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MOUNDS AND THE CONSTANT FIRE - SACRED THINGS January 1, 2008 Spirit Hawk ^i^

This is what I was told as a boy..... ANIYUHNWIYA MOUNDS    Some say that the mounds were built by another people. Others say they were built by the ancestors of the old Ani Kitu'hwagi (The original name of the Cherokee) for townhouse foundations. The townhouse was always built on the level bottom lands by the river in order that the people might have smooth ground for their dances and ballplays and might be able to go down to water during the dance. When they were ready to build the mound they began by laying a circle of stones on the surface of the ground. Next they made a fire in the center of the circle and put near it the body of some prominent chief or priest who had lately died - some say seven chief men from the different clans - together with an Ulunsu'ti stone ( the crystal from the forehead of an Uktena with magical powers), an Uktena scale or horn ( The Uktena was a giant horned snake with 7 spots on it's body and a crystal in it's forehead.     It was so poisonous that just its look at you, could kill. It could only be killed by shooting an arrow into the 7th spot.) , a feather from the right wing of an eagle or great Tla nu wa ( a giant hawk like bird) which lived in those days, and heads of seven colors, red, white, black, blue, purple, yellow, and gray-blue.     The priest then conjured all these with disease, so that, if ever an enemy invaded the country, even though he should burn and destroy the town and the townhouse, he would never live to return home. SACRED FIRE     The mound was then built up with earth, which the women brought in baskets, and as they piled it above the stones, the bodies of their great men, and the sacred things placed there, they left an open place at the fire in the center and let down a hollow cedar trunk, with the bark on, which fitted around the fire and protected it from the earth.     This cedar log was cut long enough to reach nearly to the surface inside the townhouse when everything was done. The earth was piled up around it, and the whole mound was finished off smoothly, and then the townhouse was built upon it. One man, called the Firekeeper, stayed always in the townhouse to feed and tend the fire. When there was to be a dance or a council, he pushed long stalks of atsil sun ti (fleabane), "the fire maker" down through the opening in the cedar log to the fire at the bottom.     He left the ends of the stalks sticking out and piled lichens and punk around, after which he prayed, and as he prayed, the fire climbed up along the talks until it caught the punk.     Then he put on wood, and by the time the dancers were ready there was a large fire blazing in the townhouse. After the dance he covered the hole over again with ashes, but the fire was always smoldering below. Just before the Green corn dance, in the old times, every fire in the settlement was extinguished and all the people came and got new fire from the townhouse.     This was called atsi'la galunkw it'yu "the honored or sacred fire." Sometimes when the fire in a house went out, the woman came to the Firekeeper, who made a new fire by rubbing an ihya'ga stalk against the under side of a hard dry fungus that grows along locust trees.     Some say this everlasting fire was only in the larger mounds at Nikwasi, Kitu'hwa, and a few other towns, and that when the new fire was thus drawn up for the Green Corn dance it was distributed from them to the other settlements.     The fire burns yet at the bottom of these great mounds, and when the Cherokee soldiers were camped near Kitu'hwa during the Civil War, they saw smoke still raising from the mound. SACRED THINGS     The Aniyuhnwiya once had a wooden box, nearly square and wrapped up in buckskin, in which they kept the most sacred things of our old religion. Upon every important expedition, two priests carried it in turn and watched over it in camp so that nothing could come near to disturb it.     The Delawares captured it more than a hundred years ago, and after that the old religion was neglected and trouble came to our Nation. They had also a great peace pipe, carved from white stone, with seven stem-holes, so that seven men could sit around and smoke from it at once at their peace councils.     In the old town of Keowee they had a drum of stone, cut in the shape of a turtle, which was hung up inside the townhouse and used at all the town dances.     The other towns of the Lower Aniyuhnwiya used to borrow it too, for their own dances.     It breaks my heart that so many of the old and sacred ways and things have faded, and are still fading, into the past.     Who will remember them if we don't teach our children about them?     Who will teach the children if we forget them ourselves?     We once called ourselve Ani Kituhwagi ( "The People of Kituhwa" in honor from whence we came)     Many of us now use the name Tsalagi ( "Keepers of the Fire" in honor of the sacred fire. The very fire that many now have forgotten.)     A name used by all is Aniyuhnwiya, but once all is gone and forgotten, we will just be Aniyuhnwiya in name only. A name that has lost it's meaning, "The Principle People".     We can't let that happen! We need to restore meaning to our name, and in so doing, restore meaning to our lives and who we are.     We need to truly be The Principle People.     We can only do so by remembering the old ways and sacred things and refusing to let them die, for if they do, who we are dies with them.     I believe this applies to all Nations and their ways.      So says, Spirit Hawk ^i^

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To Contact Spirit Hawk with your comments, questions or suggestions - Email: spirithawks@hotmail.com

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