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Title: Religion and ceremonies of the Lenape
Author: Mark Raymond Harrington
Editor: Frederick Webb Hodge
Release date: February 19, 2024 [eBook #72988]
Language: English
Original publication: New York: Museum of the American Indian, 1921
Credits: The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive)
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RELIGION AND CEREMONIES OF THE LENAPE ***
[Illustration: CONCLUSION OF THE LENAPE ANNUAL CEREMONY IN OKLAHOMA
Native Painting by Earnest Spybuck, a Shawnee]
INDIAN NOTES
AND MONOGRAPHS
EDITED BY F. W. HODGE
[Illustration]
A SERIES OF PUBLICATIONS
RELATING TO THE
AMERICAN ABORIGINES
RELIGION AND CEREMONIES
OF THE LENAPE
BY
M. R. HARRINGTON
NEW YORK
MUSEUM OF THE AMERICAN INDIAN
HEYE FOUNDATION
1921
RELIGION AND CEREMONIES
OF THE LENAPE
BY
M. R. HARRINGTON
CONTENTS
PAGE
Preface 13
CHAPTER I
Pantheon 17
Supreme Being 18
Evil Spirit 24
Manĭʹtowŭk of the Four Directions 25
The Sun 27
The Moon 28
The Earth 28
Thunder Beings 29
Keepers of the Heavens 31
Mĭsinghâliʹkŭn, or Living Solid Face 32
Mother Corn 43
CHAPTER II
Minor Deities 45
Doll Being 45
Tornado 47
Snow Boy 48
Comet 48
Evil Manĭʹtowŭk 49
Animal Spirits 49
Plant Spirits 51
Local Genii 51
CHAPTER III
Survival of the Soul 52
The Soul 52
The Land of Spirits 52
Ghosts and Mediumship 54
Early Accounts 56
Penn 56
Brainerd 56
Zeisberger 57
CHAPTER IV
Visions and Guardian Spirits 61
Initiation of Boys 63
Other Visions 64
The Guardian Spirit 65
Favored Individuals 66
Unami Examples 67
Minsi Examples 72
Historical References 77
Brainerd 77
Zeisberger 77
Loskiel 78
Heckewelder 78
Adams 80
CHAPTER V
Unami Annual Ceremony 81
The Leader 81
Officers 84
Preparations 85
Ceremony Commenced 87
Chief’s Speech 87
Recital of Visions 92
Conclusion of Rites 96
Departure of the Hunters 97
Prayer for the Hunters 99
Return of the Hunters 100
New Fire 101
Use of Carved Drumsticks 101
Turtle Rattles 103
Phratry Prayers 104
Women’s Night 105
Conclusion of Ceremony 106
Payment of Attendants 107
Finale 108
Payment of Officers 110
Valuation of Wampum 111
Indian Comments on the Ceremony 111
Penn’s Account 115
Zeisberger’s Account 116
Adams’ Account 118
Another Form of the Annual Ceremony 122
CHAPTER VI
Minsi Big House Ceremonies 127
Myth of Origin 127
Number of Ceremonies 128
Arrangement of the Big House 129
Preliminaries 132
Fire 132
Purification 133
Opening of the Ceremony 133
Chief’s Speech 133
Ceremonial Drink 134
Recital of Visions 135
Other Features 136
The Prayer Cry 136
Feast 137
Final Address 137
Conclusion of Rites 137
Grand River Version 138
Waunbuno’s Version 143
CHAPTER VII
The Mĭsiʹngʷ‛ or Mask 146
Origin of the Mask and of the Big House 147
Mĭsiʹngʷ‛ Dance 152
Notification 152
Preparations 153
The Ceremony 153
Adams’ Account 154
Other Functions of Mĭsiʹngʷ‛ 156
Masks of the Minsi 158
The Mask Society 159
Ceremonies 159
CHAPTER VIII
Minor Ceremonies 162
The Doll Being 162
Myth of Origin 162
Preparations for the Ceremony 163
The Doll Dance 164
Minsi Doll Ceremony 166
An Old Minsi Doll 168
An Early Account of Naniʹtĭs 169
Bear Ceremony 171
Traditional Origin 172
Preparations 172
The Rites 174
Otter Ceremony 176
Myth of Origin 176
The Ceremony 179
Buffalo Dance 182
Imported Ceremonies 183
Skeleton Dance 183
Peyote Rite 185
Paraphernalia 186
Officers 188
Conduct of the Ceremony 188
Ghost Dance 190
CHAPTER IX
Summary 192
Religion 192
Ceremonies 196
Minor Ceremonies 198
Notes 201
Index 206
ILLUSTRATIONS
PLATES
PAGE
Conclusion of Lenape Annual Ceremony in Oklahoma.
Native Painting by Ernest Spybuck, a Shawnee _Frontispiece_
I. Lenape Man and Woman of Oklahoma in Ceremonial Costume 22
II. Costume worn by Impersonator of Mĭsinghâliʹkŭn 34
III. Masks of the Minsi (After Peter Jones) 38
IV. Stone Head or Mĭsiʹngʷ‛, from Staten Island, N. Y. 42
V. Lenape Ceremonial House near Dewey, Oklahoma 82
VI. Lenape Annual Ceremony in Progress. Native Painting by
Ernest Spybuck, a Shawnee 86
VII. Plan of Lenape Ceremonial House and Grounds 94
VIII. “Nahneetis, the Guardian of Health.” 168
IX. The Peyote Rite among the Lenape. Native Painting by
Ernest Spybuck, a Shawnee 186
FIGURES
1. Mask of the Oklahoma Lenape 32
2. Rattle of Turtleshell used by Mĭsiʹngʷ‛ 33
3. Charm representing Mĭsinghâliʹkŭn 37
4. Mask from the Canadian Lenape 39
5. Stone Head or Mĭsiʹngʷ‛ 40
6. Central Post of Ceremonial House showing Carved Face 83
7. Side Posts of Ceremonial House showing Carved Faces 84
8. Ceremonial Fire-drill used at the Annual Ceremony 86
9. Rattle of Land-tortoise Shell, used by Celebrants at the
Annual Ceremony 93
10. Drum made of Dried Deerskin, used at the Annual Ceremony 94
11. Sacred Drumsticks, used at the Annual Ceremony 102
12. _a_, Plain Drumstick used at the Annual Ceremony. _b_,
Prayerstick 102
13. Paint-dish of Bark, used at the Annual Ceremony 105
14. Drum of Dried Deerskin. Minsi type 129
15. _a_, Drumstick, Minsi type. _b_, Prayerstick 130
16. _a_, Regalia of Otter-skin used in the Otter Rite. _b_,
Regalia as worn 178
17. Flint and Steel used in the Otter Rite 180
18. Rattle or Land-tortoise Shell used in the Otter Rite 181
19. Peyote “Button” 185
PREFACE
The following paper is intended to be the first of a series concerning
different phases of the culture of the Lenape or Delaware Indians, once
a numerous people forming a confederacy of three closely related tribes,
the Unami, the Minsi or Muncey, and the Unala‛ʹtko or Unalachtigo, first
encountered by the whites in what is now New Jersey, Delaware, eastern
Pennsylvania, and southeastern New York, but at last accounts[1] reduced
to some 1900 souls scattered in Oklahoma and the Province of Ontario,
Canada, with a few in Wisconsin and Kansas. Of these the Lenape of
Oklahoma seem to be mainly of Unami extraction, the rest largely Minsi,
while the Unala‛ʹtko appear to have merged with the others and to have
lost their identity.
The writer has gathered most of his data for the whole series from
the Oklahoma bands, with such informants as Chief Charley Elkhair
(Kokŭlŭpoʹw‛ʹe), Julius Fox, or Fouts (Petaʹnĭhink), Minnie Fox
(Wemĕĕleʹxkwĕ) his wife, and William Brown; but much valuable information
came from Canada where his principal informants were Chief James Wolf
(‛Tayenoʹxwan), Chief Nellis F. Timothy, (Tomapemihiʹlat), Isaac Monture
(Kaʹpyŭ‛hŭm), Chief Nellis Monture, Michael Anthony (Na‛nkŭmaʹoxa), and
Monroe Pheasant. Of these especial credit is due to Julius Fox and Chief
Timothy, both of whom manifested great interest in the work and exerted
every effort to make it complete, and to Ernest Spybuck, a Shawnee, whose
paintings, carefully made of Delaware ceremonies at the writer’s request,
form a valuable adjunct to the text.
The works of previous writers have been utilized where available, and
much has been learned from archeological discoveries in the ancient
territory of the Lenape, not so much, of course, with regard to the
subject matter of the present paper, as of others in preparation.
Most of the information was gathered while the writer was collecting
ethnological specimens for the Heye Museum of New York, now the Museum of
the American Indian, Heye Foundation, during the years 1907 to 1910; but
some of the Canadian data were procured earlier while in the field for Mr
E. T. Tefft of New York, whose collection is now in the American Museum
of Natural History.
Without knowledge of the Delaware language in its divergent dialects, and
without any pretension of being a philologist, the writer has endeavored
to record the Lenape words as he heard them, depending for translation
on his interpreter _pro tem._ Hence some inaccuracies at least are
inevitable. The alphabet used is as follows:
VOWELS CONSONANTS
_a_ as in arch. _c_ like English sh.
_ä_ as in cat. ‛ a slight aspirate.
_â_ as in fall. _ⁿ_ gives the preceding vowel a nasal sound.
_ai_ as in aisle.
_e_ like a in fate. _ʷ_ faintly whispered.
_ĕ_ as in met. L a surd l.
_i_ as in machine. _x_ like German ch.
_ĭ_ as in hit. Other consonants approximately as in English.
_o_ as in note.
_u_ as in flute.
_ŭ_ as in but.
_û_ as in full.
It was intended at first to publish the mass of material thus obtained
in the form of a monograph on the ethnology of the Lenape; but later it
was seen that while some phases of their culture could be described in
considerable detail, there were others not so well represented in our
notes. It was therefore finally decided to publish at once such parts as
were ready, in the form of separate papers, and to leave the others until
more detailed information could be obtained.
No extended comparisons of the religion and ceremonies of the Lenape
with those of other tribes will be attempted in this paper, these being
reserved for a projected article to embody the results of a comparative
study of Lenape culture.
M. R. HARRINGTON
RELIGION AND CEREMONIES OF THE LENAPE
BY M. R. HARRINGTON
CHAPTER I
PANTHEON
To the mind of the Lenape, all the phenomena of nature, all the affairs
of mankind, in fact the entire world as we know it, is under the control
of invisible beings. Some are great and powerful, others of somewhat
lesser influence, and so on down to the humble spirits of plants and
stones. In some, good seems to predominate, in others, evil; but most
of the _manĭʹtowŭk_, or spirits, seem to be, like mortals, a mixture of
desirable and undesirable qualities.
SUPREME BEING
All the Lenape so far questioned, whether followers of the native or of
the Christian religion, unite in saying that their people have always
believed in a chief _Manĭʹto_, a leader of all the gods, in short, in a
Great Spirit or Supreme Being, the other _manĭʹtowŭk_ for the greater
part being merely agents appointed by him. His name, according to
present Unami usage, is _Gicelĕmû‛ʹkaong‛_, usually translated, “great
spirit,” but meaning literally, “creator.” Directly, or through the
_manĭʹtowŭk_ his agents, he created the earth and everything in it, and
gave to the Lenape all they possessed, “the trees, the waters, the fire
that springs from flint,—everything.” To him the people pray in their
greatest ceremonies, and give thanks for the benefits he has given them.
Most of their direct worship, however, is addressed to the _manĭʹtowŭk_
his agents, to whom he has given charge of the elements, and with whom
the people feel they have a closer personal relation, as their actions
are seen in every sunrise and thunderstorm, and felt in every wind that
blows across woodland and prairie. Moreover, as the Creator lives in the
twelfth or highest heaven above the earth, it takes twelve shouts or
cries to reach his ear. An account of the worship of the Creator will be
given later in connection with the description of the Annual Ceremony.
The Minsi had similar beliefs, but the current name for the Great
Spirit in that dialect today is _Pa‛ʹtŭmawas_, interpreted “He who is
petitioned,” or _Kĕ‛ʹtanĭtoʹwĕt_, “Great Spirit.”
It has been frequently stated that the concept of a supreme being or
chief of the gods was not known among the American tribes in precolonial
times, and that the “Great Spirit” concept, now widely distributed
among the Indians, is entirely the result of missionary teaching. This
seems to have been the case in some instances, but it is a mistake to
assume such a broad statement as a general rule, on _a priori_ grounds.
To the Indian mind, the spirits or gods partook largely of the nature
of mankind—Why could not a chief of gods be as natural a concept as a
chief of men? In the case of the Shawnee, the Creator or Great Spirit is
usually spoken of as a woman, “Our Grandmother Pabothʹkwe”—surely not a
missionary idea!
Let us trace back the Great Spirit concept among the Lenape, and find
what the early writers say about it. Perhaps the earliest is in Danker
and Sluyter’s Journal[2] of about 1679, in which an old Indian living
near Bergen, New Jersey, is quoted as saying: “The first and great
beginning of all things, was Kickeron or Kickerom, who is the origin of
all, who has not only once produced or made all things, but produces
every day.... He governs all things.”
William Penn,[3] in a letter dated Philadelphia, August 16, 1683, says:
“They believe a God and Immortality; for they say, There is a King that
made them, who dwells in a glorious country to the Southward of them,
and that the Souls of the Good shall go thither, where they shall live
again.” Further confirmation is given by Holm[4] in his book first
published in 1702, where he says, “They acknowledge a Supreme Being, a
Great Spirit, who made the heavens and the earth.”
Zeisberger[5] makes it even stronger, for he wrote, about 1779: “They
believe and have from time immemorial believed that there is an Almighty
Being who has created heaven and earth and man and all things else. This
they have learned from their ancestors.” Heckewelder[6] (p. 205) adds
more details in his book, originally published in 1818: “Their Almighty
Creator is always before their eyes on all important occasions. They feel
and acknowledge his supreme power.... It is a part of their religious
belief that there are inferior _Mannittōs_, to whom the great and good
Being has given command over the elements.”
Finally, in the little work ostensibly dictated by the Minsi John
Wampum,[7] known as Chief Waubuno, undated, but probably printed in the
last quarter of the nineteenth century, we have “The Great Spirit, whom
we call in Munsee or Delaware Kaunzhe Pah-tum-owans or Kacheh Munitto
(Great Spirit or Benevolent Spirit), created the Indians.”
Thus we have a practically unbroken chain of authorities, including
most of the best ones since 1679, all speaking of the “Great Spirit” as
a well-developed concept. But Brainerd,[8] writing in 1745, is not so
positive in his statements, for he speaks of their notions being “so dark
and confused, that they seemed not to know what they thought themselves.”
He also says: “Before the coming of the white people, some supposed there
were _four_ invisible powers, who presided over the four corners of the
earth. Others imagined the _sun_ to be the _only_ deity, and that all
things were made by him. Others at the same time have a confused notion
of a certain _body_ or _fountain_ of _deity_, something like the _anima
mundi_.” Later (p. 349) he quotes a converted Indian conjurer, who, in
describing the source of his former power, tells how it came from “a
great man” who lived in a “world above at a vast distance from this. The
great man was clothed with the day; yea, with the brightest day he ever
saw ... this whole world ... was drawn upon him, so that _in_ him, the
earth, and all things on it, might be seen.”
[Illustration: PL. I
LENAPE MAN AND WOMAN OF OKLAHOMA IN CEREMONIAL COSTUME
_a_, John Anderson (Witanaxkóxw‛ĕ); _b_, Mrs Elkhair (Kicilungonĕʹxkwĕ)]
Perhaps, as Brinton[9] suggests, the original Great Spirit of the Lenape
might really be called the God of Light. Brinton, however, does not think
that this Spirit of Light was of necessity a _good_ spirit; still, the
Lenape today who follow the native religion, acknowledging his goodness
in their ceremonies, think that “the Creator wants them to do right,”
and there is evidence[10] that the idea of goodness has been associated
with that of the Great Spirit for a long time. Assuming that the Creator
of the Lenape is the God of Light, what is it that leads men to worship
the source of light? Is it not the self-evident benefits connected with
light? It seems to the writer that goodness necessarily follows as an
attribute of such a deity.
EVIL SPIRIT
The case is different with the Evil Spirit. The modern Lenape in Oklahoma
make little mention of an Evil One, and James Wolf, my principal Minsi
informant, did not speak of such a being at all, but there is some
evidence, however, to show this belief to exist among the Lenape in more
recent years.
Some writers do indeed make frequent mention of “the Devil” as figuring
in early Lenape belief, but they translate the word “manĭʹto” as having
that meaning, whereas it really signifies a supernatural being, good
or bad. These writers evidently regarded as “the Devil” any deity not
fitting into Christian doctrine.
But the real truth seems to be that, while in ancient times certain
_manĭʹtowŭk_, or spirits, were supposed to work evil, the Devil (along
with whiskey and other blessings) was introduced by the whites. The
whole matter is well summed up by Loskiel[11] where he says: “Besides the
Supreme Being, they believe in good and evil spirits, considering them
as subordinate deities.... They seem to have had no idea of the _Devil_,
as the Prince of Darkness, before the Europeans came into the country.”
This idea is also supported by Zeisberger[12] and Brainerd,[13] although
Holm[14] seems to give contrary evidence.
MANĬʹTOWŬK OF THE FOUR DIRECTIONS
The Lenape now in Oklahoma believe that when the earth was created, and
everything finished, the Creator gave the four quarters of the earth to
four powerful beings, or _manĭʹtowŭk_, whose duty it was to take care of
these regions. These personages are the cause of the winds which blow
from the different directions, with the exception of the tornado, which
is thought to have a different origin. In the winter, it is said that the
_manĭʹtowŭk_ of the north and the south are playing the game of bowl and
dice, with alternating fortunes. When the north wind is successful it is
cold for a long time, until the south wind wins again. These _manĭʹtowŭk_
are called _Moxhomsaʹ Wähänjioʹpŭng‛_, Grandfather at the East; _No‛ʹoma
Cawaneʹyŭng‛_, Grandmother at the South; _Moxhomsaʹ Eliosiʹgak_,
Grandfather at the West; and _Moxhomsaʹ Lowaneʹyŭng‛_, Grandfather at the
North, the expression _endalŭn towiʹyŭn_, said to mean “who has charge of
it” being frequently added after the name.
These are mentioned in the ritual of the Annual Ceremony, and the people
often pray to them when gathering herbs or preparing medicines, at the
same time offering tobacco.
The earliest record of this belief thus far found dates from 1616, and
while it does not concern the Lenape proper, it illustrates a similar
notion among a cognate people in Virginia. This is in Strachey’s
work,[15] in which he states, “The other four [gods] have no visible
shape, but are indeed the four winds, which keep the four corners of the
earth.” Brainerd[16] mentions the same belief as being an old one among
the Indians he knew, who were mainly Lenape, and as this was in 1745 we
have at least a respectable antiquity established for “Our Grandparents
at the Four Directions.” Loskiel also mentions them.[17]
THE SUN
To the Sun the Creator gave the duty of providing light for the people.
The Unami say that he is a very powerful _manĭʹto_, and call him
_Gĭckokwiʹta_. They speak of him as always clothed in the finest of
deerskin garments, with his face handsomely painted, and wearing red
feathers in his hair. Every day he travels across the heavens from east
to west, stopping for a little while at mid-day, then going on. At night
he comes back under the earth. The Minsi, according to James Wolf, called
him _Kiʹzho_ or _Kiʹzhox_, and _Gickonĭkiʹzho_ is another Unami form of
the name. When praying to the Sun, the Lenape usually addressed him as
“Elder Brother.”
Little is found in early writings concerning the worship of the Sun, a
mere mention in Brainerd,[18] and Loskiel,[19] by whom he is called “the
sun or the god of the day.”
THE MOON
None of my Lenape informants had much to say of the Moon, except that it
was regarded as the _manĭʹto_ charged with the duty of supplying light by
night, and that it was addressed, like the Sun, as Elder Brother. It is
mentioned as a god, and called the “night sun” by Loskiel.[20] This is
expressed by the Unami name _Piskeʹwenikiʹzho_.
THE EARTH
Some Lenape speak of the earth itself as a _manĭʹto_, and call it “Our
Mother” because it carries and nurtures the people, having been assigned
that duty by the Creator. Others, instead of the earth itself, mention a
spirit beneath or within the earth, but apparently separate from it. The
earth is mentioned in a list of gods by Loskiel.[21] In some localities,
at least, it was addressed in the Annual Ceremony, and thanks were
offered to it for the benefits it gives to man.
THUNDER BEINGS
Perhaps the most important of all the subordinate _manĭʹtowŭk_, excepting
only the Sun and possibly the Keepers of the Four Directions, were the
Thunder Beings, to whom the Great Spirit gave the duty of watering the
earth and protecting the people against Great Horned Water-serpents and
other monsters. The Unami told me that they are called _Pethakoweʹyuk_,
and are addressed as Elder Brother. They are man-like beings with wings,
and always carry a bow and arrows with which they can shatter trees. When
the first thunder is heard in spring, the people say, “The Spring Flying
Things are coming” and it makes them feel glad to think that winter is
nearly over. Some burn tobacco and pray to the Thunders at this and other
times, and for this reason they claim that the lightning never used to
strike an Indian or to destroy Indian property.
The late James Wolf related an interesting Thunder myth, which will be
found in the paper on Lenape Mythology to appear later, stating that the
Minsi called the Thunders _Pileʹswak_, or _Pileʹsoak_, and believed them
to exist in the form of gigantic partridges, although really persons,
or rather _manĭʹtowŭk_. They used to live in Niagara gorge beneath the
cataract, and could sometimes be seen coming out, in the form of a
cloud, in which, as it rose, a play of lightning was visible. There were
said to be three bands or parties of these mysterious beings, each band
consisting of three Thunders.
Zeisberger[22] says, “Thunder is a mighty spirit dwelling in the
mountains,” and Heckewelder,[23] “Indians, at the approach of a storm or
thunder gust, address the Mannitto of the air, to avert all danger from
them.” As a rule, however, the early writers do not seem to have noticed
this belief, or have included it loosely under the worship of “gods”
representing the elements.
KEEPERS OF THE HEAVENS
The Lenape now in Oklahoma believe that each of the twelve heavens,
in the highest of which lives the Great Spirit, is presided over by a
_manĭʹto_ who serves as a messenger to repeat the prayers of men until
they reach the ear of the Creator. They are represented by the carved
faces upon the posts inside the temple, and are mentioned in the ritual
of the Annual Ceremony. I can find no mention of them in early accounts
of the Lenape, however, unless the twelve gods mentioned by Loskiel,[24]
most of whom have already been spoken of in this chapter, may represent
the same concept. The Lenape today speak of these as being related to the
Living Solid Face, who will now claim our attention.
MĬSINGHÂLIʹKŬN, OR LIVING SOLID FACE
[Illustration: FIG. 1.—Mask of the Oklahoma Lenape. (Height, 14.5 in.)]
[Illustration: FIG. 2.—Rattle of turtleshell used by Mĭsiʹngʷ‛. (Length,
16.7 in.)]
The most remarkable deity of the Lenape is the Mask Being, called by
the Unami _Mĭsinghâliʹkŭn_, which was interpreted as “Living Mask,”
or “Living Solid Face.” According to the Unami, this being was made
guardian by the Creator of all the wild animals of the forest, and is
sometimes seen riding about on the back of a buck, herding the deer;
but he lives in a range of rocky mountains above the earth. His face is
large and round, the right half being painted red, the left black, while
his body is covered with long dark hair like that of a bear. Unlike most
of the deities in the Lenape pantheon, he is represented by a “graven
image,” a huge wooden mask, painted half red and half black (fig. 1);
which is left in charge of some family who will take good care of it,
and burn Indian tobacco for it from time to time. With the mask is kept
a coat and leggings of bearskin to represent the being’s hairy body,
a peculiar rattle of turtleshell (fig. 2), a stick, and a bag made of
bearskin, all used by the man selected to impersonate Mĭsinghâliʹkŭn at
the various ceremonies when he is supposed to appear, and which will
be described later. To the back of the mask is fastened the skin of
the bear’s head, which effectually conceals the head and neck of the
impersonator (pl. II), while the bear’s ears, projecting, add to the
uncanny effect.
[Illustration: PL. II
COSTUME WORN BY IMPERSONATOR OF MĬSINGHÂLIʹKŬN]
If any Lenape had a child who was weak, sickly, or disobedient, he would
send word to the keeper of the mask that he wanted Mĭsinghâliʹkŭn to
“attend his child.” It is said that it did not take the impersonator long
to frighten the weakness, sickness, or laziness out of the child, so that
thenceforth it would be strong and well, and would obey on the instant
when asked to do anything. This effect was probably strengthened by the
mother saying, “If you don’t behave, Mĭsiʹngʷ‛ will carry you off in a
bag full of snakes!” This seems to be the only trace of the doctoring
function of the mask among the Unami. They also say that when the keeper
burns tobacco for Mĭsinghâliʹkŭn and asks for good luck in hunting, “it
turns out that way every time;” and if anyone has lost either horses
or cattle, whether by straying away or through theft, he can go to the
keeper of the Mĭsiʹngʷ‛ with some tobacco and recover them. All he
has to do is to explain his errand to the keeper, who in turn informs
Mĭsinghâliʹkŭn that they want him to look for these particular animals.
The loser then goes home, and in a few days the missing stock return,
driven back by this mysterious being. If they were tied or hobbled, it
is said that the Mĭsiʹngʷ‛ appears to them and so frightens them that
they break loose and come home. Mĭsinghâliʹkŭn has a special ceremony,
held in the spring, and also participates in the Annual Ceremony at the
Big House. This Mĭsiʹngʷ‛ is also called _Weopĕʹlakis_, to distinguish
it from another, kept by a different family, which was not so important,
and about which little was known by my informants except that, within
their memories, it had never appeared at the Annual Ceremony, but that it
probably had a spring dance of its own. There is an indistinct tradition,
however, that in former times several masks were seen at the Annual
Ceremony, and that half a day was given up to them.
Miniature masks (fig. 3) were often worn on the person as health or
good-luck charms, in former days usually suspended from a string about
the neck, but in later times carried in the pocket. The two large Unami
masks in the Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation, are shown in
pl. II and fig. 1.
[Illustration: FIG. 3.—Charm representing Mĭsinghâliʹkŭn. (Height, 1.9
in.)]
Among the Minsi there are considerable differences in belief and
in practice, their masks resembling those of the Iroquois in many
particulars. The late James Wolf said that “Mizinkhâliʹkŭn” was supposed
to live among the rocks on a hill, where he was first seen, and told the
people how to obtain his power. The mask owners formed a society, which
had a special meeting-house and ceremonies, and whose chief function it
was to expell disease. This will be discussed further in another paper.
Peter Jones[25] illustrates two Minsi masks in use in the first part
of the nineteenth century, and these are here reproduced (pl. III). The
first he calls a “Muncey idol,” and says that it was “delivered up by
Joe Nicholas on his Conversion to Christianity,” and that “Me Zeengk is
the name of this God”; while the second, which he names “a Muncey devil
idol,” “formerly belonging to the Logan family,” was “delivered up on the
26th of Jan. 1842.” Jones does not refer to these “idols” in the text.
The second mask illustrated seems to have a turtleshell rattle tied on
its back, the handle projecting downward. Another mask, found by the
writer among the Lenape at Grand river, Ontario, and apparently of Minsi
type, is shown in fig. 4. It was collected for Mr. E. T. Tefft, of New
York, but is now in the American Museum of Natural History.
[Illustration: PL. III
MASKS OF THE MINSI (AFTER PETER JONES)]
Some of our best evidence indicating the early existence of belief in
this Mask Being among the Lenape is furnished by archeology—by the
finding of a number of heads or masks of stone (pl. IV) within the
boundaries of their former domain in New Jersey and the vicinity,[26]
which, when the rarity of such objects in the surrounding regions is also
considered, seems quite significant. Such stone heads even mark the trail
of the Lenape withdrawal westward through Pennsylvania,[27] and have even
been found in Ohio, where they lingered for a time (fig. 5).
[Illustration: FIG. 4.—Mask from the Canadian Lenape. E. T. Tefft
collection, American Museum of Natural History. (Height of head, 14 in.)]
[Illustration: FIG. 5.—Stone head or Mĭsiʹngʷ‛ from Ohio. (Height, 13.9
in.)]
The best early description is given by Brainerd,[28] who, in May 1745,
while on the Susquehanna above the English settlements, saw a masked
Indian who must have been an impersonator of Mĭsinghâliʹkŭn. It runs:
“But of all the sights I saw among them, or indeed anywhere
else, none appeared so frightful ... as the appearance of one
who was a devout and zealous Reformer, or rather, restorer of
what he supposed was the ancient religion of the Indians. He
made his appearance in his _pontifical garb_, which was a coat
of _bear skins_, dressed with the hair on, and hanging down to
his toes; a pair of bear skin stockings; and a great _wooden_
face painted, the one half black, the other half tawny, about
the color of an Indian’s skin, with an extravagant mouth, cut
very much awry; the face fastened to a bear skin cap, which was
drawn over his head. He advanced toward me with the instrument
in his hand, which he used for music, in his idolatrous
worship, which was a dry _tortoise shell_ with some corn in it,
and the neck of it drawn on to a piece of wood, which made a
very convenient handle. As he came forward, he beat his tune
with the rattle, and danced with all his might, but he did not
suffer any part of his body, not so much as his fingers, to be
seen.”
With the exception of one minor point, the “wry mouth,” this would be
a good description of the Mĭsiʹngʷ‛ outfit used until recently by the
Lenape in Oklahoma (pl. II). On the following page, Brainerd mentions
“images” which seem to be the Mĭsiʹngʷ‛ faces carved on the posts of the
Big House.
[Illustration: PL. IV
STONE HEAD OR MĬSIʹNGʷ‛, FROM STATEN ISLAND, N. Y.
(Staten Island Institute of Art and Science)]
Zeisberger[29] also refers to the masks in these words:
“The only idol which the Indians have, and which may properly
be called an idol, is their _Wsinkhoalican_, that is image.
It is an image cut in wood, representing a human head in
miniature, which they always carry about them either on
a string around their neck or in a bag. They often bring
offerings to it. In their houses of sacrifice they have a head
of this idol as large as life put upon a pole in the middle of
the room.”
In his Dictionary, Zeisberger gives the word for “idol” as _mĕsinkʹ_, so
it seems probable that the _W_ in “Wsinkhoalikan” is a misprint for _M_.
MOTHER CORN
One of the important _manĭʹtowŭk_ of the old days was the Corn Goddess,
known as “Mother Corn” of whom one of the Unami legends collected by
the writer relates that “It was God’s will that the Corn Spirit abide
in the far heavenly region in the image of an aged woman, with dominion
over all vegetation.” Although little remembrance of the details of her
worship can now be found among the Oklahoma Lenape, she is mentioned as
a Guardian Spirit; while at the Minsi ceremonies at Grand River Reserve
in Ontario, she was one of the twelve benefactors of mankind to whom the
thanks of the people were offered, and Minsi women mentioned “Sister
Corn” in praying for good crops in the corn fields; while Zeisberger[30]
says that the presiding _Manĭʹto_ of Indian Corn or maize was spoken of
as the “wife” of the Indian, and was offered bear’s flesh.
CHAPTER II
MINOR DEITIES
DOLL BEING
The masks described in the last chapter are merely representations of a
supernatural being, and are not supposed to be the dwellings of a spirit
or spirits except when worn by an impersonator, who is said to become
imbued with the spirit when the mask is donned; nor are they usually
supposed to possess inherent power, except as symbols of Mĭsinghâliʹkŭn.
But the Lenape had also a class of images, usually of wood, representing
the human form, which were supposed to possess life, or at least to
be the residence of spirits, which, so far as can be learned, had no
separate existence. They were supposed to understand what was said
to them, and to have the power of protecting the owner’s health, to
enjoy offerings, resent ill-treatment, and in fact seem to fall into
the class of true fetishes. Usually, but not always, representing the
female figure, they were kept as a rule by women, and were given yearly
feasts, at which outfits of new clothes were put on them. The native name
in Unami is _O‛ʹdas_; in Minsi, _Naniʹtĭs_. The ceremonies and beliefs
associated with them will be described later, in the chapter on minor
ceremonies. Most of the early writers seem to have overlooked them,
which is not surprising, since they were matters of personal and not of
public concern, and their rites were held in private. John Brainerd,
however, mentions an “idol image”[31] which seems to be of this class,
and a Minsi specimen is figured by Peter Jones[32] and mentioned by him
in a footnote. This was afterward procured by the writer from Jones’ son,
and is now in the American Museum of Natural History (pl. VIII). John
Brainerd (brother of the better known David) made his note of the custom
about the middle of the eighteenth century, while that of Jones dates
from about a century later.
TORNADO
Besides the gods hitherto named there were many other deities of lesser
importance. The tornado, for instance, was one of these beings classed as
_manĭʹtowŭk_. He is mentioned as a giant in size, walking on his hands
when in action, his long hair entangling and sweeping away forests and
villages; and sometimes as a winged being. When a “cyclone” was seen
approaching, some would burn tobacco, and addressing the roaring monster,
as “Grandfather,” would pray that he turn aside and leave the village in
peace. Others, scorning such measures of conciliation, would burn old
moccasins and rubbish, advising the destroyer to turn aside if he wished
to escape the stinging smoke; while still others, even less conciliatory,
threatened him with the edge of an axe, vowing they would “break a wing
for him” if he came their way. It was commonly said in the tribe that
on account of these practices the Lenape suffered little from this evil
_manĭʹto_.
SNOW BOY
Another minor _manĭʹto_ is Snow Boy, a being who is supposed to control
snow and ice, but who is different from “Our Grandfather at the North,”
who merely supplies the north wind. Offerings were made to Snow Boy to
insure a proper amount of snow for tracking in the winter hunt. Further
information concerning these last two _manĭʹtowŭk_ will be found in the
paper on Lenape Mythology, now in preparation.
COMET
There is a third _manĭʹto_ called _Elauʹnato_, which some Lenape say
means “Comet,” others “Shooting Star.” When a war is impending, says the
legend, this being may be seen flying through the air, carrying a bunch
of human heads. After Elauʹnato has passed, if one listens he will hear
a distant rumbling sound, for this _manĭʹto_ knows beforehand where the
fighting will take place, and drops the heads on the spot, and the noise
of their fall is a roar like thunder.
EVIL MANĬʹTOWŬK
Both the Great Horned Serpents, monsters living in the rivers and lakes,
and the Giant Bear were considered evil _manĭʹtowŭk_, the only good
derived from them being, in the first case, charms made of the scales,
bone, or horn of the monsters, supposed to bring rain; and, in the second
case, a medicine made from the tooth said to have the power of healing
wounds. Children were accustomed to hunt in the sand for tracks of the
Little People, comparable with fairies or elves among the whites.
ANIMAL SPIRITS
The concepts regarding the numerous animal spirits who were believed to
offer themselves as guardians for mankind, are rather hard to define.
Most Indians seem to regard their mysterious animal helper not as the
spirit or soul of any particular animal taken as an individual, but as
a spirit representing the entire species as a whole and partaking of
the nature of the species, at the same time having human and _manĭʹto_
attributes.
Brainerd[33] makes some interesting remarks on this subject, which are
worth quoting:
“They do not indeed suppose a divine power _essential_ to, or
_inhering_ in, these creatures; but that some invisible beings
... communicate to these animals a _great power_; ... and so
make these creatures the immediate authors of good to certain
persons. Whence such a creature becomes _sacred_ to the persons
to whom he is supposed to be the immediate author of good, and
through him they must worship the invisible powers, though to
others he is no more than any other creature.”
Certain it is, if a Lenape states that his blessing or power comes from
“the otter,” he does not mean some particular otter, but a spirit otter
whose existence is independent of the life of any particular animal.
However, such an animal was supposed, like a man, to have a spirit or
soul of its own.
PLANT SPIRITS
When gathering herbs for medicine it was customary to offer prayers
to certain spirits. Some seem to have prayed at this time to the four
directions, others to the presiding genius of the species of plants they
sought, or to the spirit of the individual plant itself. The Minsi say
that only certain plants were thus addressed. The Corn Spirit has already
been mentioned.
LOCAL GENII
Certain localities, it is said, were thought to be the dwellings of local
genii, to whom offerings were occasionally made, especially such places
as displayed curious or unusual natural features, while even certain
stones were said to have an animate principle or indwelling spirit.
CHAPTER III
SURVIVAL OF THE SOUL
THE SOUL
The doctrine of the survival of the soul or spirit after the death of the
body, forms an integral part of Lenape belief. The spirit is supposed to
leave the body at the moment of dissolution, but remains in the vicinity
eleven days, during which time it subsists on food found in the houses
of the living, if none has been placed at the grave. Some say that the
actual food is not consumed but that the ghost extracts some essence or
nourishment from it.
THE LAND OF SPIRITS
On the twelfth day the spirit leaves the earth and makes its way to the
twelfth or highest heaven, the home of the Creator, where it lives
indefinitely in a veritable “Happy Hunting Ground,” a beautiful country
where life goes on much as it does on earth, except that pain, sickness,
and sorrow are unknown, and distasteful work and worry have no place;
where children shall meet their parents who have gone before, and parents
their children; where everything always looks new and bright. There is no
sun in the Land of Spirits, but a brighter light which the Creator has
provided. All people who die here, be they young or old, will look the
same age there, and the blind, cripples,—anyone who has been maimed or
injured,—will be perfect and as good as any there. This is because the
flesh only was injured, not the spirit.
This paradise, however, is only for the good, for those who have been
kind to their fellows and have done their duty by their people. Little
is said of those who have done evil in this world, except that they are
excluded from the happy Land of Spirits. Some Unami say that the blood in
a dead body draws up into globular form and floats about in the air as a
luminous ball, but this is not the true spirit.
The Minsi seem to have retained a more archaic belief, for they say that
the Land of Spirits lies to the southwest, in a country of good hunting.
Here they say, the wigwams of the spirits are always neat and clean, and
happiness prevails. But between our world and the spirit country flows a
river which the spirit must cross on a slender foot-log or in a canoe.
GHOSTS AND MEDIUMSHIP
Ghosts do not seem always to have left the earth at the expiration of the
twelve days, or else they have the power of returning, for the Lenape
claim that boys, dreaming for power, have sometimes been pitied and given
some blessing by the ghosts, who remained their guardian spirits through
life. Such people were considered to have the power of talking with the
departed and sometimes made a practice of it, but mediumship was by no
means confined to them. Among the Minsi formerly they were accustomed to
hold meetings in the burial grounds at certain times, when some medium,
it is said, would communicate with the spirits.
The late James Wolf, one of the principal Minsi informants, was said to
have this power. One time a man was drowned in the Thames river near
Munceytown in Ontario, and the body could not be located. Wolf, it is
said, walked up and down the river-banks, with a companion, talking to
the water. At last a strange sound was heard, and Wolf stopped. “That was
the dead man’s spirit,” he said; “the body lies right over in that hole.”
Surely enough, when they procured a boat, they found the body in the
hole, wedged beneath a sunken log.
Certain regular ceremonies were held by both the Unami and the Minsi in
honor of the dead, and will be discussed in a later paper.
EARLY ACCOUNTS
_Penn._—In William Penn’s letter,[34] dated August 16, 1683, is the first
mention of any details of Lenape beliefs regarding the soul that has been
found. He says:
“They say there is a King that made them, who dwells in a
glorious Country to the Southward of them, and that the Souls
of the Good shall go thither, where they shall live again.”
_Brainerd._—The same Indian whom Brainerd saw in 1745 dressed in a
bearskin costume and with a wooden mask, told him[35] that—
“departed souls all went _southward_, and that the difference
between good and bad was this: that the _former_ were admitted
into a beautiful town with _spiritual_ walls, and that the
_latter_ would forever hover around these walls, in vain
attempts to get in.”
Later,[36] Brainerd speaks of the Spirit Land of the Lenape to the
southward as being “an unknown and curious place” in which the shadows of
the dead “will enjoy some kind of happiness, such as hunting, feasting,
dancing, and the like.” One of his Indian informants defined the kind
of “bad folks” who would be unhappy in the hereafter as “those who lie,
steal, quarrel with their neighbors, are unkind to their friends, and
especially to aged parents, and, in a word, such as are a plague to
mankind.” These would be excluded from the “Happy Hunting Ground,” not
so much as a punishment to themselves, as to keep them from rendering
unhappy the spirits of the good inhabiting the “beautiful town.”
_Zeisberger._—About 1748, according to Zeisberger,[37] a number of
preachers appeared among the Indians, who claimed to have traveled in
Heaven and conversed with God. Some exhibited charts of deerskin upon
which were drawn maps of the Land of Spirits and figures representing
other subjects used in their preaching. Some of their ideas concerning
the Son of God, the Devil, and Hell, are evidently derived from the
whites; others seem more aboriginal in character, such as purification by
emetics, twelve different kinds being used. He wrote:
“Other teachers pretended that stripes were the most effectual
means to purge away sin. They advised their hearers to suffer
themselves to be beaten with twelve different sticks from the
soles of their feet to their necks, that their sins might pass
from them through their throats. They preached a system of
morals, very severe for the savages, insisting that the Indians
abstain from fornication, adultery, murder, theft, and practise
virtuous living as the condition to their attaining after death
the place of good spirits, which they call Tschipeghacki, the
‘land of spirits,’ where the life is happy, and deer, bear and
all manner of game are abundant and the water is like crystal.
There nought was to be heard save singing, dancing and merry
making.... The passage thither is the Milky Way.... Whoever
reaches that place will find a city of beautiful houses and
clean streets. Entering a house he will see no one, but have
good things to eat placed before him, a fire made and a bed
prepared—all of which is done by spirits invisible to him.
Others assert that such an one will see the women coming with
baskets on their backs full of strawberries and bilberries,
large as apples, and will observe the inhabitants daily
appear in fine raiment and live a life of rejoicing.—The bad
Indians ... will not reach the place, Tschipeghacki, but must
remain some distance away, able to see those within dwelling
happily, but not able to enter. They would receive nothing but
poisonous wood and poisonous roots to eat, holding them ever
near the brink of a bitter death, but not suffering them to
die.”
Zeisberger usually specifies when his information is derived from tribes
other than the Lenape, from whom most of his data were procured; so it is
probable that the following quotation applies to them, although in part
somewhat at variance with our other knowledge. He says:[38]
“They believe in the immortality of the soul. Some liken
themselves to corn which, when thrown out and buried in the
soil, comes up and grows. Some believe their souls to be in the
sun, and only their bodies here. Others say that when they die
their souls will go to God, and suppose that when they have
been some time with God they will be at liberty to return to
the world and be born again. Hence many believe ... that they
may have been in the world before.
“They believe also in the transmigration of the soul. Wandering
spirits and ghosts, they claim, sometimes throw something into
a public path and whoever goes over it is bewitched and becomes
lame or ill.”
Such was the Lenape belief with regard to the powers that control the
world, and such were his notions concerning the souls of men. The main
channel of communication between this great supernatural realm and
mankind was, to the Lenape as to so many other tribes of Indians, the
dream or vision, experienced either while fasting or in natural sleep.
This subject will be considered in the next chapter.
CHAPTER IV
VISIONS AND GUARDIAN SPIRITS
The most vital and intimate phase of Lenape religion is the belief in
dreams and visions, and in the existence of personal guardian spirits
or supernatural helpers—concepts of wide distribution among the North
American tribes, but rarely, perhaps, so vivid or well-developed as
we find them here. The vision was the point of contact, the channel
of communication, in Lenape belief, between the great and marvelous
supernatural world and the sphere of everyday human life. In a vision
the youth first found his guardian spirit, to whom he would always
appeal, as his own special friend in the supernatural hierarchy, for
aid and comfort in time of trouble, and for the revelation of coming
events. He felt that this being took a close personal interest in his
affairs, while the greater gods, including the Great Spirit himself,
were so remote and so occupied with controlling more important things
that they might not notice or concern themselves with the affairs of one
individual man. Therefore the bulk of his prayers and offerings went to
his guardian spirit. If a Lenape won great success on a war expedition
or a hunting trip, he was sure the spirit had helped him; if unlucky, he
believed that for some reason his guardian had become estranged, or had
been overpowered by superior and malevolent forces. A man might become
a sorcerer or a shaman at the behest of his guardian spirit, given in
a dream or vision, or change his mode of life in other ways. Not every
Lenape was blessed with such a guardian; yet many were so favored,
usually in their boyhood days. To be eligible for supernatural favor, the
youth had to be _piʹlsŭⁿ_, or pure, which means that not only must he be
chaste, but that he must have kept strictly all the taboos against eating
food prepared by women in their periodic condition, etc. Old Lenape say
that, as the children of the tribe are reared nowadays in the same way as
the whites, they can no longer be _piʹlsŭⁿ_, and the Powers will speak
to them no more. This is a sad matter, for it means the loss of their
principal ancient ceremonies, at which only those blessed with a vision
can take active part. The old people feel it keenly that there will be no
one left to conduct the rites when the last of their generation has been
laid away.
INITIATION OF BOYS
Parents were especially anxious, of course, that their sons should have
supernatural aid, hence, when a boy reached the age of about twelve
years, they would frequently pretend to abuse him, and would drive him,
fasting, out into the forest to shift as best he might, in the hope that
some _manĭʹto_ would take pity on the suffering child and grant him some
power or blessing that would be his dependence through life.
Sometimes a man who had several sons would take them out into the forest
and build them a rude little tent, and here they would remain for days
at a time. During the day the boys were not permitted to eat, but just
before sunrise every morning each was given a medicine to make him vomit,
after which a tiny piece of meat was given him, about the size of a man’s
little finger. Occasionally the boys became able to fast in this way for
twelve days, at the end of which time, the Lenape say, some had received
such power that they were able to rise into the air, or go down into the
ground, or prophesy events a year or two ahead, with the magic aid of the
supernatural being that had taken pity on them.
OTHER VISIONS
It sometimes happened also that people received visions of power in
natural sleep without fasting, or even when wide awake, while feeling
melancholy and heartsick over the death of a loved one, or suffering
other misfortune or trouble. As they sat brooding, some _manĭʹto_ might
address himself to them, and give them advice and comfort, or endow them
with some kind of power. Women occasionally had visions of this kind.
THE GUARDIAN SPIRIT
Whatever the precise circumstances of its appearance, the guardian spirit
in many instances was said to show itself first in human form, and it
was only when it turned to leave that its real shape (of an animal, for
instance) was noticed by the recipient of its blessing. Sometimes the
interview was quite long and the directions given by the _manĭʹto_ (for
ceremonies, etc.) quite explicit; on other occasions they were very vague
and cryptic. Frequently, according to the stories told, some tangible
object, called by the Unami the _opiʹna_, or blessing, was handed by the
_manĭʹto_ to the recipient of his favor, who usually swallowed it. Some
recipients were called on, however, to make and keep some symbol of their
protector, which was usually worn on the person in the form of a charm.
FAVORED INDIVIDUALS.—Persons favored with a guardian spirit usually
became prominent among their people and were held in high esteem. They
composed rythmic chants referring to their visions for use at the Annual
Ceremony (which will be discussed in the next chapter), and dance songs
to accompany them. Rarely were the words of either chants or songs at
all definite: as a rule they merely mentioned attributes of the singer’s
guardian, or incidents of their first meeting, without stating outright
what the guardian spirit was, or telling a consecutive story of the
vision.
Most Lenape who have had such visions can not be induced to tell the
details; but the following examples of such experiences, imperfect in
many points, were finally obtained. Incomplete though they are, they will
give some idea of this class of beliefs and in this way may prove of
value.
UNAMI EXAMPLES.—One old man named Pokiteʹhemun (“Breaker”), known to the
whites in Oklahoma as George Wilson, saw in his vision what seemed to
be a man who held out to him a white round object like a boy’s marble,
then tossed it to him. Pokiteʹhemun caught it and swallowed it. Then as
it turned to go, the being cried “_Kwank! kwank! kwank!_ The ducks have
a praying meeting in the fall of the year!” As it turned, Pokiteʹhemun
noticed that it was really a duck instead of a man, and was colored half
black and half white.[39]
Pokiteʹhemun could pound on his chest at any time and apparently cough
up a round marble-like object, which he would show in his hand and then
appear to swallow again. This he claimed was the _opiʹna_ given by his
guardian spirit.
He seemed to regard the words of the duck spirit as an admonition to do
all he could to keep up the tribal Annual Ceremony, which was held in the
fall; while the “blessing” gave him good fortune. The chant he composed
for use at this ceremony is as follows:
_Lawulĕnjei_
_Wŭⁿjegŭk toxweyu_
_Kwĕⁿnanowagŭⁿ_
_Wailaⁿgomaⁿole_
_Lĕnape, eli nanŭⁿ_
_Telowaⁿ, lowaⁿ_
_Nuⁿni, ĕndageko_
_Lowaet, lowa nŭⁿni._
The interpreter’s translation, which is a somewhat free one, follows:
“When he opened his hand
Something came out of the center
That’s his blessing
(For?) our kinfolks, the
Lenape; because that
Is what he said, he did say
This, when
He spoke, he said this.”
Then came the dance song:
_He-e-e-e nehani_
_Latamaⁿne_
_Nehani lamaⁿne_
_Kwĕⁿnanowagŭⁿ, nowagŭn_
_Hayelaⁿgomaⁿ_
_Gweheyeha_
_Gehe!_
This, according to the interpreter, means simply, when stripped of its
superfluous syllables, “We own a temple—his blessing—our kinfolks.”
Another man saw in his boyhood vision the Mĭsinghâliʹkŭn, or Living Solid
Face, riding on a deer. I was unable to get the details of their meeting,
or the chant, but this is the dance song:
_Hehotawegeʹna_
_Hotowegeʹna_
_Xingâloʹ pai awheʹwani_
_Mĭsinghâliʹkŭn_
_Hâliʹkŭne_
_A-heʹ-he-heʹ!_
This, the interpreter said, means “Riding it, riding it, big buck deer,
this one, Mĭsinghâliʹkŭn!” Seldom do the songs or chants refer so
definitely to the protector as does this.
A third Lenape, when a boy, was sent out to the corn-field to drive away
the crows. As he stood by the field he saw them flying around to light
on a tree near by. Suddenly someone spoke to him, and among the things
said (which were not revealed to me) were the words “I like this Lenape
food,” referring to the corn. The boy thought a man was addressing him,
until the person suddenly flew away in the form of a crow, crying “_Ha!
Ha! Ha!_” I failed to get the Indian words for the song, and my informant
did not remember the chant, but the translation of the song was given as
follows:
“I like this Lenape food:”
I never knew a crow said that
Till the crow was cawing
“Ha! Ha! Ha!”
A fourth had seen some kind of an animal in his vision, but never told
any of his tribesmen what it was. His song, as now remembered, was
translated thus:
Come, follow me,
I am going
Out into the country.
A fifth had “Mother Corn” (the Corn Spirit) for a guardian, but only part
of his song is remembered.
“All my children
Are glad when I come out!”
Some people were helped by the spirits of the dead in the same way that
others received aid from animal or other nature spirits.
“Old man” Secondine, now dead, a well known Oklahoma Lenape, was one of
these. When a boy his parents drove him out in the woods, as was the
custom, in the hope that he might receive a supernatural helper. After
wandering about for a time, he took refuge in a large hollow tree, and
made that his camping place. Before long he was visited by apparitions
of persons he knew to be dead, who took pity on his starving condition,
and brought him food which they had taken at night from the houses of
the living, this being the way that disembodied spirits are supposed
to get nourishment when visiting the scenes of their earthly life. In
the meantime his parents were unable to find him, and searched for him
without avail until the ghosts finally revealed to them his camping
place, and then he was brought safely home. Ever afterward he claimed
the ghosts as his guardians, and like others blessed with this kind of
helpers, was said to hold some kind of communication with the departed.
MINSI EXAMPLES.—The late James Wolf, my principal Minsi informant, was
said to possess this power, as was stated in the preceding chapter. He
had, moreover, received another vision when a boy, but had made little,
if any, use of it, because of his profession of Christianity. One time in
his boyhood days, he told me, he thought or dreamed (he was not asleep
at the time) that there was no water in the river, and that he went down
into its bed and found only one little hole containing water. In this was
a creature resembling a catfish, yet somewhat different, and near it was
an ordinary crayfish, while on the surface of the water walked a number
of little flies. The boy thinking what he had seen was real, ran home in
haste to tell his father. The father walked down with him to see, but
stopped on the bank where the edge of the water had been, while the boy
ran on down to his pool. The river-bed seemed dry to him, but his father
would not come, saying that the river was full of water. The boy then
came out and they started for home, but before they were out of sight,
the lad looked back. To his surprise, the river was full as usual.
The father, who was Flying Wolf, a noted Minsi warrior, had been favored
himself, when a boy, with a rather unusual sort of vision, which James
Wolf related to me, as nearly as possible the way the old man used to
tell it at the Annual Ceremony.
“When I was a boy, I was once fast asleep on a hill near a little creek.
Someone said, ‘Wake up! Let us go where our friends are!’ So I got up and
followed him across the little creek and up a hill, where I saw six men
sitting on a log. Then I went up and shook hands with them all. After
they had shaken hands with me they all danced around in a ring.” At this
point he used to sing one verse of his dance song—
_Wĕmi wangoⁿtowak kewiha_
All greet one another
_Yoki lĕnape witci._
Now Lenape at the same time
_E-ye-he-ye-ĕ!_
“They told me, ‘We will go to see our friends,’ so I went with them.
Every now and then they stopped and danced around as they had done
before. After a while one of them told me to look toward the south, and
there I saw a black cloud in which the lightning flashed. ‘Would you like
to go there?’ they asked me. I answered ‘No.’ Then one asked if I wanted
to go _that_ way, pointing to the northeast, where the sky was blue and
bright, to which I answered that I would rather go in that direction
toward the clear sky. A little farther on they said: ‘We will now leave
you. Watch us as we go.’ They went to the east a little way, and then I
saw them trotting. They were wolves, and I had thought all the while that
they were human beings.”
Verses of the dance song were sung at intervals during this speech. From
analogy with other visions, such as are recorded above, one would think
that the six wolf-men must have become Flying Wolf’s protectors, but
instead, it was a Thunder Being that became his principal guardian, whose
participation in the vision is merely inferred from the mention in the
speech of the black cloud and the lightning. Evidently this Thunder Being
was not offended when Flying Wolf told his guides that he would rather go
toward the clear sky than toward the black cloud.
The Minsi say that when Flying Wolf recited his vision in the Big
House ceremonies, he moved everyone, some even to tears. After he had
finished, they say, a thunder-shower would almost always rise. He would
become strangely excited when the dark clouds began to bank up on the
horizon and spread themselves over the land. Stripping himself to the
breech-cloth, he was ready to go out when the storm broke, for he would
never stay beneath a roof at such a time. He loved to expose his body
to the driving gusts of wind and rain; the appalling roar was music to
his ears; while the lighting, to the eyes of the frightened onlookers,
seemed to play about his very body. He used to say that if he stayed
indoors the lightning display would be so terrible that the others in the
house could not endure it. No wonder they used to say of him, “_PilesʹwaL
pewaʹlatcil!_” “He is in league with the Thunders!”, or better, perhaps,
“The Thunders will protect him!”
Within the memory of Minsi now living in Canada there were two members of
the tribe who claimed the Sun spirit, _Kiʹzho_ (or _Kiʹzhox_) as their
protector. One of these was known as “Old man” Halfmoon, the other as
“Muncey John” Henry. Halfmoon, it is said, when he wished to appear as a
warrior, would sometimes hold his bare hands up toward the flaming face
of his guardian, then rub the palms down his cheeks. When he removed
his hands, it was seen that his face, clean before, was now painted in
brilliant colors! “Surely,” the people cried, “this man is in league with
the Sun!”
That the idea of a tangible ‘blessing’ is found among the Minsi, as well
as among the Unami, is shown in certain of their traditions.
HISTORICAL REFERENCES.—_Brainerd._—Brainerd seems to have been about the
first author to recognize in any degree the importance of the dream or
vision in Lenape religious belief. He says:[40]
“They give much heed to _dreams_, because they suppose that
these invisible powers give them directions at such times about
certain affairs, and sometimes inform them what _animal_ they
would choose to be worshipped in.”
Other remarks by Brainerd on the same general topic were quoted in the
preceding chapter.
_Zeisberger._—Zeisberger[41] also devotes a paragraph to it, in which he
says:
“Almost all animals and the elements are looked upon as
spirits, one exceeding the other in dignity and power. There
is scarcely an Indian who does not believe that one or more of
these spirits has not been particularly given him to assist him
and make him prosper. This, they claim, has been made known to
them in a dream, even as their religious belief and witchcraft
has been made known to them in a dream. One has, in a dream,
received a serpent or a buffalo, another the sun or the moon,
another an owl or some other bird, another a fish, some even
ridiculously insignificant creatures such as ants. These are
considered their spirits or _Manittos_. If an Indian has no
Manitto to be his friend he considers himself forsaken, has
nothing on which he may lean, has no hope of any assistance and
is small in his own eyes. On the other hand those who have been
thus favored possess a high and proud spirit.”
_Loskiel._—Loskiel’s account[42] seems largely derived from the above. He
remarks:
“The _manittos_ are also considered as tutelar spirits. Every
Indian has one or more, which he conceives to be peculiarly
given to assist him and make him prosper. One has in a dream
received the sun as his tutelar spirit, another the moon; a
third, an owl; a fourth, a buffaloe; and so forth. An Indian is
dispirited, and considers himself as forsaken by God, till he
has received a tutelar spirit in a dream; But those who have
been thus favored, are full of courage, and proud of their
powerful ally.”
_Heckewelder._—Heckewelder[43] devotes a whole chapter to the subject,
under the head of “Initiation of Boys,” to which the reader is referred,
as it is all of interest, but can not be reproduced here. I will merely
quote portions of one paragraph, which will serve to show that this
author found approximately similar ideas as had his predecessors,
concepts which still exist among the Lenape.
“When a boy is to be thus _initiated_, he is put under an
alternate course of physic and fasting ... so that he sees, or
fancies that he sees visions, and has extraordinary dreams.
Then he has interviews with the Manitto or with spirits, who
inform him of what he was before he was born, and what he will
be after his death. His fate in this life is laid entirely
open before him, the spirit tells him what is to be his future
employment, whether he will be a valiant warrior, a mighty
hunter, a doctor, a conjuror or a prophet.”
Later in the chapter Heckewelder mentions the fact that persons favored
with such dreams considered themselves under the protection of the
“celestial powers,” and mentions the “strength, the power, and the
courage” conveyed to them, but lays more stress on the prophetic side
of these visions than on the actual aid rendered, according to Lenape
belief, by the supernatural guardians.
_Adams._—From Heckewelder’s time to the present, I know of but one
writer, besides myself, who describes, from his own observation, the
Lenape belief in visions and guardian spirits. This is R. C. Adams,[44]
himself of Delaware blood, whose notes may be found in the volume on
Indians of the United States Census Report for 1890 (p. 298 et seq.). He
says:
“It is believed by the Delawares that every one has a guardian
spirit which comes in the form of some bird, animal, or other
thing, at times in dreams, and tells them what to do and what
will happen. The guardian spirit is sent from the Great Spirit.”
Having now considered the very foundation of Lenape religion, we may turn
with better understanding, to their great Annual Ceremony.
CHAPTER V
UNAMI ANNUAL CEREMONY
THE LEADER
The great Annual Ceremony of the Lenape now in Oklahoma was and is held
when the leaves turn yellow in the fall of the year, usually, according
to the “pale face” reckoning, some time between the tenth and twentieth
of October. It is not exactly a tribal affair, although the whole tribe
participates, but must be undertaken by some certain individual of the
proper qualifications who takes the responsibility of “bringing in” the
meeting and acting as a leader.
The phratry to which this leader belongs determines the exact form of the
ceremonies to be held; for each totemic group has a ritual of its own,
that of the Wolf, which is here related, differing in some particulars
from the ceremonies as practised by the Turtle or Turkey people. In
former times, it is said, when one phratry had finished its twelve days
of ceremonies, another would enact theirs, followed by the third; but at
present qualified leaders are so few that it seldom if ever happens that
more than one of them feels able to accept such exacting duties in any
one year.
This leader it is who sends a messenger forth to notify the people what
day the ceremonies are to commence and to invite them all to attend.
Several days before the date the wagons begin to roll in and a white
village of tents springs up about the gray walls of the old Big House,
temple, or _xiʹngwikan_ (pl. V), standing on the banks of Little
Caney river, north of Dewey in northern Oklahoma, far from any human
habitation.
[Illustration: PL. V
LENAPE CEREMONIAL HOUSE NEAR DEWEY, OKLAHOMA]
Built of rough logs, the Big House is now provided with a roof of
hand-split shingles pierced by two great smoke-holes, as shown in the
frontispiece and in pl. V, VI, but in former days the roof was of bark.
The length is about 40 ft. from east to west, with a height at the eaves
of about 6 ft., at the ridge 14 ft., and a width of 24.5 ft. Aside from
certain ingenuities of construction which can not be discussed here, its
chief interest lies in the two large carvings of the human face, one
facing east (fig. 6) and one west, which adorn the great central post
supporting the ridge-pole. Similar carvings, but smaller, may be seen
upon each of the six posts which support the logs forming the sides (fig.
7), and still smaller ones, one upon each of the four door-posts. All
twelve faces are painted, the right side of each red, the left black. The
building is used only for the Annual Ceremony.
[Illustration: FIG. 6.—Central post of Ceremonial House, showing carved
face.]
[Illustration: FIG. 7.—Side posts of Ceremonial House, showing carved
faces.]
OFFICERS
The messenger sent to assemble the people is one of three male attendants
chosen by the leader, and these three men appoint three women to serve
also. To these six attendants, known as _aʹckas_, falls all the laborious
work of the meeting. Although the duties are menial, it is considered
quite an honor to be selected as _aʹckas._ The attendants camp on the
north and south sides of the little open square just east of the Big
House (pl. VII), an area where no one is allowed to pitch a tent.
Other officers selected for the meeting are a speaker (usually at the
time of the writer’s visit, Chief Charley Elkhair), two singers, called
_Taleʹgunŭk_, “Cranes,” whose duty it is to beat the dry deerskin drum
and sing the necessary songs, and a chief hunter who is supposed to
provide venison for the feast.
PREPARATIONS
[Illustration: FIG. 8.—Ceremonial fire-drill used at the Annual Ceremony.
(Length of shaft, 29.5 in.)]
Arrived at the Big House, the attendants begin at once to prepare the
building for use after its year of idleness. The first act of the men
is to make mortar of mud, in the old style, and stop the cracks between
the logs of the house. Then they cut two forked saplings, and set them
in the ground about ten feet apart, some distance in front of the Big
House (see pl. VII); upon these is laid a pole, running east and west, to
support the twenty-gallon kettle used in preparing hominy for the feast.
After this they gather about a cord of wood for the fires inside the Big
House and the cooking fire outside. Then the first night, a fire pure and
undefined by the white man and his matches, is made with a fire-drill
(fig. 8). This is operated on the principal of a pump-drill, like the
ceremonial fire-drills of the Iroquois. This fire, and this only, may be
used in the temple, and no one is permitted to take it outside for any
purpose.
[Illustration: PL. VI
LENAPE ANNUAL CEREMONY IN PROGRESS
Native Painting by Earnest Spybuck, a Shawnee]
CEREMONY COMMENCED
Two of the attendants, a man and a woman, then build the two fires in the
temple, so that there may be plenty of light, and sweep the floor with
turkey-wings for brushes. The men attendants take turns so that one of
them, at least, is always on guard outside the building. When the temple
is clean, the fires are burning bright, and the _aʹckas_ have called the
people in and all are assembled, the chief arises and delivers a speech.
CHIEF’S SPEECH
First he states the rules of the meeting, then he speaks along some
such line as the following, which was dictated by Chief Elkhair, who
frequently made these speeches:
“We are thankful that so many of us are alive to meet together here once
more, and that we are ready to hold our ceremonies in good faith. Now we
shall meet here twelve nights in succession to pray to Gicelĕmû‛ʹkaong,
who has directed us to worship in this way. And these twelve Mĭsiʹngʷ‛
faces [carved on the posts of the house] are here to watch and to carry
our prayers to Gicelĕmû‛ʹkaong in the highest heaven. The reason why we
dance at this time is to raise our prayers to him. Our attendants here,
three women and three men, have the task of keeping everything about our
Temple in good order, and of trying to keep peace, if there is trouble.
They must haul wood and build fires, cook and sweep out the Big House.
“When they sweep, they must sweep both sides of the fire twelve times,
which sweeps a road to Heaven, just as they say that it takes twelve
years to reach it. Women in their menses must not enter this house.
“When we come into this house of ours we are glad, and thankful that we
are well, and for everything that makes us feel good which the Creator
has placed here for our use. We come here to pray Him to have mercy on
us for the year to come and to give us everything to make us happy; may
we have good crops, and no dangerous storms, floods nor earthquakes. We
all realize what He has put before us all through life, and that He has
given us a way to pray to Him and thank Him. We are thankful to the East
because everyone feels good in the morning when they awake, and see the
bright light coming from the East, and when the Sun goes down in the West
we feel good and glad we are well; then we are thankful to the West. And
we are thankful to the North, because when the cold winds come we are
glad to have lived to see the leaves fall again; and to the South, for
when the south wind blows and everything is coming up in the spring, we
are glad to live to see the grass growing and everything green again. We
thank the Thunders, for they are the _manĭʹtowŭk_ that bring the rain,
which the Creator has given them power to rule over. And we thank our
mother, the Earth, whom we claim as mother because the Earth carries us
and everything we need. When we eat and drink and look around, we know
it is Gicelĕmû‛ʹkaong that makes us feel good that way. He gives us the
purest thoughts that can be had. We should pray to Him every morning.
“Man has a spirit, and the body seems to be a coat for that spirit. That
is why people should take care of their spirits, so as to reach Heaven
and be admitted to the Creator’s dwelling. We are given some length of
time to live on earth, and then our spirits must go. When anyone’s time
comes to leave this earth, he should go to Gicelĕmû‛ʹkaong, feeling good
on the way. We all ought to pray to Him, to prepare ourselves for days to
come so that we can be with Him after leaving the earth.
“We must all put our thoughts to this meeting, so that Gicelĕmû‛ʹkaong
will look upon us and grant what we ask. You all come here to pray; you
have a way to reach Him all through life. Do not think of evil; strive
always to think of the good which He has given us.
“When we reach that place, we shall not have to do anything or worry
about anything, only live a happy life. We know there are many of our
fathers who have left this earth and are now in this happy place in
the Land of Spirits. When we arrive we shall see our fathers, mothers,
children, and sisters there. And when we have prepared ourselves so that
we can go to where our parents and children are, we feel happy.
“Everything looks more beautiful there than here, everything looks new,
and the waters and fruits and everything are lovely.
“No sun shines there, but a light much brighter than the sun, the Creator
makes it brighter by his power. All people who die here, young or old,
will be of the same age there; and those who are injured, crippled, or
made blind will look as good as the rest of them. It is nothing but the
flesh that is injured: the spirit is as good as ever. That is the reason
that people are told to help always the cripples or the blind. Whatever
you do for them will surely bring its reward. Whatever you do for anybody
will bring you credit hereafter. Whenever we think the thoughts that
Gicelĕmû‛ʹkaong has given us, it will do us good.
“This is all I can think of to say along this line. Now we will pass the
Turtle around, and all that feel like worshiping may take it and perform
their ceremonies.”
Some nights the speaker says more, sometimes less, just as he feels, but
he always tries to tell it as he heard it from the old people who came
before him.
RECITAL OF VISIONS
Now, as was stated, these meetings are “brought in” by individuals; that
is a certain person, usually a man, undertakes to arrange for the meeting
and to lead the ceremonies. This person must be one of those gifted by a
vision or dream of power in their youth, and hence, according to Lenape
belief, one in communication with the supernatural world.
[Illustration: FIG. 9.—Rattle of land-tortoise shell, used by celebrants
at the Annual Ceremony. (Length, 4.2 in.)]
When the people file into the Big House, the few that still have them
dressed in their best Indian costumes carefully preserved for such
occasions (pl. I), the members of this leader’s clan always take their
seats on the north side, the other two clans in the west end and the
south side. Men and women, however, do not mingle, but sit separately in
the space allotted to their common clan. The diagram (pl. VII) shows the
seating of the clans when the ceremony is “brought in” by a member of
the Wolf division.
[Illustration: FIG. 10.—Drum made of dried deerskin used at the Annual
Ceremony. (Length 38.2 in.)]
After the chief’s speech, the leader arises from his place just north of
the central post, and, rapidly shaking a rattle (_taxoʹxi cowŭniʹgŭn_)
made of a box-tortoise shell (fig. 9), recites his vision in a high
monotone, word by word. After he utters each word, he pauses an
instant to give the singers sitting at the rolled dry deerskin called
_powŭniʹgŭn_ which serves as a drum (fig. 10), ample time to repeat the
same word in the same tone, which produces an extraordinary effect.
When he finishes, the drummers beat rapidly on the dry hide, repeating
“_Ho-o-o!_” a number of times.
[Illustration: PL. VII
PLAN OF LENAPE CEREMONIAL HOUSE AND GROUNDS NEAR DEWEY, OKLAHOMA]
Then the celebrant repeats a verse of his song in the same way, and the
drummers, having learned the words, sing them to a dance tune, beating
the drum in slower time. After dancing awhile, the celebrator whoops, and
they stop; then another similar verse, if not the same, is recited and
then sung.
When the leader dances, he circles about the two fires contra-clockwise,
and those who wish may join in the dance and follow him (pl. VI).
His dance finished, the leader passes the turtleshell to the next man who
has been blessed with a vision. This one has the privilege of singing
his vision if he wishes; if not, it is handed to the next “dreamer.”
After a celebrant has taken his seat, it is customary for those who
desire it to smoke until the next man is ready to commence. At this time
also it is considered proper for the people to enter or leave the Big
House, which is not permitted while the actual ceremony is in progress.
When the turtle rattle has thus made the round of the building and gets
back to its starting point, the meeting is brought to a close. This is
usually along toward morning, the exact time of course being dependent
on the number who have sung their visions, and on the length of the
intermissions.
CONCLUSION OF RITES
Now, when the man who started the ceremonies begins to dance, that is a
signal for two of the women _aʹckas_, or attendants, to go out and pound
corn for hominy or meal, and two of their men colleagues cook it in the
kettle hanging on the pole, so that it is ready when the turtle has made
its rounds and the meeting is about to close. Then the repast of hominy
or corn mush called _säʹpan_ is distributed, and the speaker says, “We
will now pray twelve times,” so twelve times they cry “_Ho-o-o!_” as a
prayer. Then they feast, using musselshells from the river as spoons,
and finally the speaker dismisses them with the words, “This is all for
tonight; tomorrow night we will meet again.”
DEPARTURE OF THE HUNTERS
When the next night arrives, approximately the same performance is
repeated; and the same the next, with little of interest occurring during
the day; but on the fourth morning, the leader who has selected a man
for chief hunter, gives him a yard of wampum as pay. This master of the
hunt then selects as many assistants as he wants, and he and his crew all
gather in the Big House, where they are served about noon with a feast
prepared for the occasion by the women of the camp, and the attendants
tie sacks of the food to the hunters’ saddles.
When they have finished eating, they arrange themselves in a row, each
hunter standing on his left foot and barely touching the ground with the
toes of his right, an action whose meaning I have not yet been able to
determine.
Then the speaker rises and talks to them, and the Mĭsiʹngʷ‛ who has been
seen about the camp from time to time, is in the Big House listening to
his words. “When you hunt,” says the speaker, “think of nothing but luck
to kill deer.” As he speaks he goes to the west fire and throws into it,
six times, an offering of native tobacco; then to the east fire, where
he sacrifices six more pinches of the sacred herb—twelve in all. While
sacrificing tobacco, he prays to the Mĭsiʹngʷ‛ to drive the deer up, so
that the hunters can kill them. As he drops the last tobacco into the
flames, he says, “If you kill a deer right away, bring it in tonight; if
not, bring in all you kill day after tomorrow.”
What tobacco is left is given to the chief hunter with the words, “When
you camp tonight, burn this and ask Mĭsinghâliʹkŭn to let you kill
deer.” The reader will remember that Mĭsinghâliʹkŭn, in whose image the
Mĭsiʹngʷ‛ is carved, is supposed to have control over the deer, and in
fact over all wild animals.
All the hunters that are in the habit of chewing tobacco are now given
some for this purpose. When they file out and mount their horses, the
Mĭsiʹngʷ‛ follows them and sees them off.
After the hunters have disappeared, the people call the Mĭsiʹngʷ‛ back
into the Big House and coax him to dance, while two men volunteer to sing
for him.
PRAYER FOR THE HUNTERS
The following evening six men are appointed and given a yard of wampum
to divide among them, to go out close to the forked game-pole east of
the Big House, intended for the carcasses of the deer, and “pray” there
twelve times. The meaning of this, of course, is that they sound the
prayer word “_Ho-o-o!_” which is evidently to help the hunters. This
night also a yard of wampum is unstrung and scattered on the ground
just west of the east fire, and this the attendants must pick up, crying
“_Ho-o-o!_” as they do so. For doing this, which is called “picking
berries,” they are supposed to keep what wampum they pick up.
RETURN OF THE HUNTERS
If the hunters are lucky and kill a deer the first day, they send one man
back with it. As he approaches he fires a gun as a signal of his coming,
at which the singers run into the Big House and begin to sing and beat
the drum. Then everyone is happy.
In any case the hunters all return on the third day. If they have killed
deer, they shoot their guns; if not, they come in very quietly. When the
shots are heard, the singers hasten to their places, and, beating the
drum, sing a song that is used only on such occasions. Then when the
hunters arrive, they feast, and their leader announces the names of those
lucky enough to kill a deer. The carcasses are skinned and hung on the
deer pole (shown in frontispiece), east of the Big House, and are used
in the feasts at the close of every night’s meeting until the gathering
disbands.
NEW FIRE
Every night the usual program is repeated until the ninth. On this night
a new fire is kindled with the sacred pump-drill called _tuⁿdaʹi wäheⁿʹji
manĭʹtowŭk_ or “Fire maker of the Manĭʹtos” (fig. 8), and the ashes of
the old are carried out through the west door of the Big House, which is
used only for this purpose (among the Unami), and is usually kept closed.
The new fire seems to symbolize a fresh start in all the affairs of life.
USE OF CARVED DRUMSTICKS
Also on the ninth night, before the singing begins, they bring out the
two ancient drumsticks (_pa kŭⁿdiʹgŭn_) carved with tiny human heads, one
male and one female (fig. 11), to use in place of the cruder sticks used
before, which are marked only with a rude cross (fig. 12, _a_). At this
time, also, twelve prayersticks (_ma‛tehiʹgun_) are distributed—six plain
and six striped ones (fig. 12, _b_)—by two of the male attendants, each
with six, one man starting from each end of the Big House and proceeding
in a trot to distribute the sticks while the drum is beaten, and the
people, holding up their hands, cry the prayer word “_Ho-o-o!_”
[Illustration: FIG. 11.—Sacred drumsticks, used at the Annual Ceremony in
Oklahoma. (Length of _a_, 18.6 in.)
FIG. 12.—_a_, Plain drumstick used at the Annual Ceremony; _b_,
Prayerstick. (Length of _b_, 18.9 in.)]
Both drumsticks and prayersticks are used every night from this time on.
If it so happens that the plain sticks do not fall opposite each other
(or on opposite sides of the house), they must all be picked up again and
redistributed. After this, those who have received a stick raise that
instead of their hand, when they repeat the prayer word “_Ho-o-o!_” and
carry it when they dance.
TURTLE RATTLES
At this time, too, all who own turtle rattles such as are used in singing
the visions (fig. 9), are requested to bring them in to the meeting, when
they are placed in a row on the north side, in front of the man who,
as the Indians phrase it, “brought on the meeting.” The backs of the
turtleshells are all measured with strings of wampum, which are cut off
in lengths corresponding with the lengths of the backs.
Then the owners are called to get their turtles and wampum, which is
supposed to be their pay for bringing them to the meeting. As each takes
up his turtle, he shakes it, and if it does not sound well, then the
people laugh, and the owner, abashed, takes his property out of sight as
soon as possible.
PHRATRY PRAYERS
Then they call up six men, two from each of the three phratries—Turtle,
Turkey, and Wolf. Each goes outside and cries the prayer word “_Ho-o-o!_”
twelve times, holding up his left hand. When the first one returns, he
is given one yard of wampum, and divides it with the other five. This is
done each night until the end.
WOMEN’S NIGHT
[Illustration: FIG. 13.—Paint-dish of bark, used at the Annual Ceremony.
(Length, 2.2 in.)]
The twelfth night is reserved for the women to relate their visions; but
before they begin, the speaker orders the attendants to burn cedar-leaves
in the two fires, and the people are supposed to inhale the smoke and
purify themselves. Then two women are ordered to take, one a little bark
dish (_aⁿsiptaʹgŭn_) of red paint (fig. 13), the other a similar vessel
of grease, and the two start from the door on the north side of the
Temple and go to each person present. One dips her fingers in the paint
and touches the color to the person’s left cheek, while her companion
similarly annoints the person’s head with a little of the grease. This
done, two men attendants take the bark vessels and paint and grease in
the same way the twelve Mĭsiʹngʷ‛ faces carved upon the posts of the
building, also the drumsticks, the prayersticks, the deerskin drum, and
the turtles. A variant has it that both bark vessels contain paint, the
customs differing according to phratry.
Each woman who takes part on this night receives a share of the venison,
if there is any,—the biggest and fattest buck the hunters kill,—and the
attendants cook it for them at the fire outside.
CONCLUSION OF CEREMONY
Next morning the men resume the ceremony and continue until the sun is
high. Two men are then appointed to close the meeting, for which each
receives one yard of wampum. Their duty is to sing twelve times while
the people dance about the central post, the women in a circle next to
the post, the men in another circle outside that of the women. These
two singers stop dancing in front of where the chief is sitting, and
announce, “We will now pray twelve times.” They go back to their seats
and cry “_Ho-o-o!_” twelve times. Then the attendants serve the last
feast. Two women then go around with wampum in a wooden bowl, giving
everyone two or three beads.
PAYMENT OF ATTENDANTS
Then the attendants, three men and three women, stand in a row and
receive six yards of wampum on one string, which they hold in their
hands, the first in the row holding the end of the string, which
stretches along from one to the other. Then the chief says: “We thank you
attendants of this meeting for your kindness in sweeping our Temple for
these twelve nights, and the attention and care you have given. We have
heard our old parents say that, if you sweep this Meeting House twelve
different times, you will sweep up to where our great Father is, as he is
up in the twelfth Heaven above the earth.”
The attendants then circle about the fires and go out to the cooking
fireplace, where they divide the wampum, taking a yard apiece. At last,
when the shadow of a person is nearly under him, that is, about noon, the
speaker or chief arises, and says, “All of us kinfolk must now go out and
end our meeting, which has been going on for twelve days and nights.”
Thereupon they all file out—men, women, and children—and form a row
extending north and south, facing east, just east of the Big House, the
hunters taking with them the skins of the deer they killed.
FINALE
Here they all pray, or rather cry the prayer word “_Ho-o-o!_” six times
standing, holding up one hand, and six times kneeling, holding up the
other hand. The meeting is then ended. This is shown in the frontispiece.
The deerskins are given to poor old people, who need them to make
moccasins.
One informant stated that instead of crying “_Ho-o-o_” twelve times in
closing the meeting, it was customary to use this word only ten times,
and then cry “_Ha-a-a_” twice, completing the sacred number twelve; but
such discrepancies are probably due to the variation of ritual among the
three phratries before mentioned, the Turkey, the Turtle, and the Wolf.
This kind of prayer was noticed by Zeisberger[45] as early as 1779, for
he writes:
“At a third kind of feast ten or more tanned deerskins are
given to as many old men or women, who wrap themselves in them
and stand before the house with their faces turned toward
the east, praying God with a loud voice to reward their
benefactors. They turn toward the east because they believe
that God dwells beyond the rising of the sun. At the same time
much wampum is given away. This is thrown on the ground and the
young people scramble for it. Afterward it is ascertained who
secured the most. This feast is called _’ngammuin_, the meaning
of which they themselves are unable to give.”
The suspicion that Zeisberger mistook the conclusion of the Annual
Ceremony for a separate rite is strengthened by the fact that he gives
its name as “’_ngammuin_,” which seems to be a form of _Gaʹmuing_, the
modern Lenape name for their Annual Ceremony.
PAYMENT OF OFFICERS
All the officers of the meeting receive pay in wampum for their services,
except, of course, the leader—the man who has caused the meeting to be
held. The speaker receives a yard for every night of the meeting; the
drummers get a yard between them each night; there are also the payments
to the attendants, hunters, and others, already mentioned. The attendants
have other sources of profit, too, for they serve meals three times a day
in the Big House to the leader of the meeting and all his near relatives,
also to the speaker and the drummers.
When they have finished feasting, the leader calls the attendants to come
and get their dishes and pans. Each has a cup in which he brings coffee,
and the leader puts twenty-five wampum beads in each cup for every meal.
Moreover, when any one in the outside camps is hungry, he may go to an
_aʹckas_ and obtain a meal for twenty-five wampum beads. The attendants
have a table near the tent of one of the woman _aʹckas_, and here they
eat.
VALUATION OF WAMPUM
For ceremonial purposes the wampum (white) is held at one cent a bead,
one hundred to the dollar. Before the meeting the people give a yard or
so apiece, if they are able, to show their appreciation and to be prayed
for, or subscribe money for its purchase and for the other things needed
at the meeting. The wampum is afterward redeemed at the same rate and is
kept to use again.
INDIAN COMMENTS ON THE CEREMONY
Some explanations and remarks concerning the annual ceremony, as
furnished by the Indians themselves, may prove of interest here.
Julius Fouts (or Fox), the interpreter, remarks:
“When the Delawares complete this meeting, then they claim they have
worshiped everything on this earth. God gave the Powers Above authority
to go around and give all the tribes some way to worship. They say
these things were as if carried in a bundle, and when they come to the
Delawares, last of all, there was a lot left in the bundle and they got
it all—that is why the Delawares have so many different things to do in
their meetings.”
In explanation of the prayer word _Ho-o-o_, he said, “Did you ever hear
that noise out in the woods, in the fall of the year? ‘_Ho-o-o_,’ it
says. What is it? It is the noise of the wind blowing in the trees. When
the Delawares pray in the Big House, they raise their voices and cry
‘_Ho-o-o_’ to God, and the Mĭsiʹngʷ‛ hears it and understands, for he
is of the same nature as a tree, and there are twelve Mĭsiʹngʷ‛ carved
in the Big House who will carry the prayers to the twelfth Heaven. The
Indians call the Mĭsiʹngʷ‛ ‘Grandfather,’ because the trees were here
before the Indians. The Big House is going out of use now, because only
the old people have had gifts or visions of power to sing about. The
children of today are not _piʹlsŭⁿ_, or pure; they are reared like the
whites, and the Powers Above do not speak to them any more.”
Chief Charley Elkhair, or Elkire, who frequently served as speaker in the
Big House, said:
“The Delaware meeting helps everybody in the world, for they pray for
good crops and everything good, even wild fruits. About ten years ago
the people thought they would give up holding these meetings, and the
following year they had high winds and big rains, and everyone was
frightened. Then grasshoppers came in swarms, but they came in the fall
a little too late to get all the crops. So the people held a council and
talked about the Big House again. They finally decided to resume it,
before any more bad luck came; so they began the ceremonies again in the
fall.
“Then it seemed as if all the trouble stopped. Of late there has been
talk of again giving up the meeting, but if we do give it up we are
likely to have a tornado or maybe dry weather to ruin the crops.
“Once the Delawares owned a great deal of land, but that is nearly all
gone now, and the people seem to have no power to do anything. When God
looks down from Heaven, he sees but very few Delaware people, and the
reason for this is that they cannot follow the Meeting House ceremonies
now. When I was a little boy, I heard my people say that this thing
would happen just as it is happening now. You see, the young people
raised during the last thirty years do not believe in the old ways. We
are having good times yet, but we don’t know when we shall catch it. If
anything happens to us, and once really begins, we can not stop it—it
will be too late. Even if they take up the meeting again—they can not do
right, even when the ceremonies are going on.
“They can not accomplish anything in the Big House; they can not raise it
up, because there are a lot of young folks who do not even try to do what
the speaker tells them, for they do not believe in it.
“The people could get along fine, if they followed the rules of the
meeting—not only the Delawares, but the other people round about. For
when the Delaware prays, he prays for things that will benefit everybody;
he prays for the children as well as for himself; he prays for future
time. But if anything comes to destroy the world, it will be too late to
think of starting the Big House then.”
_Penn’s Account._—William Penn seems to have been the first to attempt a
description of Lenape rites, for he wrote in 1683, in the same letter we
have quoted before:
“Their Worship consists of two parts, sacrifice and Cantico.
Their sacrifice is their first fruits.... The other part
of their worship is by Cantico, performed by round dances,
sometimes words, sometimes songs, then shouts, two being in
the middle that begin, and by singing and drumming on a board
direct the chorus.... They are said to lay their altar on
twelve stones.”
In this brief account should be noted the presence of _two_ drummers; the
fact that they did not use a drum, but a “board” which was probably, if
Penn had taken the trouble to look more closely, a dried hide; the word
_cantico_ which resembles the modern Lenape words for “dance”—_kĭʹnĭkä_
among the Unami and _kĭʹntika_ among the Minsi; and finally the use of
the sacred number twelve.
_Zeisberger’s Account._—The earliest detailed account, however, of the
great Lenape ceremonies is given by Zeisberger,[46] who, writing about
1779, says:
“Worship and sacrifices have obtained among them from the
earliest times, being usages handed down from their ancestors.
Though in the detail of ceremony there has been change, as the
Indians are more divided now than at that time, worship and
sacrifice have continued as practiced in the early days, for
the Indians believe that they would draw all manner of disease
and misfortune upon themselves if they omitted to observe the
ancestral rites.
“In the matter of sacrifice, relationship, even though distant,
is of significance, legitimate or illegitimate relationship
being regarded without distinction. A sacrifice is offered by
a family, with its entire relationship, once in two years.
Others, even the inhabitants of other towns, are invited. Such
sacrifices are commonly held in autumn, rarely in winter. As
their connections are large, each Indian will have opportunity
to attend more than one family sacrifice a year. The head of
the family knows the time and he must provide for everything.
When the head of such a family is converted, he gets into
difficulty because his friends will not give him peace until he
has designated some one to take his place in the arrangement of
sacrificial feasts.
“Preparations for such a sacrificial feast extend through
several days. The requisite number of deer and bears is
calculated and the young people are sent into the woods to
procure them together with the leader whose care it is to see
that everything needful is provided. These hunters do not
return until they have secured the amount of booty counted
upon. On their return they fire a volley when near the town,
march in in solemn procession and deposit the flesh in the
house of sacrifice. Meantime the house has been cleared and
prepared. The women have prepared firewood and brought in long
dry reed grass, which has been strewn the entire length of the
house, on both sides, for the guests to sit upon. Such a feast
may continue for three or four nights, the separate sessions
beginning in the afternoon and lasting until the next morning.
Great kettles full of meat are boiled and bread is baked. These
are served to the guests by four servants especially appointed
for this service. The rule is that whatever is thus brought
as a sacrifice must be eaten altogether and nothing left. A
small quantity of melted fat only is poured into the fire.
The bones are burnt, so that the dogs may not get any of them.
After the meal the men and women dance, every rule of decency
being observed. It is not a dance for pleasure or exercise, as
is the ordinary dance engaged in by the Indians. One singer
only performs during the dance, walking up and down, rattling
a small tortoise shell filled with pebbles. He sings of the
dreams the Indians have had, naming all the animals, elements
and plants they hold to be spirits. None of the spirits of
things that are useful to the Indians may be omitted. By
worshipping all the spirits named they consider themselves
to be worshipping God, who has revealed his will to them in
dreams. When the first singer has finished he is followed by
another. Between dances the guests may stop to eat again. There
are four or five kinds of feasts, the ceremonies of which
differ much from one another.
“At these feasts there are never less than four servants, to
each of whom a fathom of wampum is given that they may care
for all necessary things. During the three or four days they
have enough to do by day and by night. They have leave, also,
to secure the best of provisions, such as sugar, bilberries,
molasses, eggs, butter and to sell these things at a profit to
guests and spectators.”
_Adams’ Account._—The best and, in fact, the only late account previous
to his own first article[47] the writer has seen of the Annual Ceremony
among the Lenape in Oklahoma, is that written by Adams,[48] which reads
as follows:
“The peculiar steps which they use in this dance have caused
the name ‘stomp’ or ‘stamp’ to be applied to it.
“In regard to the stomp dances of our people, we have several
kinds of dances; the most important one is the ‘worship dance’
which is carried on in a large building called a temple, which
is rectangular and ranges from 60 to 80 feet long, from 30 to
40 feet wide, and is about 10 feet high. It is built of wood
with 2 doors. The main entrance is at the eastern door, and it
has only a dirt floor.
“On each post is carved a human face. On the center post or
one in the center of the building four faces are carved; each
face is painted one-half red and one-half black. All the people
enter at the east and go out the same way. When they come in
they pass to the right of the fire, and each of the three
clans of the Delawares take seats next to the wall, the Turtle
clan on the south, the Turkey on the west, and the Wolf on the
north. In no case can any one pass between the center post and
east door, but must go around the center post, even to go to
the north side of the temple.
“This dance is held once each year, in the fall, and generally
in October, in the full moon, and lasts not less than 12 days
for each part. The tribe is divided into three clans, and each
clan has to go through the same part, so the dance is sometimes
36 days long, but sometimes the second and third clans do not
dance more than 6 days each.
“The Turtle clan usually lead or begin the dance. A tortoise
shell, dried and beautifully polished and containing several
small pebbles, is placed in the southeast corner near the door
in front of the first person. If he has anything to say he
takes the shell and rattles it, and an answer comes from the
south side of the temple from the singers, who strike on a
dried deer’s hide: then the party who has the tortoise shell
makes an address or talk to the people, and thanks the Great
Spirit for blessings, and then proceeds to dance, going to the
right and around the fire, followed by all who wish to take
part, and finally coming to the center post he stops there;
then all the dancers shake hands and return to their seats.
Then the shell is passed to the next person, who dances or
passes it on, as he chooses.
“On the third day of the dance all men, both married and
single, are required to keep out of the company of women for
3 days at least. They have a doorkeeper, a leader, and 2 or 3
parties who sweep the ground floor with turkey wings, and who
also serve as deacons. The ashes from the fire are always
taken out at the west door, and the dirt is always swept in the
fire. In front of the east door outside is a high pole on which
venison hangs. It is a feast dance and the deacons distribute
food among the people. The officers and waiters are paid in
wampum for their services.
“In no case is a dog allowed to enter the temple, and no one is
allowed to laugh inside it, or in any way be rude. Each person
is allowed to speak and tell his dream or dreams or to give
advice. It is believed by the Delawares that every one has a
guardian spirit which comes in the form of some bird, animal,
or other thing, at times in dreams, and tells them what to do
and what will happen. The guardian spirit is sent from the
Great Spirit.
“Traditions say that 10 years before white men came to this
country (America) a young man told his dream in the temple.
This was on the Atlantic coast. He saw coming across the great
waters a large canoe with pinions (wings) and containing
strange people, and that in 10 years they would in fact come.
He told this dream and predicted the arrival of the white men
each year until they came and were seen by his people. Many of
our people still keep up this dance, but the temple is not so
large as it used to be, and the attendance now is not more than
100 persons. Any Indian of any tribe can also take part in the
dance, but no white man can.
“When the dance is over all the people go out and stand in a
single line from east to west with their faces to the south.
Then they kneel down and pray, and then go home. We do not know
the origin of the worship dance, but the old Indians claim that
the Great Spirit came many years ago and instructed it and also
gave them the wampum.”
In spite of several inaccuracies, such as the statement that the people
face _south_ (instead of east) while praying after the ceremony, this
account is valuable on account of the additional data it furnishes on
several points of interest, especially the tradition concerning the
prophecy of the coming of the whites.
ANOTHER FORM OF THE ANNUAL CEREMONY
It appears that in former years there was, in addition to the rite just
described, another form of the Annual Ceremony practised by the Lenape,
before their removal to what is now Oklahoma from Kansas, where the last
man to “bring in” such a meeting was John Sarcoxie, now dead.
The ceremony, which was called _MuxhatoLʹzing_, seems, from the accounts
given the writer by his informants, to have taken place in a similar
building, and to have been similar in ritual to that just described,
except that it was held for only eight days instead of twelve, and that,
after the return of the hunters the skin of one of the deer they had
brought in was stuffed with grass and stood up by the central post of
the Big House, antlers and all, while about its neck hung a string of
wampum—perhaps as a propitiatory offering.
Moreover on the morning of the last day of the ceremony a large
sweathouse was built and stones heated; then about noon the men who had
been reciting their visions went into it, each taking one of the hot
stones with him. This privilege was not confined to the actual celebrants
however, for every one blessed by a guardian spirit even if they had not
sung their visions in the meeting, was entitled to carry in a stone and
join them.
The entrance was then closed and water poured upon the stones; and while
the steam rose and the sweathouse grew hotter and hotter the perspiring
occupants prayed to their guardian spirits and recited their visions.
These finished, with a shout of “There go our prayers to Those Above,”
the cover was suddenly snatched from the sweathouse so that the steam it
had contained rose in a puff. If the steam cloud went straight up into
the air it was thought that the prayers would be heard and answered, and
that all was well, but if it broke and spread out the people felt that
something had gone wrong, and that their prayers were of no avail.
In endeavoring to explain the presence of such variations of the Annual
Ceremony, it should be remembered that the Lenape now in Oklahoma whom
the writer has called for convenience “Unami,” are not really pure
descendants of this tribe, but probably have a large proportion of the
blood of the Unala‛ʹtko or Unalachtigo, whose dialect, according to
Heckewelder, was very similar, and a smaller proportion of Minsi and
even Nanticoke blood. Perhaps then the first form of Annual Ceremony
described may have originally been purely Unami, and the second
Unalachtigo, or Minsi, or vice versa; but later, when the remnants of
these tribes became amalgamated their mixed descendants inherited both
forms.
The second form seems to be a variant of the rite mentioned by
Zeisberger[49] who describes it as follows:
“A fifth kind of festival is held in honor of fire which
the Indians regard as being their grandfather, and call
_Machtuzin_, meaning ‘to perspire.’ A sweating-oven is built
in the midst of the house of sacrifice, consisting of twelve
poles each of a different species of wood. These twelve poles
represent twelve _Manittos_, some of these being creatures,
others plants. These they run into the ground, tie together
at the top, bending them toward each other; these are covered
entirely with blankets, joined closely together, each person
being very ready to lend his blanket, so that the whole
appears like a baker’s oven, high enough nearly to admit a man
standing upright. After the meal of sacrifice, fire is made at
the entrance of the oven and twelve large stones, about the
size of human heads, are heated and placed in the oven. Then
twelve Indians creep into it and remain there as long as they
can bear the heat. While they are inside twelve pipes full of
tobacco are thrown, one after another, upon the hot stones,
which occasions a smoke almost powerful enough to suffocate
those confined inside. Some one may also walk around the
stones singing and offering tobacco, for tobacco is offered to
fire. Usually, when the twelve men emerge from the oven, they
fall down in a swoon. During this feast a whole buckskin with
the head and antlers is raised upon a pole, head and antlers
resting on the pole, before which the Indians sing and pray.
They deny that they pay any adoration to the buck, declaring
that God alone is worshipped through this medium and is so
worshipped at his will.”
That this is really the same ceremony is shown not only by the details as
related but by the native name of the rite, the _Machtuzin_ of Zeisberger
corresponding with the _MuxhatoLʹzing_ of the present writer.
CHAPTER VI
MINSI BIG HOUSE CEREMONIES
The following account of the great ceremonies of the Minsi, which
correspond to the annual ceremony of the Unami, was obtained from Chief
James Wolf, now deceased, and his nephew, Chief Nellis Timothy.
MYTH OF ORIGIN
At first, it appears, the Indians did not know how to worship, so
Kĕ‛tanĭtoʹwĕt, the Great Manĭʹto or God, now called Pa‛ʹtŭmawas, came
down and told them what to do. After following his instructions, they
watched him when he ascended. He carried twelve sumach sticks in his
hand, and they could see them shine far up in the air. Every now and
then he dropped one, and when he dropped the twelfth he disappeared,
while they heard the heavens crack like thunder behind him as he went
in. After this the Lenape began to hold these meetings according to the
instructions he had given them.
NUMBER OF CEREMONIES
There were two of these ceremonies every year, both held in the Minsi Big
House (_W‛aʹtekan_), which was quite similar to that of the Unami. One of
these, performed about June when the wild strawberries were ripe, lasted
only a single night; the other, early in winter, covered twelve days and
nights. This latter corresponds to the Annual Ceremony of the Unami.
At the June ceremony fresh strawberries were made into a drink for the
people, which reminds one of the Iroquois Strawberry Dance, or Dance of
First Fruits, as it is sometimes called. Strawberries were dried at this
time to make a drink for the Winter Ceremony.
ARRANGEMENT OF THE BIG HOUSE
[Illustration: FIG. 14.—Drum of dried deerskin, Minsi type. E. T. Tefft
collection, American Museum of Natural History. (Length 16.7 in.)]
[Illustration: FIG. 15.—_a_, Drumstick, Minsi type; _b_, Prayerstick. E.
T. Tefft collection, American Museum of Natural History. (Length of _a_,
19 in.)]
Like the Unami Big House, that of the Minsi had a large central post
bearing carved faces; but, unlike that of the Unami, there was a second
short post, near the central one, upon which was hung, for each ceremony,
a raw fresh deerskin with the head and horns at the top. This feature,
however, corresponds with the second form of the Annual Ceremony
noted among the Lenape in Oklahoma and also recorded by Zeisberger in
Pennsylvania. Near this central post the singers sat, and beat with four
carved sticks upon a dry deerhide folded into a square, in lieu of a drum
(fig. 14), differing from the Unami form, which is a rolled dry deerskin
upon which are tied several slats of wood (fig. 8). The drumsticks are
flat, resembling those of the Unami, as each bears a face carved upon one
side, but differ from them in the form of the forked end, and in width.
Some, it is said, represented women, the breasts being indicated as
among the Unami, but this feature does not appear in the set collected by
the writer at Grand River reserve (fig. 15, _a_), which the Indians said
were representative of the Minsi type.
There were two poles laid along on each side from end to end of the
Big House to divide the dancing place in the center from the sitting
places on the side, which were covered with a special kind of leaves.
Along these poles twelve little sumach sticks (fig. 15, _b_), peeled and
painted, were laid for twelve people to hold in their hands, and tap on
the poles in time to the music. There were also provided a turtle rattle,
which was placed at the foot of the central pole; a fire-drill which
Nellis Timothy thinks was worked on the “pump-drill” principle, like that
of the Unami, and a lot of entirely new and unused bowls and spoons of
bark. Unlike the Unami custom, both doors of the Big House were used,
the people always going in at the east door and coming out at the west,
and here also (like the Unami) the ashes were carried out. “The Sun and
everything else goes toward the west,” say the Minsi, in explanation,
“even the dead when they die.”
PRELIMINARIES
The first act remembered by the informants preparatory to holding a
meeting was to send to each man in the tribe who had been blessed by a
“vision of power,” a little stick which represented an invitation to the
ceremony, the time of which the messenger gave out, before which date
the people leaving their scattered homes gathered and camped about the
Big House. Meanwhile hunters were sent out, appointed before, not during
the meeting as among the Unami, to bring in for the Winter Ceremony, if
possible, exactly twelve deer, which were cooked by four young men who
served as attendants in a small separate house, built for the purpose.
_Fire._—The fire was made with a fire-drill by a group of old men for use
in the Big House, but, as among the Unami, none of it could be taken
outside during the ceremony.
_Purification._—When the two fires had been built, but before the crowd
had gathered, the house was purified by the smoke of hemlock boughs
thrown on the flames, and by sweeping the floor with turkey-wing fans,
which cleared away both dirt and evil influences.
OPENING OF THE CEREMONY
_Chief’s Speech._—The next step was for the attendants to call in all the
people from their camps except the women in their menses who were not
allowed to enter. When all were seated, the speaker rose and addressed
those assembled in terms like the following:
“We are now gathered here, our house is purified and clean, and
Pa‛ʹtŭmawas is with us, ready to hear our worship. We must thank Him
for all the things that we enjoy, for He made them every one.” Then he
proceeded to tell the people not to drink liquor, nor to do anything
wrong in the Big House or in the camp about it, and advised them to be
always honest and kind and hospitable. He held virtue as something to
be followed, at the same time condemning evil, every vice that he could
think of being mentioned.
The chief then gave thanks for everything he could remember, from the
heavenly bodies to the animals, trees, and herbs of the earth, not
forgetting corn, beans, and squashes; and prayer for successful hunting
and good health for all the people. At the summer meeting he prayed for
good crops also. When he had finished, bear’s fat was thrown on the two
fires, and the smoke rose and filled the place with its odor.
CEREMONIAL DRINK
At this point it was customary to pass around a vessel of drink made of
crushed wild strawberries, from which each person present swallowed about
a spoonful, a drink made at the Summer Ceremony of fresh fruit, but in
winter necessarily of berries dried for the purpose.
RECITAL OF VISIONS
The first man to relate his vision (my informant did not remember whether
he was the one who “brought in” the meeting or not) took up the turtle
rattle from its place at the foot of the post and began to shake it
rapidly, while the singers struck the drum of dry hide. He then recited
the story of his vision of power, still keeping the rattle shaking,
following this with his dance song, at the same time dancing and rattling
the turtleshell.
Any one who wished to dance was supposed to give wampum to the
vision-teller for the privilege. Some who were well off would give him an
entire string, others merely a few beads. These the vision-teller would
take, when he had quite a handful, to two officers who sat in a corner of
the building, whose duty it was to count the wampum, after which it was
kept by the chief or leader. Sometimes if a poor person who had no wampum
wished to dance, they would give him some to pay the vision-teller.
A translated example of a Minsi vision chant and dance song has already
been given. When the dream-teller finished the first verse of his dance
song, he exclaimed, “_E-ye-he-ye-ĕ!_” whereupon the singers took up the
strain and sang the verse several times, for the benefit of those who
wished to dance, omitting, however, the final exclamation, but those
who had bought the privilege rose and danced where they stood, instead
of circling around, as among the Unami. Each “set” ended with a whoop,
“_kwi!_”.
When the vision-teller finished dancing, he went around the house and
shook hands with everyone; then the turtle rattle was passed to another
man who had been blessed with a vision, and so on, until all those
qualified, who wished to recite their visions, had done so.
OTHER FEATURES
_The Prayer Cry._—From time to time during the night the prayer cry
“_Ho-o-o!_” was repeated twelve times, and the twelfth cry, they say,
was heard by the Great Manĭʹto.
_Feast._—The people were accustomed to eat a light supper before going
into the meeting; then about midnight the four attendants carried around
baskets with boiled meat and corn bread, and in the morning, before
leaving the Big House, a regular feast of venison was served in new bark
bowls and eaten with new bark spoons especially made for the purpose.
_Final Address._—Before the meeting closed, the speaker again addressed
the people, telling them to do right, and prayed that the hunters about
to leave for the winter hunt might be successful, and that all might live
to meet again.
CONCLUSION OF RITES
In the morning after the ceremonies in the Big House were finished, the
people filed out through the west door, circled about the building, and
lined up, facing eastward, to the east of it. Then they raised their
hands and cried “_Ho-o-o!_” twelve times, and the twelfth time, it is
said, their cry reached Heaven.
In comparing this form of the Annual Ceremony with that of the Oklahoma
Lenape the most noticeable difference is that here no masked impersonator
of Mĭsinghâliʹkŭn was seen in or about the Big House, the Masks among the
Minsi, as with the Iroquois, constituting a society with its own separate
rites.
GRAND RIVER VERSION
Such was the version of the great ceremonies given the writer by the
Minsi of Munceytown, Ontario, which is similar to, but more detailed
in parts than, the account previously obtained from the Delawares
of Grand River reserve, published by the writer in the _American
Anthropologist_[50] which we will reproduce here. It will be noticed that
this description gives fuller information in some places where the first
is deficient; so that between this and the preceding account, a good
general idea of the Minsi form of the ceremony can be reconstructed. It
reads:
“In the old religious ceremonies of the Delawares at Grand River a
very peculiar drum was used, a dry skin folded in rectangular form and
beaten with four sticks, each bearing a tiny human head carved in relief
(fig. 15, _a_). I secured the set of four original sticks from Michael
Anthony (_Na‛nkŭmaʹoxa_), and employed him to make me a reproduction
of the drum (fig. 14) as the original had been destroyed. This he did,
and in addition made six painted sticks (fig. 15, _b_) also used in
the ceremony. The description of how these articles were used, pieced
together from several Indian accounts, may prove of interest here.
“It appears that the Delawares of Six Nations Reserve formerly held
what was known as a ‘General Thanksgiving’ ceremony called in Lenape
_Gitctlaʹkan_, twice a year, once in the spring and again in the fall.
At these times it was customary to meet in the Cayuga long-house,
borrowed for the occasion. At a certain point in the proceedings (I
shall not attempt a consecutive description from hearsay testimony) a
man stood up and recited, in a rythmical sing-song tone, his dream—the
vision of power seen by him in his youth. Na‛nkŭmaʹoxa remembered how
one old man was accustomed to tell about a duck, half black and half
white, which had appeared to him. Between the verses of the dream four
musicians kneeling at the drum (_pw‛awaheʹgŭn_) began a plaintive song,
beating time with the carved sticks (_pw‛awaheʹgŭnŭk_). As they sang, the
reciter swayed his body to and fro, while a group of dancers gathered on
the floor behind him danced with a sidewise step. Before the ceremony,
poles were laid lengthwise along both sides of the council house, and
against these, at intervals, three on a side, the painted sticks, called
_mkäähiʹgŭn_, were laid. If anyone in the crowd felt ‘especially happy’
he was privileged to strike with one of these sticks upon one of the
poles in time to the music. The carved heads on the drumsticks meant that
human beings were giving thanks; the lengthwise painting of the sticks,
half black and half red, implied that men and women were together in
thanksgiving, the black representing the warriors, the red the women. The
fork at the striking end of the sticks was to give a sharper sound. The
dyes for producing the colors were made by boiling bark, the black being
soft maple (_sexiʹkiminsi_), and the red, red alder bark (_witoʹ‛pi_).
“In another part of the same ceremony wampum was used in the form of
strings and bunches, both of which were represented in my collection from
the Delawares. At least thirteen of the strings were used, each one made
different by different combinations of the white and purple beads. These
thirteen, it is said, represented respectively (1) Earth; (2) Plants;
(3) Streams and Waters; (4) Corn, Beans, and Vegetables; (5) Wild Birds
and Beasts; (6) Winds; (7) Sun; (8) Moon; (9) Sky; (10) Stars; (11)
Thunder and Rain; (12) Spirits; and (13) Great Spirit. At the ceremony
these strings were laid upon a bench before a speaker, who picked them
up one by one as he made his address, each string reminding him of one
part of his speech. He began, my informant told me, by explaining that
the Great Spirit had made all things—the earth, plants, streams, and
waters—everything. Having thus enumerated all the things represented
by the wampum, he proceeded to speak to each of the remaining twelve
directly, holding the appropriate string in his hand. Thus he gave thanks
to the Earth for the benefits it gives to man, and prayed that its
blessings might continue; then thanked in the same way the Plants, the
Streams and Waters, the Winds; the Corn, Beans, and Vegetables—each one
in turn. As he finished each string he handed it to an attendant, who
laid it aside. When his long speech or prayer was finished, he announced,
‘We will now enjoy ourselves,’ and selected a man to distribute little
bunches of wampum, three beads in each, which served as invitations to
join in the dancing that followed. These bunches were delivered only
to a certain number of those known to be ‘sober and honest’ among the
crowd in the long-house. If any person wishing to dance failed to get
invitation wampum, it was his privilege to ask for one of the bunches,
which was given him if he was considered qualified. The first man
receiving wampum arose first; then the others, until the dancers were
all on the floor. It is said that this dance, which sometimes lasted all
night, did not circle around like most of the Iroquois dances, but each
performer remained in about the same spot.
“I was told that in this dance a small rattle without a handle and made
of turtleshell was used, probably like the box-turtle rattle still used
in the annual Planting Dance by the Seneca and Cayuga.”
WAUBUNO’S VERSION
The only extended account in print, known to the writer, of the great
ceremonies of the Minsi, beside his own, quoted above, is that furnished
by John Wampum, known as Chief Waubuno,[51] which reads as follows:
“They kept annual feasts:—... a feast of first fruits which
they do not permit themselves to taste until they have made
an offering of them to the manitu-oo-al, or gods; ... There
is one of the greatest sacrifice offerings of our forefathers
every six months for cleansing themselves from sin; they will
have twelve deers to be consumed in one day and night. At
the great feast of the offerings of the first fruits of the
earth, which feast the Delawares or Munceys hold annually,
they brought a little of all that they raised, such as Indian
corn, or hweisk-queem, potatoes, beans, pumpkins, squashes,
together with the deer. The Indian women were busily engaged
in cooking their provisions, previous to the commencement of
their exercises. They invited all strangers into a long pagan
temple prepared for such purposes, there is a door at each
end—one opening to the east, and one opening to the west. On
entering, they with all the Indians were seated on the ground
around two fires; in the center of the temple was a large
post, around which was suspended a number of deer skins, and
wampum is kept buried at the foot of this post. Near the post
sat two Indian singers, each with a large bundle of undressed
deer skins which served as drums. There were two young men
appointed to watch the doors and keep the fires burning, the
doors being closed. Each of the young men brought an armful of
hemlock boughs, which being thrown on the fires smothered them
and caused a great smoke. In order that the smoke might fill
every corner of the temple, each man waved his blanket over the
fire; this was done with the idea of purifying the temple and
driving out the evil spirits. After the smoke had subsided, the
master of ceremonies, an old chief, rose and began to rattle
a turtle shell he had in his hand. He delivered a speech to
the people telling them the object of the meeting was to thank
the great spirit for the growth and ripening of the corn. When
he finished his speech he began to dance, sing and rattle the
shell, the two singers joining in, beating on their skins. When
he took his seat he handed the shell to the next person, who
performed in the same way, thus it went from one to the other
all night. The purport of their speeches was to recount the
mercies of the Great Spirit to them during the past year, and
telling any remarkable dreams that they had had. In the course
of the night a number of them went out the west door, making a
wailing noise to the moon, and came in again the east door. In
the morning the meat and soup were divided amongst the people.
“These feasts often lasted twelve days and twelve nights, and
the Indians call it nee-shaw-neechk-togho-quanoo-maun, or
ween-da-much-teen. No drinking or improper conduct is allowed.
The utmost solemnity prevails.”
CHAPTER VII
THE MĬSIʹNGʷ‛ OR MASK
The Minsi version of the myth explaining the origin of their great
ceremonies has been already related, but not that of the Unami, for the
latter, which concerns itself with the origin of the Unami rites as now
practised, is so intimately interwoven with the story of the _Mĭsiʹngʷ‛_,
or mask (fig. 1), that it was thought best to place it in the chapter
devoted to that curious being, with whose position in the Lenape
pantheon, recorded history, and activities in the Annual Ceremony, we
have already become acquainted.
The myth is therefore presented herewith, as related by Chief Charley
Elkhair, the Lenape master of ceremonies, with only such additions as
later questioning brought forth.
ORIGIN OF THE MASK, AND OF THE BIG HOUSE
This is the way the Lenape found out that there is a living
Mĭsinghâliʹkŭn above us. Many years ago, when the Delawares lived in
the East, there were three boys who were not treated very well. Their
relatives did not take care of them, and it seemed as if it made no
difference whether the children died or not. These boys were out in the
woods thinking about their troubles, when they saw the Mĭsinghâliʹkŭn or
Living Solid Face. He came and spoke to them, and gave them strength so
that nothing could hurt them again. To one of these boys he said, “You
come along with me and I will show you the country I come from.” So he
took the boy up in the air to the place whence he came, which is rocky
mountains above us, reaching out from the north and extending toward the
south. It is not the place where people go when they die, for it is not
very far from this earth. A long time ago people could see this country
of Mĭsinghâliʹkŭn, but none can see it now.
While he was showing the boy his country, the Mĭsinghâliʹkŭn promised him
that he would become stout and strong, and would have the power to get
anything he wished. Then he brought the boy back.
Afterward, when the boy grew up and went hunting, he used to see the
Mĭsinghâliʹkŭn riding a buck around among the other deer, herding them
together. Thus it happened that there were three men in the tribe, who
knew that there is a Mĭsinghâliʹkŭn, because they had seen him with their
own eyes.
The Delawares had always kept a Big House (_xiʹngwikan_) to worship in,
but in those days it was built entirely of bark and had no faces of the
Mĭsiʹngʷ‛ carved upon the posts as it has now. Here they used to sing
about their dreams (visions of power); but some time after the three boys
talked with the Mĭsinghâliʹkŭn, the people gave up this worship, and for
ten years had none. Then there came a great earthquake, which lasted
twelve months and gave great trouble to the Lenape. It came because they
had abandoned the worship their fathers had taught them. In those times
the tribe lived in towns, not scattered about the country as they are
now, and in one of these towns a chief had a big bark house, and here the
people met to worship, hoping to stop the earthquake, while they were
building a new Big House. When it was finished, they began to worship
there, and sang and prayed all winter for relief. After spring came,
they were holding a meeting one night when they heard the Mĭsinghâliʹkŭn
making a noise, “_Hoⁿ-hoⁿ-hoⁿ_,” right east of the Big House. The chief,
who did not know what was making the noise, called for somebody to go and
see what it was. Then these three men offered to go, because, as they
said, they knew what was making the noise and could find out what he
wanted. So they went out and found Mĭsinghâliʹkŭn, and asked him what he
wanted. He answered:
“Go back and tell the others to stop holding meetings and attend to
their crops. Do not meet again until fall, when I will come and live
with you, and help in the Big House. You must take wood and carve a face
(Mĭsiʹngʷ‛) just like mine, painted half black and half red, as mine is,
and I will put my power in it, so that it will do what you ask. When the
man who takes my part puts the face on, I will be there, and this is how
I will live among you. This man must carry a turtle rattle and a stick,
just as I do now.” Then he told them how to fix the twelve carved faces
on the posts of the Big House, and the faces on the drumsticks, and
taught them how to hold the ceremony.
Then he said:
“You must also give me hominy every year in the spring. I take care of
the deer and other game, that is what I am for. Wherever you build the
Big House, I will keep the deer close by, so that you can get them when
you need them.
“Never give up the Big House. If you do, there will be another
earthquake, or something else just as bad.
“The earthquake stopped that time; that is why the Delawares have kept
the Mĭsiʹngʷ‛ and the Big House ever since. The Mask is left in charge of
some family who will take good care of it, and burn Indian tobacco for it
from time to time.”
It will be seen that, according to the above tradition, the Mĭsiʹngʷ‛
was, first of all, a personal helper, or guardian Spirit, that afterward
became more or less of a tribal deity, and that his cult became engrafted
on the Annual Ceremony among the Unami, the rites of which were already
ancient among them. That this engrafting really took place seems possible
from the fact that among the Minsi there were no masked performers at the
Big House ceremonies, and that, while the central post of the temple was
provided with carved faces, the masks had an entirely different function
among this people. The innovation, if it took place at all, must have
been before Brainerd’s[52] time, however, for, as related in our first
chapter, he found the Mĭsiʹngʷ‛ and Big House in use, as among the Unami
today, as early as May, 1745, while traveling among the Delawares living
at that time on Susquehanna river.
MĬSIʹNGʷ‛ DANCE
Besides the part taken by the Mĭsiʹngʷ‛ in the Annual Ceremony, he has
certain rites peculiar to himself which were held every spring. As the
Indians put it:
“When spring comes, the Delawares are glad, and they are thankful that
their helper, the Mĭsiʹngʷ‛ is still among them. For this reason they
give a feast and dance to make him happy too.”
_Notification._—So at the time of the full moon (about May), the keeper
of the mask gives another Indian a yard of wampum to ride around to
all the Delaware houses, wearing the mask and bearskin costume (pl.
II) to let the people know that the time for the Mĭsiʹngʷ‛ dance
(_Mĭsingkĭʹnĭkä_) is at hand. The Mĭsiʹngʷ‛ rides horseback, and another
man, also mounted, follows him to see that he comes to no harm. At each
house the impersonator dismounts and enters, making known his errand by
signs, but saying only “_Hoⁿ-hoⁿ-hoⁿ_,” and everywhere they give him
tobacco, which he puts in his sack. At this time the people frighten
disobedient children with the threat that, unless they behave, the
Mĭsiʹngʷ‛ will carry them away in a sack full of snakes.
_Preparations._—The dance-ground customarily used for this purpose has
meanwhile been put in order, a cleared place in the woods selected for
good shade and pleasant surroundings, and the logs which serve as seats
arranged to form the rectangle within which the dance takes place. A
great pot of hominy is also prepared; this constitutes the main dish of
the feast.
_The Ceremony._—When the people have gathered on the night appointed,
and the impersonator has returned from the bushes where he retired
to dress, wearing the mask and bearskin suit (pl. II), the speaker
addresses the people and relates the origin of the dance, then addressing
the Mĭsiʹngʷ‛, says, “Take care of us while we are dancing, so that
everything goes smoothly.” Then they have a dance in which the Mĭsiʹngʷ‛
joins, but he dances around the outside of the circle of people, not with
them. When they have finished, he dances twelve changes alone, which
occupies the time until morning. When daylight appears, the hominy is
brought out and everyone eats, including the Mĭsiʹngʷ‛, after which the
speaker says, “Now we have eaten with our Mĭsiʹngʷ‛. We will have this
dance again next spring.” The people then disperse to their homes, the
Mĭsiʹngʷ‛ is put away and the impersonator paid a yard of wampum for his
dancing. At this dance the singers keep time by striking with sticks on
a dry deerhide rolled over and stuffed with dried grass, very similar to
the “drum” used in the Big House.
_Adams’ Account._—The only account the writer has seen of this ceremony
is that of Adams’,[53] the chief inaccuracy of which is the statement
that the dance is “only for amusement.” It furnishes, however, several
additions to our knowledge of the “Solid Face.” It is as follows:
“_Messingq or Solid Face Dance or Devil Dance._—The principal
leader in this dance is the Messingq, an Indian, who is
dressed in a bearskin robe with a wooden face, one-half red
and one-half black. He has a large bearskin pouch and carries
a stick in one hand and a tortoise shell rattle in the other.
He is a very active person. The dance is only for amusement,
and men and women join in it. A large place is cleared in
the woods, and the ground is swept clean and a fire built in
the center. Across the fire and inside of the ring is a long
hickory pole supported at each end by wooden forks set in
the ground. On the east of this pole the singers stand; on
the west end is a venison or deer, which is roasted. About
daylight, when the dance is nearly over, all the dancers eat of
the venison. They have a dried deer hide stretched over some
hickory poles, and standing around it beat on the hide and
sing. The dancers proceed around the fire to the right, the
women on the inside next to the fire. After the dance is under
headway the Messingq comes from the darkness, jumps over the
dancers, and dances between the other dancers and the fire. He
makes some funny and queer gestures, kicks the fire, and then
departs. The Messingq is never allowed to talk, but frequently
he visits the people at their homes. He is a terror to little
children, and when he comes to a house or tent the man of the
house usually gives him a piece of tobacco, which the Messingq
smells and puts in his big pouch, after which he turns around
and kicks back toward the giver which means ‘thank you,’ and
departs. He never thinks of climbing a fence, but jumps over
it every time that one is in his way. The Devil dance is what
the white men call it, but the Delawares call it the Messingq,
or ‘solid face’ dance. The Messingq does not represent an evil
spirit, but is always considered a peacemaker. I suppose that
it is from his hideous appearance that white men call him the
devil.”
OTHER FUNCTIONS OF MĬSIʹNGʷ‛
The Mĭsiʹngʷ‛ the Indians claim, “takes care of the children,” as well
as of the deer, for as before related if any Delaware has a child who is
weak, sickly, or disobedient, he sends for the Mĭsiʹngʷ‛ and asks him to
“attend to” his child. On his arrival it does not take the impersonator
long to frighten the weakness, sickness, or laziness out of such
children, so that “afterward they are well and strong, and whenever they
are told to do a thing, they lose no time in obeying.” This is the only
trace of the doctoring function of the mask found among the Unami.
When the keeper of the Mĭsiʹngʷ‛ burns tobacco for him and asks for good
luck in hunting, “it turns out that way every time;” and the Lenape say
moreover that if anyone loses horses or cattle, either strayed away or
stolen, he can go to the keeper of the Mĭsiʹngʷ‛ with some tobacco as
a gift and get them back. He explains his errand to the keeper, who in
turn informs the Mĭsiʹngʷ‛ that they want him to look for the horses or
cattle. The loser then goes back home, and after a few days the missing
animals return, driven back by the Mĭsiʹngʷ‛, who if they had been tied
or hobbled by the thieves, frightened them until they broke away and came
home. When the Big House meeting is held in the fall, the Mĭsiʹngʷ‛, as
before related, is seen going around among the tents of the Delawares
assembled, and in and out of the Big House, always coming from the woods,
where the impersonator has a place to change his clothes. The Indians
say:
“He helps the people with their hunting, and also helps in the Big House
while the ceremonies are in progress. If he finds anyone there who has
not done right, he informs the three guards of the meeting, who take
that person and put him out. In all these ways the Mĭsiʹngʷ‛ helps the
Delawares.”
MASKS OF THE MINSI
The Minsi Miziʹnk (cognate with the Unami _Mĭsiʹngʷ‛_) was a mask made
of wood with copper or brass eyes and a crooked nose, according to my
informants at Munceytown; and judging by Peter Jones’ drawings (pl. III)
they were provided also with hair, tufts of feathers, and jingling copper
cones or deer-hoofs. The Mizink at Grand river was of Minsi type, judging
by the specimen obtained by the writer (fig. 4).
Such masks were made to represent Mizinkhâliʹkŭn, who was “something like
a person, but different from the Indians, and was powerful. They saw him
first among the rocks on a hill, and he spoke to them and told them what
to do to get his power. When a man put on a Mizink he received the power
of this person or spirit; he could even see behind him, and could cure
diseases.”
_The Mask Society._—The men who owned these masks formed a kind of
society which Nellis Timothy says originally had twelve members, but
which, before it disbanded, dwindled to about five. Sometimes only two
appeared in costume.
The society had a meeting-house of its own where its dances,
_Mizinkĭʹntĭka_, were held, for, unlike the Unami custom, no Mizink ever
appeared in the Big House. The members appeared wearing their masks and
clad in rough bearskin and deerskin costumes, while some, at least, were
provided with a turtleshell rattle which they would rub on a long pole,
crying “_Oⁿ-oⁿ-oⁿ!_” the while.
_Ceremonies._—While no consecutive account of their ceremonies is now
remembered, it was said that they sometimes put down their rattles,
heaped up the ashes from the two fires, then threw the ashes all over
the house to prevent the people assembled from having disease.
Should any sick person appear, he or she would be especially treated with
ashes. Sometimes the performers would pick up live coals and throw them
about, frightening the people. At other times the whole company of them
would go around to the different houses begging for tobacco, and would
dance in any house where someone was willing to sing for them.
Nothing was said among the Minsi about the Mizink bringing back stray
stock or driving deer, characteristic attributes of the Mask Being of the
Unami. The writer obtained but one mask among the Canadian Lenape, and
this was from the Grand River band (fig. 4); it has been described by
him[54] in the following words:
“But one mask (_mizink_) was obtained. It differed from
those of the Iroquois chiefly in being cruder, and also in
decoration, the lines being burnt into the wood instead of
being painted or carved. The original use of the mask had to
do, in part at least, with healing the sick, but Isaac Montour
(_Kaʹpyŭ‛hŭm_), from whom I bought it, failed to make himself
clear as to the details.”
It will be seen that the Minsi beliefs and practices noted above resemble
those of the False Face Company of the Iroquois tribes much more than
they do the customs connected with Mĭsiʹngʷ‛ among the Unami.
In fact, a vague tradition exists to the effect that the False Face
Company of the Cayuga once put a stop to an epidemic of cholera among the
Minsi. While this was not given to account for the origin of the society
among the Minsi, it at least shows that they were familiar with the
Iroquois practices in this line.
CHAPTER VIII
MINOR CEREMONIES
THE DOLL BEING
The Doll Being, called by the Unami _O‛ʹdas_ and by the Minsi _Naniʹtĭs_,
has been already mentioned as a minor Lenape deity, and it now remains
only to relate the ceremonies and beliefs connected with it, beginning
with the myth accounting for its origin.
MYTH OF ORIGIN
Long ago, the Lenape say, some children, playing with sticks, decided to
cut faces upon them, and were then very much surprised to notice that the
little dolls which they had thus made seemed to have life. Their parents
made them throw the dolls away when they discovered this, and most of
the children soon forgot what had happened. One little girl, however,
grieved for her doll; it bothered her all the time, and finally she began
to dream of it every night. Then she told her parents of her trouble,
and they realized that they should not have compelled her to throw the
doll away. One night the doll appeared to the child and spoke to her,
saying, “Find me and keep me always, and you and your family will ever
enjoy good health. You must give me new clothing and hold a dance for me
every spring,” and then told her exactly what to do. The girl reported
this to her parents, who immediately looked for the doll and found it,
then dressed it, made some hominy, killed a deer, and held a dance in its
honor as they were instructed, and this rite has been continued to the
present day.
PREPARATIONS FOR THE CEREMONY
When the family owning a doll of this kind is ready to conduct the Doll
Dance (_O‛ʹdas-kĭʹnĭkä_), they select two men to gather firewood and to
clean up the dance-ground used every year, and to engage a speaker and
two singers, paying each of them with a yard of wampum. The dance-ground
is square, similar to that used for the Mĭsiʹngʷ‛ dance, with logs ranged
about for seats, in some pleasant place out in the woods. A hunter is
then selected, who calls on several to help him get a deer, which, when
brought in, is hung on poles prepared for it at the dance-ground, where
it remains over night. The next morning they cook the deer and a kettle
of hominy, and are then ready for the ceremony.
THE DOLL DANCE
About the middle of the afternoon the speaker rises and addresses the
people, telling them the story of the doll’s origin and explaining its
function; then he addresses the doll, which has now been fastened on a
pole, calling it “grandmother” and notifying it that they are about to
hold a dance in its honor, at the same time asking it to insure good
health to the family of its owner. When he finishes, the dance leader,
who should be a relative of the family owning it, takes the doll on its
pole, and then, as the drummers sitting in the center of the dance-ground
begin to strike the dry hide stuffed with grass that serves as a drum,
and to sing the song of the Doll dance, he commences to dance, circling
round the drummers, still carrying the doll, the people falling in behind
him, forming two circles, the men inside, next to the drummers, and the
women outside. When the leader finishes his “set,” he passes the doll
pole to the man behind him, who repeats the process, and so on until the
men dancers have carried it six times, when it is transferred to the
women, who, in their turn, dance six sets, making twelve in all, the
Lenape sacred number.
The twelve sets, or “changes,” lengthen the ceremony far into the night,
and this necessitates a large fire to give light. This is built near the
center of the dance-ground. Sometimes, if the crowd in attendance is
large, two such fires are built. Between the changes the doll pole is
stuck into the ground near the fire. When the twelfth set is finished,
the speaker announces, “The Doll Dance is over,” and the feast of hominy
and venison is served to everyone. Then the speaker says: “If you want to
dance the rest of the night, you may do so, for many of you have come a
long way from home and should have a chance for more enjoyment. We will
hold another Doll Dance next year.” Then they put the doll away and amuse
themselves with various social dances until morning.
MINSI DOLL CEREMONY
Among the Minsi the beliefs concerning the Doll Being were similar, but
differed in detail. As to origin, Wolf told the writer that one time a
man lay ill, likely to die, and his family called in a medicine-man, or
“witch-doctor.” The shaman finally announced that the family must make
one of these dolls and care for it, and that the sick man would then get
well. This was done, and the doctor’s prediction being realized, the
Minsi have ever since made and used these dolls, called in their dialect
_naniʹtĭs_, which were transmitted from parents to children. Wolf’s
own mother had one, carved out of wood in the form of a person, with a
woman’s dress and moccasins (for as a rule they represent women); and
she always cared for it religiously, in the belief that if well treated
it would protect the family and give them good health, but if neglected,
someone would surely die. Every year, in the fall, when the deer are in
their best condition, Wolf’s mother held a dance for it, called “Feeding
the Naniʹtĭs;” but she did more than feed it: she put new clothes on it,
three sets, and new moccasins every year. She believed that the image
sometimes went about of its own accord, although she kept it carefully in
a box, for the old dresses always seemed worn at the bottom and soiled,
and she found burrs clinging to them when she went to put new clothes on
“Naniʹtĭs.”
She hired a man especially to hunt a yearling doe for the ceremony,
which took place in her own dwelling. The details are lost, but it is
remembered that a man beat a little drum and sang while she, as owner,
danced around, carrying the doll in her hands, followed by such of the
other women present as wished to participate. Said Wolf, “The Naniʹtĭs
helped the Indians, that’s why they fed it.”
[Illustration: PL. VIII
“NAHNEETIS THE GUARDIAN OF HEALTH”
(E. T. Tefft Collection, American Museum of Natural History)]
_An Old Minsi “Doll.”_—The writer was able to obtain but one old specimen
of this type (pl. VIII), which was procured at the Grand River reserve,
Ontario, for the E. T. Tefft collection, now in the American Museum of
Natural History, and was described in the writer’s article,[55] before
cited, as follows:
“Perhaps the most interesting Delaware specimen of all is
the little wooden image, about eight inches high, bought of
Dr. Jones, which his father, Rev. Peter Jones, described and
illustrated in his book under the name ‘Nahneetis, the Guardian
of Health.’ He says:
“‘I have in my possession two family gods. One is called
_Pabookowaih_—the god that crushes or breaks down diseases.
The other is a goddess named _Nahneetis_, the guardian of
health. This goddess was delivered up to me by Eunice Hank, a
Muncey Indian woman, who with her friends used to worship it
in their sacred dances, making a feast to it every year, when
a fat doe was sacrificed as an offering, and many presents
were given by the friends assembled. She told me she was now
restored to worship the Christian’s God, and therefore had no
further use for it.’
“There can be no doubt in this case concerning the identity of
this specimen with the one illustrated in the book quoted. It
will be noticed however by those who are familiar with Peter
Jones’ illustration that Nahneetis, like many humans, has
lost her hair in her old age. An interesting feature of the
specimen is the primitive skirt, which is made apparently by
belting a blanket-like bit of cloth, bound at the edges, around
Nahneetis’ waist. A vestige of this method of making a skirt
survives, I think, in the form of the beaded strip running up
one of the vertical seams of the more modern Indian skirt,
among both the Delawares and the Iroquois.”
The writer afterward found such skirts still in use among the Lenape in
Oklahoma (pl. I, _b_).
_An Early Account of Naniʹtĭs._—Another early account of the Naniʹtĭs
among the Minsi may be found in the _Wisconsin Historical Collections_,
among the documents relating to the Stockbridge Mission, written by the
Rev. Cutting Marsh.[56] It reads as follows:
“Nov. 6th [1839]. A Munsee Indian who came to this place over
a year previous from Canada called upon me with an interpreter
in order to give up a family idol. This man whose name is
Big-Deer is upwards of 50 years of age, and since removing to
this place, thro’ the influence of this family above mentioned
has attended meetings constantly and gives some evidence of a
change of heart.
“The history of this idol was very interesting. He said that
his mother gave it to him before her death which occurred about
29 years ago, and that he had worshipped it until within a few
years when he heard about Jesus Christ, but had never given it
up before. ‘Now he says I wish to give it up and follow the
Lord Jesus Christ, and I give this idol to you and you may
do what you are a mind to with it.’ It was indeed not only a
‘shameful thing,’ but a horribly looking object about the size
of a common doll; fantastically arrayed in Indian costume and
nearly covered with silver broaches and trinkets; and whilst
retained as an object of worship was kept wrapped up in some
20 envelopments of broad-cloth trimmed with scarlet ribbon.
They called it their ‘Mother,’ it is more than a hundred years
old, and its late possessor was the fourth generation which had
worshipped it. The season for worshipping it was in the fall
after a hunt when they made a feast to it and danced around
it. ‘If they did not do this every fall they said, that is,
make the feast &c. it would be angry and destroy them by some
dreadful sickness.’ It was therefore an object of fear or dread
with them, but not one of love and compassion.”
BEAR CEREMONY
We will now consider two ceremonies of the Unami which are based on
animal cults which show a considerable similarity not only in their
traditional origin, but also in their ritual.
The more important seems to be the one called _Papasokwit‛ʹlŭn_, which,
although no part of a bear appears in its rites as practised within
recent years, was evidently a Bear ceremony in the days when these
animals were abundant. It also exhibits some features suggesting the
Annual Ceremony before described, but there is no Mĭsiʹngʷ‛ and there are
many other important differences.
TRADITIONAL ORIGIN
The Indians say that a cub bear, kept as a pet by a Lenape family long
ago, became a great playmate of one of the little sons of the family,
but finally grew so large that the child’s parents decided to get rid of
it; so they tied a little bag of tobacco around its neck and told it to
go away. This it did, but the little boy, its playmate, soon fell ill,
and his parents searched in vain for a cure. After a long while one of
the Indian doctors told his parents that if they would hold a ceremony
of this kind and repeat it every two years, the child would recover and
would keep his health. This was done; the boy recovered, and his family,
who belong to the Wolf phratry, have continued to practise the rites ever
since, believing that it preserves their health.
PREPARATIONS.
This ceremony required a special house, which was made new for it every
two years, so the first thing the family did, when the time approached,
was to find a number of men, each of whom was paid a yard of wampum to
cut forks and poles and erect the building. This was made by setting up a
frame of poles in the form of a Big House, but smaller, only seven paces
wide and fifteen paces long, then covering the top with brush and piling
brush at the sides. Then to the east of the house a pole was erected,
upon which to hang the meat for the feast, which, in old times, had to
be a bear; but when bears became scarce a black hog was substituted, and
of late a hog of any color has been used. The building finished, the hog
was killed, and, having been hung on the pole over night, was taken into
the house the next day, quartered, singed on a fire that had been built
inside, then carried out again, cut up, and cooked, all except the loose
fat, which was kept for a special purpose, as will appear later. When
done, the meat was kept in large baskets, with the exception of the head,
which, having been cooked whole, was placed in a large bowl with two of
the animal’s ribs in its mouth.
THE RITES
When night came, the leader entered the brush house, taking with him a
turtle rattle similar to that used in the Annual Ceremony, followed by
the men who were to participate (no women being allowed), and then made
a speech, telling of the men who had “brought in” this meeting, and
explaining its origin, but making no prayers to the Great Spirit or to
any of the _manĭʹtowŭk_, his helpers. He then threw half of the hog-fat
upon the fire, and placed a string of wampum around his own neck. At this
juncture the cook brought him the hog’s head in its bowl, and then, first
announcing, “I am now going to carry the head around,” the leader began
to chant and to walk about the house, making false motions to everyone
as if to give him the head, then withdrawing it and proceeding to the
next. The burden of the chant, the Indians say, was “what his dream
helper told him,” very much as in the Big House, but here the people kept
time to his chant orally, saying “_Hu-hu-hu!_” until he stopped. The
informant does not know who, if any one, shook the rattle. Probably it
was employed by the singers after the burning of the head. After making
the circuit twice, the leader hung his string of wampum upon some old
man of the Turkey phratry who had a “vision of power,” who took the head
and made his rounds in the same way. He finally cut off the ears of the
head, pulled the ribs from its mouth, and threw it into the fire, bowl
and all. The meat was then distributed to everyone, whereupon the floor
was open to any man who wished to sing an account of his vision. A bucket
of prepared drink was placed at each end of the house for the refreshment
of such singers, but the head, of course, was gone. When the songs were
finished, the remainder of the fat, and finally the broth in which the
meat had been cooked, were thrown upon the fire, and in conclusion, six
women were called in and instructed to go out and give six times the
prayer cry, “_Ho-o-o!_”
Perhaps the following ceremony noted by Zeisberger[57] may have been of
this kind:
“A fourth kind of feast is held in honor of a certain voracious
spirit, who, according to their opinions, is never satisfied.
The guests are, therefore, obliged to eat all the bear’s flesh
and drink the melted fat. Though indigestion and vomiting may
result they must continue and not leave anything.”
OTTER CEREMONY
Similar to the Bear ceremony in many ways, both in traditional origin
and in rites, was the observance called _A‛ʹtcigamuʹLtiⁿ_, said to mean
“compulsory hog-eating,” held to propitiate the Otter spirit, a cult
whose paraphernalia the writer was fortunate enough to collect for the
Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation.
MYTH OF ORIGIN
Many years ago, so runs the story, a little girl about ten years of age
was given a young otter for a pet, and this she kept and cared for until
it was well grown. About this time she began to feel that she should
keep him no longer, for she had come to realize that he was _piʹlsŭⁿ_,
meaning “pure” or “sacred,” and, like all wild things, belonged to the
Powers Above. The old people told her what she must do, so she took her
otter down to the creek, and, first tying a little bag of tobacco on his
neck, said to him: “Now I shall set you free. I have raised you and cared
for you until now you are full grown. Go, then, and follow the ways of
your kind.”
The otter disappeared into the waters, and the little girl returned to
her home, feeling that she had done well. But before a year had passed, a
sickness came upon her, which the Indian doctors told her was caused by
her pet otter, which wanted something to eat. The only way for the child
to get well, they said, was for her to have a hog killed and cooked, and
then to invite a number of men to eat it all, in the name of the otter.
This was done, and when the men finished eating the hog and the soup,
they said that the girl would recover, and so she did. For this ceremony
they took an otter-skin (fig. 16, _a_) to represent the girl’s pet, which
was used every two years, and when the owner died was passed to the
oldest survivor of the family which owned it, and kept in the belief that
it would benefit the health of all of them. It was the only one of its
kind in the tribe, and is called “_Kunuⁿʹxäs_.”
[Illustration: FIG. 16.—_a_, Regalia of otter-skin used in the Otter
Rite; _b_, Regalia as worn. (Length of _a_, 56.5 in.)]
THE CEREMONY
The exact details and order of the ceremony were not remembered by our
informant, but it was certain that the family in question “fed the otter”
every two years in the spring, that being the time of year when the
little girl had been taken ill. Everyone was invited, men and women, and
a man was selected to cook the hog, and another to supply wood and to cut
the poles for swinging the kettle, both of whom were paid with a yard of
wampum. The fire was kindled with a special flint-and-steel always kept
with the outfit (fig. 17).
[Illustration: FIG. 17.—Flint and steel used in the Otter Rite. (Length
of _a_, 3 in.)]
It will be observed that the otter-skin has a slit down the middle of the
neck, through which the owner thrust his head in such manner that the
otter’s nose lay under the wearer’s chin, while its body and tail hung
down his back. Wearing the skin in this manner (fig. 16, _b_), himself
impersonating the original otter, the owner would open the ceremony by
walking about the fire, chanting and shaking the turtle rattle (fig.
18), which resembles those used in the Big House, while the audience kept
time to his song by uttering “_Hu-hu-hu-hu!_” The nature of the song the
writer was unable to learn, but, like the chants of the Bear Ceremony,
it probably was concerned with the singer’s “dream helper.” When he had
finished, another man put on the skin and took up the chant, and so on
until noon the next day, when the ceremony was brought to a close and
all joined in the feast. At this time the skin is told, “We will feed
you again in two years.”
[Illustration: FIG. 18.—Rattle of land-tortoise shell used in the Otter
Rite. (Length, 3.9 in.)]
BUFFALO DANCE
Such was the list of native Lenape ceremonies furnished by our
informants; but Adams[58] mentions several more, for which the writer was
unable to procure much in the way of data. One of these was the Buffalo
dance, which the writer feels should be included with the Otter and Bear
ceremonies, although Adams calls it a “pleasure dance.” He admits, it
will be observed, that it usually took place before hunters started on
the chase. His account follows:
“The Buffalo dance is a pleasure dance and always begins in the
morning and lasts all day. The ground is made clean in a circle
large enough to dance on, and in the center a fire is built and
a fork driven into the ground on each side, and a pole placed
across the fire east and west. On each side of the fire is a
large brass kettle hanging across the pole with hominy in it,
and when the dance is nearly over, the dancers eat the hominy,
dipping their hands in the kettle. The singers are outside of
the ring and beat on a dried deer hide stretched over poles.
They do not use the same step in the dance, but gallop like
buffaloes and bellow like them, also have horns on their heads
and occasionally hook at each other. The dance is usually given
before starting on a chase.”
IMPORTED CEREMONIES
SKELETON DANCE
The preceding ceremonies have all been, ostensibly at least, of native
Lenape origin, but we now come to several whose outside origin is
admitted by the Indians themselves. The most ancient of these is the
“Human Skeleton Dance,” mentioned by Adams.[59] He calls it a rite
belonging to the Wolf clan or phratry of the Delawares, but the writer’s
informants say that it is not true Lenape at all, but a Nanticoke
(On‛ʹtko) ceremony introduced among the Lenape by the survivors of that
tribe who had joined forces with them. Adams’ account, which is better
than any the writer was able to obtain, is as follows:
“_Human Skeleton Dance._—Given only by the Wolf clan of the Delawares.
A certain dance given as a memorial to the dead was supposed to clear
a way for the spirit of the deceased to the spirit land. When a member
of the Wolf clan died, the flesh was stripped from the bones and buried,
and the bones were dried at some private place. At the end of 12 days the
skeleton would be wrapped in white buckskin and taken to a place prepared
for the dance and there held up by some one. As the singers would sing
the men who held the skeleton would shake it and the bones would rattle
as the dancers would proceed around it. After the dance the skeleton was
buried. Traditions say that in ancient times some of the head men in the
Wolf clan had a dream that they must treat their dead in that way, and
the custom has been handed down to them for many centuries. The other
clans say the custom does not belong to them. The custom has been long
dropped. There has not been a skeleton dance since 1860.”
PEYOTE RITE
[Illustration: FIG. 19.—Peyote “Button.” (Diameter, 1.9 in.)]
One of the latest of introduced ceremonies, which was still much in
favor with the Oklahoma Lenape when last visited by the writer, is the
Peyote Rite, a cult now widespread among the tribes of the Central West,
introduced among this people by an Indian named John Wilson, who obtained
it, they say, from the Caddo on Washita river about the year 1890 or
1892. During this ceremony remarkable visions are produced by eating the
dried top of a small cactus, the _peyote_ (fig. 19), for which the cult
is named, and these visions, coupled with the moral teachings embodied
in the ritual, make it very attractive to the Indian, who, on joining
the cult, is often persuaded to discard entirely the ancient beliefs of
his own people. The writer is acquainted with two principal forms of
the rite, one involving native deities only, the other, almost entirely
Christian in teaching and symbolism. It is this latter form which has
been adopted by the Lenape, to whom the tipi, in which the ceremony is
held, is as foreign an institution as the little cactus itself, brought
in from southern Texas and Mexico.
[Illustration: PL. IX
THE PEYOTE RITE AMONG THE LENAPE
Native Painting by Earnest Spybuck, a Shawnee]
_Paraphernalia._—For this ceremony the tipi is erected with the door to
the east, and a complex series of symbols arranged inside, as shown in
the smaller drawing, pl. IX. On the western side of the lodge is built
a crescent-shaped mound, or “moon,” of earth, packed hard, its horns
turned toward the east, which they say represents the tomb where Christ
was buried, and on the center of this is placed a large peyote, dampened
and flattened (fig. 19), resting either on a bed of feathers or on the
bare earth; and to the west of this again, sometimes a crucifix, as shown
in the illustration. Between the points of the crescent is built the
fire in a certain prescribed manner with overlapping sticks forming an
angle pointing westward. Near the door lies another mound—a round one
representing the sun. From the peyote resting on the embankment to the
sun mound, directly through the middle of the fire, a line is drawn in
the earth of the floor. This represents the “peyote road” along which the
Peyote Spirit takes the devotee on a journey toward the sun, and also
symbolizes the road to Heaven that Jesus made for the souls of men when
He returned thither. West of the crescent-shaped mound stands, when not
in use, the highly decorated arrow or staff, frequently made in the form
of a long cross, with a groove extending from end to end, representing
the spirit road. A small water-drum made of a piece of deerskin
stretched over a crock, as seen in pl. IX, a nicely carved drumstick, an
eagle-feather fan for brushing all evil influence away from each devotee
as he enters or leaves the ceremony, and a supply of dried peyote,
dampened and crushed in a mortar, are all necessary for the ceremony.
Each devotee, moreover, must be supplied with a decorated gourd rattle of
his own.
_Officers._—The only officers needed for this rite are a “Road-man”
or speaker, who sits in the west, just opposite the door, and a fire
guard stationed at the door, whose duty it is to keep the fire burning,
and to brush with the feather fan the devotees as they enter. This is
illustrated in the colored plate (pl. IX), which represents also the
“Road-man” guiding a newcomer to a seat.
_Conduct of the Ceremony._—When all are gathered in the tipi, the leader
first passes around a fragment herb which the people chew and rub over
hands and body. Then the macerated peyote is passed, and each takes
enough to make eight pellets about half an inch in diameter, of which
some eat all, some only part, reserving some pellets to be eaten later.
About this time the leader addresses the peyote and the fire, prays,
and often delivers a regular sermon or moral lecture. He then takes the
staff in his left hand, and sitting, or kneeling on one knee, he sings a
certain number of peyote songs, which are a class to themselves, while
the man to the left beats the drum, then passes the staff to the person
on his right, himself taking the drum while this person sings, and so
the staff travels round and round the lodge, each taking his turn at
singing, while the devotees, men and women alike, keep their eyes fixed
upon the fire or upon the peyote lying on the mound. As the night wears
on the “medicine” begins to take effect, and the devotees see many
strange visions, pictures, and brilliant-colored patterns. Often one may
see the Peyote Spirit, in the form of an old man, who takes his spirit
on a wonderful journey along the “peyote road,” eastward toward the sun.
At daybreak they all file out of the tipi bearing their paraphernalia,
as seen in pl. IX, _b_, and when the sun appears they raise their hands
in salutation, and then those who are left standing (for some fall as
if dead at the sight of the sun) “give thanks to the Great Father in
Heaven.” Those who fall at sunrise, they say, are the ones who visited
the sun in their visions. All sleep, or at least rest, until about noon,
when a feast is served, after which everyone tells what he or she saw
while “on the peyote road.”
The Lenape variant of this ceremony, as related above, differs somewhat
from that of other tribes practising the Christian form of the Peyote
rite, but in all essentials it is almost identical.
GHOST DANCE
The Ghost dance was also introduced among the Lenape by an Indian named
Wilson, about the same time, our informants thought, as the Peyote rite,
and, like it, probably from the Washita River region.
Wilson would call a dance every now and then during his lifetime, at
which the people appeared in their everyday dress, without such special
costumes as were seen, for instance, at such functions among the Kiowa
and the Arapaho. At these meetings the participants would dance round
and round for a long time, with a sidewise step, to the sound of song
and water-drum, sometimes for a considerable period without stopping.
Occasionally one would fall and appear to faint, and when revived would
claim to have visited Heaven in spirit while his body lay as if dead.
When Wilson died, the cult, so far as the Delawares were concerned,
perished with him.
Such were the ceremonies surviving until recent times among the Lenape,
from which have been omitted only the observances connected with the
dead, shamanism, witchcraft, and war, all of which will be discussed in
later papers.
CHAPTER IX
SUMMARY
RELIGION
A study of the material presented shows that the Lenape believed in a
Great Spirit, or Creator, whose goodness is acknowledged, who is thanked
for past blessings and petitioned for their continuance, but who is not
their only god. He is, however, the great chief of all, and dwells in the
twelfth, or highest heaven. He created everything, either with his own
hands or through agents sent by him, and all the powers of nature were
assigned to their duties by his word. That these concepts are not new
among the Lenape may be seen from the fact that most of the early writers
who treat of this people have noticed such beliefs among them, which can
be traced back as far as 1679.
This Great Spirit gave the four quarters of the earth and the winds that
come from them to four powerful beings, or _manĭʹtowŭk_, namely, Our
Grandfather where daylight begins, Our Grandmother where it is warm, Our
Grandfather where the sun goes down, and Our Grandfather where it is
winter. To the Sun and the Moon, regarded as persons and addressed as
Elder Brothers by the Indians, he gave the duty of providing light, and
to our Elder Brothers the Thunders, man-like beings with wings, the task
of watering the crops, and of protecting the people against the Great
Horned Serpents and other water monsters. To the Living Solid Face, or
Mask Being, was given charge of all the wild animals; to the Corn Spirit,
control over all vegetation, while Our Mother, the Earth, received the
task of carrying and feeding the people.
Besides these powerful personages were many lesser ones, such as the
Small People, the Doll Being, the Snow Boy, and the Great Bear. Certain
localities, moreover, were the abode of supernatural beings, while
animals and plants were thought to have spirits of their own. Besides
these there were, of course, the countless spirits of the human dead who
were still supposed to retain some influence in earthly affairs.
This, then, was the supernatural world which, to the mind of the Lenape,
controlled all things—on which they must depend for health, for success
in all their undertakings, even the daily task of deer-hunting or
corn-raising. Benevolent beings must be pleased, and bad spirits combated
and overcome, or at least placated.
There was, however, until very lately, no conception of a “devil” in the
modern sense of the word.
The main channel of communication between the supernatural world and
man was the dream or vision, obtained, as before described, by fasting
and consequent purification in youth. Through the vision the young man
obtained his guardian spirit or supernatural helper, who gave him some
power or blessing that was his main dependence through life, his aid
in time of trouble, the secret of his success. No wonder, then, that
visions and helpers form the basis of Lenape belief and worship. Among
the guardian spirits figured not only such great powers as the Sun and
the Thunder Beings, the personified powers of nature, but the spirits
representing various species of animals and birds, such as the Wolf or
the Owl, of plants, as “Mother Corn,” as well as the Mask Being, and even
the spirits of the dead which some Lenape claimed as helpers.
Those favored by such visions were considered the leading people of
their community. They usually composed rythmic chants referring to their
visions, and appropriate dance songs to go with them, to recite at the
Annual Ceremony.
Belief in a soul or spirit surviving the death of the body formed an
integral part of Lenape philosophy. The soul is supposed to linger for
eleven days after death, and is addressed and offered food by the
surviving relatives, sometimes in a formal “Feast of the Dead;” but on
the twelfth day, they say, it leaves the earth and finally makes its way
to the twelfth or highest heaven, the home of the Great Spirit, where
it leads a happy life in a land where work and worry are unknown. Some
persons are thought to have the power of communicating with the departed.
CEREMONIES
Most of the beliefs summarized above were found among the descendants
of both Unami and Minsi; but when we consider their great religious
ceremonies, we begin to note differences. While it is true that (1) in
both cases these rites are based on the recital of the visions seen by
the participants, combined with thanksgiving to the Great Spirit and
his helpers for past blessings and prayers for their renewal, that (2)
the New Fire ceremony figures in both, and that (3) they take place in
a building of special form and decoration erected for the purpose, we
note that among the Unami the ceremony is conducted only once a year,
and is combined to a certain extent with the cult of the Mĭsiʹngʷ‛, or
Mask Being, a magnified guardian spirit or personal helper; while the
Minsi have in addition to that held in the fall, a spring ceremony also,
cognate with the Iroquois “Thanks for the First Fruits,” or Strawberry
Dance, and masked impersonators do not appear in the Minsi ceremonial
house.
In the ceremonies of both Unami and Minsi, however, we note other
similarities besides those first mentioned, such as the manner of prayer,
the use of a drum made of a dried deerhide beaten with flat forked
drumsticks each bearing a carved face, the fumigation and sweeping of the
Big House, the restriction against women in their menses, and the use of
twelve as a sacred number.
It therefore seems likely that the rites, in spite of the differences
noted, probably have a common origin, and hence date back to a period
before the separation of the Unami and the Minsi. Indeed we have an
historical account which seems to refer to this kind of ceremony as early
as 1683, while under date of 1779 there is a description of the rites
practically as enacted as late as 1920.
MINOR CEREMONIES
Analyzing the minor ceremonies of Lenape origin we find the cults of two
types: one founded on a beneficent spirit, a personal helper such as the
Mask Being, whose relations are friendly with mankind; the other based on
a discarded toy or pet, which makes trouble for its former owner unless
propitiated by the ceremony in question.
A good example, in fact the only one we recorded, of the first type is
the ceremony in honor of the Mĭsinghâliʹkŭn, or Mask Being, among the
Unami, which, however, does not find its counterpart among the Minsi, who
had a Society of Masks whose rites and functions were similar to those
of the Iroquois “False Face Company.”
The second class embraces the cults of the Doll, Bear, and Otter, all of
which must be propitiated periodically, under pain of sickness or death.
It will be observed that recitals of visions form a part of the Bear
rites, and probably also of the Otter ceremony, all of which, taken into
consideration with the preceding, gives rise to speculations concerning
the basic form of Lenape ceremonies. Perhaps originally, everyone who
had been blessed with a vision, held a periodic ceremony at which rites
appropriate to his own guardian spirit were emphasized, but at which
others so blessed could recite their own visions.
Of course ceremonies of extraneous origin, such as the Peyote rite, can
not be classified with those of true Lenape origin; and there are others
of which our accounts are so fragmentary that we can not place them, and
still others, doubtless, that have disappeared entirely.
That such may have been the case is not remarkable—not nearly so
extraordinary as the fact that the Lenape have retained so much of their
ancient beliefs and practices after three centuries of contact with
civilization.
NOTES
[1] Handbook of American Indians, _Bulletin 30, Bureau of American
Ethnology_, part I, p. 386, Washington, 1907. Indian Population in the
United States and Alaska, 1910, p. 73, Washington, 1915. Annual Report of
the Department of Indian Affairs for 1913, Ottawa, 1913.
[2] Dankers, Jaspar, and Sluyter, Peter. Journal of a Voyage to New York
in 1679-80. Translated from the original manuscript in Dutch for the Long
Island Historical Society, pp. 266-267, Brooklyn, 1869.
[3] Penn, William. A Letter from William Penn, Proprietary and Governour
of Pennsylvania in America to the Committee of the Free Society of
Traders of that Province, Residing in London, p. 6, London, 1683.
[4] Holm, Thomas Campanius. Short description of the Province of New
Sweden, now called Pennsylvania. _Mem. Hist. Soc. Pa._, vol. III, p. 139,
Phila., 1834.
[5] David Zeisberger’s History of the Northern American Indians.
Edited by Archer Butler Hulbert and William Nathaniel Schwarze. _Ohio
Archæological and Historical Quarterly_, vol. XIX, nos. 1 and 2, p. 128,
Columbus, 1910.
[6] Heckewelder, John. An Account of the History, Manners and Customs of
the Indian Nations who once inhabited Pennsylvania and the neighboring
States. _Transactions of the American Philosophical Society_, vol. I, p.
205, Phila., 1819.
[7] Waubuno, _Chief_ (John Wampum). The Traditions of the Delawares, as
told by Chief Waubuno. London [n.d.]. This little pamphlet contains some
original material on the Minsi and some purporting to apply to the Minsi,
but copied from Peter Jones’ “History of the Ojebway Indians.”
[8] Brainerd, David. Memoirs of the Rev. David Brainerd, Missionary
to the Indians ... chiefly taken from his own diary, by Rev. Jonathan
Edwards, including his Journal, now ... incorporated with the rest of his
diary ... by Sereno Edwards Dwight, pp. 344, 349, New Haven, 1822.
[9] Brinton, Daniel G. The Lenape and their Legends, p. 65 et seq.,
Phila., 1885.
[10] Loskiel, George Henry. History of the Mission of the United Brethren
among the Indians in North America, p. 34, London, 1794. Zeisberger, op.
cit., pp. 128-129. Heckewelder, op. cit., p. 205.
[11] Loskiel, op. cit.
[12] Zeisberger, op. cit., p. 130.
[13] Brainerd, op. cit., p. 238.
[14] Holm, op. cit., p. 139.
[15] Strachey, Wm. The Historie of Travaile into Virginia. _Hakluyt Soc.
Pub._, vol. VI, p. 98, London, 1849.
[16] Brainerd, op. cit., p. 344.
[17] Loskiel, op. cit., p. 43.
[18] Brainerd, op. cit.
[19] Loskiel, op. cit.
[20] Ibid.
[21] Ibid.
[22] Zeisberger, op. cit., p. 147.
[23] Heckewelder, op. cit., p. 205.
[24] Loskiel, op. cit., p. 43.
[25] Jones, Rev. Peter. History of the Ojebway Indians, p. 83, London,
1861.
[26] Skinner, Alanson, and Schrabisch, Max. A Preliminary Report of the
Archæological Survey of the State of New Jersey, _Bulletin 9 of the
Geological Survey of New Jersey_, p. 32, Trenton, 1913.
[27] Skinner, Alanson. The Lenape Indians of Staten Island,
_Anthropological Papers of the American Museum of Natural History_,
vol. III, p. 21, New York, 1909. Idem. Two Lenape Stone Masks from
Pennsylvania and New Jersey, _Indian Notes and Monographs_, 1920.
[28] Brainerd, op. cit., p. 237.
[29] Zeisberger, op. cit., p. 141.
[30] Ibid., op. cit., p. 139.
[31] Brainerd, John, quoted by Abbott in Idols of the Delaware Indians,
_American Naturalist_, Oct. 1882.
[32] Jones, op. cit., pp. 87, 95.
[33] Brainerd, David, op. cit., p. 344.
[34] Penn, William, op. cit.
[35] Brainerd, David, op. cit., p. 238.
[36] Ibid., p. 346.
[37] Zeisberger, op. cit., pp. 133-134.
[38] Ibid., p. 131.
[39] A similar vision of a black and white duck was reported by the
Lenape at the Grand River reserve in Ontario. See Harrington, M. R.,
Vestiges of Material Culture among the Canadian Delawares, _American
Anthropologist_, n.s., vol. X, no. 3, p. 414, July-Sept., 1908.
[40] Brainerd, David, op. cit., p. 347.
[41] Zeisberger, op. cit., p. 132.
[42] Loskiel, op. cit., p. 40.
[43] Heckewelder, op. cit., p. 238 et seq.
[44] Adams, R. C. Notes on Delaware Indians, in _Report on Indians Taxed
and Indians not Taxed_, U. S. Census 1890, p. 299.
[45] Zeisberger, op. cit., p. 138.
[46] Ibid. pp. 136, 137.
[47] Harrington, M. R. A Preliminary Sketch of Lenape Culture, American
Anthropologist, vol. XV, no. 2, April-June, 1913.
[48] Adams, loc. cit.
[49] Zeisberger, op. cit., p. 138.
[50] Harrington, Canadian Delawares, pp. 414, 415. See note 39.
[51] Waubuno, op. cit., p. 27.
[52] Brainerd, David, op. cit., p. 237.
[53] Adams, loc. cit.
[54] Harrington, Canadian Delawares, p. 416.
[55] Ibid. p. 417.
[56] Marsh, Rev. Cutting. Documents Relating to the Stockbridge Mission,
1825-48, _Wisconsin Historical Collections_, vol. XV, pp. 164-165.
[57] Zeisberger, op. cit., p. 138.
[58] Adams, loc. cit.
[59] Ibid.
INDEX
_Aʹckas_ or attendants of Annual ceremony, duties of, 84-85, 87-88,
96-97, 103, 105, 107.
See _Attendants_.
_Adams, R. C._, on Annual ceremony, 118-122;
on Buffalo dance, 182-183;
on dreams or visions, 80;
on Mĭsiʹngʷ‛ dance, 154-156;
on Skeleton dance, 183-184.
_Air_, mannitto of, 30.
See _Thunder Beings_
_Alder_, dye from bark of, 141
_Alphabet_ used for Lenape words, 15-16
_Altar_ at Annual ceremony, 115
_America_, prophecy of whites’ coming to, 121
_American Anthropologist_, account of Minsi ceremony in, 138-143
_American Museum of Natural History_, Doll in collection of, 46,
168-169;
Tefft collection in, 15, 38
_American tribes_, concept of Great Spirit among, 19-20
_Animals_, as guardian spirits, 49-50, 65, 70, 77, 80, 121, 195;
ceremonies of, 171-183;
spirits of, 118, 125, 194;
thanks to, 134.
See _Wild animals_
_Anima mundi_ compared with Great Spirit, 22
_Annual ceremony_, authorities on:
Adams, 118-122;
Indian comments, 111-115;
Penn, 115-116;
Zeisberger, 116-118;
Bear ceremony resembling, 171;
carved faces in, 31;
chant of Pokiteʹhemun at, 67-69;
chants of visions at, 66, 73-76, 195;
compared with Minsi ceremony, 127-145;
Four winds in ritual of, 26;
native name for, 109;
penalties of omitting, 113-116;
rites of Mask in, 36, 146, 151;
thanks given to Earth in, 29;
Unami rites of, 81-111;
variants of, 122-126;
worship of Great Spirit in, 19;
worship of Mask Being in, 35.
See _Minsi_
_Anthony, Michael_, acknowledgment to, 14, 139
_Ants_ as guardian spirits, 78
_Arapaho_, Ghost dance of, 191
_Arrow_, ceremonial use of, at Peyote rite, 187-188;
arrows of Thunder Beings, 29
_Ashes_, ceremonial removal of, 101, 131-132;
prevention of disease by, 160
_Aⁿsiptaʹgŭn_ or paint-dish of bark, 105
_A‛ʹtcigamuʹLtiⁿ_, native name for Otter ceremony, 176.
See _Otter ceremony_
_Attendants_, at Annual ceremony, 84-85, 87-88, 96-97, 103, 105-111,
117-118, 120;
at Bear ceremony, 172-173;
at Feast of first fruits, 144;
at Minsi ceremony, 132-133, 137;
at Otter ceremony, 179;
at Peyote rite, 188.
See _Aʹckas_
_Axe_, Tornado threatened with, 47
_Bad luck_, caused by neglect of rites, 113-116
_Bag_, full of snakes, 35, 153;
mask worn in, 42;
of Mask impersonator, 34;
of tobacco offered: to bear, 172;
to otter, 177
_Bark_, boiled for making dyes, 141;
ceremonial bowls and spoons of, 131, 137;
ceremonial paint-dish of, 105-106;
first Big House of, 148;
roof of Big House of, 83
_Beads_ of wampum, as invitation to dance, 142-143;
payment in, 110-111, 135;
used in Minsi ceremony, 141-143.
See _Wampum_
_Beans_, offering of, 144;
thanks to, 134;
wampum string symbolizing, 141-142
_Bear_, abundance of, in Happy Hunting Ground, 58;
ceremony of, 171-176, 199;
fat of, burned, 117-118, 134;
flesh of, offered to Corn Goddess, 44;
hair of Mask Being like, 33;
head of, fastened to mask of Mask impersonator, 34;
provision of, for feast, 117
_Bearskin_, bag of Mask impersonator, 34, 155;
cap of Mask impersonator, 42;
coat of Mask impersonator, 41;
dress of Mask impersonator, 56, 152-153;
leggings of Mask impersonator, 34, 41;
worn by members of Mask society, 159
“_Beautiful town_” or Heaven, 56-57.
See _Happy Hunting Ground_
_Belief_: in Doll Being, 162-171;
in dream or vision, 61-80;
in Great Spirit, 18-24, 88-92, 192-193;
in immortality, 52-60, 195-196;
in supernatural beings, 17-51
_Bergen_, New Jersey, information from Indians at, 20
_Big-Deer_, Naniʹtis given up by, 170-171
_Big House_ or _Xiʹngwikan_, Annual ceremonies in, 35, 82-122;
common to both tribes, 129-133, 196-197;
construction of, 82-83, 119, 148-150;
Elkhair on significance of, 113-115;
Mask impersonator present in, 98-99;
MuxhatoLʹzing in, 123;
of Bear cult, 173;
of Minsi, 127-145;
origin of, 147-152;
prayer in, 112-113;
preparation of, for Ceremony, 85-87, 117;
return of hunters to, 100-101;
rites of Mask in, 151-152;
seating of congregation in, 93;
serving of meals in, 110;
turtle rattles of, 181;
visions recited in, 75-76.
See _Annual ceremony_, _Meeting-house_
_Bilberries_, at Annual feast, 118;
in Happy Hunting Ground, 58
_Birds_ as guardian spirits, 78, 80, 121, 195
_Black_, and red: carved faces painted with, 83, 119;
Mask painted with, 33, 41, 150, 155;
and white duck, as guardian spirit, 67, 140;
hog, offering of, 173;
symbolizing men, 140-141
_Blanket_, ceremonial waving of, 145;
blankets spread over sweating-oven, 125
_Blessing_ granted by guardian spirits, 65-67, 77, 194-195
_Blood_, luminous ball of, 53-54
_Body_, luminous form of, 53-54
_Bones_, burning of, at Annual ceremony, 118
_Bowl_, and dice game of manĭʹtowŭk, 25-26;
ceremonial, in Bear cult, 173-174;
bowls, bark, in Minsi ceremony, 131, 137
_Bows and arrows_ of Thunder Beings, 29
_Box-tortoise rattle_ in Annual ceremony, 94-96, 118, 120.
See _Rattles_
_Box-turtle rattle_ of Planting dance, 143.
See _Rattles_
_Boys_, dreaming of, for power, 54;
initiation of, 63-64, 78-80;
pet of, 172;
vision of Mask Being by, 147-152;
visions of, 62-63, 72-75, 92, 140, 194-195
_Brainerd, David_, on animal spirits, 50;
on Annual ceremony, 151-152;
on carved faces in Big House, 42;
on concept of soul, 56;
on dream or vision, 77;
on Evil Spirit, 25;
on Four Directions, 27;
on Great Spirit, 22-23;
on impersonator of Mask Being, 41-42;
on sun, 28
_Brainerd, John_, on idol image or Doll, 46-47
_Brass eyes_ of Miziʹnk, 158
“_Bringing in_” the meeting, 81, 92-94, 104, 122, 135, 174
_Brown, William_, acknowledgment to, 14
_Brush house_ of Bear cult, 173-174
_Buck_, chant referring to, 69;
prayer to, 126;
ridden by Mask Being, 33, 148;
women’s share in, 106
_Buckskin_, skeleton wrapped in, 184
_Buffalo_, as guardian spirit, 78;
dance of, 182-183
_Bunches of wampum_, symbolism of, 141-143
_Burial_, Wolf clan rites of, 183-184
_Burning_, of bones, 118;
of cedar leaves, 105;
of fat, 117-118, 134, 173-175;
of hemlock-boughs, 133, 144-145;
of hog’s head, 175;
of moccasins, 47;
of tobacco, 29, 98, 126, 151.
See _Offering_
_Cactus_ called _peyote_, 186.
See _Peyote rite_
_Caddo_, Peyote cult originating among, 185
_Canada_, Lenape now resident in, 13-14, 170.
See _Ontario_
_Canoe_, coming of white men in, 121;
over river to Spirit land, 54
_Cantico_, Penn’s term for ceremony, 115-116
_Cap_, bearskin, of Mask impersonator, 42
_Carved drumsticks_, in Annual ceremony, 101-103, 150;
in Minsi ceremony, 130-131, 139-140, 197
_Carved faces_, on drumsticks, 101, 130-131, 197;
on posts of Big House, 42-43, 83, 88, 106, 119, 148, 150;
on posts of Minsi Big House, 129-130, 151;
representing Keepers of the Heavens, 31.
See _Mask_, _Masks_, _Mĭsiʹngʷ‛_
_Catfish_, James Wolf’s dream of, 72-73
_Cattle_, Mask Being guardian of, 35, 157
_Cayuga_, False Face company of, 161;
long-house, thanksgiving of Lenape in, 139;
Planting dance of, 143
_Cedar-leaves_, burning of, at Annual ceremony, 105
_Central post_, carved faces on, 83, 119, 151;
ceremonial of: in Annual ceremony, 94, 106, 119-120;
in Feast of first fruits, 144;
in Minsi Big House, 129-130, 135;
in MuxhatoLʹzing, 123
_Central West_, Peyote cult in, 185
_Ceremonies_, directed by guardian spirit, 65;
extinction of, 63;
in honor of dead, 55, 191, 195-196;
minor, 198-199;
of Big House, 75-76, 82;
of Lenape, paintings of, 14;
of Minsi Big House, 127-145;
of Minsi to Mother Corn, 43;
of Unami and Minsi, compared, 196-200;
thanks given to Great Spirit in, 18, 145, 196.
See _Annual ceremony_, _Ceremony_
_Ceremony_, of Bear, 171-176;
of Buffalo, 182-183;
of Doll Being, 46, 162-171;
of First fruits, 144-145;
of Mask Being, 35, 198-199;
of Mask society, 37, 159-161;
of Otter, 176-183;
of Peyote, 185-191;
of Skeleton dance, 183-184;
of Thanksgiving, 139-143.
See _Annual ceremony_, _Ceremonies_
_Chant_, at Otter ceremony, 180-181;
of Pokiteʹhemun, 67-68;
referring to Mask Being, 69;
referring to visions, 66-74, 136, 174-175, 195;
Unami examples of, 67-72.
See _Singers_, _Singing_, _Visions_
_Charm_, opiʹna or blessing as, 65-66;
charms: from Great Horned Serpents, 49;
miniature masks as, 36, 42.
See _Fetishes_
_Charts_ of Heaven drawn on deerskin, 57
_Chastity_ of boys, 62-63
_Chief_, of the gods, Great Spirit as, 19;
hunter of Annual ceremony, 85, 97.
See _Leader_
_Chief Waubuno_, description of Minsi ceremony by, 143-145;
on Great Spirit, 21-22
_Children_, cared for by Mask Being, 34-35, 153, 155-156;
Doll Being revealed to, 162-163;
Little People hunted by, 49, 193;
meeting of, with parents in Heaven, 53, 91;
no longer piʹlsŭⁿ, 63, 112-114;
part of, in Annual ceremony, 108-109;
prayers for, 115.
See _Boys_, _Girls_
_Cholera_ checked by False Face company, 161
_Christ_, tomb of, at Peyote rite, 186-187.
See _Jesus Christ_
_Christianity_, concepts of, in Peyote rite, 186-190;
idols given up for, 38;
Naniʹtis given up for, 169;
visions given up for, 72.
See _Devil_, _Missionary_, _Whites_
_Clans_, see _Phratries_
_Clothing_ of Naniʹtis, 167.
See _Costume_
_Coat_ of bearskins of Mask impersonator, 34, 41
_Colors_, dyes for, 141.
See _Black_, _Red_
_Comet_, attributes of, 48-49
_Cones_, copper, adorning Miziʹnk, 158
_Confederacy_ of the Lenape, 13
_Conjurer_, information of, in regard to Great Spirit, 22-23
_Copper_ adorning Miziʹnk, 158
_Corn_, beans and vegetables, wampum string symbolizing, 141-142;
called Lenape food, 70;
in rattle of Mask impersonator, 42;
offering of, 144;
soul likened to, 59;
spirit, duties of, 193;
thanks for, 145;
thanks to, 134.
See _Mother Corn_
_Corn-bread_ at Minsi ceremony, 137
_Corn Goddess_, see _Mother Corn_
_Corn-mush_, see _Hominy_, _Säʹpan_
_Costume_, of impersonator: of Mask Being, 33-34, 41-42, 56, 152-153,
155, 158;
of Otter, 177-182;
of members of Mask society, 159;
of Naniʹtis, 169-170;
of Sun, 27;
worn at Annual ceremony, 93;
worn at Ghost dance, 191
_Cranes_ or singers of Annual ceremony, 85.
See _Singers_
_Crayfish_, James Wolf’s dream of, 72-73
_Creator_, see _Great Spirit_
_Cripples_, injunction to help, 91-92
_Crooked nose_ of Miziʹnk, 158
_Crops_, prayer for, 44, 134;
ruin of, 113;
supernatural control of, 194;
watered by Thunder Beings, 193
_Cross_, drumsticks marked with, 101;
spirit road represented by line on, 187-188.
See _Crucifix_
_Crow_ as guardian spirit, 69-70
_Crucifix_ at Peyote rite, 187
_Cult_, see _Ceremony_, _Ceremonies_
_Dance_, at Thanksgiving ceremony, 142-143;
in honor of Great Spirit, 88;
native terms for, 115-116;
of Buffalo, 182-183;
of Doll Being, 164-165;
of First fruits, 128;
of guardian spirits, 73;
of Ghost, 190-191;
of Mask impersonator in Big House, 42, 99;
of Mĭsiʹngʷ‛, 152-156;
of Skeleton, 183-184;
of Weopĕʹlakis, 36;
Planting, 143;
Strawberry, 128, 197;
dances connected with Mask society, 160.
See _Dancing_
_Dance songs_ accompanying chants, 66.
See _Chant_, _Singers_, _Singing_
_Dancing_, at Annual ceremony, 42, 95, 99, 103, 106, 115-116, 118-122;
at Feast of first fruits, 145;
at Minsi ceremony, 135-136, 140;
in ceremonies of Naniʹtis, 168, 171;
in Happy Hunting Ground, 56, 58.
See _Dance_
_Dankers, Jaspar_, and _Sluyter, Peter_, on Great Spirit, 20
_Day_, clothing the Great Man, 23;
god of, 28.
See _Great Spirit_
_Dead_, beliefs concerning, 52-60;
ceremonies in honor of, 55, 191;
dance in honor of, 183-184;
food offered to, 52, 195-196;
food taken by, 71;
going west, 132;
spirits of, as guardians, 71-72, 194-195.
See _Ghosts_, _Immortality_
_Death_, propitiation to prevent, 199
_Deer_, abundance of, in Happy Hunting Ground, 58;
ceremonial hunting of, 97-101;
for Annual ceremony, 117;
for Doll dance, 163-164, 168-169;
for Feast of first fruits, 144;
for Minsi ceremony, 132;
herded by Mask Being, 33, 148, 150, 156
_Deer-hoofs_ adorning Miziʹnk, 158
_Deerskin_, charts of Heaven drawn on, 57;
clothing Sun, 27;
drum at Annual ceremony, 85, 94-95, 100, 106, 115-116, 120;
drum at Buffalo dance, 182-183;
drum at Doll dance, 165;
drum at Minsi ceremonies, 130, 135, 139;
drum at Mĭsiʹngʷ‛ dance, 154-155;
drum at Peyote rite, 188;
giving away of, at Annual ceremony, 108-109;
stuffed with grass, 123;
suspended from pole, 144;
taken by hunters, 108;
worn by members of Mask society, 159
_Delaware_, Lenape first encountered in, by whites, 13
_Devil_, a Christian concept, 24-25, 57, 194.
See _Evil Spirit_
_Devil dance_, Mĭsiʹngʷ‛ dance so called by whites, 156
_Dewey_, Oklahoma, Big House near, 82
_Dictionary_, Indian, Zeisberger, author, 43
_Disease_, caused by neglect of rites, 116;
ceremony of expelling, 37;
cured by Mask Being, 159, 161;
cured by Pabookowaih, 168-169;
prevention of, by ashes, 160.
See _Sickness_
_Dish_ of bark used in Annual ceremony, 105-106
_Doe_ offered to Naniʹtis, 168-169
_Dogs_, forbidden in Big House, 121;
prevented from eating bones, 118
_Doll Being_, belief in, 45-47, 162-163, 193, 199;
Unami dance of, 163-166.
See _Naniʹtis_
_Dolls_, see _Fetishes_
_Dream helper_, see _Guardian spirit_
_Dreams_, see _Visions_
_Drink_, ceremonial, at Bear cult, 175-176;
of Minsi ceremonies, 128, 134
_Drum_, at Annual ceremony, 85, 95-94, 100, 103, 106, 115-116, 120,
197;
at Buffalo dance, 182-183;
at Doll dance, 165, 168;
at Feast of first fruits, 144;
at Ghost dance, 191;
at Minsi ceremony, 130, 135, 139-140, 197;
at Mĭsiʹngʷ‛ dance, 154-155;
at Peyote rite, 188-189
_Drummers_, at Annual ceremony, 95, 100, 110, 150;
at Doll dance, 165
_Drumsticks_, at Annual ceremony, 101-103, 106, 150;
at Minsi ceremony, 130-131, 139, 197;
at Peyote rite, 188
_Duck_ as guardian spirit, 67-69, 140
_Dyes_ for red and black, 141
_Eagle-feathers_, fan of, 188
_Earth_, concept of, 28-29;
created by Great Spirit, 18, 21;
duties of, 193;
thanksgiving to, 89-90;
wampum string symbolizing, 141-142
_Earthquake_ caused by abandoning rites, 149, 151
_East_, ceremonial significance of, 74, 83, 85, 98, 100-101, 108-109,
119, 121-122, 131, 137, 144-145, 149, 155, 182, 186-187;
Grandfather at, 26;
home of Great Spirit in, 109;
thanksgiving to, 89
_Elauʹnato_ or Comet, attributes of, 48-49
_Elder brother_, title, of moon, 28, 193;
of sun, 28, 193;
of Thunder Beings, 29, 193
_Elements_, as guardian spirits, 77;
worship of, 29-31.
See _Thunder Beings_
_Elkhair, Chief Charley_, acknowledgment to, 14;
Annual ceremony explained by, 112-115;
myth of Mask related by, 146-152;
speaker of Annual ceremony, 85;
speech of, at Annual ceremony, 87-92
_Elkire_, see _Elkhair_
_Emetics_, purification by, 57, 79;
visions induced by, 64
_Endalŭn towiʹyŭn_, title of Four Directions, 26
_English settlements_ on Susquehanna, 41
_Europeans_, concept of Devil introduced by, 25, 57, 194.
See _Christianity_, _Whites_
_Evil_, exclusion of, from Heaven, 53, 56-59
_Evil Spirit_, native concept of, 24-25
_Evil spirits_, driving out of, 133, 145, 188;
ghosts as, 59;
Giant Bear one of, 49;
Great Horned Serpents as, 29, 49, 193;
placation of, 194;
Tornado one of, 47-48
_E-ye-he-ye-ĕ_, cry concluding chant, 136
_Faces_, carved: by children on sticks, 162;
in Big House, 31, 42, 83, 88, 119, 148, 150;
in Minsi Big House, 129-130, 151;
on drumsticks, 101, 150, 197;
on Minsi drumsticks, 130-131;
ceremonial painting of, 105-106;
painted by sun, 76;
painted, of Mask Being, 33, 41-42, 150, 155;
painted, of sun, 27.
See _Mask_, _Masks_
_Fairies_, Little People like, 49
_Fall_, Annual ceremony celebrated in, 81, 116, 119-120;
ceremony of Naniʹtis in, 171;
Thanksgiving in, 139
_False Face Company_ of Iroquois, 198-199;
compared with Minsi mask, 161
_Family_, keepers of: Bear, 172;
Doll, 163-164;
Mask, 33-35, 151;
Naniʹtis, 166-171;
Otter, 177-182;
sacrifice by, 116-117
_Fans_, eagle-feather, at Peyote rite, 188;
turkey-wing, ceremonial sweeping with, 133
_Fasting_, visions induced by, 60, 64, 79, 194
_Fat_, drinking of, 176;
thrown on fire, 117-118, 134, 173-175
_Feast_, at Annual ceremony, 85, 96-97, 107, 109;
at Bear ceremony, 173-176;
at Buffalo dance, 182;
at Doll dance, 166-167;
at Minsi ceremony, 137;
at Mĭsiʹngʷ‛ dance, 152-156;
at Peyote rite, 190;
ceremonial, Zeisberger on, 116-118;
of the Dead, 195-196;
of First fruits, 144-145;
of hunters, 97-98, 100-101;
of Machtuzin, 126;
of Otter ceremony, 177, 179, 182;
to Naniʹtis, 169, 171
_Feasting_ in Happy Hunting Ground, 56
_Feathers_, adorning Miziʹnk, 158;
fan of, 188;
Peyote placed on, 187;
red, worn by sun, 27
_Feeding_, of dead, 52, 71;
of Naniʹtis, 167;
of Otter, 179, 182
_Female deities_: Doll Being, 46, 162-171;
Earth, 28, 89-90, 193;
Grandmother at the South, 26;
Great Spirit, 20;
Mother Corn, 43-44, 70, 195
_Festival_ of Machtuzin, 125-126.
See _Ceremonies_, _Ceremony_
_Fetishes_ or dolls, 45-46, 162.
See _Charm_, _Doll Being_
_Fire_, ceremonial making of: at Annual ceremony, 85-88, 101,
132-133, 196;
at Buffalo dance, 182;
at Otter ceremony, 179;
ceremonial use of: at Annual ceremony, 98-100, 105, 107, 117-121,
134, 160;
at Bear cult, 173-175;
at Doll dance, 165-166;
at Feast of first fruits, 144-145;
at Otter ceremony, 180-181;
at Peyote rite, 187, 189;
festival in honor of, 125-126;
gift of Great Spirit, 18;
tobacco offered to, 126
_Fire-drill_ used in Annual ceremony, 86.
See _Pump-drill_
_Fire-maker_ of the manĭʹtos, 101.
See _Pump-drill_
_First fruits_, offering of, 115, 144-145, 197.
See _Strawberry dance_
_Fish_ as guardian spirit, 72-73, 78
_Flint_, and steel, ceremonial fire-making with, 179;
fire springing from, 18
_Flying Wolf_, vision of, 73-76
_Food_, ceremonial purity of, 62-63;
distribution of, at Annual ceremony, 121;
hunters provided with, 97;
offered to dead, 52, 195-196;
procured by dead, 71.
See _Feast_
_Foot-log_ across river to Spirit land, 54
_Forest_, boys driven into, for vision, 63-64
_Forks_ on drumsticks, 130, 141
_Four_, attendants: at Annual ceremony, 118;
in Minsi ceremony, 132;
drumsticks in Minsi ceremony, 139;
musicians in Minsi ceremony, 140
_Four Directions_ or Four Winds, manĭʹtowŭk of, 25-27, 29, 88,
112-113, 193;
prayers to, 51.
See _Winds_
_Four Powers_, Brainerd on, 22.
See _Four Directions_
_Fouts_, see _Fox_
_Fox, Julius_, acknowledgment to, 14;
explanation of Annual ceremony by, 111-113
_Fox, Minnie_, acknowledgment to, 14
_Fruits_, prayer for, 113.
See _First fruits_
_Full moon_, Annual ceremony held in, 119-120;
Mĭsiʹngʷ‛ dance in, 152
_Future_, controlled by guardian spirit, 62;
foretold by visions, 61-62, 79-80, 121;
prayers for, 115.
See _Immortality_
_Game_, Mask Being guardian of, 150
_Gaʹmuing_, native name for Annual ceremony, 109.
See _Annual ceremony_
_General thanksgiving_, see _Thanksgiving_
_Genii_ of places, 51
_Ghost dance_, rites of, 190-191
_Ghosts_, as guardian spirits, 54;
bewitchment by, 59
_Giant Bear_, an evil manĭʹto, 49.
See _Great Bear_
_Gicelĕmû‛ʹkaong_ or Great Spirit, 88.
See _Great Spirit_
_Gickonĭkiʹzho_ or _Gĭckokwiʹta_, Unami name of sun, 27.
See _Sun_
_Girls_, sacred otter of, 176-179;
vision of Doll Being by, 162-163
_Gitctlaʹkan_ or Thanksgiving ceremony, 139-143
_God of day_, 28.
See _Sun_
_God of light_, 23-24.
See _Great Spirit_
_Goodness_, attribute of Great Spirit, 17, 23-24;
definition of, 58;
reward of, 53, 56, 58, 90-92
_Gourd rattle_ at Peyote rite, 188
_Grandfather_, at the East, 26;
at the North, 26, 48;
at the West, 26;
title of: Four Directions, 193;
Mask, 112;
Tornado, 47;
Fire, 125
_Grandmother_, at the South, 26;
Pabothʹkwe, Great Spirit of the Shawnee, 20;
title of Doll Being, 164;
title of one of Four Directions, 193
_Grandparents_ at the Four Directions, 26-27
_Grand River_, Ontario, drumsticks collected at, 130-131;
Mask collected at, 158, 160-161;
Naniʹtis collected at, 168;
version of Minsi ceremony at, 138-143;
worship of Corn Goddess at, 43
_Grass_, deerskin stuffed with, 123;
drum stuffed with, 154, 165;
strewn for seating guests, 117
_Grasshoppers_, plague of, 113
“_Graven image_” of Mask Being, 33.
See _Mask_, _Mĭsiʹngʷ‛_
_Grease_, annointing with, in Annual ceremony, 105-106
_Great Bear_, a lesser manĭʹto, 49, 193
_Great Father_, see _Great Spirit_
_Great Horned Serpents_, evil manĭʹtowŭk, 49;
protection against, 29, 193
_Great Man_, attributes of, 23.
See _Great Spirit_
_Great Spirit_ or _Gicelĕmû‛ʹkaong_, concept of, 18-24, 88-92,
192-193;
early writers on, 20-24;
goodness of, 23-24;
guardian spirit sent by, 80, 121;
home of, in east, 109;
home of, in Twelfth Heaven, 19, 31, 52-53, 196;
masks the messengers of, 31, 88, 112-113;
Minsi concept of, 127-128, 133-134;
prayer to, 18, 31, 88-90, 112-113, 136-138, 196;
relation of Mask Being to, 32-33;
remote from individual, 62;
thanks to, at Annual ceremony, 18, 120, 138, 196;
thanks to, at Feast of first fruits, 145;
thanks to, in Peyote rite, 190;
Thunder Beings ministers of, 29;
wampum given by, 122;
wampum string symbolizing, 141-142;
worship of, at Annual ceremony, 118.
See _Pa‛ʹtŭmawas_
_Guardian spirit_, animals as, 49-50, 70, 77, 80;
ants as, 78;
birds as, 78, 80;
buffalo as, 78;
chants explanatory of, 66;
courage derived from, 78-79;
crows as, 69-70;
dead as, 54, 71-72;
ducks as, 67-69, 140;
elements as, 77;
fish as, 78;
given by Great Spirit, 80, 121;
given in visions, 65-66, 194-195;
Mask Being as, 69, 151, 197;
moon as, 78;
Mother Corn as, 70;
owl as, 78;
periodic ceremonies of, 199;
prayer to, in sweathouse, 123-124;
serpent as, 78;
sun as, 76, 78;
supernatural helpers as, 61-63;
Thunder Being as, 74-75;
title of Mother Corn, 43;
vision of, 174-175.
See _Thunder Beings_, _Visions_
_Ha-a-a_, variant of prayer-cry, 108.
See _Ho-o-o_
_Hair_, of Mask Being, 33, 158;
of Sun, 27;
of Tornado, 47
_Halfmoon_, Sun spirit guardian of, 76
_Hank, Eunice_, Naniʹtis given up by, 169
_Happy Hunting Ground_ or Land of Spirits, 20-21, 52-59, 88, 90-92.
See _Heaven_
_Head_, bear’s, ceremonial offering of, 173-175;
of family, duties of, 117;
heads: annointed with red paint, 105;
carved on drumsticks, 101, 139-140, 150, 197;
dropping of, by Comet, 48-49;
stone, of Mask Being, 40-41
_Health_, Bear cult preserving, 172;
fetishes preserving, 45-46;
Otter cult preserving, 177-179;
god of, 168;
Mask restoring, 34, 36-37, 156-157, 159, 161;
Naniʹtis guardian of, 163-164, 166-171;
prayer for, 134;
supernatural control of, 194.
See _Sickness_
_Heaven_, concept of, 20-21, 52-59;
duration of journey to, 88;
Milky Way to, 58;
Peyote road to, 187;
sweeping way to, 88, 107;
visited by preachers, 57;
visited during visions, 189-191.
See _Happy Hunting Ground_
_Heavens_, keepers of, 31;
return of Pa‛ʹtŭmawas to, 127-128.
See _Happy Hunting Ground_, _Twelfth heaven_
_Heckewelder, John_, on dreams or visions, 78-80;
on Great Spirit, 21;
on Thunder Beings, 30;
on Unala‛ʹtko, 124
_Hell_, extraneous concept of, 57
_Hemlock-boughs_, ceremonial burning of, 133, 144-145
_Herb_, passed at Peyote rite, 188-189;
herbs: prayers in gathering, 26, 51;
thanks to, 134
_Heye Museum_, see _Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation_
_Hill_, home of Mask Being, 158
_Hog_, feast of, at Otter ceremony, 176-179;
offering of, 173-175
_Hoⁿ-hoⁿ-hoⁿ_ or cry of Mask Being, 149, 153
_Holm, Thomas Campanius_, on Evil Spirit, 25;
on Great Spirit, 21
_Hominy_, at Buffalo dance, 182;
at Mĭsiʹngʷ‛ dance, 153-154;
offered to Doll Being, 163-164, 166;
offered to Mask Being, 150;
preparation of, for Annual ceremony, 85, 96-97
_Ho-o-o_, a prayer-cry, at Annual ceremony, 95, 97, 99-100, 103-104,
106-108, 136-138;
at Bear ceremony, 175;
origin of, 112-113
_Horses_, Mask Being guardian of, 35, 157;
tobacco offered to recover, 35
_Hu-hu-hu_, cry at Bear ceremony, 174-175
_Hu-hu-hu-hu_, cry at Otter ceremony, 181
_Human heads_ carved on drumsticks, 101, 139-140, 150, 197
_Human skeleton dance_, see _Skeleton dance_
_Hunt_ for Naniʹtis, 171
_Hunter_ at Doll dance, 164
_Hunters_, Buffalo dance of, 182-183;
of Annual ceremony, 97-101, 108, 110, 117;
of Minsi ceremony, 132, 137;
of MuxhatoLʹzing, 123
_Hunting_, help of impersonator of Mask Being in, 158;
in Happy Hunting Ground, 56;
prayer before, 134, 137;
supernatural control of, 62, 194;
tobacco offered before, 35, 157
_Hweisk-queem_, Minsi term for corn, 144.
See _Corn_
_Idol_ or _Mĕsinkʹ_, 43.
See _Mask_, _Mask Being_, _Mĭsiʹngʷ‛_
_Illegitimacy_ disregarded in family rites, 116
_Images_ possessing life, 45-47.
See _Doll Being_, _Fetishes_
_Immortality_, belief in, 20-21, 52-60, 195-196
_Impersonator_, of Mask Being, 34-36, 41-42, 45, 56, 98-99, 138, 150,
152-159;
of Otter, 177-182
_Indian corn_, see _Corn_
_Indian dictionary_, Zeisberger, author, 43
_Indians_, comments of, on Annual ceremony, 111-115;
United States Census report on, cited, 80
_Initiation_ of boys, 63-64;
Heckewelder on, 78-80.
See _Boys_, _Visions_
_Iroquois_, ceremonial fire-drills of, 86;
masks of, compared with Minsi, 36, 138, 160-161, 198-199;
Planting dance of, 143;
primitive skirt among, 169;
Strawberry dance of, 128, 197
_Jesus Christ_, Naniʹtis given up for, 170;
road of, 187.
See _Christianity_, _Peyote rite_
_Jones, Peter_, on Nahneetis, the Guardian of Health, 46, 168-169;
on Minsi masks, 37-38, 158
_Journal of a voyage to New York in 1679-1680_, Dankers and Sluyter,
authors, 20
_June_, Minsi Big House ceremony in, 128
_Kacheh Munitto_, see _Kaunzhe Pah-tum-owans_
_Kansas_, celebration of Annual ceremony in, 122-124;
Lenape now resident in, 13
_Kaʹpyŭ‛hŭm_, native name of Isaac Monture, 14, 161
_Kaunzhe Pah-tum-owans_ or _Kacheh Munitto_, ancient Minsi name of
Great Spirit, 22.
See _Great Spirit_
_Keeper of Mask_, general duties of, 34-36, 151;
notification of dance by, 152;
stray stock returned through, 157
_Keepers of Four Directions_, see _Four Directions_
_Keepers of the Heavens_, 31.
See _Carved faces_, _Four Directions_
_Kĕ‛ʹtanĭtoʹwĕt_, ancient Minsi name of Great Spirit, 19, 127.
See _Great Spirit_
_Kickeron_ or _Kickerom_, recorded name of Great Spirit in New
Jersey, 20
_Kĭʹnĭkä_ or _Kĭʹntika_, native terms for dance, 115-116
_Kiowa_, Ghost dance of, 191
_Kiʹzho_ or _Kiʹzhox_, Minsi name of sun, 27.
See _Sun_
_Kokŭlŭpoʹw‛ʹe_, native name of Chief Charley _Elkhair_, 14.
See _Elkhair_
_Kunuⁿʹxäs_, native term for otter-skin, 179.
See _Otter ceremony_
_Kwi_, or whoop, concluding dance, 136
_Lakes_, home of Great Horned Serpents, 49
_Lameness_ caused by ghosts, 59.
See _Cripples_
_Land of Spirits_ or _Tschipeghacki_, 58.
See _Happy Hunting Ground_, _Heaven_
_Leader_, of Annual ceremony, 81-82, 92-94, 117, 120;
of Bear cult, 174-175;
of Doll dance, 165;
of Feast of first fruits, 145;
of Minsi ceremony, 133-134;
of Peyote rite, 188-190;
leaders, favored with visions, 195
_Leaves_, strewn for seating guests, 131
_Legend_, of Annual ceremony, 111-112;
of Comet, 48-49;
of coming of whites, 121-122;
of Mother Corn, 43.
See _Myth_
_Leggings_ of Mask impersonator, 34, 41
_Lesser manĭʹtowŭk_: animal spirits, 49-50;
Bear, 172-176;
Comet, 48-49;
Doll, 45-47, 162-171;
Earth, 28, 89-90;
Great Bear, 49, 193;
Great Horned Serpents, 29, 49, 193;
Keepers of the Heavens, 31;
Mask Being, 32-43, 146-161;
ministers of Great Spirit, 18, 21, 193-194;
Moon, 28;
Mother Corn, 43-44;
of Four Directions, 25-27;
Otter, 50, 176-182;
Snow boy, 48;
Sun, 27-28;
Thunder Beings, 29-31;
Tornado, 47-48
_Light_, Brinton on concept of, 23-24
_Lightning_, Flying Wolf’s love of, 75-76;
prayer to avert, 30
_Little Caney river_, Oklahoma, Big House on banks of, 82
_Little People_ hunted for by children, 49, 193
_Living Mask_, see _Mask_, _Mask Being_
_Living Solid Face_, see _Mask_, _Mask Being_
_Logan family_, mask delivered up by, 38
_Logs_, Big House built of, 82;
foot-log to Spirit Land, 54;
seats for _Mĭsiʹngʷ‛_ dance, 153
_Loskiel, George Henry_, on dreams or visions, 78;
on earth, 29;
on Four Directions, 27;
on Great Spirit, 25;
on moon, 28;
on sun, 28;
on twelve gods, 31
_Machtuzin_, festival in honor of fire, 125-126.
See _MuxhatoLʹzing_
_Maize_, see _Corn_
_Manĭʹtowŭk_ or spirits, belief in, 17-44;
offerings to, 144-145;
thanksgiving to, in Annual ceremony, 89-90.
See _Great Spirit_, _Lesser manĭʹtowŭk_
_Mannittōs_, Heckewelder on, 21.
See _Lesser manĭʹtowŭk_
_Maple_, dye from bark of, 141
_Marble-like object_ given to Pokiteʹhemun by guardian spirit, 67
_Marsh, Cutting_, account of Naniʹtis by, 169-171
_Mask_, absent from Bear ceremony, 171;
annointing of, 105-106;
as guardian spirit, 151;
called Weopĕʹlakis, 35-36;
carved faces of, in Big House, 42, 83, 88, 148, 150;
healing power of, 34, 37, 156-157, 159, 161;
keeper of, 34-36, 151-152, 157;
painting of, 33-34, 41, 150, 155;
society of Minsi, 36-37, 138, 159-161, 198-199;
Unami myth of, 146-152.
See _Mask Being_, _Masks_, _Mĭsiʹngʷ‛_
_Mask Being_ or _Mĭsinghâliʹkŭn_, as guardian spirit, 195;
ceremonies of, 197;
cult of, 32-43, 198;
deer herded by, 33, 99;
diseases cured by, 34-35, 156-157, 159, 161;
general duties of, 193;
impersonator of, 34-36, 41-42, 45, 56, 98-99, 138, 150, 152-159;
masks the symbol of, 33, 42, 45, 83, 88, 99, 148, 150;
myth of, 147-152;
relation of Keepers of Heavens to, 31;
vision concerning, 69.
See _Mask_, _Masks_, _Mĭsiʹngʷ‛_
_Masks_, of stone, found in New Jersey and vicinity, 38-41;
painting of, 83, 119;
prayer-cry carried by, 31, 112-113;
representing Keepers of the Heavens, 31;
symbols of Mask Being, 33, 42, 45, 83, 88, 99, 148, 150.
See _Mask_, _Mask Being_, _Mĭsiʹngʷ‛_
_Master of Ceremonies_, see _Leader_
_May_, Mĭsiʹngʷ‛ dance in, 152
_Meals_ served by aʹckas, 110-111, 118
_Medicine_, from tooth of Great Bear, 49;
prayer to Four Directions in making, 26
_Medicine-man_, see _Shaman_
_Mediumship_, belief in, 54-55, 196
_Meeting-house_ of Mask society, 159
_Men_, black symbolizing, 140-141;
drumsticks representing, 101, 130-131
_Menses_, women in, taboo, 62-63, 88, 133, 197
_Mĕsinkʹ_ or idol, 43.
See _Mask_, _Mask Being_, _Mĭsiʹngʷ‛_
_Messengers_ of Great Spirit, 31, 88.
See _Four Directions_
_Messingq_, Adams on dance of, 155-156.
See _Mask_, _Mask Being_, _Mĭsiʹngʷ‛_
_Me Zeengk_, name given by Peter Jones to Miziʹnk, 38.
See _Miziʹnk_
_Milky Way_, the road to Heaven, 58
_Miniature masks_ or charms, 36, 42-43
_Minsi_ or _Muncey_, a tribe of the Lenape, 13;
archaic heaven of, 54;
belief of, in Great Spirit, 19, 127, 133-134;
belief of, in plant spirits, 51;
Big House of, 128-132;
Mask impersonator absent from, 138;
carved faces in, 129-130, 151;
ceremonies of, compared with Unami, 127-145, 196-200;
ceremonies of, to Mother Corn, 43;
chants of, referring to visions, 72-77;
Doll Being of, 45-47, 162, 166-171;
Feast of first fruits of, 144-145;
guardian spirits of, 72-77;
kĭʹntika or dance of, 116;
Mask of, 36-38, 158-161;
Mask society of, 138, 159-161, 198-199;
mediumship among, 54-55;
proportion of, in Lenape, 124-125;
Thanksgiving ceremony of, 138-143
_Mĭsiʹngʷ‛_, dance of, 152-156.
See _Mask_, _Minsi mask_
_Mĭsinghâliʹkŭn_, Unami name for Mask Being, 32.
See _Mask Being_
_Mĭsingkĭʹnĭkä_, Unami name for Mĭsiʹngʷ‛ dance, 152.
See _Mĭsiʹngʷ‛_
_Missionary_ teaching, concept of Great Spirit not due to, 19-20.
See _Christianity_
_Miziʹnk_, Minsi form of Mĭsiʹngʷ‛, 158.
See _Mask society_, _Minsi mask_
_Mizinkhâliʹkŭn_, Minsi form of Mĭsinghâliʹkŭn, 36.
See _Mask Being_
_Mizinkĭʹntĭka_ or dance of Mask society, 159
_Mkäähiʹgŭn_, Minsi term for painted sticks, 140.
See _Sticks_
_Moccasins_, burned to deflect Tornado, 47;
made for Naniʹtis, 167;
made of ceremonial deerskins, 108
_Monture, Chief Nellis_, acknowledgment to, 14
_Monture, Isaac_, acknowledgment to, 14;
Minsi mask bought from, 161
_Moon_, or mound, at Peyote rite, 186-187;
or Piskeʹwenikiʹzho: as guardian spirit, 78;
concept of, 28;
duties of, 193;
wailing to, 145;
wampum string symbolizing, 141-142.
See _Full moon_
_Moral code_, at Annual ceremony, 58, 90-92;
at Feast of first fruits, 144;
at Minsi Annual ceremony, 133-134, 137;
at Peyote rite, 186-190
_Mortar_ made of mud, 85
_Mortar_, peyote crushed in, 188
_Mother_, title of earth, 28, 89-90, 193;
title of Naniʹtis, 170-171
_Mother Corn_, as guardian spirit, 70, 195;
attributes of, 43-44, 51
_Mound_, ceremonial, in Peyote rite, 186-187
_Mountains_, home of Mask Being, 33, 147;
home of Thunder Beings, 30
_Moxhomsaʹ Eliosiʹgak_ or Grandfather at the West, 26
_Moxhomsaʹ Lowaneʹyŭng‛_ or Grandfather at the North, 26
_Moxhomsaʹ Wähänjioʹpŭng‛_ or Grandfather at the East, 26
_Mud_, ceremonial mortar made of, 85
“_Muncey devil idol_” or mask, 38.
See _Mask_
_“Muncey John” Henry_, Sun spirit guardian of, 76
_Munceytown_, Ontario, drowning near, 55;
masks of, 158;
Minsi ceremony at, 127-138
_Munsey_, see _Minsi_
_Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation_, masks in, 36;
paraphernalia of Otter ceremony in, 176;
researches of, 15
_Music_, see _Drum_, _Singers_, _Singing_
_Musselshells_ used as spoons at feast, 97
_MuxhatoLʹzing_ form of Annual ceremony, 123-124.
See _Machtuzin_
_Myth_, of Bear ceremony, 172;
of Doll Being, 162-163;
of Minsi Annual ceremony, 127-128;
of Otter, 176-179;
of Thunder, 30.
See _Legend_
_Nahneetis, the Guardian of Health_, Peter Jones on, 168-169.
See _Naniʹtis_
_Naniʹtis_, account of, by Rev. Cutting Marsh, 169-171;
ceremonies of, 166-171;
feeding of, 167-168;
in E. T. Tefft collection, 168-169;
Minsi term for Doll Being, 45-47, 162.
See _Doll Being_
_Na‛nkŭmaʹoxa_, native name of Michael Anthony, 139, 140.
See _Anthony, Michael_
_Nanticoke_, proportion of, in Lenape, 124-125;
Skeleton dance of, 183-184
_Nature_, how regarded, 17, 23.
See _Great Spirit_, _Lesser manĭʹtowŭk_, _Offering_, _Prayer_
_Nee-shaw-neechk-togho-quanoo-maun_ or _Ween-da-much-teen_, Minsi
term for Feast of first fruits, 145
_New fire_, ceremony of, 196;
making of, 101.
See _Fire_
_New Jersey_, early writers on Lenape in, 20;
Lenape first encountered in, by whites, 13;
Lenape stone masks found in, 38-41
_New York_, Lenape first encountered in, by whites, 13
_’Ngammuin_, or feast, described by Zeisberger, 109.
See _Annual ceremony_
_Niagara gorge_, home of Thunders, 30
_Nicholas, Joe_, Mask delivered up by, 38
_Night sun_, see _Moon_
_No‛ʹoma Cawaneʹyŭng‛_ or Grandmother at the South, 26
_North_, ceremonial significance of, 93, 103, 108, 119, 147;
manĭʹtowŭk of, 25-26;
thanksgiving to, 89
_North American_ tribes, belief in visions among, 61
_October_, Annual ceremony held in, 81, 119-120
_O‛ʹdas_, Unami term for Doll Being, 46, 162.
See _Doll Being_
_O‛ʹdas-kĭʹnĭkä_, Unami term for Doll dance, 163.
See _Doll Being_
_Offering_, of bear’s fat, 117-118, 134;
of bear’s flesh to Corn Goddess, 44;
of deer to Doll Being, 163;
of doe to Naniʹtis, 168-169;
of first fruits, 115, 144-145;
of food to dead, 52, 195-196;
of hog to Otter, 173;
of hominy to Doll Being, 163-164, 166;
of hominy to Mask Being, 150;
of moccasins to avert tornado, 47;
of tobacco: on behalf of hunters, 98-99;
to Bear, 172;
to fire, 126;
to Four Directions, 26;
to Mask, 34, 35, 151, 157;
to Mask impersonator, 153, 156;
to Otter, 177;
to Thunder Beings, 29;
of wampum to deer, 123;
offerings: at Annual ceremony, 117-118;
to genii, 51;
to guardian spirit, 62;
to Mask, 43;
to Naniʹtis, 45-46;
to Snow boy, 48.
See _Propitiation_, _Sacrifice_
_Officers_ of Annual ceremony, 84-85;
payment of, 110-111, 121
_Ohio_, Lenape stone masks found in, 38-41
_Oklahoma_, ancestry of Lenape now in, 124-125;
Annual ceremony celebrated in, 81-111, 119-122, 130, 138;
Lenape now resident in, 13;
primitive skirts worn in, 169;
worship of Corn Goddess in, 43
_One‛ʹtko_ or _Nanticoke_, 183.
See _Nanticoke_
_Ontario_, Canada, Lenape now resident in, 13;
mediumship reported in, 55;
Minsi ceremonies in, 43, 127-145.
See _Grand River_, _Munceytown_
_Oⁿ-oⁿ-oⁿ_, prayer-cry of Mask society, 159
_Opiʹna_ or blessing granted by guardian spirits, 65-66.
See _Blessing_
_Orientation_, as to fire, 101, 119-120;
at Mĭsiʹngʷ‛ dance, 155;
in offerings, 98;
in Peyote rite, 186-187;
in praying, 100, 108, 109, 122, 137;
in visions, 74, 147, 149;
of carved faces, 83;
of ceremonial cooking, 85, 182, 187;
of entrance and exit, 119, 131-132, 144-145;
of heaven, 54, 56;
of rattles, 103, 120;
of seating, 93, 119, 131;
of thanksgiving, 89.
See _East_, _North_, _South_, _West_
_Origin_, of Bear ceremony, 172;
of Mask, 33, 146-152;
of Minsi Annual ceremony, 127-138;
of Naniʹtis, 166-167;
of Otter ceremony, 176-179;
of Peyote rite, 185, 199
_Otter_, ceremony of, 176-183, 199;
power from, 50
_Otter-skin_, regalia of, 177-182
_Our Mother_, title of Earth, 28
_Owl_ as guardian spirit, 78, 195
_Pabookowaih_, god of health, 168-169
_Pabothʹkwe_, Great Spirit of the Shawnee, 20
_Paint_, on carved faces, 83, 119;
on drumsticks, symbolism of, 140, 141;
on face of Mask Being, 33, 41, 150, 155;
on face of Muncey John, 76;
on face of Sun, 27;
on sticks used in Minsi ceremony, 131, 139-141.
See _Black_, _Red_
_Paint-dish_ of bark in Annual ceremony, 105-106
_Paintings_ by Ernest Spybuck, 14
_Pakŭⁿdiʹgŭn_ or carved drumsticks, 101.
See _Drumsticks_
_Pantheon_ of the Lenape, 17-44.
See _Great Spirit_, _Lesser manĭʹtowŭk_, _Manĭʹtowŭk_
_Papasokwi‛ʹlŭn_, Unami name for Bear ceremony, 171.
See _Bear ceremony_
_Paradise_, see _Happy Hunting Ground_
_Parents_, kindness to, rewarded, 57;
meeting with, in Heaven, 53, 91
_Partridges_, Thunders in form of, 30
_Pa‛ʹtŭmawas_, Minsi name for Great Spirit, 19, 127;
Minsi worship of, 133-134.
See _Great Spirit_
_Payment_ of officers and attendants at ceremonies, 97, 99, 104,
106-111, 118, 121, 152-154, 164, 172-173, 179.
See _Wampum_
_Peacemaker_, Mask Being so considered, 156
_Pebbles_ in tortoise-shell rattle, 118, 120
_Penn, William_, on Annual ceremony, 115-116;
on concept of soul, 56;
on Great Spirit, 20-21
_Pennsylvania_, Annual ceremony in, 130;
Lenape first encountered in, by whites, 13;
Lenape stone masks found in, 38-41
_Petaʹnĭhink_, native name of Julius Fox, 14.
See _Fox, Julius_
_Pethakoweʹyuk_ or Thunder Beings, 29.
See _Thunder Beings_
_Pets_, cult of, 198;
spirits of, 172, 176
_Peyote_, rite, 185-196, 199;
road, 187, 189-190
_Pheasant, Monroe_, acknowledgment to, 14
_Phratries_ or totemic groups: prayers of, 104;
rituals among, 81-82, 108-109, 119-120;
Turkey, in Bear cult, 175;
Wolf: Bear cult of, 172;
Skeleton dance of, 183-184
“_Picking berries_” or wampum, 100
_Pileʹswak_ or _Pileʹsoak_, Minsi name of Thunder Beings, 30.
See _Thunder Beings_
_PileʹswaL pewaʹlatcil_ or in league with Thunders, 76
_Piʹlsŭⁿ_ or pure, otter, 176-177;
visions vouchsafed to, 62-63, 112-114
_Piskeʹwenikiʹzho_ or night sun, 28.
See _Moon_
_Placation_ of spirits, 194.
See _Offering_, _Prayer_
_Places_, genii of, 51
_Plants_, as guardian spirits, 195;
spirits of, 17, 51, 118, 125, 194;
wampum string symbolizing, 141-142
_Poisons_, fare of wicked, 58-59
_Pokiteʹhemun_ or George Wilson, vision of, 67-69
_Poles_, deer hung on, 100-101, 164;
deerskin hung on, 129-130, 144;
in Fire festival, 125;
in Minsi Big House, 131, 140;
meat hung on, 173;
representing twelve manĭʹtowŭk, 125;
used in Mĭsiʹngʷ‛ dance, 155;
venison hung on, 121.
See _Four Directions_, _Posts_
_Pontifical garb_ of impersonator of Mask Being, 41.
See _Costume_
_Poor_, deerskins given to, 108-109
_Posts_, of Big House, carved faces on, 31, 42, 83, 106, 119, 148;
of Minsi Big House, 129-130.
See _Central post_, _Poles_, _Sticks_
_Potatoes_, offering of, 144
_Power_, derived from guardian spirit, 50, 66, 78-79;
from vision, 54, 140, 147-148, 175, 194-195.
See _Blessing_
_Powŭniʹgŭn_ or deerskin drum, 94-95.
See _Drum_
_Prayer_, at conclusion of Annual ceremony, 106-109, 122, 197;
at Minsi ceremony, 133-134, 136-138, 197;
at Thanksgiving ceremony, 142;
carried by Masks, 112;
for hunters, 99-100;
of Bear ceremony, 174;
of phratry, 104;
to buck, 126;
to Corn Goddess, 43-44;
to Doll Being, 164-165;
to Earth, 29;
to Four Directions, 26;
to Great Spirit, 18, 31, 88-90, 196;
to guardian spirits, 62, 124;
to Mask, on behalf of hunters, 98;
to Mask Being, 149;
to Thunder Beings, 29-30;
to Tornado, 47;
universal benefit of, 113-115;
while gathering herbs, 26, 51.
See _Prayer-cry_
_Prayer-cry_, at Minsi ceremony, 136-137;
carried by Masks, 31, 88, 112-113;
of women, 175.
See _Ho-o-o_
_Prayer-meeting_ of the ducks, 67
_Prayer-men_ at Annual ceremony, 99-100, 104
_Prayer sticks_ or _ma‛tehiʹgun_ at Annual ceremony, 103;
annointing of, 106
_Preachers_, native, reported by Zeisberger, 57
_Prince of Darkness_, 25.
See _Evil Spirit_
_Prophecy_ of coming of white men, 121.
See _Future_, _Visions_
_Propitiation_ to prevent misfortune, 199.
See _Offering_, _Prayer_
_Pump-drill_, ceremonial fire made with, 86, 101;
in Minsi ceremony, 131-132
_Pumpkins_, offering of, 144
_Purification_, by emetics, 57, 64, 79;
by sacrifice, 144-145;
by smoke, 105, 133, 144-145, 197;
by stripes, 58;
necessary to vision, 194.
See _Piʹlsŭⁿ_
_Purple_ and white beads, 141
_Pw‛awaheʹgŭn_, Minsi term for drum, 140.
See _Drum_
_Pw‛awaheʹgŭnŭk_, Minsi term for drumsticks, 140.
See _Drumsticks_
_Rain_, charms for bringing, 49;
caused by Thunder, 89;
wampum string symbolizing, 141-142
_Rattles_, of box-tortoise shell: at Annual ceremony, 92, 94-96,
103-104, 106, 118, 120;
at Bear ceremony, 174-175;
at Feast of first fruits, 145;
at Minsi ceremony, 131, 135-136;
at Otter ceremony, 180-181;
at Planting dance, 143;
at Thanksgiving ceremony, 143;
of gourd, at Peyote rite, 188;
of Mask impersonator, 34, 38, 42, 150, 155, 159
_Red_, and black, faces painted with, in Big House, 83, 119;
and black, Mask painted with, 33, 41, 150, 155;
ceremonial painting with, 105-106;
feathers in Sun’s hair, 27;
symbolizing women, 140-141
_Red alder_, bark of, used as dye, 141
_Religion_, see _Belief_
_Road-man_ or speaker of Peyote rite, 188
_Road to heaven_, in Peyote rite, 187, 189-190;
Milky Way, 58;
sweeping of, 88, 107
_Rocks_, home of Mask Being, 36-37, 158
_River_, dividing earth from Spirit country, 54;
James Wolf’s dream of, 72-73
_Rivers_, home of Great Horned Serpents, 49
_Sacrifice_, by family, 116-118;
cleansing by, from sin, 144-145.
See _Offering_
_Sand_, tracks of Little People in, 49
_Säʹpan_ or mush, repast of, at Annual ceremony, 96
_Sarcoxie, John_, Annual ceremony conducted by, 122-124
_Seating_, at Annual ceremony, 93, 117, 119;
at Doll dance, 164;
at Minsi ceremony, 131;
at Peyote rite, 188
_Secondine_, guardian spirits of, 71-72
_Seneca_, Planting dance of, 143
_Serpent_ as guardian spirit, 78
_Sexiʹkiminsi_, Minsi name of soft maple, 42
_Shaman_, originator of Naniʹtis cult, 166-167
_Shawnee_, concept of Great Spirit among, 20;
Ernest Spybuck, a native, 14
_Shooting_ by hunters, 100, 117
_Shooting star_, see _Comet_
_Sickness_, caused:
by ghosts, 59;
by loss of bear, 172;
by neglect of rites, 171;
by otter, 177-179;
cured:
by Mask Being, 34-35, 156-157;
by Naniʹtis, 166-167;
propitiation to prevent, 199.
See _Disease_
_Silver brooches_ worn by Naniʹtis, 170
_Sin_, cleansing from, by sacrifice, 144-145.
See _Evil_
_Singers_, at Annual ceremony, 85, 94-96, 100, 115, 118, 120;
at Bear cult, 175;
at Buffalo dance, 182-183;
at Doll dance, 164;
at Feast of first fruits, 144;
at Minsi ceremony, 130;
at Mĭsiʹngʷ‛ dance, 154-155;
at Skeleton dance, 184.
See _Chant_
_Singing_, at festival of Machtuzin, 126;
at Ghost dance, 191;
at Peyote rite, 189;
at Otter ceremony, 180-181;
in Happy Hunting Ground, 58;
of vision: at Annual ceremony, 95-96;
in Big House, 148;
in Minsi ceremony, 140.
See _Chant_
_Sister Corn_, see _Mother Corn_
_Six months_, purification at end of, 144-145
_Six Nations’ reserve_, Thanksgiving ceremony on, 139-143
_Skeleton dance_, rites of, 183-184
_Skirt_, primitive, 169
_Sky_, wampum string symbolizing, 141-142
_Sluyter, Peter_, and _Dankers, Jaspar_, on Great Spirit, 20
_Smoke_, purification by, 105, 133, 144-145, 197
_Smoking_, at Annual ceremony, 95-96
_Snakes_, bag full of, 35, 153
_Snow Boy_, attributes of, 48, 193
_Society_ of mask owners, 37.
See _Mask_
_Soft maple_, bark of, used as dye, 141
_Son of God_, concept of, 57.
See _Jesus Christ_
_Songs_, see _Chant_, _Singers_, _Singing_
_Sorrow_ inducing visions, 64-65
_Souls_, immortality of, 52-60, 195-196;
nature of, 90;
of animals, 50;
transmigration of, 59
_South_, ceremonial significance of, 93, 108, 119-120, 122, 147;
manĭʹtowŭk of, 25-26;
significance of, in vision, 74;
thanksgiving to, 89
_Southeast_, ceremonial significance of, 120
_Southward_, the direction of Heaven, 54, 56
_Southwest_, Heaven of Minsi located in, 54
_Speaker_, at Annual ceremony, 85, 87-92, 98, 107-108, 110, 120;
at Doll dance, 164-165;
at Minsi ceremony, 133-134;
at Mĭsiʹngʷ‛ dance, 153-154;
at Peyote rite, 188;
at Thanksgiving ceremony, 141-142
_Speech_, at Annual ceremony, 87-92, 98;
at Doll dance, 164;
at Feast of first fruits, 145;
at Minsi ceremony, 133-134
_Spirit_, of corn, 43;
of light, 23-24;
of otter, 50, 176;
of peyote, 187, 189-190;
of sun as guardian, 76;
within earth, 28-29
_Spirit road_, see _Peyote road_
_Spirits_, animal, as guardians, 49-50;
land of, 52-54;
lesser, 194;
of animals, 118, 125;
of dead, as guardians, 71-72;
of plants, 17, 51, 118, 125;
of stones, 17, 51;
wampum string symbolizing, 141-142;
wigwams of, 54.
See _Guardian spirit_, _Lesser manĭʹtowŭk_, _Souls_
_Spoons_, of bark in Minsi ceremony, 131, 137;
musselshells as, 97
_Spring_, ceremony of Mask Being in, 35;
Minsi ceremony in, 128, 197;
Mĭsiʹngʷ‛ dance in, 152-156;
thanksgiving in, 89, 139;
thunder in, 29
_Spring dance_ of Weopĕʹlakis, 36.
See _Mĭsiʹngʷ‛ dance_
_Spring Flying Things_, see _Thunder Beings_
_Spybuck, Ernest_, acknowledgment to, 14
_Squashes_, offering of, 144;
thanks to, 134
_Staff_ at Peyote rite, 187, 189
_Stamp_ or _Stomp dance_, 119.
See _Annual ceremony_
_Stars_, wampum string symbolizing, 141-142
_Steam_ carrying prayers, 124
_Stick_, of Mask impersonator, 34, 150, 155;
sticks: as invitations to ceremony, 132;
at Peyote rite, 187;
beating by, 58;
carried by Pa‛ʹtŭmawas, 127-128;
transformed into fetishes, 162;
used in Minsi ceremony, 131, 139-141
_Stockbridge Mission_, documents of, 170
_Stockings_, bearskin, of Mask impersonator, 41.
See _Leggings_
_Stone masks_ found in New Jersey and vicinity, 38-41
_Stones_, spirits of, 17, 51
_Strachey, William_, on concept of Four Winds, 26-27
_Strawberries_, ceremonial drink of, 134;
in Happy Hunting Ground, 58;
Minsi ceremony in time of, 128
_Strawberry dance_ of Iroquois, 128, 197
_Streams and waters_, wampum string symbolizing, 141-142
_Strings of wampum_, symbolism of, 141-142
_Stripes_, purification by, 58
_Sumach sticks_, carried by Pa‛ʹtŭmawas, 127-128;
in Minsi ceremony, 131
_Sun_ or _Gĭckokwiʹta_, as guardian spirit, 76, 78, 195;
Brainerd on concept of, 22;
concept of, 27-28;
duties of, 193;
Peyote road toward, 187, 190;
salutation of, 190;
souls in, 59;
turning toward west, 132;
wampum string symbolizing, 141-142
_Supernatural helpers_ or guardian spirits, 61-63.
See _Guardian spirit_
_Supreme Being_, see _Great Spirit_
_Survival_ of the soul, see _Immortality_
_Susquehanna river_, rites of Annual ceremony on, 152;
rites of Mask Being on, 41-42
_Sweathouse_, described by Zeisberger, 125-126;
of MuxhatoLʹzing, 123-124
_Sweating-oven_, see _Sweathouse_
_Sweeping_, ceremonial, of Big House, 87-88, 107, 120, 133, 197;
around fires, 121
_Taboos_ prescribed to be piʹlsŭⁿ, 62-63
_Taleʹgunŭk_ or singers at Annual ceremony, 85.
See _Singers_
_Taxoʹxi cowŭniʹgŭn_ or tortoise-shell rattle, 94.
See _Rattles_
_Tayenoʹxwan_, native name of Chief James Wolf, 14.
See _Wolf, Chief James_
_Tefft, E. T._, ethnological collection of, 15;
Naniʹtis in, 168-169;
Minsi mask in, 38
_Temple_, see _Big House_
_Thames river_, Ontario, locating a body in, 55
_Thanksgiving_, at Minsi ceremony, 134;
carved heads symbolic of, 140;
Minsi ceremonies of, 115, 139-145, 197;
to Great Spirit at ceremonies, 18, 120, 138, 145, 190, 196;
to manĭʹtowŭk, 89-90;
to Mĭsiʹngʷ‛, 152-156;
to Mother Corn, 43
_Thirteen_ ceremonial wampum strings, 141-142
_Three_, bands of thunders, 30;
days, women interdicted during, 120;
phratries, rituals of, 119-120;
tribes of Lenape, 13
_Thunder and rain_, wampum string symbolizing, 141-142
_Thunder Beings_ or _Pethakoweʹyuk_, as guardian spirits, 74-75, 195;
attributes of, 29-31, 193;
thanksgiving to, 89
_Thunders-in-league-with_ or _PilesʹwaL pewaʹlatcil_, 76
_Timothy, Chief Nellis F._, account of Minsi Annual ceremony by,
127-138;
acknowledgment to, 14;
on Mask society, 159
_Tipi_, use of, in Peyote rite, 186, 188
_Tobacco_, ceremonial begging of, 160;
offered: on behalf of hunters, 98-99;
to bear, 172;
to fire, 126;
to Four Directions, 26;
to impersonator of Mask Being, 153, 156;
to Mask, 34, 35, 151, 157;
to otter, 177;
to Thunder Beings, 29;
to Tornado, 47;
smoked at Annual ceremony, 95-96
_Tomapemihiʹlat_, native name of Chief Nellis F. Timothy, 14.
See _Timothy_, _Chief Nellis F._
_Tomb_ of Christ at Peyote rite, 186-187
_Tooth_ of Great Bear, medicine made from, 49
_Tornado_, attributes of, 47-48
_Tortoise-shell rattle_, at Annual ceremony, 94-96, 118, 120;
at Mĭsiʹngʷ‛ dance, 155;
of Mask impersonator, 42.
See _Rattles_
_Totemic groups_, see _Phratries_
_Toys_, cult of, 198.
See _Doll Being_, _Fetishes_
_Transmigration_ of souls, 59
_Trees_, Mask Being akin to, 112;
gift of the Great Spirit, 18;
shattered by Thunder Beings, 29;
thanks to, 134
_Tschipeghacki_ or Land of Spirits, 58.
See _Happy Hunting Ground_
_Tuⁿdaʹi wäheⁿʹji manĭʹtowŭk_ or fire-maker of the manĭʹtos, 101
_Turkey phratry_ at Annual ceremony, 82, 104, 119;
part of, in Bear cult, 175
_Turkey-wings_, Big House swept with, 87, 120, 133
_Turtle phratry_, leader of Annual ceremony, 82, 104, 119-120
_Turtle-rattles_, at Annual ceremony, 92, 94-96, 103-104, 118, 120;
at Feast of first fruits, 145;
at Mĭsiʹngʷ‛ dance, 155;
at Otter ceremony, 180-181;
at Thanksgiving ceremony, 143;
in ceremonies of Mask society, 159;
in Bear cult, 174-175;
in Minsi ceremony, 131, 135-136;
of Mask impersonator, 34, 38, 150, 155, 159.
See _Rattles_
_Twelfth_, day, soul reaches heaven, 196;
heaven, home of Great Spirit, 19, 31, 52, 107, 112, 192, 196;
night in Annual ceremony, 105-106;
prayer-cry reaching Great Spirit, 136-138;
stick, dropping of, by Pa‛ʹtŭmawas, 127-128
_Twelve_, benefactors, Corn Goddess among, 43;
carved faces, 83, 88, 106, 112;
celebrants, 125-126;
ceremonial sweepings, 107;
ceremonial use of, 197;
concluding prayers, 106-107;
days, before burial, 184;
days, duration of ceremonies, 82, 119-120, 128;
days, ghosts linger near earth, 52, 54;
days, period of boys’ fast, 64;
deer at Feast of first fruits, 144;
deer for Minsi ceremony, 132;
emetics, as purification, 57;
gods or masks, 31;
heavens, 31;
in Fire festival, 125-126;
members of Mask society, 159;
months, duration of earthquake, 149;
nights, duration of Annual ceremony, 88, 107;
offerings of tobacco, 98;
pipes, in Fire festival, 126;
prayer-cries, 97, 104, 136;
prayersticks at Annual ceremony, 103;
repetitions of dance, 154, 165;
repetitions of prayer, 19, 108-109, 136-138;
sticks, penance of beating by, 58;
sticks used in Minsi ceremony, 131;
stones, altar laid on, 115;
stones in sweating-oven, 125;
sumach sticks of Pa‛ʹtŭmawas, 127-128;
sweepings of ceremonial fire, 88;
years, age of initiation for boys, 63;
years before reaching Heaven, 88
_Unalachtigo_, see _Unala‛ʹtko_
_Unala‛ʹtko_, a Lenape tribe, now merged, 13;
proportion of, in Lenape, 124-125
_Unami_, a Lenape tribe now mainly resident in Oklahoma, 13;
ceremonies of, compared with Minsi, 196-200;
chants of, referring to vision, 67-72;
cult of Mask Being among, 32-43, 146-158, 198;
Doll Being of, 45-47, 162-166;
form of Annual ceremony, 81-111;
proportion of, in Lenape, 124-125
_United States Census_ report on Indians, cited, 80
_Vegetables_, offering of, 144;
wampum string symbolizing, 141-142
_Vegetation_ controlled by Corn spirit, 193
_Venison_, feast of, at Doll dance, 166;
feast of, at Mĭsiʹngʷ‛ dance, 155;
feast of, at Minsi ceremony, 137;
provision of, for Annual ceremony, 85, 121;
women’s share in, 106
_Virginia_, concept of Four Directions in, 26-27
_Visions_, Adams on, 80;
as prophecies, 121;
Brainerd on, 77;
chanting of, at Otter ceremony, 181;
communication by, with Spirit world, 59-63, 194-195;
decline of, 112-113;
fortuitous, 64-65;
Heaven visited in, 189-191;
Heckewelder on, 78-80;
induced by peyote, 186, 188-190;
initiation of boys to induce, 63-64, 92;
leaders blessed with, 132;
Loskiel on, 78;
Minsi examples of, 72-77;
of Doll Being, 162-163;
power given by, 54;
recital of: at Annual ceremony, 95-96, 118, 121, 196;
at Feast of first fruits, 145;
at Minsi ceremony, 135-136, 139-140;
at MuxhatoLʹzing, 123-124;
at various rites, 148, 199;
referring to Skeleton dance, 184;
Unami examples of, 67-72;
Zeisberger on, 77-78.
See _Chant_, _Guardian spirit_
_Vomiting_, 176.
See _Emetics_
_Wampum_, adorning leader at Otter ceremony, 174;
buried, at Feast of first fruits, 144;
given by Great Spirit, 122;
given to vision teller, 135;
giving of, at Annual ceremony, 109;
offered to deer, 123;
owners of rattles paid in, at Annual ceremony, 104;
payment in, at Doll dance, 164;
payment of attendants in, at Annual ceremony, 106-109, 118, 121,
172-173, 179;
payment of impersonator in, 152-154;
payment of officers in, at Annual ceremony, 97, 99-100, 110-111,
121;
symbolic use of, 141-143;
valuation of, 111
_Wampum, John_, see _Chief Waubuno_
_War_, comet a presage of, 48-49;
success in, due to guardian spirit, 62
_Washita river_, Oklahoma, Caddo on, 185;
Ghost dance from region of, 190-191
_W‛aʹtekan_ or Minsi Big House, 128.
See _Minsi Big House_
_Water-drum_, at Ghost dance, 191;
at Peyote rite, 188
_Water monsters_, see _Great Horned Serpents_
_Waters_, gift of Great Spirit, 18
_Ween-da-much-teen_, see _Nee-shaw-neechk-togho-quanoo-maun_
_Wemĕĕleʹxkwĕ_, native name of Minnie Fox, 14.
See _Fox, Minnie_
_Weopĕʹlakis_, name for mask of Unami, 35-36.
See _Mask_
_West_, ceremonial significance of, 83, 85, 93, 98, 100, 101,
121-122, 131-132, 137, 145, 155, 182, 187;
Grandfather at, 26;
thanksgiving to, 89
_Whiskey_ introduced by the whites, 24
_White_, and black duck as guardian spirit, 67, 140;
and purple beads, 141;
buckskin, skeleton wrapped in, 184
_Whites_, devil and whiskey introduced by, 24;
fairies and elves of, 49;
Lenape children reared like, 63, 112-113;
Lenape first encountered by, 13;
religious concepts derived from, 57;
vision or dream regarding, 121
_Whoop_, concluding dance, 136;
in recital of vision, 95
“_Wife_,” corn spoken of as, 44
_Wigwams_ of the spirits, 54
_Wild_, animals: Mask Being guardian of, 33, 99, 193;
wampum string symbolizing, 141-142;
things, Powers Above guardians of, 177
_Wilson_, Ghost dance introduced by, 190-191
_Wilson, George_, see _Pokiteʹhemun_
_Wilson, John_, Peyote cult introduced by, 185
_Wind_, prayer-cry derived from, 112
_Winds_, attributes of, 193;
manĭʹtowŭk of, 25-27;
wampum string symbolizing, 141-142.
See _Four Directions_
_Wings_, of Thunder Beings, 29, 193;
of Tornado, 47;
used to sweep Big House, 87, 120, 133
_Winter_, Minsi Big House ceremony in, 128
_Wisconsin Historical Collections_, account of Naniʹtis in, 169-171
_Wisconsin_, Lenape now resident in, 13
_Witchcraft_, dreams revealing, 77-78;
of ghosts, 59
_Wito‛ʹpi_, Minsi term for red alder, 141
_Wolf_ as guardian spirit, 195
_Wolf, Chief James_, account of Minsi Annual ceremony by, 127-138;
acknowledgment to, 14;
dream-vision of, 72-73;
mediumship of, 55;
on Evil Spirit, 24;
on Mask Being, 36;
on Naniʹtis, 166-168;
on sun, 27;
on thunder myth, 30
_Wolf men_, see _Wolves_
_Wolf phratry_, at Annual ceremony, 94, 104, 119;
Bear cult of, 172;
Skeleton dance of, 183-184
_Wolves_, Flying Wolf’s vision of, 73-75
_Women_, drumsticks representing, 101, 130-131;
forbidden in Bear cult, 174;
in Happy Hunting Ground, 58;
in menses, 62-63, 88, 133, 197;
intercourse with, forbidden, 120;
keepers of Naniʹtis, 46;
night of, in Annual ceremony, 105-106;
part of: in Annual ceremony, 84-85, 87-88, 96-97, 108-109, 117-118;
in ceremony of Naniʹtis, 167-168;
in Doll dance, 165;
in Feast of first fruits, 144;
in Mĭsiʹngʷ‛ dance, 155;
in Otter ceremony, 179;
prayer of, at Bear ceremony, 175;
prayer of, for crops, 44;
red symbolizing, 140-141;
separate seating of, in Annual ceremony, 93;
share of, in venison, 106;
visions granted to, 65
_Worship_, of Corn Goddess, 43-44;
of elements, 29-31;
of Mask Being, 35;
of sun, 28.
See _Annual ceremony_, _Offering_, _Prayer_
_Wounds_, medicine for healing, 49
_Wry mouth_ of Mask Being, 42
_Wsinkhoalican_, Zeisberger’s term for Mĭsinghâliʹkŭn, 42.
See _Mask Being_
_Xiʹngwikan_ or Big House, 82, 148.
See _Big House_
_Zeisberger, David_, on Annual ceremony, 116-118, 130;
on Bear ceremony, 175-176;
on concept of soul, 57-59;
on Corn Goddess, 44;
on dreams or visions, 77-78;
on Evil Spirit, 25;
on Great Spirit, 21;
on Masks, 42-43;
on prayer, 109;
on Thunder Beings, 30;
on variant of Annual ceremony, 125-126
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