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Seneca mythology refers to the mythology of the Onödowáʼga: (Seneca people), one of the six nations of the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois Confederacy) from the northeastern United States and Canada.
Most Seneca stories were transmitted orally, and began to be written down in the nineteenth century. The ethnologist Jeremiah Curtin began transcribing stories in 1883.[1] In 1923, Arthur C. Parker published Seneca Myths and Folk Tales. Parker identified eleven factors characterizing Seneca folklore:[2]: pp.3–5
- Spirits pervade all nature
- Good spirits are constantly making war upon evil spirits
- There is such a thing as orenda or magical power
- Any being possessing orenda may transorm himself into any form
- All nature is conscious
- All living creatures have souls
- There is in the heaven world a Master of life and soul
- The spirits of departed men and animals wander over their familiar haunts
- Dreams are experiences of the soul as it leaves the body
- There are monsters that men seldom see
- There are such beings as wizards, witches and sorcerers
- ^ Curtin, Jeremiah (1923). Seneca Indian Myths. New York: E.P.Dutton & Company. ISBN 978-1-4047-2509-6. Retrieved April 21, 2023.
- ^ Parker, Arthur Caswell. Seneca myths and folk tales. Buffalo, New York: Buffalo Historical Society. Retrieved April 21, 2023.