NTM

“We are the Higaunon (he-gah-oo-non) people. Our name means, “out of the water ones,” which is referring to the mountains that we live in being up “out of the sea.” Our spiritual name is cah-he-lau-one which means, “The unripe ones.” This is referring to when the first Higaunon man and woman were being created by the gods and an evil god came along and stole them away before they could be given the eternal life force.

As a result, we all remained mortal and when we die we go to the place of the evil god who owns us when we die. We are not sure what it is like there, but it is said to be a really terrible place of fear and pain. Death is the most terrifying thing for us.

Our only hope is the tee-noo-mah-nun which means, “THE FULFILLMENT.” This is when one of us receives a dee-wah-tah spirit guide who tells us what laws and rituals must be fulfilled to gain favor with the creator gods. If we can fulfill everything they give us to do, they promise that we will not die but be shown a pathway from this world into the eternal world where the creator gods live. This could be by a basket let down from the doorway in heaven, or a stairway up the side of a rainbow, or even an opening that appears in the side of a mountain.

“Only one person has ever been said to make it to heaven without dying, but he was sent back because he complained that there was no work for him to do there. In many ways, we fear the tee-noo-mah-nun because of what the spirits tell us we have to do, like having to sacrifice our seven year old children to them and going without food for long periods of time. They would have us go on long pilgrimages through the forest in search for a promised pathway to heaven. Many of our ancestors have died during the tee-noo-mah-nun, but we have no other hope. Mostly though, we end up not doing right what the spirits told us to do and so we are told by the spirits that we have failed and won’t receive the promise. But what else can we do? There is no other way!”