Iroquois mythology
Encyclopedia
Much of the mythology of the Iroquois
Iroquois
The Iroquois , also known as the Haudenosaunee or the "People of the Longhouse", are an association of several tribes of indigenous people of North America...

(a confederacy of originally Five, later Six Nations of Native Americans
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...

) has been lost. Some of their religious stories have been preserved, including creation stories and some folktales.

Hahgwehdiyu is the creator god. He was said to have planted a single maize
Maize
Maize known in many English-speaking countries as corn or mielie/mealie, is a grain domesticated by indigenous peoples in Mesoamerica in prehistoric times. The leafy stalk produces ears which contain seeds called kernels. Though technically a grain, maize kernels are used in cooking as a vegetable...

 plant in the body of his mother Atahensic
Atahensic
Atahensic is an Iroquois sky goddess that fell to the earth at the time of creation. According to legend, she was carried down to the land by the wings of birds. After her fall from the sky she gave birth to Hahgwehdiyu and Hahgwehdaetgah, twin sons...

. This plant was a gift to mankind. In many variants of the creation myth, Atahensic (also known as Ataensic) was a Sky Woman who fell to the Earth. She died in childbirth and her body fertilized the earth so that her granddaughters could grow many things.

Hahgwehdiyu has an evil twin brother named Hahgwehdaetgan.

Gaol is the personification of the wind. Gohone is the personification of the winter. Adekagagwaa is the personification of the summer. Onatha is a patron of farmers, particularly farmers of wheat
Wheat
Wheat is a cereal grain, originally from the Levant region of the Near East, but now cultivated worldwide. In 2007 world production of wheat was 607 million tons, making it the third most-produced cereal after maize and rice...

. A giant named Tarhuhyiawahku held the sky up.

The Jogah
Jogah
Jogah are small spirit-folk in Iroquois mythology. They represent aspects of nature, and are split into various groups based on their relation to the world: the Gahonga are the jogah of rocks and rivers, the Gandayah make the Earth fertile and the Odhows control the spirits of the underworld,...

are nature spirits, similar to nymphs and fairies
Fairy
A fairy is a type of mythical being or legendary creature, a form of spirit, often described as metaphysical, supernatural or preternatural.Fairies resemble various beings of other mythologies, though even folklore that uses the term...

. Ha Wen Neyu is the "Great Spirit
Great Spirit
The Great Spirit, also called Wakan Tanka among the Sioux, the Creator or the Great Maker in English, and Gitchi Manitou in Algonquian, is a conception of a supreme being prevalent among some Native American and First Nations cultures...

".

The first people were created by Iosheka, a beneficent god who healed disease, defeated demon
Demon
call - 1347 531 7769 for more infoIn Ancient Near Eastern religions as well as in the Abrahamic traditions, including ancient and medieval Christian demonology, a demon is considered an "unclean spirit" which may cause demonic possession, to be addressed with an act of exorcism...

s, and gave many of the Iroquois magical and ceremonial rituals. Another of his gifts was tobacco
Tobacco
Tobacco is an agricultural product processed from the leaves of plants in the genus Nicotiana. It can be consumed, used as a pesticide and, in the form of nicotine tartrate, used in some medicines...

, which has been used as a central part of the Iroquois religion. This god is also venerated in Huron mythology.

The North Wind is personified by a bear
Bear
Bears are mammals of the family Ursidae. Bears are classified as caniforms, or doglike carnivorans, with the pinnipeds being their closest living relatives. Although there are only eight living species of bear, they are widespread, appearing in a wide variety of habitats throughout the Northern...

 spirit named Ya-o-gah. He lived in a cave and was controlled by Gah-oh. Ya-o-gah could destroy the world with his fiercely cold breath, but is kept in check by Gah-oh.

Sosondowah
Sosondowah
The Iroquois god Sosondowah was a great hunter known for stalking a supernatural elk, who was captured by Dawn, a goddess who needed him as a watchman. Sosondowah fell in love with Gendenwitha , a human woman...

was a great hunter (known for stalking a supernatural elk
Elk
The Elk is the large deer, also called Cervus canadensis or wapiti, of North America and eastern Asia.Elk may also refer to:Other antlered mammals:...

) who was captured by Dawn, a goddess who needed him as a watchman. He fell in love with Gendenwitha
Gendenwitha
Gendenwitha is a mythological character represented by the Morning Star in Iroquois mythology. Her name means "It Brings the Day." Gendenwitha was originally a beautiful maiden who was loved by Sosondowah, a great hunter held captive as a guard by Dawn...

("she who brings the day"; alternate spelling: Gendewitha), a human woman. He tried to woo her with a song. In spring, he sang as a bluebird
Bluebird
The bluebirds are a group of medium-sized, mostly insectivorous or omnivorous birds in the genus Sialia of the thrush family . Bluebirds are one of the few thrush genera in the Americas. They have blue, or blue and red, plumage...

, in summer as a blackbird
New World blackbird
The New World blackbirds consist of 26 species of icterid birds that share the name blackbird but do not correspond with a formal taxon...

 and in autumn as a hawk
Hawk
The term hawk can be used in several ways:* In strict usage in Australia and Africa, to mean any of the species in the subfamily Accipitrinae, which comprises the genera Accipiter, Micronisus, Melierax, Urotriorchis and Megatriorchis. The large and widespread Accipiter genus includes goshawks,...

, who then tried to take Gendenwitha with him to the sky. Dawn tied him to her doorpost. She changed Gendenwitha into the Morning Star
Venus
Venus is the second planet from the Sun, orbiting it every 224.7 Earth days. The planet is named after Venus, the Roman goddess of love and beauty. After the Moon, it is the brightest natural object in the night sky, reaching an apparent magnitude of −4.6, bright enough to cast shadows...

, so the hunter could watch her all night but never be with her.

Tuscarora legend

Virginia surveyor William Byrd II
William Byrd II
Colonel William Byrd II was a planter, slave-owner and author from Charles City County, Virginia. He is considered the founder of Richmond, Virginia.-Biography:...

, in his History of the Dividing Line Betwixt North Carolina and Virginia
The History of the Dividing Line
The History of the Dividing Line Betwixt Virginia and North Carolina is an account by William Byrd II of the surveying of the border between the U.S. states of North Carolina and Virginia in 1728...

(1728), recorded a tradition of a former religious leader, which had been current among the Tuscarora
Tuscarora (tribe)
The Tuscarora are a Native American people of the Iroquoian-language family, with members in New York, Canada, and North Carolina...

 tribe. They were an Iroquoian-speaking tribe that, although historically in North Carolina, because of warfare migrated to join the rest of the Iroquois Confederacy in New York. In this account, many centuries before their tribe had become so dishonest that no man's property nor wife was considered inviolate;
"...however, their God, being unwilling to root them out for their crimes, did them the honour to send a Messenger from Heaven
Heaven
Heaven, the Heavens or Seven Heavens, is a common religious cosmological or metaphysical term for the physical or transcendent place from which heavenly beings originate, are enthroned or inhabit...

 to instruct them, and set Them a perfect Example of Integrity and kind Behavior towards one another. But this holy Person, with all his Eloquence and Sanctity of Life, was able to make very little Reformation amongst them. Some few Old Men did listen a little to his Wholesome Advice, but all the Young fellows were quite incorrigible. They not only Neglected his Precepts, but derided and Evil Entreated his Person. At last, taking upon him to reprove some Young Rakes of the Conechta Clan very sharply for their impiety, they were so provok'd at the Freedom of his Rebukes, that they tied him to a Tree, and shot him with Arrows through the Heart. But their God took instant vengeance on all who had a hand in that Monstrous Act, by Lightning
Lightning
Lightning is an atmospheric electrostatic discharge accompanied by thunder, which typically occurs during thunderstorms, and sometimes during volcanic eruptions or dust storms...

from Heaven, & has ever since visited their Nation with a continued Train of Calamities, nor will he ever leave off punishing, and wasting their people, till he shall have blotted every living Soul of them out of the World."
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