Information AboutAh-ni-ku-ta-ni |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT ANI-KUTANI | |
| cherokee tribe | |
| cherokee mythology | |
| SHOPPER'S DELIGHT | |
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HISTORY This group of priests were known to have created and maintained the first writing system of the Cherokee people, predating Sequoyah's Syllabary. 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 . 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." 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. 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". CURRENT STATUS This 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). 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 Mormon prophet Joseph Smith visited the Ah-ni-ku-ta-ni in the early 1800's during his excursions into Missouri, since records of the Mormon Church indicate Smith met with a group of Indians somewhere in Missouri, who possessed a writing system and recorded the history of their genealogy. REFERENCES (alphabetical by title)
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