IROQUOIS EPIC MYTH: HODADEION, THE GOD OF MAGIC

In the tradition of Balladeer’s Blog’s previous looks at neglected epic myths from the Navajo, Vietnamese, Dinka, Greek and Chinese pantheons I will examine the saga of the Iroquois god of magic Hodadeion. This will be done in the same style as my examinations of the Navajo war god’s battle with the Anaye, the war between the Vietnamese jungle and monsoon gods and the Chinese Divine Archer Yi’s adventures.

1. Hodadeion was the son of the creator god Tharonhiawakon and a mortal woman, the same mortal woman who bore him Hodadeion’s siblings. Those siblings were Otgoe, the wampum god who loved chestnuts and Yeyenthwus, the future goddess of chestnut trees.

Tharonhiawakon was gone for years at a time attending to other matters in the world and while Otgoe was a toddler and Hodadeion and Yeyenthwus in their teens an entire village full of cannibalistic humans led by a powerful but evil medicine man was preying onthe people in their mother’s village. One by one then in groups the cannibals had carried off and devoured all the villagers until Hodadeion, Yeyenthwus and little Otgoe were the only ones left.

The three huddled together and kept hidden in their mother’s longhouse lodge in the now- empty village. Hodadeion and Yeyenthwus kept their plight from little Otgoe as best they could. Eventually they had exhausted their food supply and Hodadeion realized he would need to venture beyond the confines of the abandoned village and find food for himself and his siblings, despite whatever dangers he may face.

FOR PART TWO CLICK HERE : https://glitternight.com/2013/05/20/iroquois-epic-myth-hodadeion-part-two/ 

For my original list of Iroquois deities click here: https://glitternight.com/2013/01/28/the-top-fifteen-deities-in-iroquois-mythology/

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