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{{Other uses|Deer Woman (Masters of Horror)}} |
{{Other uses|Deer Woman (Masters of Horror)}} |
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'''Deer Woman''', sometimes known as the '''Deer Lady''', is a spirit in [[Native American mythology]] whose associations and qualities vary, depending on situation and relationships. |
'''Deer Woman''', sometimes known as the '''Deer Lady''', is a spirit in [[Native American mythology]] whose associations and qualities vary, depending on situation and relationships. Generally, however, to men who have harmed women and children, she is vengeful and murderous and known to lure these men to their deaths. She appears as either a beautiful young woman with deer feet or as a deer.<ref name="DW">{{cite web|title=Deer Woman |url=http://www.native-languages.org/deer-woman.htm |website=Native Languages |access-date=17 November 2016}}</ref>{{better source needed|date=April 2023}} |
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==Overview== |
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==In Native American traditions== |
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Deer Woman stories are found in multiple [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|Indigenous American]] cultures, often told to young children or by young adults and preteens in the communities of the [[Oceti Sakowin]], [[Ojibwe]], [[Ponca]], [[Omaha people|Omaha]], [[Cherokee]], [[Muscogee]], [[Seminole]], [[Choctaw]], [[Otoe]], [[Osage Nation|Osage]], [[Pawnee people|Pawnee]], and the [[ |
Deer Woman stories are found in multiple [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|Indigenous American]] cultures, often told to young children or by young adults and preteens in the communities of the [[Lakota people]] ([[Oceti Sakowin]]), [[Ojibwe]], [[Ponca]], [[Omaha people|Omaha]], [[Cherokee]], [[Muscogee]], [[Seminole]], [[Choctaw]], [[Otoe]], [[Osage Nation|Osage]], [[Pawnee people|Pawnee]], and the [[Haudenosaunee]], and those are only the ones that have documented Deer Woman sightings.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Russow|first1=Kurt|title="Gazing at Her Cloven Feats:" Mythic Tradition and "The Sacred Way of Women" in Paula Gunn Allen's "Deer Woman" |journal=Femspec |date=2013 |volume=13 |issue=2|pages=25–39, 97}}</ref> |
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Deer Woman is one of the [[Little people (mythology)|Little People]]. Though they can be malevolent towards humans,<ref name="dunn">Dunn, Carolyn."Deer Woman and the Living Myth of the Dreamtime." Endicott lournal of Mythic Arts (2003), Web. 11 June 2009</ref> their role in Indigenous culture is to uphold traditional society by keeping humans in line by discouraging harmful actions that have the potential to destroy the community. The legend of Deer Woman in particular pushes them away from actions like promiscuity and infidelity.<ref name="allen">Allen, Paula Gunn. "Deer Woman." Grandmothers of the Light: a Medicine Woman's Sourcebook. Boston: Beacon P, 1991.185-194</ref> The Little People also hold otherworldly knowledge that they can pass onto humans which is then transmitted through the generations; however, this power must be obtained, respected, and maintained in traditional, healthy ways.<ref name=dunn/> As an example of what happens when these spiritual rules are broken, the people who incur the wrath of Deer Woman and her uncle, Thunder, soon die.<ref name=allen/> |
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In [[Ojibwe]] tradition, she can be banished through the use of chanting and tobacco. Others claim that the spell she casts can be broken if one notices her cloven hooves.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Dunn|first1=Carolyn|title=Deer Woman and the Living Myth of Dreamtime|url=http://www.endicott-studio.com/articleslist/deer-woman-and-the-living-myth-of-dreamtime-by-carolyn-dunn.html|website=Endicott Journal of Mythic Arts|access-date=17 November 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160207012414/http://www.endicott-studio.com/articleslist/deer-woman-and-the-living-myth-of-dreamtime-by-carolyn-dunn.html|archive-date=7 February 2016|url-status=usurped}}</ref> |
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Some stories describe the sighting of Deer Woman as a sign of personal transformation or as a warning. Deer Woman is said to be fond of dancing and will sometimes join a communal dance unnoticed, leaving only when the drum beating ceases.<ref name=LW>LaDuke, Winona ''Last Standing Woman'' Page 243 Published by Voyageur Press, 1997 {{ISBN|0-89658-452-6}} Accessed via google Book October 12, 2008</ref> |
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==Lakota perspective== |
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Among [[Lakota people]], Deer Woman is called Anukite. The daughter of the first man and first woman was a beautiful young woman named Ite (Face). Tate (Wind) fell in love with her. They married and had quadruplets, who were the Four Winds. Tate wished to become a god and enlisted the aid of [[Iktomi|Inktomi]], the trickster spider, who caused the Sun to fall in love with Ite. At a celebration, Ite sat in the place of the Moon, the Sun's wife. To punish her disrespect, the Sky cast Ite down from heaven to the earth. Half of her face became ugly and her name became Anukite (Double Face Woman) or Winyan Numpa (Double Woman).<ref name="crawford">{{cite book |last1=Crawford |first1=Suzanne J. |last2=Kelley |first2=Dennis F. |title=American Indian Religious Traditions |date=2005 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |location=Santa Barbara, CA |isbn=1-57607-517-6 |page=651}}</ref> |
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The Deer Women show characteristics and traits of both sirens and succubi. The [[siren (mythology)|siren]], according to the Theoi Project, are monstrous sea nymphs that lure men to their deaths with their song.<ref>{{cite web|title=Sirens|url=http://www.theoi.com/Pontios/Seirenes.html|website=Theoi Project-Greek Mythology|access-date=17 November 2016}}</ref> Succubi, as defined by the Merriam-Webster dictionary, are "demons who take female form who have sexual intercourse with men in their sleep"; constant contact with a [[succubus]] can result in failing health or death for the man.<ref>{{cite web|title=Succubus|url=http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/succubus|website=Merriam-Webster|access-date=17 November 2016}}</ref> |
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Anukite appears to men in dreams or visions, either as a single deer or two deer women: a [[white-tailed deer]] and a [[black-tailed deer]]. Her two different sides symbolize appropriate and inappropriate sexual relations. Men that have sex with her are believed to go insane while women that dream of her will have strong powers or sexual attraction or can gain artistic powers if they make a wise choice in the near future.<ref name=crawford/> |
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[[Fiura]], of the Chiloé region of Chile, causes deformation in anyone who looks upon her and will cast spells to confuse young woodsmen into sleeping with her.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Popovic|first1=Mislav|title=Trauco and Fiura|url=http://traditionscustoms.com/strange-traditions/trauco-and-fiura|website=Traditions and Customs|access-date=17 November 2016}}</ref> |
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| ⚫ | La [[Patasola]], literally " |
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==Similar figures== |
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La [[Tunda]], another nature spirit from Colombia, lures people of all walks of life to them with their song and then drains them of blood; La Tunda can also shape-shift, but she will always have a single leg of a [[molinillo (whisk)|molinillo]] that she is very careful to hide.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Bane|first1=Theresa|title=Encyclopedia of Beasts and Monsters in Myth, Legend and Folklore|publisher=McFarland & Company, Inc.|location=Jefferson, North Carolina|page=324}}</ref> |
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Deer Woman and the other Little People share similarities with some European supernatural beings such as the [[Gaels|Gaelic]] [[Aos Sí]] and [[Tuatha Dé Danann]], the Germanic [[elves]], and the [[Slavs|Slavic]] [[Vila (fairy)|víle]] and [[rusalki]] in that they hold otherworldly knowledge that they can pass onto humans if they are treated with respect and said human(s) deemed worthy. Special care is also taken not to anger them and avoid breaking their rules as their vengeance is unpleasant and often deadly. |
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| ⚫ | La [[Patasola]], literally "single footed", is a somewhat similar figure from the Antioquia region of Colombia in that she brings harm to men who harm what she cares about, in this case the forest. She is a shapeshifter who takes the form of a beautiful woman to lure men with her cries of fear. When the men, who are often causing harm in one way or another to the rain forest, come to her, she drops her beautiful mask and slaughters them in an effort to protect the forest.<ref name="The Legend of La Patasola">{{cite web|last1=Hede|first1=Marcela|title=The Legend of La Patasola|url=http://hispanic-culture-online.com/the-legend-of-la-patasola.html|website=Hispanic Culture Online|access-date=17 November 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161118101235/http://hispanic-culture-online.com/the-legend-of-la-patasola.html|archive-date=18 November 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref> |
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The Brazilian [[Iara (mythology)|Iara]] are beautiful warrior mermaids who, when found by a man, will charm him with her voice and beauty and either drown him, or turn him into something like her and make him her lover.<ref>{{cite web|title=Iara: Brazil's Lady of the Lake|url=http://www.rejectedprincesses.com/princesses/iara|website=Rejected Princesses|access-date=16 November 2016}}</ref> [[La Llorona]] ("the crier"), who is found in Mexico and the Southwest United States, is a female ghost who will kidnap the souls of children, effectively killing them, and whose cries bring irrevocable sorrow. Sighting La Llorona spells death for someone within the week.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Moran|first1=Mark|last2=Sceurman|first2=Mark|title=La Llorona - The Phantom Banshee|url=http://www.weirdus.com/states/texas/local_legends/la_llorona/index.php|website=Weird US|publisher=Weird NJ Inc|access-date=17 November 2016}}</ref> |
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== See also == |
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While all these spirits will lure away and/or hurt others, they also have various physical oddities. The Deer Woman has hooves. Sirens are bird from the chest down. Succubi were originally portrayed as hideous and demonic. La Patasola has no right leg from the pelvis down and her right breast is fused to her arm.<ref name="The Legend of La Patasola"/> |
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* ''[[Reservation Dogs]]'' (2021–2023) – Deer Lady (played by [[Kaniehtiio Horn|Kaniehtiio "Tiio" Horn]]) is a recurring character. |
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* ''[[Deer Woman (Masters of Horror)|Deer Woman]]'' (2005, the 7th episode of the 1st season of ''[[Masters of Horror]]'') – Deer Woman (played by [[Cinthia Moura]]) is the antagonist. |
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==In popular culture== |
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* The Deer Woman was featured as a character in an [[Deer Woman (Masters of Horror)|eponymous episode]] of the Showtime horror series ''[[Masters of Horror]]''. It originally aired in North America on December 9, 2005, and was directed by [[John Landis]]. |
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*The [[Monster High]] series introduced in 2015 a character inspired by the Deer Woman myth: Isi Dawndancer. Her name, Isi, means deer in the [[choctaw]] language.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Isi Dawndancer|url=https://play.monsterhigh.com/en-us/characters/isi-dawndancer|access-date=17 January 2022}}</ref> |
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*In 2015, Anishinaabe writer [[Elizabeth LaPensée]] wrote ''Deer Woman: A Vignette''.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Deer Woman : a vignette|last=Elizabeth|first=LaPensée|others=Vazquez, Allie,, Thunder, Jonathan R.,, Native Realities Press,, Arming Sisters (Organization)|isbn=9780990694731|location=Albuquerque, NM|oclc=936208630|date=2015-10-21}}</ref> |
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*In 2019, [[Rebecca Roanhorse]] wrote the short story "Harvest" in the ''New Suns: Original Speculative Fiction by People of Color'' anthology, which features a seductive Deer Woman harvesting hearts in the name of justice.<ref>{{Cite book|title=New Suns: Original Speculative Fiction by People of Color edited by Nisi Shawl|publisher=Solaris|year=2019|isbn=9781781085783|location=United States|pages=245–254|language=English}}</ref> |
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*In 2020, Blackfeet author [[Stephen Graham Jones]] published [[The Only Good Indians]], which features a vengeful Deer Woman.<ref>{{Cite web|title=The Only Good Indians – Stephen Graham Jones|url=https://www.demontheory.net/the-only-good-indians/|access-date=2021-08-18|language=en-US}}</ref> |
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*In August 2021, the Deer Lady, portrayed by [[Kaniehtiio Horn]], was featured as a character in Season 1, Episode 5, “Come and Get Your Love”, of ''[[Reservation Dogs]]'' on Hulu. She is portrayed as "a badass vigilante who only goes after 'bad men'."<ref>{{Cite web|last=Simmons|first=Kali|url=https://www.vulture.com/article/reservation-dogs-recap-season-one-episode-5.html|title=Reservation Dogs Recap: Be Good, Fight Evil|website=[[Vulture (website)|Vulture]]|date=August 30, 2021|access-date=September 1, 2021}}</ref> |
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==References== |
==References== |
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==External links== |
==External links== |
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*[https://globalvoices.org/2017/10/03/deer-woman-an-anthology-sheds-light-on-violence-against-native-women-in-north-america/ ‘Deer Woman: An Anthology’ Sheds Light on Violence Against Native Women in North America] |
*[https://globalvoices.org/2017/10/03/deer-woman-an-anthology-sheds-light-on-violence-against-native-women-in-north-america/ ‘Deer Woman: An Anthology’ Sheds Light on Violence Against Native Women in North America] |
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*{{usurped|[https://web.archive.org/web/20061111101802/http://www.endicott-studio.com/rdrm/rrwoman.html Deer Woman And the Living Myth of the Dreamtime]}}, article by Carolyn Dunn from the Endicott Journal of Mythic Arts 2003 |
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{{Anishinaabe}} |
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[[Category:Legendary creatures of the indigenous peoples of North America]] |
[[Category:Legendary creatures of the indigenous peoples of North America]] |
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[[Category:Mythological human hybrids]] |
[[Category:Mythological human hybrids]] |
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[[Category:Mythological deer]] |
[[Category:Mythological deer]] |
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[[Category:Anthropomorphic |
[[Category:Anthropomorphic deer and moose]] |
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[[Category:Female legendary creatures]] |
[[Category:Female legendary creatures]] |
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[[Category:Little people (mythology)]] |
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Latest revision as of 18:09, 29 November 2024
Deer Woman, sometimes known as the Deer Lady, is a spirit in Native American mythology whose associations and qualities vary, depending on situation and relationships. Generally, however, to men who have harmed women and children, she is vengeful and murderous and known to lure these men to their deaths. She appears as either a beautiful young woman with deer feet or as a deer.[1][better source needed]
Overview
[edit]Deer Woman stories are found in multiple Indigenous American cultures, often told to young children or by young adults and preteens in the communities of the Lakota people (Oceti Sakowin), Ojibwe, Ponca, Omaha, Cherokee, Muscogee, Seminole, Choctaw, Otoe, Osage, Pawnee, and the Haudenosaunee, and those are only the ones that have documented Deer Woman sightings.[2]
Deer Woman is one of the Little People. Though they can be malevolent towards humans,[3] their role in Indigenous culture is to uphold traditional society by keeping humans in line by discouraging harmful actions that have the potential to destroy the community. The legend of Deer Woman in particular pushes them away from actions like promiscuity and infidelity.[4] The Little People also hold otherworldly knowledge that they can pass onto humans which is then transmitted through the generations; however, this power must be obtained, respected, and maintained in traditional, healthy ways.[3] As an example of what happens when these spiritual rules are broken, the people who incur the wrath of Deer Woman and her uncle, Thunder, soon die.[4]
Some stories describe the sighting of Deer Woman as a sign of personal transformation or as a warning. Deer Woman is said to be fond of dancing and will sometimes join a communal dance unnoticed, leaving only when the drum beating ceases.[5]
Lakota perspective
[edit]Among Lakota people, Deer Woman is called Anukite. The daughter of the first man and first woman was a beautiful young woman named Ite (Face). Tate (Wind) fell in love with her. They married and had quadruplets, who were the Four Winds. Tate wished to become a god and enlisted the aid of Inktomi, the trickster spider, who caused the Sun to fall in love with Ite. At a celebration, Ite sat in the place of the Moon, the Sun's wife. To punish her disrespect, the Sky cast Ite down from heaven to the earth. Half of her face became ugly and her name became Anukite (Double Face Woman) or Winyan Numpa (Double Woman).[6]
Anukite appears to men in dreams or visions, either as a single deer or two deer women: a white-tailed deer and a black-tailed deer. Her two different sides symbolize appropriate and inappropriate sexual relations. Men that have sex with her are believed to go insane while women that dream of her will have strong powers or sexual attraction or can gain artistic powers if they make a wise choice in the near future.[6]
Similar figures
[edit]Deer Woman and the other Little People share similarities with some European supernatural beings such as the Gaelic Aos Sí and Tuatha Dé Danann, the Germanic elves, and the Slavic víle and rusalki in that they hold otherworldly knowledge that they can pass onto humans if they are treated with respect and said human(s) deemed worthy. Special care is also taken not to anger them and avoid breaking their rules as their vengeance is unpleasant and often deadly.
La Patasola, literally "single footed", is a somewhat similar figure from the Antioquia region of Colombia in that she brings harm to men who harm what she cares about, in this case the forest. She is a shapeshifter who takes the form of a beautiful woman to lure men with her cries of fear. When the men, who are often causing harm in one way or another to the rain forest, come to her, she drops her beautiful mask and slaughters them in an effort to protect the forest.[7]
See also
[edit]- Reservation Dogs (2021–2023) – Deer Lady (played by Kaniehtiio "Tiio" Horn) is a recurring character.
- Deer Woman (2005, the 7th episode of the 1st season of Masters of Horror) – Deer Woman (played by Cinthia Moura) is the antagonist.
References
[edit]- ^ "Deer Woman". Native Languages. Retrieved 17 November 2016.
- ^ Russow, Kurt (2013). ""Gazing at Her Cloven Feats:" Mythic Tradition and "The Sacred Way of Women" in Paula Gunn Allen's "Deer Woman"". Femspec. 13 (2): 25–39, 97.
- ^ a b Dunn, Carolyn."Deer Woman and the Living Myth of the Dreamtime." Endicott lournal of Mythic Arts (2003), Web. 11 June 2009
- ^ a b Allen, Paula Gunn. "Deer Woman." Grandmothers of the Light: a Medicine Woman's Sourcebook. Boston: Beacon P, 1991.185-194
- ^ LaDuke, Winona Last Standing Woman Page 243 Published by Voyageur Press, 1997 ISBN 0-89658-452-6 Accessed via google Book October 12, 2008
- ^ a b Crawford, Suzanne J.; Kelley, Dennis F. (2005). American Indian Religious Traditions. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO. p. 651. ISBN 1-57607-517-6.
- ^ Hede, Marcela. "The Legend of La Patasola". Hispanic Culture Online. Archived from the original on 18 November 2016. Retrieved 17 November 2016.