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Ani-kutani

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Ah-ni-ku-ta-ni or Ah-ni-gu-ta-ni (pronounced Ah-nee-koo-tah-nee/Ah-nee-goo-tah-nee) were the ancient priesthood of the Cherokee or Ah-ni-yv-wi-ya people. According to Cherokee legend, the Ah-ni-ku-ta-ni were exterminated during a mass uprising by the Cherokee people approximately 300 years prior to European Contact.[#endnote_legand1] This uprising was sparked by the fact that the Ah-ni-ku-ta-ni had become despotic and oppressive to the people.[#endnote_legand2] The ancient structure of Cherokee Society and the Cherokee Clans were closely linked to the beliefs of the Ah-ni-ku-ta-ni.

Contents

History

This group of priests were believed to have created and maintained the first writing system of the Cherokee people, predating Sequoyah's Syllabary.[#endnote_writing1] The great Cherokee Scholar Sequoyah is generally credited with the creation of the modern Cherokee Syllabary. However, in recent times, the ancient syllabary of the Ah-ni-ku-ta-ni has reappeared, and the legends of its existence may have been what inspired Sequoyah to perform his great work. This most ancient syllabary does not resemble the modern Sequoyah syllabary in any meaningful way, but the legends of the Ah-ni-ku-ta-ni are believed to have inspired Sequoyah to recreate a means of writing for the Cherokee people which was believed to have been lost during the exterminaton of the Ah-ni-ku-ta-ni. It was legend among the Cherokee that the Ah-ni-ku-ta-ni were able to record "the words of the people upon the wind" and that they possessed a writing system that was not shared with the common people, and was considered powerful magic.

Although it was widely held by the Cherokees that the Ah-ni-ku-ta-ni were all destroyed, a small group of their descendants hid among the people in secrecy and marched the Trail of Tears.[#endnote_survival] When they reached the banks of the Mississippi River near modern day Cape Girardeau, Missouri, they fled into the surrounding woods and founded a small community in the swamps near the river. Their hidden community was called Kla-da-tsa-yi (Klah-dah-aht-saw-yee), meaning "the place of the panther" or "panther swamp."[#endnote_swamp] According to the ancient written prophecies of the Ah-ni-ku-ta-ni, the Mississippi River was a boundary that the Cherokee were forbidden to cross by the Creator spirit -- and if the Cherokee crossed the river, they would fall under a curse and war with one another, and not find peace until the people returned to the true culture of the Ah-ni-yv-wi-ya and the ceremonies were performed on the spot the Cherokee people crossed the river. In September of 2002, the Ah-ni-yv-wi-ya and Ah-ni-ku-ta-ni performed the ancient ceremonies on the spot where the Cherokee people crossed the river, and believe that the true culture, spirituality, and brotherhood of the people was restored according to ancient written prophecies. [#endnote_ceremony]

The Ah-ni-ku-ta-ni also restored the seven priests of the ancient priesthood from among selected individuals of the Cherokee Nation, United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians, and the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. The current leader of the Ah-ni-ku-ta-ni is a member of the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians. The Ah-ni-ku-ta-ni are and remain an extremely secretive organization, and the identities of the priests are not generally known, even among the Cherokee people, for fear of political reprisals. Several prominent Cherokee historians who are members of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians are aware of the existence of this organization in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, and refer to the Ah-ni-ku-ta-ni as the "old ones" or the "ancient ones".

James Mooney

From the writings of James Mooney Myths of the Cherokee section 108 The Massacre of the Ani'-Kuta'ni. Among other perishing traditions is that relating to the Ani'Kuta'ni or Ani'Kwata'ni, concerning whom the modern Cherokee know so little that their very identity is now a matter of dispute, a few holding that they were an ancient people who preceded the Cherokee and built the mounds, while others, with more authority, claim that they were a clan or society in the tribe and were destroyed long ago by pestilence or other calamity. Fortunately, we are not left to depend entirely upon surmise in the matter, as the tradition was noted by Haywood some seventy years ago (from the mid 1800's), and by another writer some forty years later, while the connected story could still be obtained from competent authorities. From the various statements it would seem that the Ani'Kuta'ni were a priestly clan, having hereditary supervision of all religious ceremonies among the Cherokee, until, in consequence of having abused their sacred privileges, they were attacked and completely exterminated by the rest of the tribe, leaving the priestly functions to be assumed thereafter by individual doctors and conjurers.

Mooney mentions no remaining members of this legend within the Cherokee. Mooney mentions no tablets or pre Sequoyah written language by this group. Mooney mentions no secret group surviving and settling in Missouri. Mooney does mention that the family name for the group was Nicotani. This group was discribed as much dispised, corrupt abusers of their religious power (Mooney compared this power position to be on par with the Brahmins of India). Mooney stated they where so completely whipped out that even at the mention of them by Chief John Ross and Dr J. B. Evans in 1866 the story and legend where stated to be a century old and must have (due to the dimness of detail) en beeven older then a century even then. James Mooney states that none are noted to have survived.

Quote "The people long brooded in silence over the oppressions and outrages of this high caste, whom they deeply hated but greatly feared. At length a daring young man, a member of an influential family, organized a conspiracy among the people for the massacre of the priesthood. The immediate provocation was the aduction of the wife of the young leader of the conspiracy. His wife was remarkable for her beauty, and was forcibly abducted and violated by one of the Nicotani while he was absent on the chase. On his return he found no difficulty in exciting in others the resentment which he himself experienced. So many had suffered in the same way, so many feared that they might be made to suffer, that nothing was wanted but a leader. A leader appearing in the person of the young brave whom we have named, the people rose under his direction and killed every Nicotani, young and old. Thus perished a hereditary secret society, since which time no hereditary privileges have been tolerated among the Cherokee."

James Mooney's History, Myths, and Sacred Formulas of the Cherokees ISBN 0-914875-19-1

Current status

A group still exists today as a religious organization called the Ah-ni-yv-wi-ya. They hold many ancient objects and archives written in this ancient Ah-ni-ku-ta-ni syllabary that record the original ceremonies of the Cherokee, which were practiced unchanged for thousands of years. They also possess two stone tablets written in an ancient ideographic form of the language that are believed to be extremely ancient. These tablets record the origins of the Cherokee people, and state that the Cherokee migrated to North America thousands of years ago from somewhere else. These tablets also tell a story that the Earth, E-lo-hi (Eee-loe-hee) was created by the star people who then brought the Ah-ni-yv-wi-ya (all the human people) to dwell here in happiness from the place of the sun, gu-ta-ni(yi) (another star in the heavens). [#endnote_status]

Etymology

The name of the Ah-ni-ku-ta-ni can no longer be translated by most modern Cherokee speakers, as the meaning of this word has been lost. Ah-ni-ku-ta-ni translates in the ancient dialect as "the people who came from the place of the sun." Ah-ni-ku-ta-ni is the modern form of the word spoken in the Oklahoma dialect. The ancient form of the word is Ah-ni-gu-ta-ni.

Mormon connection

Many Latter-day Saints believe that the Prophet Joseph Smith visited the Ah-ni-ku-ta-ni in the early 1800s during his excursions into Missouri, since records of the Church indicate Smith met with a group of Indians, somewhere in Missouri, who possessed a writing system and recorded the history of their genealogy.[#endnote_mormon] It is a provision of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that at least some native Americans are actually descendants of Israel, and these are therefore considered to have the blood of Abraham.

References

(alphabetical by title)

Notes

  1. ↑  Autobiography of Wilma Mankiller as quoted in [this site]; also in [Moundbuilders by James Catron]
  2. ↑  Same source as in previous note, and Cherokee by Fitzgerald & Conley, page 29 (in the references section above)
  3. ↑ Tell Them They Lie by Bird, p24.
  4. ↑  Writings and history of An-ni-ku-ta-ni (see references section)
  5. ↑  Writings and history of An-ni-ku-ta-ni (see references section) (Oct 2002 newsletter)
  6. ↑  Writings and history of An-ni-ku-ta-ni (see references section) (Oct 2002 newsletter)
  7. ↑  Writings and history of An-ni-ku-ta-ni (see references)
  8. ↑  Journal of Discourses and History of the [Mormon] Church

 

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