Orenda

Orenda /ˈoʊrɛndə/ is an Iroquois name for a spiritual power inherent in people and their environment. Activities of nature were seen to be a "ceaseless struggle of one orenda against another, uttered and directed by the beings or bodies" in the environment. Orenda was deemed a motive force behind miracles, soothsaying, divination, prophecy, blessing, cursing, prayer, worship, and superstitions. Orenda is not a collective power and does not have a personification. 19th and 20th century scholars compared the concept of orenda to that of mana.

Anthropologist J. N. B. Hewitt notes intrinsic similarities between the Iroquoian concept of Orenda and that of the Siouxan wakd or mahopa; the Algonquin manitowi, and the pokunt of the Shoshone. Across the Iroquois tribes, the concept was referred to variously as orenna or karenna by the Mohawk, Cayuga, and Oneida; urente by the Tuscarora, and iarenda or orenda by the Huron. A related term, otgon, denoted a specifically "malign, deadly, lethal, or destructive use" of orenda. Hewitt notes that orenda was regarded by Iroquoian peoples as distinct from concepts of life, soul, ghost, and mind.

For the Iroquois, a shaman was considered to be "one whose orenda is great, powerful", while a hunter's orenda determined whether he was successful in overcoming the orenda of the game, and in conflicts between nations, orenda determined the outcome. Orenda was also present in nature: storms were said to possess orenda. A strong connection existed between prayers and songs and orenda: through song, a bird, shaman, or rabbit put forth orenda.

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