Editing Choctaw mythology (section)

==={{anchor|Hushtahli}} Ancient religion===
The [[Great Spirit]] of the Choctaw was referred to by various names. Rev. Alfred Wright wrote that the Great Spirit was referred to as {{lang|cho|Nanapesa}}, {{lang|cho|Ishtahullo-chito}}, or {{lang|cho|Nanishta-hullo-chito}}, {{lang|cho|Hushtahli}}, and {{lang|cho|Uba Pi̱ke}} or {{lang|cho|Aba}}.<ref name=john_swanton>{{Google books|hSy7fZR5bQgC|Source Material for the Social and Ceremonial Life of the Choctaw Indians}}</ref><ref>Jobes, Gertrude. ''Dictionary of Mythology Folklore and Symbols''. New York: The Scarecrow Press, 1962.</ref> {{lang|cho|Shilup chitoh osh}} is a term anglicized to mean The Great Spirit. {{lang|cho|Chitokaka}} means The Great One. The terms {{lang|cho|lshtahullo}} or {{lang|cho|nanishtahullo}} are applied to any person or object thought to possess some occult or superior power – such as a witch.

{{blockquote|Anthropologists theorize that the [[Mississippian culture|Mississippian]] ancestors of the Choctaw placed the sun at the center of their cosmological system. Mid-eighteenth-century Choctaws did view the sun as a being endowed with life. Choctaw diplomats, for example, spoke only on sunny days. If the day of a conference were cloudy or rainy, Choctaws delayed the meeting, usually on the pretext that they needed more time to discuss particulars, until the sun returned. The sun made sure that all talks were honest. The sun as a symbol of great power and reverence is a major component of southeastern Indian cultures.<!--|20px|20px|-->
|2=Greg O'Brien |3=''Choctaws in a Revolutionary Age, 1750–1830''<ref name=greg_obrien>
{{Cite book
 | last = O'Brien
 | first = Greg
 | title = Choctaws in a Revolutionary Age, 1750–1830
 | publisher = University of Nebraska Press
 | chapter = Choctaw and Power
 }}</ref>
}}

{{lang|cho|Hushtahli}} is from {{lang|cho|Hashi}} (sun) and {{lang|cho|Tahli}} (to complete an action). {{lang|cho|Hushtahli}} is believed to have originated as a Choctaw term without European influence; the Choctaw were believed to be Sun worshippers. Fire was the "most striking representation of the sun"; it was believed to have intelligence, and was considered to be in constant communication with the Sun.