tsiskwa-gw ditunilawits.h.i.+ higesei. Usinli ketatiglahiga. Utsinawa ad[n]niga. Y!

_Translation._

TO TREAT G[n]WANIGIST[n]I--(SECOND).

Y! Listen! Quickly you have drawn near to hearken, O Blue Sparrow-Hawk; in the spreading tree tops you are at rest. Quickly you have come down. The intruder is only a bird which has overshadowed him. Swiftly you have swooped down upon it. Relief is accomplished.

Y!

Y! Listen! Quickly you have drawn near to hearken, O Brown Rabbit-Hawk; you are at rest there above. Ha! Swiftly now you have come down. It is only the birds which have come together for a council. Quickly you have come and scattered them. Relief is accomplished. Y!