"History of the Cherokee Indians."  "When the early missionaries came among the cherokees,
they were astonished at the similairty of the religious traditions of the Cherokee to
biblical accounts.  In recounting the religious views of the Cherokees, they stated that
from time immemorial the tribe had been divided in sentiment.  That while the greater part
had been idolatrous, worshiping the sun, moon, stars, and other gods; a small portion denied
that system and taught that there were three beings above, who created all things and will
judge all men.  That they fixed the time and manner of death.  Their names were: U-ha-he-ta-
qua, the great head of all power; A-ta-no-te and u-squa-hu-la. These three beings were said
to be always unanimous in thought and action and always will be.  They sit on three white
seats above and are the only objects to which worship and prayers should be directed.  The
Angels are their messengers and come down to earth to attend to the affairs of men."  "They
claimed that Yehowa was the name of a great king.  He Was a man and yet a spirit, a great
and glorious being.  His name was never to be spoken in common talk.  This great king
commanded them to rest every seventh day. They were told not work on this day and that she
should devote it to talking about God."  "Yehowa created the world in seven days at Nu-ta-
te-qua or the first new moon of autumn, with the fruits all ripe.  God made the first man of
red clay and he was an Indian, and made the woman of one of his ribs.  All people were
Indians or red people before the flood.  They had preachers and prophets who taught the
people to obey God and their parents.  They warned the people of the approaching flood, but
said that the world would only be destroyed by water once, and that later it would be
destroyed by fire, when God would send a shower of pitch and then a shower of fire which
would burn up everything. They also taught that after death the good and the bad would be
separated, the good would take a path that would lead to happiness, where the it would
always be light, but eh bad would be urged along another path which would lead to a deep
chasm over which lay a pole with a dog at each end.  They would be urged on this pole and
the dogs, by moving it, would throw them off into the gulf of fire beneath. But if they got
over they would be transfixed with red hot bars of iron and thus be tormented forever."  "A
little before the flood men grew worse.  At length God sent a messenger from above to war
the people of the flood unless they turned from their wickedness.  God then told a man to
make a house that would swim, take his family and some of the different kinds of animals
into it.  The rain commenced and continued for forty days and forty nights, while the water
at the same time gushed out of the ground, so that as much came up as came down from the
clouds."  "The house was raised upon the waters and borne away.  At length the man sent out
a raven, and after some time, sent a dove, which came back with a leaf in her mouth.  Soon
after this the man found the house was resting on dry ground on the top of a mountain.  This
being the spring of the year the man and his family and all the animals left the house and
the family descended to the bottom of the mountain and commenced their farming operations."
"The Cherokee's detailed to the missionaries parallels to practically every one of the
stores of the Bible.  They called Abraham, Aquahami; Moses was called Wasi.  These accounts
were do circumstantial that many investigators were led to believe that the Cherokee were of
Semitic origin.  But it is palpable that they had been told these stories by Priber during
his short stay among them and that they had forgotten their origin whithin seventy years and
attributed it to legends that had descended from the mythical Kutani and their primal
religion.  On account of the fact that Cherokees thought the missionaries were bring back to
them their old religion, it was a comparatively easy task to conver them from a tribe of
saveges to a Christian nation within the comparatively short period of thirty years.  When
they were converted, they at the behest of the missionaries cast aside every vestige of
their ancient customs to such an extend that not any of their mythology has ever been
preserved, even among those of the tribe that speak the Cherokee language preferably."
OK.....some of you will have to help me out here. I don't want to be passing along any wrong
information.  But there does seem to be a pattern between the "old" and the "new" I think.
Since the number seven is a sacred number.  God created the world in 7 days. The Cherokee
have 7 clans, they have 7 directions; north, south, east, west, up, down, and within.  The
Cherokee believed in a Trinity: Water, Wind, and Fire but there was a great spirit that was
above or in charge of these three.  There was a "first" man and woman that corresponds with
Adam and Eve.  The world was created at the time of harvest or time of
plenty...corresponding with the concept of the Garden of Eden.  There are just too many
coincidence here.  Maybe everyone is right.  Whether you call him Yehowa, Jahovah, Yawyah,
the Great Spirit, or the Higher Power. 


Traditional Cherokee Stories  -by Marian Dunn  For a long time, the myth keeper would say,
There was one man living among all the animals. The man and animals got along well for a
while. Then the animals went to the Great Spirit and told him, “Great Spirit, we are not
going to tolerate that two-legged anymore. He has become so mean he is terrible.” “Yes,” the
Great Spirit answered. “I have noticed that he is getting meaner and meaner. I will see what
I can do about it.” The Great Spirit went to man and told him, “If you walk out into the
woodland until you come to a beautiful plant you have never seen before something wonderful
will happen.” Man walked and looked, walked and looked through beautiful forest that had
never been raped by the axe or bulldozer, where venerable trees lived out their lives. At
last man did come to a tall, stately plant that he had never seen before. At the top of the
plant sat the most beautiful maiden Man had ever seen. Of course he had never seen a woman
before. Man helped the maiden down from the plant. Before they went to his cabin - the
Cherokee did live in cabins made of saplings, not in wigwams or teepees as Indians are
supposed to do according to the gospel of Hollywood - the maiden wanted some of the strange
looking stuff that was growing on the plant. After a while they threw some of the seeds
outside. It came up and looked delicious but they were afraid to eat it. They were afraid it
might be poison. Then they saw that the creatures were eating it. The people knew that
animals instinctively know what is safe, so they ate it and loved it. That is how selu
(corn) came to the Cherokee and how man got a wife and quit being such a pest.

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