Ga'ha' the Zephyr
Also known as: Gaha, Ga-oh, The Zephyr
Mythological Narrative
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.
Scholarly Commentary & Evolution
## 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.
Academic Discussion & Critique
Exchange peer-reviewed hypotheses, comparative Indo-European etymologies, and archaeological field interpretations regarding Ga'ha' the Zephyr.
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