Editing Seneca mythology

{{Short description|Native American mythology}}
{{More citations needed|date=April 2023}}

'''Seneca mythology''' refers to the [[mythology]] of the [[Onödowáʼga:]] (Seneca people), one of the six nations of the [[Haudenosaunee]] (Iroquois Confederacy) from the northeastern [[United States]] and Canada.

Most Seneca stories were transmitted orally, and began to be written down in the nineteenth century. The [[ethnologist]] [[Jeremiah Curtin]] began transcribing stories in 1883.<ref name=Curtin>{{cite book |last1=Curtin |first1=Jeremiah |title=Seneca Indian Myths |date=1923 |publisher=E.P.Dutton & Company |location=New York |isbn=978-1-4047-2509-6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zXN0AAAAMAAJ |access-date=April 21, 2023}}</ref> In 1923, [[Arthur C. Parker]] published ''Seneca Myths and Folk Tales''. Parker identified eleven factors characterizing Seneca folklore:<ref name="Parker">{{cite book |last1=Parker |first1=Arthur Caswell |title=Seneca myths and folk tales |publisher=Buffalo Historical Society |location=Buffalo, New York |url=https://archive.org/details/senecamythsfolkt00park |access-date=April 21, 2023}}</ref>{{rp|pp.3–5}}

* Spirits pervade all nature
* Good spirits are constantly making war upon evil spirits
* There is such a thing as ''[[orenda]]'' or magical power
* Any being possessing orenda may transform himself into any form
* All nature is conscious
* All living creatures have souls
* There is in the heaven world a Master of life and soul
* The spirits of departed men and animals wander over their familiar haunts
* Dreams are experiences of the soul as it leaves the body
* There are monsters that men seldom see
* There are such beings as wizards, witches and sorcerers

==Stories==
Parker classifies the stories into six groups: "When the World was New", "Boys who Defied Magic and Overcame it", "Tales of Love and Marriage", "Horror Tales of Cannibals and Sorcerers", "Tales of Talking Animals", and "Tales of Giants, Pygmies, and Monster Bears".

==Figures==
Some important figures in Seneca mythology are:

* '''[[Eagentci]]''' (Awëha:'i—Fertile Earth<ref name=Parker />), whose name translates as "ancient-bodied one", is the Earth-mother, or First Mother. Her Huron name is Atahensic.
* '''[[Djieien]]''' was a man-sized spider who survived most attacks because its heart was buried underground. He appears in the tale "Hagowanen and Otʿhegwenhda" and others.<ref name=Curtin />{{rp|pp.376–388}}
* '''[[Djodi'kwado']]''' ({{lang|see|Jotéhkwatöh}}) is a horned serpent. He features in the stories "The Horned Serpent Runs Away  with a Girl",<ref name=Parker />{{rp|pp.218–222}} and "The Great  Serpent and the Young Wife".<ref name=Parker />{{rp|pp.223–227}} Horned Snake "is a  monster serpent of the underwaters and his head  is adorned with antlers of great spread.... He is capable of  transforming himself to the appearance of a man, and as such delights  in luring maidens to his abode. In a few instances he appears as the  gallant rescuer of women marooned on bewitched islands."<ref name=Parker />{{rp|pp.17–18}}
* '''[[Dagwanoenyent]]''' is a vicious northern witch who is depicted as a whirlwind.  Her child's father killed her.
* '''[[Gaasyendietha]]''' is a fire-breathing dragon that inhabits Lake Ontario. In human form he appears in "The Trials and Death of Inchworm",<ref name=Curtin />{{rp|pp.96–105}} "Grandfather and Grandson and an Eagle Woman",<ref name=Curtin />{{rp|pp.116–121}} "Tree Worm and his Mother-in-law, Barkworm",<ref name=Curtin />{{rp|pp.146–151}} "Flying-Squirrel and the Seasons",<ref name=Curtin />{{rp|pp.258–271}} among others.
* '''Hagondes''' is a cannibalistic [[trickster]] and clown spirit.
* '''Kaakwha''' (also '''Kanawha''') is the solar deity and god of light and truth, subordinate to '''Hawenniyo''', a fertility god.
* '''Dahdahwat''' are animals who appear in dreams and visions.
* '''Gagqa''' ({{lang|see|Gá'ga:'}}) is the crow spirit.
* '''Awaeh Tegendji''' (or Yegondji)—"Swan Mother"—is an old woman who lives with her three beautiful daughters. She appears in "The Story of the Girls Who Went for a Husband".<ref name=Curtin />{{rp|pp.166–168}}
* '''Gijesa''' are spirits of the night sky.
* '''Hadowe''' are the Iroquois' equivalent of Dryads.
* '''Nyá'kwaehe:h''' is a giant hairless bear. Members of the Dewanondiisso:daik'ta:h (Pygmy Society) include the bones of Nyá'kwaehe:h in their charm bundles.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Secret Medicine Societies of the Seneca |journal=New York State Museum 66th Annual Report |date=1912 |volume=2 |page=119 |url=https://archive.org/details/n2annualreport66newyuoft |access-date=April 23, 2023}}</ref> He appears in the tales "How a Boy outwitted a Nyá'kwaehe:h",<ref name=Parker />{{rp|pp.344–348}} "Nyá'kwaehe:h, the Mammoth Bear",<ref name=Parker />{{rp|pp.349–357}} and "The Boy and the Nyá'kwaehe:h",<ref name=Parker />{{rp|pp.358–364}} and others. He "is the most feared of magic beasts and one of the most frequent among them to enter in to the fortunes of  men. He loves to race and in various forms which he assumes, seeks to get men, and particularly boys, to bet their lives on the race, which generally lasts from sunrise to sunset. He has a vulnerable spot on the bottom of one of his feet and unless some hero hits this the monster does not  die."<ref name=Parker />{{rp|p.18}}

==See also==
* [[Iroquois mythology]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* {{cite book |last1=Curtin |first1=Jeremiah |last2=Hewitt |first2=J.N.B. |title=Seneca Fiction, Legends, and Myths |date=1918 |publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=B_DcKClwxcEC |access-date=April 21, 2023}}
* [https://www.si.edu/media/NMNH/NMNH-NAA_MS_1651.pdf Handwritten manuscript of Curtin and Hewitt's story collection]

[[Category:Iroquois mythology]]
[[Category:Seneca]]