Page:Journal of American Folklore vol. 12.djvu/129

 Notes on the Folk-Lore of the Wyandots. 117

The words are very ancient, but their use in this capacity and the meaning they now bear must be attributed to the Jesuits or other early missionaries ; they express, in their modern acceptation, a con- ception entirely foreign to the ancient Wyandot mind. It is certain that no single "Supreme Ruler," or "Creator of the Universe," or of even the world, was believed in or conceived of by the ancient Wyandots.

What is here said of God as a Wyandot concept applies with equal force to the Devil of the white man. The Wyandots use two words as names for the Devil : —

1. Deh'-shroh-roh'-neh. This word is now translated "The Great Enemy " by the Wyandots.

2. Deh'-shroh-roh'-n5h. Why this word should be used in this capacity at all is more than I have been able to find a reason for. It means "Many Devils," or a "Devil People." It may be impos- sible to determine the true derivation and proper ancient meaning of these Wyandot words, for the idea of the Devil, as we conceive of him, is as foreign to the ancient Wyandot mind as is our idea of God. And there is no word in the Wyandot language equivalent to our word " hell " as used to describe a place of punishment for the soul after death. In John Johnston's vocabulary of Wyandot words, "hell" is given as " Degh-shunt." This word is now unintelligible to the Wyandots, and meaningless, and could never have meant "hell."

Following is a list of the more important gods of the ancient Wyandots, together with a brief statement of their attributes and offices : —

1 . Hooh-mah } -ySoh-wdh! '-nek \

The first name in Wyandot mythology is Hooh-mah'-yooh-wah"- neh'. It is very difficult (if, indeed, it is not quite impossible) to make, at this time, an accurate translation of this name. The best renderings are

"Our Big Chief up there," or

" Our Big Chief Above," or

" He is our Big Chief that lives above the sky."

But all these renderings may be more nearly the ideas of what he is than correct translations of his name.

Hooh-mah'-y6oh-wah"neh' ruled the world above the sky, and was the father of the Woman who fell from Heaven. The land above the sky was in no sense an equivalent to the white man's heaven, for after death the Wyandot went to a place prepared for him in the interior of the earth, and good and bad alike went to this place. Want of space forbids any further account of Hooh-mah'-yooh-wah"- neh' at this time.

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