Choctaw · numen · Choctaw traditional religion; continuing · numen
Ishkitini is the great horned owl of Choctaw belief, singled out from the other owls of ill omen as an active and dangerous nocturnal being rather than a mere sign. It was said to prowl the darkness killing both men and animals, and its screech was heard as a warning of sudden death, often understood specifically as a murder. Choctaw tradition ranked the omen-birds by degree: while the screech owl foretold the death of a young child and the common hooting owl warned of death among near relatives, Ishkitini's cry marked the gravest and most violent end, giving it a place among the feared night powers of the Choctaw world.
Domains
omens of death
night and predation
Powers
to foretell a sudden or violent death by its screech
to prowl by night killing men and animals
Epithets
Ishkitini
Sources
John R. Swanton, Source Material for the Social and Ceremonial Life of the Choctaw Indians, Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 103, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., 1931.
David I. Bushnell Jr., The Choctaw of Bayou Lacomb, St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana, Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 48, Smithsonian Institution, 1909.