The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 2, July 1898 - April, 1899 Page: 61
[335] p. : ill. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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The Cherokee Nation of Indians.
note that the patient was directed to plunge seven times in the
healing flood, even as Elisha, three thousand years before, directed
Naaman to wash in Jordan "seven times" for his leprosy. The
numeral seven, it may be remarked, was as much a mystical num-
ber with the Cherokee as with the Israelite; this is shown in his
law establishing the seven days' purification sand in other ceremo-
nial customs enjoined by his faith.
The RELIGOUS Formulas of the Cherokees reveal a system of
belief and practice almost unique. They had no, Great Spirit, yet
their pantheon was crowded with gods; they looked forward to no
happy hunting-ground :as the reward ,of their 'courage and sacrifices,
but their faith was immovable in the temporal rewards that were
to crown their savage virtues. Long life, freedom from pain, suc-
cess in -war, in love, in the chaise, were the gifts of the gods they
worshiped, and their name was legion. They saw these gods
clothed in the forms o'f birds and reptiles, 'of mountains and
streams, they heard their voice in the storm and felt their presence
in the frost, and they bowed down in homage to them 'all. When
death came it was to them the end of all things; no fears disturbed
their last moments and 'no sorrow wrung the heartt of their chil-
dren.
'The MILITARY Formulas of the Cherokees were 'designed to
render their warriors invulnerable in battle, to which end they pre-
scribed charmed roots and ceremonial washings. A writer for
the American Bureau of Ethology, referring to the practice here
enjoined, mentions the fact that it was religiously observed by al-
most every man of the three hundred Cherokees who served in the
war between the States, and he humorously adds, "It is but fair to
state that not more than two 'or three of the entire number were
wounded in actual battle."
The devotional methods of the Cherokee disclosed by these For-
mulas 'and the traditions inspiring them reveal in him an essen-
tially religious mind- he result of his close relation to creative
power. Like the Jew, and in common with 6ther Indians, he "be-
lieved himself to be the result 'of a special creation by a partial
deity, and field that his was the one favored race," but, unlike the
Jew, 'he has not been able to impress his sacred character upon
other races of men.
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Texas State Historical Association. The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 2, July 1898 - April, 1899, periodical, 1898/1899; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101011/m1/65/: accessed April 27, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.