Magic of the Cherokees
The Indians in western North Carolina had
many strange beliefs which they offered
in explanation of the things that they were
unable to understand.
TODAY the mountains of Western
North Carolina have a magic dis¬
tinctly their own— a magic of
interests for the artist, the scientific-
minded, the recreation seeker, and the
iK-auiy-lover. Formerly, in the days
of the early Cherokee, another kind
of magic prevailed. Here super¬
natural beings practiced their wonder¬
working powers; even the plants,
animals, and minerals were super¬
natural agencies. As the theory of
natural cause and effect has only
evolved within recent years, it is not
surprising that the Cherokee used
his vivid imagination so extensively
in the olden time.
The Cherokee lived with nature
and was largely dependent upon
nature. Natural phenomena fasci¬
nated him. There must be a reason
for this, a significance in that — thus
he reasoned. How did the mountains
originate? Whence came disease?
These and various other questions the
Cherokee answered in his own de¬
lightful ami interesting way. Many
of his answers were never recorded;
but, thanks to several of the early
writers, especially James Mooney,
some of these answers have been
preserved.
How Mountains Were Created
According to the Cherokee it was
animal-magic that created the Land
..f the Sky. It happened in this way:
In the beginning the animals lived
above the earth which was flat, soft,
and wet, and in the process of drying.
As they knew that the earth was
eventually to be their home, they
grew impatient to become settled
there. So. from time to time, they
sent out different birds to see if the
earth was yet dry; but these, finding
no place to alight, soon returned to
the place above. Finally the animals
.-cut out the Great Buzzard, the father
of all buzzards. He flew about, low
near the ground; but it was still
soft. When he readied the Cherokee
country, he was so tired that his wings
liegun to flop and strike the earth.
Wherever they struck, there was a
valley; wherever they turned up
again, there was a mountain. The
animals, watching this from above,
By EDDIE W. WILSON
began to fear that the whole world
would l>o turned into mountains so
they called the Great Buzzard back.
And the Cherokee country has re¬
mained full of mountains to this day.
From various observations about
the characteristics of animals arose
certain food superstitions, and it was
decided that “Man is what he oats.”
For instance, the eating of tho tlesh
of the fast-running deer made one
swift and wise.
The importance of the deer as food
gave rise to a mythical being, the
"Little Deer,” which kept watch over
all the other deer and saw that none
were killed wastefully or recklessly.
It was believed that the “Little Deer”
asked the blood stains on the ground
if the hunter had asked pardon for
the life lie had taken. If the prayer
had not been made, the “Little Deer”
tracked tlm hunter to his house and
placed within him the spirit of
rheumatism to cause him to suffer
the rest of his days.
If we could have listened to the
early Cherokee story-teller, we would
have learned that the wolf, the fox, the
opossum, and the deer could cause
frost-bite and that bird feathers kept
in n house could cause disease.
He would have also told us that
the “balds” of the Great Smokies were
inhabited by the Nunnehi, a people
who were invisible except when they
wished to be seen and who looked
and spoke exactly like the Cherokee
themselves. The Nunnehi were the
friends of the Cherokee, often guid¬
ing the lost Indians hack to their
homes and also often saving them
from defeat in battle.
Alum Cave and the other caves of
the Great Smokies were the home of
the “Little People”; tiny fellows
hardly reaching up to a man's knees.
In the waters of the Oconolufty and
the Tuokascigeo rivers lived cer¬
tain fairies who helped tho Cherokee
fisherman in his quest of fish. Tho
myths arising from a belief in these
fairy-like folk sound as if they had
come from the pen of a Hans Chris¬
tian Anderson or a Jnoob or Wilhelm
Grimm.
The Thunderers
Thunder took the form of spirits
known as tho Thunderers. They
lived above the skv and were supposed
to !*• able to make the different
animals do their bidding. Therefore
when game was scarce in the moun¬
tains of Western North Carolina the
Cherokee prayed to the Great Thun¬
derers, and these kind-hearted
creatures sent back to the forest
animals and birds of all kinds — deer,
elk, antelope, raccoons, squirrels,
turkeys, quail, geese, and ducks.
On the other hand there lived lower
down in the cliffs and mountains and
under waterfalls a group of
Thunderers who often caused mis¬
chief. Tho never-ceasing roar of the
cataracts was the voice of these
troublesome folk.
The early Cherokee never burned
sticks of sourwood as the ashes would
{Continued on page seventeen)
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