Lenape Mythology
Lenape mythology is based on polytheism.
Kishelemukong is the creator god, not involved in the daily affairs of the Lenape. Instead, he directed the manitowak, the life-spirits of all living things, which were created by Kishelemukong. The manitowak were venerated in ceremonies, rituals, dreams, visions, games and ohtas (see below), as well as through the interventions of the Metinuwak, the shamans who were healers, spiritual and emotional guides, and religious leaders; they could communicate with the manitowak.
An ohta is a wooden doll carved annually and that were said to have remarkable powers of healing and luck.
A nianque is an animal guide, such as in a vision quest.
Read more about Lenape Mythology: Further Reading
Famous quotes containing the word mythology:
“It is not the literal past that rules us, save, possibly, in a biological sense. It is images of the past.... Each new historical era mirrors itself in the picture and active mythology of its past or of a past borrowed from other cultures. It tests its sense of identity, of regress or new achievement against that past.”
—George Steiner (b. 1929)