An iroquoian tree spirit or divine being in Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) cosmology, often associated with thunder and protection.
From Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) languages; attiwendaronk or similar forms appear in early contact period documents. It represents Indigenous spiritual concepts documented by early European recorders.
This word shows how Indigenous spiritual concepts were translated—imperfectly—into European writing systems. Early colonists documented dozens of these spirit names, but many were misspelled and lost as Haudenosaunee oral traditions were disrupted.
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