Orenda
Orenda /ˈ[invalid input: 'ō']rɛndə/ is a Iroquois name for a spiritual power inherent in people and their environment.[1][2] Activities of nature were seen to be a "ceaseless struggle of one orenda against another, uttered and directed by the beings or bodies" in the environment.[3] Orenda was deemed a motive force behind miracles, soothsaying, divination, prophecy, blessing, cursing, prayer, worship, and superstitions.[4] Orenda is not a collective power and does not have a personification.[5] 19th and 20th century scholars compared the concept of orenda to that of mana.[6][7]
Anthropologist J. N. B. Hewitt notes intrinsic similarities between the Iroquoian concept of Orenda and that of the Siouxan wakd or mahopa; the Algonquin manitowi, and the pokunt of the Shoshone. Across the Iroquois tribes, the concept was referred to variously as orenna or karenna by the Mohawk, Cayuga, and Oneida; urente by the Tuscarora, and iarenda or orenda by the Huron. A related term, otgon, denoted a specifically "malign, deadly, lethal, or destructive use" of orenda.[8] Hewitt notes that orenda was regarded by Iroquoian peoples as distinct from concepts of life, soul, ghost, and mind.[9]
For the Iroquois, a shaman was considered to be "one whose orenda is great, powerful", while a hunter's orenda determined whether he was successful in overcoming the orenda of the game, and in conflicts between nations, orenda determined the outcome.[10] Orenda was also present in nature: storms were said to possess orenda. A strong connection existed between prayers and songs and orenda: through song, a bird, shaman, or rabbit put forth orenda.[11]
Footnotes
- ^ Hewitt 1902.
- ^ "orenda". Merriam-Webster Dictionary. Merriam-Webster. Retrieved 12 April 2015.
- ^ Hewitt 1902, p. 41.
- ^ Hewitt 1902, p. 42.
- ^ nature worship. Encyclopædia Britannica. 2015. Retrieved 12 April 2015.
- ^ mana (Web ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. 2015. Retrieved 12 April 2015.
- ^ Rose, Herbert Jennings (1951). "Nvmen and Mana". Harvard Theological Review. 44 (3): 109–120. doi:10.1017/s0017816000027760.
- ^ Hewitt 1902, p. 37.
- ^ Hewitt 1902, p. 44.
- ^ Hewitt 1902, p. 38.
- ^ Hewitt 1902, p. 40-43.
References
Hewitt, J. N. B. (1902). "Orenda and a Definition of Religion". American Anthropologist. 4 (1): 33–46. doi:10.1525/aa.1902.4.1.02a00050. JSTOR 658926.