The Sacred Formulas of the Cherokees

MOONEY.] INTRODUCTION. 309

...systematic manner for their mutual benefit. The language, the concepts, and the execution are all genuinely Indigenous original: "Indian", and hardly a dozen lines out of the hundreds of formulas show any trace of the influence of white men or their religion. The formulas contained in these manuscripts are not disjointed fragments of a system that died out long ago; rather, they are the revelation of a living faith which still has its priests and devoted followers. One only needs to witness a ceremonial ball play—with its fasting, its ritual purification in the stream original: "going to water", and its mystic bead manipulation a form of divination used by Cherokee shamans to determine the outcome of events—to understand how strong a hold the old faith still has upon the minds of even the younger generation. The numerous archaic and figurative expressions used in the formulas require the interpretation of the priests, but, as stated before, the alphabet in which they are written is the same one in daily use among the common people.

In all tribes that still retain something of their ancient organization, we find this sacred knowledge committed to the keeping of various secret societies. Each of these has its peculiar ritual with regular initiation and degrees of advancement. From this comparison, we may reasonably conclude that such was formerly the case with the Cherokees also. However, because of the breaking down of old customs following their long contact with white settlers and the voluntary adoption of a modernized form of government in 1827, all traces of such society organizations have long since disappeared. At present, each priest or shaman a traditional healer, mediator, and spiritual leader is isolated and independent. Sometimes a shaman restricts himself to a particular specialty, such as love charms or medicine, or even the treatment of only two or three diseases; in other cases, he broadens his field of operations to include the whole range of mystic knowledge.

It frequently happens, however, that priests form personal friendships and are thus led to divulge their secrets to each other for their mutual advantage. Thus, when one shaman meets another who he thinks can probably give him some valuable information, he says to him, "Let us sit down together." This is understood by the other to mean, "Let us tell each other our secrets." Should it seem probable that the seeker after knowledge can give as much as he receives, an agreement is generally reached. The two retire to some convenient spot secure from observation, and the first party begins by reciting one of his formulas with the necessary explanations. The other then responds with one of his own, unless it appears that the bargain is likely to be a losing one, in which case the conference comes to an abrupt ending.

It is sometimes possible to obtain a formula by the payment of a coat, a quantity of cloth, or a sum of money. Like the Celtic Druids the high-ranking priestly class in ancient Celtic societies of old, the candidate for the priesthood in former times found it necessary to cultivate a long memory, as no formula was repeated more than once for his benefit. It was considered that one who failed to remember after the first hearing was not worthy to be accounted a shaman. This task, however, was not so difficult as it might appear on...