(From Manly Hall Secret History of America)
https://otter.ai/u/p6Q8lzFyzdXBvWe5qAM_U_0TFag
I’ve tried various spellings but can’t get anything to come up on Google. As you can see via the transcript, it isn’t much help either.
Thanks in advance - let me know if there is a better spot to post this.
This is 2000 years beyond my area of expertise, but my sleuthing skills were up to the task. I found the terms written out in C. Vecsey's "The Story and Structure of the Iroquois Confederacy" Journal of the American Academy of Religion 54.1 (1986): 79-106. He explains them as six principles (3 each with A and B) that Deganawida explains to the Mother of Nations. I quote from the discussion:
Ne Skenno. (A) This means health, soundness, and normal functional condition, when used to describe a human person. It is what is achieved after the transformations of Hiawatha and Tadadaho. It is sanity of mind. (B) It is also peace, tranquility, between individ uals, between groups like men and women, and between nations, when describing the body politic. It is what the League promotes.
Ne Gaiihwiyo. (A) This is a kind of gospel, a wholesome doctrine to persons, good to be heard, that denotes ethics, values, and righteousness in conduct, thought, and attitude. It is righteousness not only in action but also in advocating it in other people. Deganawida acts well and he also encourages others to act well. He is his own message, the peaceful promoter of peace, the orderly promoter of order. He embodies Ne Gaiihwiyo. (B) In addition, it denotes justice and right, as formulated in custom, manners, religion, ritual, and tradition. It points to equity or justice, rights and obligations in society.
Ne Gashedenza. (A) This is the force, authority, or power of a people, the physical strength contained in civil chiefs or military power. It is necessary for defense of a nation. (B) It is also the underlying supernatural power, the orenda, of a people's institutions. It is the spiritual power that underlies physical power. The League depends on this power because all human life, the Iroquois say, depends on divine help as well as divine guidance.
These spellings are repeated in the brand new book by Susan E. Ramirez, In Praise of the Ancestors: Names, Identity, and Memory in Africa and the Americas (Univ. Nebraska Press, 2022).
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