[lit-ideas] Hoho
- From: "Lawrence Helm" <lawrencehelm@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "Lit-Ideas " <Lit-Ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 5 Jan 2012 16:35:12 -0800
JL,
Santa Claus goes "hoho," but does he do that throughout Europe and South
America or just in North America, and did this term perhaps come from the
Iroquois of New York who for a time were the most powerful force in our
North East?
In a footnote in The Conspiracy of Pontiac, Francis Parkman writes "In the
year 1745, August Gottlieb Spangenburg, a bishop of the United Brethren,
spent several weeks in Onandaga, and frequently attended the great Council
[of all the Iroquois Nations and tribes]. The council-house was built of
bark. On each side six seats were placed, each containing six persons. No
one was admitted besides the members of the council, except a few, who were
particularly honored. If one rose to speak, all the rest sat in profound
silence, smoking their pipes. The speaker uttered his words in a singing
tone, always rising a few notes at the close of each sentence. Whatever was
pleasing to the council was confirmed by all with the word Nee, or Yes.
And, at the end of each speech, the whole company joined in applauding the
speaker by calling Hoho. . ."
Lawrence
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