Yahola

Yahola is a sky deity of the Muscogee (Creek), the foremost of the four Hiyouyulgee who dwell in the air and clouds. He is above all the patron of the black drink, the purifying yaupon-holly infusion central to the Busk, or Green Corn Ceremony; drinkers cried out his name as they felt its effects, and the ritual title Asi Yahola, 'Black Drink Singer,' passed into English as the name Osceola. With his brother Hayuya and their two companions he is said to have appeared to the ancient Creek upon a thundering mountain during their migration, teaching them the use of fire and of medicinal and other plants and endowing them with strength and ritual power. He presides over the Busk Ground ceremonies, the most important rites of the Muscogee year.

Domains

• black drink and purification
• busk ceremony
• medicine and mysticism

Powers

• to bestow and preside over the ceremonial black drink
• to teach the use of fire and of medicinal and other plants

Epithets

• Asi YaholaJohn R. Swanton, 'Social Organization and Social Usages of the Indians of the Creek Confederacy,' in Forty-Second Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology, Smithsonian Institution, 1928. (secondary)

Relations

• sibling: HayuyaYahola and Hayuya are brothers, the two foremost of the four Hiyouyulgee, who together presided over the Busk and taught the Creek their sacred arts.Bill Grantham, Creation Myths and Legends of the Creek Indians, University Press of Florida, 2002. (secondary)

Sources

• Yahola is a Muscogee sky deity, foremost of the four Hiyouyulgee, patron of the ceremonial black drink and of the Busk and a teacher of fire and plant lore, whose name survives in Asi Yahola (Osceola).: John R. Swanton, 'Social Organization and Social Usages of the Indians of the Creek Confederacy,' in Forty-Second Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology, Smithsonian Institution, 1928. (secondary); Bill Grantham, Creation Myths and Legends of the Creek Indians, University Press of Florida, 2002. (secondary)