Editing Horned Serpent (section)

== In Native American cultures ==
[[Image:snakerock.jpg|thumb|Rock art depicting a Horned Serpent, at Pony Hills and [[Cookes Range|Cook's Peak]], New Mexico]]
[[File:Chromesun 4 uktenas design.jpg|thumb|A digital illustration of Horned Serpent by the artist Herb Roe. Based on an engraved shell cup in the ''Craig B style'' (designated ''Engraved shell cup number 229''<ref>{{cite journal|title=Linking Spiro's artistic styles : The Copper Connection| last1=Brown |first1=James A. |last2=Rogers |first2=J. Daniel|journal=Southeastern Archaeology|volume=8 |issue=1 |date=Summer 1989|pages= | publisher=Allen Press | url= http://projectpast.org/caddo/topic4/brown1989.pdf}}</ref>) from [[:en:Spiro Mounds|Spiro]], Oklahoma.]]
Horned serpents appear in the [[oral tradition|oral history]] of numerous [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|Native American]] cultures, especially in the [[Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands|Southeastern Woodlands]] and [[Great Lakes]].

[[Muscogee Creek]] traditions include a Horned Serpent and a Tie-Snake, ''estakwvnayv'' in the [[Muscogee Creek language]]. These are sometimes interpreted as being the same creature and sometimes different—similar, but the Horned Serpent is larger than the Tie-Snake. To the [[Muscogee people]], the Horned Serpent is a type of underwater serpent covered with iridescent, crystalline scales and a single, large crystal in its forehead. Both the scales and crystals are prized for their powers of divination.<ref>Grantham 24-5</ref> The horns, called ''chitto gab-by'', were used in medicine.<ref name=g52>Grantham 52</ref> Jackson Lewis, a Muscogee Creek informant to [[John R. Swanton]], said, "This snake lives in the water has horns like the stag. It is not a bad snake. ... It does not harm human beings but seems to have a magnetic power over game."<ref name=g25>Grantham 25</ref> In stories, the Horned Serpent enjoyed eating sumac, ''[[Rhus glabra]]''.<ref>Grantham 26</ref>

[[Alabama people]] call the Horned Serpent ''tcinto såktco'' or "crawfish snake", which they divide into four classifications based on its horns' colors, which can be blue, red, white, or yellow.<ref name=g25/>

[[Yuchi people]] made effigies of the Horned Serpent as recently as 1905. An effigy was fashioned from stuffed deerhide, painted blue, with the antlers painted yellow. The Yuchi Big Turtle Dance honors the Horned Serpent's spirit, which was related to storms, thunder, lightning, disease, and rainbows.<ref name=g52/>

Among Cherokee people, a Horned Serpent is called an ''uktena''. Anthropologist [[James Mooney]], describes the creature:

<blockquote>Those who know say the Uktena is a great snake, as large around as a tree trunk, with horns on its head, and a bright blazing crest like a diamond on its forehead, and scales glowing like sparks of fire. It has rings or spots of color along its whole length, and can not be wounded except by shooting in the seventh spot from the head, because under this spot are its heart and its life. The blazing diamond is called Ulun'suti—"Transparent"—and he who can win it may become the greatest wonder worker of the tribe. But it is worth a man's life to attempt it, for whoever is seen by the Uktena is so dazed by the bright light that he runs toward the snake instead of trying to escape. As if this were not enough, the breath of the Uktena is so pestilential, that no living creature can survive should they inhale the tiniest bit of the foul air expelled by the Uktena. Even to see the Uktena asleep is death, not to the hunter himself, but to his family.</blockquote>

[[File:Chromesun moundville stone palette01.jpg|thumb|right|Tie-snakes on a [[Mississippian culture|Mississippian]] sandstone plate from the [[Moundville Archaeological Site]]]]

According to [[Sioux]] belief, the ''[[Unktehila|Unhcegila]]'' (''Ųȟcéǧila'') are dangerous reptilian water monsters which lived in ancient times. They were of various shapes. In the end the [[Thunderbird (mythology)|Thunderbirds]] destroyed them, except for small species like snakes and lizards. This belief may have been inspired by finds of [[dinosaur]] fossils in Sioux tribal territory. The Thunderbird may have been inspired partly by finds of [[pterosaur]] skeletons.<ref>Morell, Virginia (December 2005). [https://web.archive.org/web/20090123165515/http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2005/12/sea-monsters/morell-text/1 "Sea Monsters"]. ''[[National Geographic (magazine)|National Geographic]]'', pages 74–75.</ref>

=== Other known names ===

* '''[[Sisiutl]]'''—  Kwakwaka'wakw 
* '''[[Awanyu]]'''—[[Tewa]]
* '''[[Djodi'kwado']]'''—[[Iroquois]]
* '''Misi-kinepikw''' ("great snake")—[[Cree language|Cree]]
* '''Msi-kinepikwa''' ("great snake")—[[Shawnee language|Shawnee]]
* '''Misi-ginebig''' ("great snake")—[[Oji-Cree language|Oji-Cree]]
* '''Mishi-ginebig''' ("great snake")—[[Ojibwe language|Ojibwe]]
* '''Gitaskog''' ("great snake")—[[Western Abnaki language|Abenaki]]
* '''S<u>i</u>shtahollo' ''''' ''("holy snake")—[[Chickasaw language|Chickasaw]] ''
* '''Sinti Lapitta'''—[[Choctaw language|Choctaw]]
* '''Unktehi''' or '''[[Unhcegila|Unktehila]]'''—[[Dakota language|Dakota]]
* '''ʔU·lahkaha·p''' ("white snake")—[[Natchez language|Natchez]]
* '''Uktena'''—[[Cherokee Language|Cherokee]]
*'''mazacoatl''' - [[Nahuatl]]