The sacred formulas of the Cherokees / by James Mooney.

  • Mooney, James, 1861-1921.
Date:
[1891]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The sacred formulas of the Cherokees / by James Mooney. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    war club, white being the color emblematic of peace, which is evi- dently an incongruity. The war whoop is believed to have a posi- tive magic power for the protection of the warrior, as well as for terrifying the foe. The mythologic significance of the different colors is well shown in this formula. Red, symbolic of success, is the color of the war club with which the warrior is to strike the enemy and also of the other one with which he is to shield or “ cover” himself. There is no doubt that the war whoop also should be represented as red. In conjuring with the beads for long life, for recovery from sickness, or for success in love, the ball play, or any other undertaking, the red beads represent the party for whose benefit the magic spell is wrought, and he is figuratively clothed in red and made to stand upon a red cloth or placed upon a red seat. The red spirits invoked always live in the east and everything pertaining to them is of the same color. Black is always typical of death, and in this formula the soul of the enemy is continually beaten about by black war clubs and en- veloped in a black fog. In conjuring to destroy an enemy the sha- man uses black beads and invokes the black spirits—which always live in the west—bidding them tear out the man’s soul, carry it to the west, and put it into the black coffin deep in the black mud, with a black serpent coiled above it. Blue is emblematic of failure, disappointment, or unsatisfied desire. “ They shall never become blue” means that they shall never fail in anything they undertake. In love charms the lover figuratively covers himself with red and prays that his rival shall become entirely blue and walk in a blue path. The formulistic expression, ‘‘He is entirely blue,” closely approximates in meaning the common English phrase, “ He feels blue.” The blue spirits live in the north. White—which occurs in this formula only by an evident error— denotes peace and happiness. In ceremonial addresses, as at the green corn dance and ball play, the people figuratively partake of white food and after the dance or the game return along the white trail to their white houses. In love charms the man, in order to induce the woman to cast her lot with his, boasts “ I am a white man,” implying that all is happiness where he is. White beads have the same meaning in the bead conjuring and white was the color of the stone pipe anciently used in ratifying peace ti*eaties. The white spirits live in the south (Wa'halft). Two other colors, brown and yellow, are also mentioned in the formulas. Watige'I, “brown,” is the term used to include brown, bay, dun, and similar colors, especially as applied to animals. It seldom occurs in the formulas and its mythologic significance is as yet undetermined. Yellow is of more frequent occurrence and is typical of trouble and all manner of vexation, the yellow spirits