This article concerns itself with the mythology of the Cherokee, Native Americans indigenous to the southeastern United States and to Oklahoma Basic conceptsThe Cherokee revered the Great Spirit, called the Yowa (a name so sacred that only a priest could say it), who presided over all things and created Mother Earth. This would have made it very easy for them to accept the Christian view of God later on. The Cherokee believed that every aspect and thing had a spirit presiding over it, but did not hold a belief in multiple gods. They held that signs, visions, dreams, and powers were all gifts of the spirits, and that their world was intertwined and presided over by the spirit world.The Cherokee venerated the horned serpent Sint Holo, who appeared to very intelligent and resourceful male youths (although in general Cherokees, thought that snakes could block spiritual blessings to a person's home, therefore, it was traditional for Cherokees to never keep any object made from or resembling a snake, or part of a snake in their home), as well as Tsul 'Kalu, a spirit of the hunt and Oonawieh Unggi ("the oldest wind"), a spirit of the wind. The Ani Yuntikwalaski were people of thunder and lightning (the thunder beings); they caused fires in trees (usually hollow sycamore). Asgaya Gigagei (Thunder Beings of the West) was a thunderstorm spirit, also called Asagaya Gigaei. The Cherokee held that there were two classes of the thunder beings, those who lived close to the Earth, and the holiest and most powerful of the thunder beings who lived in the land of the west beyond the Mississippi River, and visited the people to bring the rains and blessings from the South. It was believed that the thunder beings who lived close to the Earth's surface could and did harm the people at times. The thunder beings were viewed as the most powerful of the servants of the Apportioner (Creator Spirit), and were revered in the first dance of the Green Corn Ceremony held each year, as they were directly believed to have brought the rains for a successful corn crop. There were three Thunders Beings from the West in the ancient legends, a greater spirit and his two sons.The Cherokee assigned a feminine personality to the concept of the personification of spiritual evil, and named her "wi-na-go" in the ancient language, and believe that mosquitos were created when she was destroyed in ancient legends. It was also believed that all human disease and suffering originated with the killing of animals for improper purposes, and that for each animal killed for pleasure or without proper ceremonies, it allowed a new disease to enter the physical world from the spirit world. It was also believed that the plants, in response to witnessing the suffering in the world, made a medicine to cure each sickness that entered the world in order to restore the balance of forces between the two worlds, the physical world and the spirit world.