Moravian Communities Research Articles

A Contribution to the Mythology and Conceptual World of the Cherokee Indians

It is well known that the Cherokees were particularly receptive to western European White culture; for this reason they justifiably rank among the Five civilized tribes (Cherokee, Creek, Chactaw, Chickasaw and Seminole). The particular receptivity of the Cher6kee may perhaps be attributed to their having apparently abandoned their native religious organization at a very early date. The following extracts are translated from the diaries of the community of Moravian Brethren at Spring Place Mission, Georgia, which are now stored in the Moravian Archives at Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The first Moravian communities in Georgia and Pennsylvania, together with the one at WinstonSalem, North Carolina, were founded in the 18th century. The Moravian Archives at Winston-Salem contain practically everything in reference to the Moravian missions in the South. The diaries from Spring Place Mission have not yet been published in full. The writers of these diaries were for the most part simple men who, while they reported fully on their daily work on the land and in the school, make only scant and for the most part laconic, non-critical references to the life of the Cherokee. The Moravian mission at Spring Place was established in 1801. In 1804 there rose in Spring Place an imposing, truly