The Wings of Creation
Copyright © 2017 by R. David Anderson
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Table of Contents
The Harvest
The Salt Mine
The Tribal Council
Bone Woman
The Challenge
Invasion
Weapons Pit
The Umbunti Camp
The Long Houses
The Mission
The Captives
The Umbunti Camp
Decision
The Wings of Creation
Day of the Feast
Rebuilding
Chapter One
The Harvest
The Stone Age: 4,500 BC Salzach River Region of Austria
My soul wanders across the meadows, through the forests, to the great mountains, and to the shores of distant seas. My words come to you through the ages, lifted on the wings of the power of creation. All praise Earth Mother, one with my soul.
I am Saline, daughter of the Earth Mother, born to Char-di of Cliff Clan of the Adeluci Tribe. I am born under a sign in the heavens. This sign has determined that I am moon priestess to my clan.
We worship Earth and Moon.
It is time for the harvest, so I must partake of the harvest ceremony. I learn the dance and ritual. We twirl wooden fire sticks and pour libations onto the ground.
The day of the harvest, bone woman chanted from her cave across the valley, and we could hear her piercing screams that echoed from the cliffs. Father came with his flint sickle. It is long and curved, affixed to a wood handle. We stood together on the cliffs’ ledge overlooking the forest, listening to bone woman, awaiting the sign from her that the harvest could begin.
I must help father so that we are able contributors to our clan. Your value is determined by what you can produce.
We work in the harvest now, and this must be done for the continuance of the clan. A good harvest will make our clan strong.
Bone woman began to let out long piercing wails which echoed from the high cliffs. Her loud scream seemed endless, and it made me tremble.
The screaming stopped. Now there was complete silence. Then the sounding of the drums.
I looked at father. He nodded. It was time to go to the harvest. We walked along a well beaten trail. It wound along the high cliffs, past several shallow caves where my people dwell.
We live along the high cliff ledges; in the long, shallow rock shelters. We have dome shaped huts here made of sewn hides and floors paved with flat rocks. In the middle of the hut we have a fire pit.
Sometimes I cook in the hut, but other times I cook outside, under the rock shelter. The large round fire pits are here at the cave entrance, where we make big fires, and do communal cooking. Sometimes many families share the duties of cooking meals here when there is meat to eat from a successful hunt.
Our cliff shelters make good protection from wind and rain. However, not all my people live here. Some live in the lowland forest in well-made huts at the settlements.
I was alone with father. I never knew my mother, she died when I was very young.
Father and I walked together. Our dogs ran ahead of us. Below us the lowlands forest spreads for as far as the eye can see. We see the tree tops from here, and on the other side of the valley are more steep mountain cliffs. Bone woman lives over there.
I am one of eight young tribal priestesses. We wear special jewels, like necklaces and bracelets inlaid with precious stones, and a head band with the moon emblem affixed above our left eye. The moon emblem is a pearly shell that is shaped like the full moon. I wear the moon emblem everywhere; not just in the ceremonies. It marks my status in the tribe.
I am very thin with long, wavy blonde hair. I wear a beaded buckskin dress, a pullover with small red incised triangular shaped runners on the collar and lower sleeves. Sometimes I wear a drawstring vest made of tan hide with squirrel tails draped over my right shoulder.
Father is strong and muscular with long light brown hair. He wears a grey fur vest with a wraparound deer skin hide about his waist over a loincloth. We both wear sandals with high crisscrossed straps that come up halfway up to our knees.
Continuing down the trail, we passed a rugged area of immense boulders that blocked out our view. Now the trail descended towards the valley floor. We entered the dark, damp forest, where tall broadleaf trees tower above, following the path to a clearing, a part of the forest where the trees have been felled. There are long fields of grain here. The grain has turned a deep golden color.
Father cut the tall wheat low on the stalks. I gathered the cut stalks and bundled them, placing each bundle in an upright position to dry in the wind. We will return in about a week to gather the bundles.
The harvest was abundant; it had been a good growing season. I helped other women of my clan to thresh the grain on the barren rocks below our rock shelter. Then we separated the wheat kernel from the hulls, and this was a lot of work. We rubbed the husks in our hands, and the kernels are placed into earthen pots for storage. We stored the flour up high on wooden platforms that are built inside the rock shelters.
We have finished the harvest, and there is a harvest celebration. We have a feast of fire roasted meats and herbal drink. We are happy knowing that our granary is full, and we will have enough food to last us through another cold winter.
We sit in a circle around the fire pit. Father laughs, and he makes the growling sound of a bear. Everyone laughs; we are all happy.
After the feast, we will have drums and ritual dancing. We eat our fill. No one goes hungry.
We have many dogs at our cliff dwellings, and now they feast on our leftovers. My dog Dallie cuddles at my side. She loves to have a belly rub. I feed her some meat from my bowl.
The dark sky began to glow in the East above the forest. A full moon will rise tonight. It is a harvest moon, just above the tree tops. Moon woman, a high priestess of our clan, rises slowly. She is getting old.
“Children of The Earth Mother hear!” She proclaims loudly.
She has the attention of the whole clan. We wait to hear her words.
“From these mountains we gain our strength, and the waters bring forth life. We are all children of Earth Mother, and from the mountain mists rise the spirits of our ancestors, we the Adeluci tribe.”
“Behold Mena, moon goddess, rising above our sacred mountain! We honor her and give her adoration. She bestows the gift of truth, honor, wisdom and vision.”
Moon woman raised her hands, palms up, fingers closed, towards the moon, closed her eyes, and bowed her head. After a pause, she raised her head and chanted an invocation.
“All life begins and ends, as Mena fades away and reappears. Oh, Mena, moon goddess, sustain us with your spirit in this circle of life, death and rebirth. For all there is comes to an end, and from death comes new life and completion. Protect us and guide us and protect our ancestral lands. We seek your enlightenment.”
I rose with all the other priestesses and formed a circle. We thrust our arms forward, palms down, making the sign of the moon. Together we chanted more invocations.
“All praise Mena, goddess rising above our Earth Mother, going forth across the heavens. Sustain us within the circle of
life, impart unto us wisdom and truth. Light our way, give us strength. From the beginning to the end, Great Mena, you rein!”
Now we performed our ritual dance. Two clan men beat out a rhythm on large drums. We danced around the fire pit in a big circle. This is the moon dance, and we twirl fire sticks. The sticks burn at both ends, making circles of light as we twirl them.
We danced in honor of Mena, and to thank her for a good harvest. The moon dance is a vital part of our worship. We gyrate our bodies, pivot and spin, stretching out arms towards the sky. The drum beat gets faster and louder. We dance faster around the fire pit, until the drums stop; we threw the fire sticks into the air, and then we fell to the ground. Now we raise up and throw water from a clay pot up into the air. Then we poured water into the soil. Water is the source of all life, given to us by our Mother Goddess.
The summer ends and we must prepare for another long winter. It is important to store food, as much as we can.
I rose from my bed in the hut and dressed in my gray fur skirt and deerskin vest with dangling squirrel tails. I pulled the drawstrings together on the vest. I put on my head band, so that the moon emblem was above my left eyebrow.
I ate a breakfast of berries in my creamy gruel. The sweetness of the berries was most satisfying.
I went outside and smelled the air. Today I will go gather nuts, the scent of ripe nuts is in the forest air from below. I grabbed my side bag, a deer skin pouch with a drawstring and long shoulder strap.
I went down the high cliff trail and entered the damp forest, where there were many other trails. I knew the way to the nut groves easily, I had been there many times before. Many of the nuts had fallen to the ground, and I could gather these quickly, placing them into my shoulder bag.
I looked up and watched the squirrels playing up in the tree branches above. I knew that they had already buried many nuts. I loved to watch them play and that made me smile. I walked through the forest in search of more berries. I found some not far from our wheat fields. I picked as many berries as I could see ripened on the bush and placed them into another deer skin pouch side bag.
This has been a good day, I found nuts and berries. Father will be pleased.
I heard a sound behind me. I wheeled around and saw one of the young clan warriors, Mar. He came to me and smiled. I was glad to see him and greeted him. He was on patrol.
Our warriors must always patrol our lands, or intruders will come and cause trouble. Our warriors protect us from the intruders.
I enjoyed the company of Mar. He was always happy to see me. He showed me some of his hiding places in the woods; platforms hidden up high in the trees where we would sit and observe the forest and watch birds with wide wingspans gliding across a large beautiful lake below. One could see for miles around from this high station, an effective way to spot any trespassers who might stray into our territory.
Mar demonstrated many bird calls. I was amazed by his ability to mimic every bird sound.
Suddenly he put his arms around me and we embraced. He ran his fingers through my hair and leaned over and kissed me. I could feel passion that I had not known before sweep over me. I laughed and pushed him away.
He tried to make advances again. I had to resist him. I loved being with Mar; he made me feel wonderful. But it was forbidden. A priestess was not allowed to be with a man.
I think Mar wanted me for his mate. If I were to bond to Mar, I would have to lose my status as Moon priestess.
Chapter Two
The Salt Mine
I hoped that by helping father at the salt mines I would forget about Mar. I decided to go to the mine. The salt caves were about a two days journey away in the highlands.
We used salt to preserve meats and to flavor foods. Also, for cleansing and medicines. Salt was our primary trading item. We could get wonderful things by trading it at the village of the River Peoples.
I was excited to go on the expedition to the salt mines. We traversed the steep terrain through the mountains, ten of us, along with our pack goats and dogs. We were very tired by the time we reached the mine. After a day of rest in the cool salt cave, we were ready to go to work.
The entrance to the salt cave was wide and sunlight filtered in. It was well lit there. A narrow passage that opened in the back led to an open pit. It was dark there. Workers descended on a ladder down into the pit, torches lit, to dig for salt with an ox horn pick.
I stayed at the cave entrance with two other girls. Our job was to sift the salt to get out the rocks to make it pure. We poured the pure salt into big leather sacks. It was hard work, but we were doing our share to bring this valuable resource home.
Sometimes when we finished the sifting early we had a little free time. Then we could relax and take some tree sap on mint leaves from our pouch and chew. We also liked to soak our bare feet in the cool waters of a stream that flowed from the cave. The white sand on the bottom was soft and felt good. We would splash one another and become carefree, laughing, full of youthful energy.
After three days' work we were ready to leave the area. The salt sacks were full, and we secured them to our goats for transport
There was a warrior party stationed up higher on the mountain side, there to watch in order to make sure that no one saw us come and go. The location of our mine must remain a secret - invaders are a very real threat.
Our warriors must patrol all our lands day and night. Many outsiders want to take our land and its wealth. All trespassers will be killed or taken captive. We know our friends and we know our enemies.
We arrived back at our high cliff dwellings in the evening of the following day. All the salt sacks were stored high up on the granary platform. We were ready to go to the village of the River People to trade. The day for trade has come. We packed our trade items on our goats. We have a portion of salt as payment for our labors at the mine. We will trade most of our portion at the river village. We also take the fine baskets that we have made.
Many people of our clan go. We walked with our loaded goats down the cliff trail. Father had several furs draped over his shoulder; some of these he will trade. The day is hot, so I wear my deerskin pullover with colorful inscribed designs around the collar and hem. My moon emblem head band is emplaced around my wavy golden hair. Father and I wear our leather sandals, the binding straps crisscrossed up our lower legs.
The cliff trail descended to the forest floor. The air smelled of sweet tree saps. There is not time to collect the resins now ... we must press onwards to the village on the main trail.
It is almost mid-day by the time we see the open fields that surround the village. These are fields meant for grazing animals. The trail loops around the south end of the fields and turns gently towards the right, so that we now walk on a bluff above the narrow river. Trees give way to a partial clearing where there are buildings. We have arrived at the village.
I am excited to be at the river village. Young children run towards us all laughing, and two little girls holding my hands pulled me forward. They remember me. Now the older people came out of their houses and greeted us.
Many people live in the village of well-built houses. These houses have high-pitched inclined thatched roofs with framed walls of rough-hewn timbers. In the center of the village is a square market area in front of the largest buildings: The council and ceremonial houses.
The market is busy with brisk trading. The wares are displayed on rough-hewn wooden tables set side by side, some under a pole supported canopy. I can smell a pig roasting over an open fire pit. We will have a feast later when the days' business is complete.
The vast assortment of wares is impressive. There are flint tools from far off lands, shells from the shores of some distant sea, herbs and spices, clothing, sandals, jewelry, wooden combs, leather goods, furniture of wood, even some food items. Father is interested in the flint tools, and he trades some salt for a knife while I look at the sea shells. I trade a braided leather bracelet that I made for some shells. We use
one side of the clam shell as a spoon, and the complete shell, with its top and bottom clasped, as a spice, sap, and leaf container.
Father tells me to set our baskets out on display. I find some space at a table. I am glad to find a table, usually I must put our baskets on the ground when we come to market. People come and look at our baskets. Father comes to help me deal trades.
I saw Amara, she is a girl my age and we are good friends. She smiled and came to me. She has long, straight dark brown hair with a head band that has many attached gems. Her garment is like the one I wear.
"I have something for you!" she said, with her smile so delightful.
I am excited. She often brings me gifts . . . She handed me something that I've never seen before. It was a bag, but it felt very unfamiliar. It clearly was not one of the typical leather bags that was the standard for my people.
"What is this?" I asked with a puzzled expression.
Amara laughed. "It's a bag that my people have learned to make. Other villagers on the Great River make bags and clothing from plants."
I could not believe it. Clothes from plants? I felt the new fabric between my fingers. "Well, leave it to Amara to know about all the newest things!" I said.
"Ah, yes, the bag is nice. But look inside, Saline."
I opened the bag and pulled out a beautiful moon stone (a pearl). It was set in a wood clasp. I could not believe my eyes.
"A moon stone! Oh, Amara, this is what I've always wanted, these are so scarce!"
"I got it at one of the large villages down the Great River. These are from the Sea Peoples."
The Sea Peoples. A fabled land so far, far away that I would never see. I remembered when Amara set off on the trading expedition. She sat in the front of the lead canoe. I waved at her from the river bank, and she waved back. I was envious that she was going. But that was Amara, so clever and intelligent, she had so impressed the boatmen that they put her in charge of route navigation. She knew the river, and she also knew the languages of the tribes along the trade routes. I wanted to be her, to be able to travel to faraway lands. I would tell her this, but she would say that she wished she could go up far in the mountains to secret salt caves. We had mutual admiration along with our strong bond of friendship.
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