metacomet
02-08-2009, 06:43 PM
This is a definite camp-fire story that is creepy enough I think it's worth sharing.
http://www.timeoutofmind.com/images/home_page_images/deer_woman_moon_encounter.jpg
Every year on this reservation there is an annual powwow.
http://www.georgiejessup.com/graphics/powwow1.gif
Powwows are gatherings of Native American dancers and used to be a spiritual event. They are more commercial now, and instead of dancing for spiritual power, the dancers are dancing for money, and instead of dancing with prayer items or medicine items, they dance with numbers attached to them for the competition.
http://assets.frontiersnorth.com/resources/images/dancing_1.jpg
Now, this is my take on the story: but I do believe the Deer Woman appeared during the time she did (late 70's) because the PowWows at that point had become more commercial than traditional, and when traditions or ways of the spirit are broken, signs are often sent to the people.
http://users.stlcc.edu/nfuller/powwow/crafts3.jpg
One particular evening during a powwow, the floor was full of many people, and as the drum song carried on, here and there people were seen stopping their dance and slowly backing away from something. One person after another stopped dancing and before long the entire floor had stopped. In the center, a single woman continued to dance. She was very beautiful, but the way she was moving started to creep people out, she seemed to be moving as if crippled or in some kind of trance-like state.
It was only until everyone had backed away from her and revealed her legs that they saw who she was. Under her shawl, hoofs pointed out, and as the entire crowd watched, the drummers stopped drumming, and the girl continued to dance. Brief flashes above the hoofs showed that she did in fact have deer legs.
When she finished her dance, she came out of her trance and looked up at the crowd staring at her. One of the dancers approached her and people started to tell her 'you need to leave!'
Indians are very superstitious and once disbelief and shock has left them during a paranormal or spiritual event - the first thing they do is chase spirits out. This deer woman was to them, a spirit which had come to the people. Now that they had seen her, they wanted her gone, she was frightening the children and I am sure the elders saw her as a curse on the powwow.
She lept out of the stadium and jumped over cars, running through fields and they lost sight of her as she ran to the nearby mountains.
This is the story as I was told it, I have not met anyone who saw this happen, although I have been told it was such an event that the tribe encouraged nobody to speak of it. As I said, the tribe had allowed the powwow to become too commercial, and the elders would specifically realize what the Deerwoman had come for (an admonishment of that commercialism).
http://www.timeoutofmind.com/images/home_page_images/deer_woman_moon_encounter.jpg
Every year on this reservation there is an annual powwow.
http://www.georgiejessup.com/graphics/powwow1.gif
Powwows are gatherings of Native American dancers and used to be a spiritual event. They are more commercial now, and instead of dancing for spiritual power, the dancers are dancing for money, and instead of dancing with prayer items or medicine items, they dance with numbers attached to them for the competition.
http://assets.frontiersnorth.com/resources/images/dancing_1.jpg
Now, this is my take on the story: but I do believe the Deer Woman appeared during the time she did (late 70's) because the PowWows at that point had become more commercial than traditional, and when traditions or ways of the spirit are broken, signs are often sent to the people.
http://users.stlcc.edu/nfuller/powwow/crafts3.jpg
One particular evening during a powwow, the floor was full of many people, and as the drum song carried on, here and there people were seen stopping their dance and slowly backing away from something. One person after another stopped dancing and before long the entire floor had stopped. In the center, a single woman continued to dance. She was very beautiful, but the way she was moving started to creep people out, she seemed to be moving as if crippled or in some kind of trance-like state.
It was only until everyone had backed away from her and revealed her legs that they saw who she was. Under her shawl, hoofs pointed out, and as the entire crowd watched, the drummers stopped drumming, and the girl continued to dance. Brief flashes above the hoofs showed that she did in fact have deer legs.
When she finished her dance, she came out of her trance and looked up at the crowd staring at her. One of the dancers approached her and people started to tell her 'you need to leave!'
Indians are very superstitious and once disbelief and shock has left them during a paranormal or spiritual event - the first thing they do is chase spirits out. This deer woman was to them, a spirit which had come to the people. Now that they had seen her, they wanted her gone, she was frightening the children and I am sure the elders saw her as a curse on the powwow.
She lept out of the stadium and jumped over cars, running through fields and they lost sight of her as she ran to the nearby mountains.
This is the story as I was told it, I have not met anyone who saw this happen, although I have been told it was such an event that the tribe encouraged nobody to speak of it. As I said, the tribe had allowed the powwow to become too commercial, and the elders would specifically realize what the Deerwoman had come for (an admonishment of that commercialism).