Orenda/ˈɔːrɛndə/ is theHaudenosaunee name for a certain spiritual energy inherent in people and theirenvironment. It is an "extraordinary invisible power believed by the Iroquois Native Americans to pervade in varying degrees in all animate and inanimate natural objects as a transmissible spiritual energy capable of being exerted according to the will of its possessor."[1][2] Orenda is a collective power of nature's energies through the living energy of all natural objects: animate and inanimate.[3]
AnthropologistJ. N. B. Hewitt notes intrinsic similarities between the Haudenosaunee concept of orenda and that of theSiouxanwakan ormahopa; theAlgonquinmanitowi, and thepokunt of theShoshone. Across the Iroquois tribes, the concept was referred to variously asorenna orkarenna by theMohawk,Cayuga, andOneida;urente by theTuscarora, andiarenda ororenda by the Huron.
Orenda is present in nature: storms are said to possess orenda. A strong connection exists between prayers and songs and orenda. Through song, a bird, a shaman, or a rabbit puts forth orenda.[4]
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