Haudenosaunee TraditionGentle Wind
Ga'ha' the Zephyr
Gä'ha'(Gaha, Ga'ha', Ga-oh (a 19th-century spelling))
Also known as Gaha, Ga-oh, The Zephyr
- the gentle wind
- ripening
- the warm season
The soft, kindly wind of Seneca tradition, who helps plants grow and fruits ripen; in the Seneca cosmology Parker summarises he is the husband of Sky Woman's daughter and father of the twins.
About Ga'ha' the Zephyr
The kinder wind
Parker's introduction to Seneca folklore distinguishes the gentle wind, Gä'ha', from the violent Storm Wind that appears as a flying head with streaming hair. Gä'ha' is described as kindly: he helps plants grow and belongs to the warm season, when fruits ripen, and stories tell of him courting and marrying a woman of the forest. Nineteenth-century writers on Iroquois belief sometimes spelled his name Ga-oh and made him the keeper of all the winds; Parker's Seneca material keeps the gentle wind and the storm wind apart.
Father of the twins?
In the Seneca cosmology Parker summarises, the daughter of Sky Woman marries Gä'ha', and the twins Sapling and Flint are his sons. That is one telling among several: Hewitt's Onondaga and Mohawk texts give the twins' father differently, and the question of the twins' paternity is one on which Haudenosaunee tellers have long differed. This site records the Seneca account without presenting it as the only one.
Worship and cult
Temples, festivals, and practices recorded for Ga'ha' the Zephyr
The winds are thanked in the Haudenosaunee Thanksgiving Address, which the nations share publicly; no separate ceremony for Gä'ha' is described here.
Family
Ga'ha' the Zephyr's family at a glance
- Who were Ga'ha' the Zephyr's spouses and consorts?
- Spouses and consorts of Ga'ha' the Zephyr recorded in the atlas: Sky Woman's Daughter.
In the atlas
Where Ga'ha' the Zephyr appears
Sources and further reading
Source notes
These references are recorded in the catalog. Their passage wording and translation have not been checked, so quotations are not displayed here.
- Arthur C. Parker, Seneca Myths and Folk Tales
- Arthur C. Parker, Seneca Myths and Folk Tales
About this entry
By Elizabeth Stein for Mythos Atlas. About the author. Editorial notes are grounded in the site's cited sources and can be challenged through the contact page.
Parallels are editorial comparisons across traditions: a shared role does not, by itself, establish a shared origin.
Family relationships come from the atlas's kinship records. Ancient sources often disagree on divine genealogy.
Genealogy
Family tree
Ga'ha' the Zephyr's parents, consorts, children and rivals, as recorded in the atlas.