Note 37.1 — RITUAL AND BELIEF

The Iroquoian tribes of North America possess a word which exactly expresses this potentiality, this atmosphere, which they believe inheres in and surrounds every personality. They call it orenda. A fine hunter is one whose orenda is fine, superior in quality. When he is successful he is said to baffle or thwart the orenda of the quarry; when unsuccessful, the game is said to have foiled or outmatched his orenda. A person who defeats another in a game of skill or chance is said to overcome his orenda. “At public games or contests of skill or endurance, or of swiftness of foot, where clan is pitted against clan, phratry against phratry, tribe against tribe, or nation against nation, the shamans—men reputed to possess powerful orenda—are employed for hire by the opposing parties respectively to exercise their orenda to thwart or overcome that of their antagonists,” and thus secure victory. So, when a storm is brewing, it (the storm-maker) is said to be preparing its orenda; when it is ready to burst, it has finished, has prepared its orenda. Similar expressions are used for a man or one of the lower animals when in a rage. A prophet or soothsayer is one who habitually puts forth his orenda, and has thereby learned the secrets of the future. The orenda of shy birds and other animals which it is difficult to ensnare or kill is said to be acute or sensitive—that is, in detecting the presence of the hunter, whether man or beast. Anything reputed to have been instrumental in obtaining some good or accomplishing some end is said to possess orenda. Of one who, it is believed, has died from witchcraft it is said, “An evil orenda has struck him.”37.1