Florida Native Americans Hunting Deer Having First Disguised Themselves With The Heads And Skins Of Deer
Colored Engraving 1591 By Theodor De Bry After A Now Lost Drawing By Jacques Le Moyne De Morgues
"Most people today don't consider deer hunting a mysterious endeavor, but Native Americans, in times past particularly, infused the hunt with magic. many Native Americans believe in the unity of life and in the interconnectedness of all that exists in the physical and spiritual worlds; this lay at the root of hunting magic in general and of deer magic in particular. Deer were a major source of food for many Native American peoples, yet those who hunted and killed deer felt a deep spiritual bond with the animals. This bond, they believed, enabled them to marginally control the animals and to communicate with them...Hunting magic was of primary importance to ancient hunting peoples. It permeated their cultures and defined the people's relationship to the natural world. The Celts considered the stag a symbol of abundance and prosperity and a guardian of nature. They revered the stag and they made their powerful stag god Cernunnos Lord of the Animals. Respect for the animals was essential to making the magic work."---Nectar & Ambrosia: The Encyclopedia of Food in World Mythology, Tamra Andrews [ABC-CLIO:Santa Barbara CA] 2000 (p. 80-81)"Venison was eaten by Native Americans, who stored it for the winter, as Captain John Smith noted on his travels in Virginia in 1607. The woods were filled with deer, and the early Colonists followed the Native Americans' example of drying the meat by grilling it over fires. By the nineteenth century venison was a common meat in large cities' markets."---The Encyclopedia of American Food & Drink, John Mariani [Lebhar-Friedman:New York] 1999 (p. 340)
