Haoma

“ It confers immortality. It is the source of righteousness. [324] Haoma grows in abundance when it is praised by man. The pounding of the Haoma juice for sacrifice is tantamount to the destruction of the demons by thousands. [325] Misery vanishes and happiness and health enter the house in which Haoma is prepared. [326] The exhilarating drink gives inspiration and enlightenment to his supplicant and makes the beggar's mind as exalted as that of the rich. [327] The faithful pray that the healing remedies of Haoma may reach them for the strength of their bodies. ”

“ In the Avesta the god Haoma says, Vivanghana was the first who crushed out the juice of the Haoma. As a reward there was born to him the brilliant Yima, the lord of the nations, the most famous of all who have seen the sun. While Yima Kshaeta (Yima the king) reigned there was neither cold nor excessive heat, neither age nor death, nor envy, caused by the evil spirits: fathers and sons equally had the vigour of men of fifty years. Yima caused the means of support for mankind to be inexhaustible; he liberated the waters and trees from drought, and the herds from death. ”

“ The Haoma ceremony is shorn of its early gross element, yet the resemblance between it and the Soma cult is so great that they are spoken of in identical words. We shall quote a few of the more important passages to show the close parallelism between the Haoma-Soma cult. The celestial plant, it is said, was brought upon earth by birds. It is girishta or girijāta and parvatā vrddhah, say the Vedic texts, and the Avesta says it is bareshnush paiti gairinām and paurvatāhva vīraodha, that is, growing on mountains. ”

“ Imprecatory prayers. The pious pray that the wicked person may be deprived of his power and driven out from the creation of the Holy Spirit. [68] Haoma is asked to take away from the malicious that may be in the house, village, town and country, the strength of their hands and feet, and their eyesight, to cover up their intelligence, and confound their minds. ”

“ Every competent scholar recognizes a close affinity between the Iranian Yima and the Hindu Yama, between the soma-cult and the haoma-cult, but in how far the thoughts and forms that have clustered about one development are to be compared with those of the other there is no general agreement and there can be none. The usual practice, however, is to call the Iranian Yima, haoma, etc., to one's aid if they subserve one's own view of Yama, soma, and other Hindu parallels, and to discard analogous features as an independent growth if they do not. ”

“ He chanted the Ahuna Vairya and drove back the demons beneath the earth. [35] Haoma says that Zarathushtra drove back beneath the earth the daevas that were stalking the earth in the shape of human beings. [36] He was the first among mortals who brought the demons to nought, who first proclaimed the word that worked their destruction, and who first denounced their creation as unworthy of sacrifice and prayer. [37] Angra Mainyu, the wicked and deadly, howled in impotent rage that Zarathushtra alone succeeded in routing and smiting him where all the Yazatas failed to encompass his defeat. ”

“ One is the yellow, or earthly Haoma, and is the king of healing-plants; the other, or white, is that which, on the day of resurrection, will make men immortal. Thrita was one of the first priests of Haoma, the life and health-giving plant, and thus he obtained his skill in medicine. Darmesteter says that Thrita was originally the same as Thraêtaona of the Rig-Veda.322
“We see that Thraêtaona fulfilled the same functions as Thrita. According to Hamza he was the inventor of medicine. ”

“ The Parsees of Bombay still continue the ritual use of the haoma-juice, deriving it from a plant with a knotted stem and leaves like those of the jasmine, supplies of which are specially obtained from Kirman in Persia. They refuse to admit the identity of the Vedic soma with their own sacred plant, which they assert is never found in India. ”

“ Through her Ahura Mazda gives reward, [235] for he has spoken of her with express sanction to Zarathushtra, and in obedience the prophet has introduced her to humanity. [236] The faithful pray that they may win Ahura Mazda's favours through Rata. [237] She nourishes the poor. [238] Sraosha is the best protector of the poor. [239] He shelters poor men and women in his mansion. [240] Haoma exalts the mind of the poor. [241] With uplifted hands do the ill-treated poor call Mithra for help. ”

“ The pike tugged at the line till the birch canoe stood almost endwise, but Hiawatha only pulled the harder, and when the fish rose to the surface he cried with scorn: "You are but the pike; you are not the king of fishes," and the pike sank down ashamed to the bottom of the river. Then Nahma bade the sun-fish break Hiawatha's tackle, but again Hiawatha pulled the great fish to the surface of the water and again cast him down, crying: "You are not the fish I wanted; you are not the king of fishes!" Then Nahma grew angry, [16] and, opening his huge jaws, swallowed both canoe and Hiawatha. ”

“ Minnehaha wishes; let your heart speak, Minnehaha!" Then the maiden rose up and took the seat beside Hiawatha, saying softly: "I will follow you, my husband." Thus was Hiawatha's wooing, and hand in hand the young couple went away together, leaving the old arrow-maker in his loneliness.
When Hiawatha and his fair bride reached their home, old Nokomis prepared a sumptuous wedding-feast to which many guests were bidden. Among them was a handsome but idle and mischievous youth named Pau-Puk-Keewis, who was renowned for his skill in all sports and pastimes. ”

“ It was to see the arrow-maker's dark-eyed daughter, Minnehaha, that Hiawatha halted in the land [14] of the Dacotahs, and when he reached home he told Nokomis of the meeting with his father and the great fight, but not a word did he say of arrows or of the maiden.
Hiawatha had two beloved friends, the sweet-voiced singer, Chibiabos, and Kwasind, strongest of all men. Even the birds could not sing so sweetly or the brooks murmur so gently as Chibiabos, and all the hearts of men were softened by the pathos of his music. But dear as he was to Hiawatha, no less dear was Kwasind. ”

“ Proud of her grandson's bravery, old Nokomis now set him a difficult task. "In a land lying westward, a land of fever and pestilence, lives the mighty magician, Pearl-Feather, who slew my father. Take your canoe and smear its sides with the oil I have made from the body of Nahma, so that you may pass swiftly through the black pitch-water and avenge my father's murder." Thus spoke old Nokomis, and Hiawatha did as she bade him, smeared the sides of his boat with [17] oil and passed swiftly through the black water, which was guarded by fiery serpents. ”

“ A modern reader would think that Haumea as Mother Earth threw out her children in the natural outburst of earth forces, but it is extremely doubtful if the old Hawaiians had any such idea. Yet the expression that Haumea was a precipice might imply a misty feeling in that direction.
The youngest of the family, Hiiaka-in-the-bosom-of-Pele, was born an egg. After she had been carefully warmed and nourished by Pele, she became a beautiful child. When she grew into womanhood she was the bravest, the most powerful, except Pele, and the most gentle and lovable of all the sisters. ”

“ Is the handsomest of strangers!”
Thus dissuading spake Nokomis,
And my Hiawatha answered
Only this: “Dear old Nokomis,
Very pleasant is the firelight,
But I like the starlight better,
Better do I like the moonlight!”
Gravely then said old Nokomis:
“Bring not here an idle maiden,
Bring not here a useless woman,
Hands unskilful, feet unwilling;
Bring a wife with nimble fingers,
Heart and hand that move together,
Feet that run on willing errands!”
Smiling answered Hiawatha:
“In the land of the Dacotahs
Lives the Arrow-maker’s daughter,
Minnehaha, Laughing Water,
Handsomest of all the women. ”

“ We stand amazed before one that is forty feet high, until the eye travels down the river to another wheel of sixty feet; and our guide takes us out to the edge of the city where a monster ninety feet in diameter is playing its slow, solemn tune.
It is impossible to shut out the sound of their creaking. I know of travelers who have been so distracted by the incessant, inescapable noise that they could not sleep in Hama ”

“ Peacefully slept Hiawatha.
On the morrow came Nokomis,
On the seventh day of his fasting,
Came with food for Hiawatha,
Came imploring and bewailing,
Lest his hunger should o’ercome him,
Lest his fasting should be fatal.
But he tasted not, and touched not,
Only said to her, “Nokomis,
Wait until the sun is setting,
Till the darkness falls around us,
Till the heron, the Shuh-shuh-gah,
Crying from the desolate marshes,
Tells us that the day is ended.”
Homeward weeping went Nokomis,
Sorrowing for her Hiawatha,
Fearing lest his strength should fail him,
Lest his fasting should be fatal. ”

“ Then Hiawatha raised his hands to heaven and called the thunder and lightning to his aid. Stronger than any mortal power, the tempest smote the rocks till they fell to fragments, and there beneath the crags lay Pau-Puk-Keewis dead in his own human form.
This was Hiawatha's last victory—grief and loss were now to be his portion. The death of his two friends, Chibiabos and Kwasind, weighed on his mind, and, hardest of all, a long and dreary winter, bringing the specters of famine and fever in its train, came upon the land and robbed Hiawatha of his dearest treasure, his beautiful young wife. ”

“ So Hiawatha dressed himself for travel and armed himself with bow and a war-club, took his magic mittens and his magic moccasins, and set out all alone to travel to the kingdom of the West-wind. And although Nokomis called after him and begged him to turn back, he would not listen to her, but went away into the forest. ”

“ Skilled in the craft of Indian hunters, and all the lore the wise men of his tribe could teach him, Hiawatha grew from childhood into manhood, and by much questioning learned from old Nokomis the story [13] of his mother's cruel desertion. Full of wrath, he determined to be revenged on his father, Mudjekeewis, and in spite of his grandmother's warnings, the youth set out on his long journey. ”

“ But while all the surrounding peoples become gradually modified by these crossings, the Wa-Huma preserve their original purity, keeping aloof from all contact with the aborigines. They are nearly all stock-breeders, and as they mostly live in the jungle, far from villages, they are seldom met by travellers. ”

“ When Hiawatha returned, fierce anger rose in his heart. "I will slay this mischief-maker," said he, "even if I have to search the world for him." Together with other hunters he set out in hot pursuit, but cunning Pau-Puk-Keewis outstripped them all and ran, swift as an antelope, till he came to a stream in the midst of a forest where the beavers had built a dam. "Change me into a beaver," he entreated them, "and make me larger than yourselves, so that I may be your ruler and king." ”

“ First of Hiawatha’s brothers,
First of Wabun, of the East-Wind,
Of the South-Wind, Shawondasee,
Of the North, Kabibonokka;
Then of Hiawatha’s mother,
Of the beautiful Wenonah,
Of her birth upon the meadow,
Of her death, as old Nokomis
Had remembered and related.
And he cried, “O Mudjekeewis,
It was you who killed Wenonah,
Took her young life and her beauty,
Broke the Lily of the Prairie,
Trampled it beneath your footsteps;
You confess it! you confess it!” ”

“ It seems that he has a splendid business out there in the forest. All the same, you can't keep a business like that secret. I have had inquiries made. Who is d'Haumont? He is quite unknown in Guiana. Have you fellows in your wanderings through the country ever heard of d'Haumont's business?"
"No, certainly not. His business must be on the Upper Oyapok, and even farther away. It's a very uncivilized place. People never go there. But in those parts one stroke of luck is enough to make a man rich."
"It's very funny," interposed Nina Noha. ”

“ Olopana in agony cried to his daughter: “Give up your tree. Of what use will it be with its flowers if you die?” Then Haumea, with the most powerful incantations, gave her the final strength, and mother and child both lived and became well and strong.
Haumea took the tree and travelled over the [25] far seas to distant Hawaii. On that larger island she found no place to plant the tree. She crossed over to the island Maui, and came to the “four rivers.” There she found the awa of the gods and prepared it for drinking, but needed fresh water to mix with it. ”

“ Hiawatha disappears in the forest looking for game.
Scene changes showing the interior of the tepee where Minnehaha lies sick and dying. Fever sitting at her head, Famine at her feet, both staring at her. Old Nokomis sitting at the back of the couch, watching over and caring for her with maternal love and pity. ”

“ Then the noble-hearted Hiawatha led them to his wigwam, where he seated them on skins of bison and ermine, while Nokomis brought them water in cups of birch-bark and food in bowls of polished basswood; and when they were done with eating, peace-pipes were filled with willow-bark and lighted for them to smoke.
All the warriors, and old men, and the magicians of the village came to welcome the great strangers, and they sat around the doorway of Hiawatha's wigwam in a large circle, smoking their pipes and waiting for the strangers to come forth and to speak to them. ”