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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. 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}} |
'''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}}hihihihihihigf86d75rcfyvgtf5rd |
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==Overview== |
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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 [[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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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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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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==Similar figures== |
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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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==See also== |
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* ''[[Reservation Dogs]]'' - Deer Lady, played by [[Kaniehtiio Horn]] is a recurring character. |
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==References== |
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{{reflist}} |
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==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] |
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{{Anishinaabe}} |
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[[Category:Legendary creatures of the indigenous peoples of North America]] |
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[[Category:Iroquois legendary creatures]] |
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[[Category:Cherokee legendary creatures]] |
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[[Category:Ojibwe legendary creatures]] |
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[[Category:Mythological human hybrids]] |
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[[Category:Mythological deer]] |
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[[Category:Anthropomorphic mammals]] |
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[[Category:Female legendary creatures]] |
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Revision as of 22:59, 8 January 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]hihihihihihigf86d75rcfyvgtf5rd
- ^ "Deer Woman". Native Languages. Retrieved 17 November 2016.