Our Grandmother
Cheyenne · deity · primordial · Recorded classification
Ésceheman, 'Our Grandmother', is the female earth spirit of the Tsistsistas (Cheyenne), dwelling in the deep earth as guardian of the game animals and of the earth's generative power. Karl Schlesier's reconstruction of the Massaum, the great world-renewal ceremony, places her at the heart of Cheyenne sacred cosmology alongside Maheo above; Peter Powell's ethnohistory records the continuing veneration of Grandmother Earth in Northern Cheyenne ritual. In the Massaum tradition she and the thunder spirit Nonoma are the parents of Ehyophstah, the Yellow-Haired Woman.
Children
Domains
- earth fertility animals
Powers
- to release or withhold the game animals from the deep earth
Epithets
- ÉscehemanKarl H. Schlesier, The Wolves of Heaven: Cheyenne Shamanism, Ceremonies, and Prehistoric Origins, University of Oklahoma Press, 1987 (secondary)
Relations
- subordinate to: All-SpiritGrandmother Earth acts within the universe ordered by Maheo, the highest sacred power.Karl H. Schlesier, The Wolves of Heaven: Cheyenne Shamanism, Ceremonies, and Prehistoric Origins, University of Oklahoma Press, 1987 (secondary)
- spouse: ThunderPaired with Nonoma, the thunder spirit, in the sacred genealogy underlying the Massaum ceremony.Karl H. Schlesier, The Wolves of Heaven: Cheyenne Shamanism, Ceremonies, and Prehistoric Origins, University of Oklahoma Press, 1987 (secondary)
- mother of: Yellow-Haired WomanMother of Ehyophstah, the Yellow-Haired Woman who brought the buffalo to the people.Karl H. Schlesier, The Wolves of Heaven: Cheyenne Shamanism, Ceremonies, and Prehistoric Origins, University of Oklahoma Press, 1987 (secondary)
Sources
- Ésceheman, 'Our Grandmother', is the Cheyenne female sacred power of the deep earth, guardian of the animals and mother of Ehyophstah.: Karl H. Schlesier, The Wolves of Heaven: Cheyenne Shamanism, Ceremonies, and Prehistoric Origins, University of Oklahoma Press, 1987 (secondary); Peter J. Powell, Sweet Medicine: The Continuing Role of the Sacred Arrows, the Sun Dance, and the Sacred Buffalo Hat in Northern Cheyenne History, University of Oklahoma Press, 1969 (secondary)