40 3 Moonbeams, Water, and Smoke Tracing Otherworldly Relationships at the Emerald Site B. Jacob Skousen One of the best-known origin stories of the Choc- taw Indians of southeastern North America tells of an epic journey taken by their ancestors, who let their home in the west and headed east in the direction of the rising sun (Swanton 1931). hey traveled day ater day, carrying the bones of their deceased relatives, being led by a medicine man with a special pole that, at the beginning of each day, pointed out the path they were to follow. At long last, and just at the onset of winter, the pole instructed them to settle at the junction of three rivers, a place rich with resources. Ater en- joying a comfortable winter there and recalling the diiculty of their journey, the Choctaw de- cided to make this settlement their permanent home. To show their thanks to the sacred pole for safely guiding them on their journey, they con- structed a mound to serve as the pole’s inal rest- ing place. hey called this mound Nanih Waiya. Other versions of the origin story similarly em- phasize a place called Nanih Waiya (e.g., Brescia 1985; Swanton 1931) but claim that it was a hill or a hole in the ground from which several groups of people, including the Choctaw, emerged from the belly of the earth. According to these versions, these groups eventually let Nanih Waiya and settled in other regions, which led to the forma- tion of separate native tribes throughout the Southeast (Swanton 1931). Modern Choctaw Indians believe Nanih Waiya is a speciic mound site located in present-day Mississippi. he site consists of two mounds. One is a rectangular platform mound with an associ- ated earthen rampart, and the second is a coni- cal mound penetrated by a moderate-sized hole (Brescia 1985; Swanton 1931). More importantly, modern Choctaw still see this site as an import- ant, sacred part of their heritage (Carleton 1996; Nabokov 2006:47–51). For example, one origin account notes that those who emerged from the earth at Nanih Waiya “ever aterwards remem- bered the hill from the summit of which they irst beheld the light of the sun” (Brescia 1985:12), and a more recent Choctaw writer described Nanih Waiya as “the center of the Choctaw Universe” (cited in Nabokov 2006:50). Furthermore, many Choctaw have returned to this site to remember and celebrate its place in their history. More an- cient journeys to Nanih Waiya are implied by the remnants of “two broad, deeply worn roads or highways” that converged at the site’s mounds (Swanton 1931:9). Sometime during the eigh- teenth and nineteenth centuries, unknown per- sons (presumably Choctaws) visited the site and let oferings on the mounds (Carleton 1996). To- day local Choctaws periodically travel to Nanih Waiya to remember and revere its role as their “Mother” and recall the events that took place there (Carleton 1996; Nabokov 2006:47). Clearly, journeys to Nanih Waiya had and con- tinue to have signiicance and power for many Choctaws (and for many non-Indians as well; e.g., Nabokov 2006:47–51). Indeed, journeys of all kinds oten have profound efects on the lives of travelers and nontravelers alike in that they af- ford encounters with a myriad of people, places, Buchanan Skousen text 2.indd 40 2015-03-30 8:58 AM