Seventh Annual Report Part 43

Marquette, who visited the Miami, Mascontin and Kickapoo Indians in 1673, after referring to the Indian herbalist, mentions also the ceremony of the calumet dance, as follows:

They have Physicians amongst them, towards whom they are very liberal when they are sick, thinking that the Operation of the Remedies they take, is proportional to the Presents they make unto those who have prescribd them.

In connection with this, reference is made by Marquette to a certain cla.s.s of individuals among the Illinois and Dakota, who were compelled to wear womens clothes, and who were debarred many privileges, but were permitted to a.s.sist at all the Superst.i.tions of their _Juglers_, and their solemn Dances in honor of the _Calumet_, in which they may sing, but it is not lawful for them to dance. They are calld to their Councils, and nothing is determind without their Advice; for, because of their extraordinary way of Living, they are lookd upon as _Manitous_, or at least for great and incomparable Geniuss.

That the calumet was brought into requisition upon all occasions of interest is learned from the following statement, in which the same writer declares that it is the most mysterious thing in the World. The Sceptres of our Kings are not so much respected; for the Savages have such a Deference for this Pipe, that one may call it _The G.o.d of Peace and War, and the Arbiter of Life and Death_. Their _Calumet of Peace_ is different from the _Calumet of War_; They make use of the former to seal their Alliances and Treaties, to travel with safety, and receive Strangers; and the other is to proclaim War.

This reverence for the calumet is shown by the manner in which it is used at dances, in the ceremony of smoking, etc., indicating a religious devoutness approaching that recently observed among various Algonkian tribes in connection with the ceremonies of the Midewiwin. When the calumet dance was held, the Illinois appear to have resorted to the houses in the winter and to the groves in the summer. The above-named authority continues in this connection:

They chuse for that purpose a set Place among Trees, to shelter themselves against the Heat of the Sun, and lay in the middle a large Matt, as a Carpet, to lay upon the G.o.d of the Chief of the Company, who gave the Ball; for every one has his peculiar G.o.d, whom they call _Manitoa_. It is sometime a Stone, a Bird, a Serpent, or anything else that they dream of in their Sleep; for they think this _Manitoa_ will prosper their Wants, as Fis.h.i.+ng, Hunting, and other Enterprizes. To the Right of their _Manitoa_ they place the _Calumet_, their Great Deity, making round about it a Kind of Trophy with their Arms, viz.

their Clubs, Axes, Bows, Quivers, and Arrows. * * * Every Body sits down afterwards, round about, as they come, having first of all saluted the _Manitoa_, which they do in blowing the Smoak of their Tobacco upon it, which is as much as offering to it Frankincense.

* * * This _Preludium_ being over, he who is to begin the Dance appears in the middle of the a.s.sembly, and having taken the _Calumet_, presents it to the Sun, as if he woud invite him to smoke. Then he moves it into an infinite Number of Postures sometimes laying it near the Ground, then stretching its Wings, as if he woud make it fly, and then presents it to the Spectators, who smoke with it one after another, dancing all the while. This is the first Scene of this famous Ball.

The infinite number of postures a.s.sumed in offering the pipe appear as significant as the smoke ceremonies mentioned in connection with the preparatory instruction of the candidate previous to his initiation into the Midewiwin.

In his remarks on the religion of the Indians and the practices of the sorcerers, Hennepin says:

As for their Opinion concerning the Earth, they make use of a Name of a certain _Genius_, whom they call _Micaboche_, who has coverd the whole Earth with water (as they imagine) and relate innumerable fabulous Tales, some of which have a kind of a.n.a.logy with the Universal Deluge. These Barbarians believe that there are certain Spirits in the Air, between Heaven and Earth, who have a power to foretell future Events, and others who play the part of Physicians, curing all sorts of Distempers. Upon which account, it happens, that these _Savages_ are very Superst.i.tious, and consult their Oracles with a great deal of exactness. One of these Masters-Jugglers who pa.s.s for Sorcerers among them, one day causd a Hut to be erected with ten thick Stakes, which he fixd very deep in the Ground, and then made a horrible noise to Consult the Spirits, to know whether abundance of Snow woud fall ere long, that they might have good game in the Hunting of Elks and Beavers: Afterward he bawld out aloud from the bottom of the Hut, that he saw many Herds of Elks, which were as yet at a very great distance, but that they drew near within seven or eight Leagues of their Huts, which causd a great deal of joy among those poor deluded Wretches.

That this statement refers to one or more tribes of the Algonkian linguistic stock is evident, not only because of the reference to the sorcerers and their peculiar methods of procedure, but also that the name of _Micaboche_, an Algonkian divinity, appears. This Spirit, who acted as an intercessor between Kits.h.i.+ Manido (Great Spirit) and the Indians, is known among the Ojibwa as Minabozho; but to this full reference will be made further on in connection with the Myth of the origin of the Midewiwin. The tradition of Nokomis (the earth) and the birth of Manabush (the Minabozho of the Menomoni) and his brother, the Wolf, that pertaining to the re-creation of the world, and fragments of other myths, are thrown together and in a mangled form presented by Hennepin in the following words:

Some Salvages which live at the upper end of the River St. _Lawrence_, do relate a pretty diverting Story. They hold almost the same opinion with the former [the Iroquois], that a Woman came down from Heaven, and remained for some while fluttering in the Air, not finding Ground whereupon to put her Foot. But that the Fishes moved with Compa.s.sion for her, immediately held a Consultation to deliberate which of them should receive her. The Tortoise very officiously offered its Back on the Surface of the Water. The Woman came to rest upon it, and fixed herself there. Afterwards the Filthiness and Dirt of the Sea gathering together about the Tortoise, there was formed by little and little that vast Tract of Land, which we now call _America_.

They add that this Woman grew weary of her Solitude, wanting some body for to keep her Company, that so she might spend her time more pleasantly. Melancholy and Sadness having seizd upon her Spirits, she fell asleep, and a Spirit descended from above, and finding her in that Condition approachd and knew her unperceptibly. From which Approach she conceived two Children, which came forth out of one of her Ribs. But these two Brothers could never afterwards agree together. One of them was a better Huntsman than the other; they quarreled every day; and their Disputes grew so high at last, that one could not bear with the other. One especially being of a very wild Temper, hated mortally his Brother who was of a milder Const.i.tution, who being no longer able to endure the Pranks of the other, he resolved at last to part from him. He retired then into Heaven, whence, for a Mark of his just Resentment, he causeth at several times his Thunder to rore over the Head of his unfortunate Brother.

Sometime after the Spirit descended again on that Woman, and she conceived a Daughter, from whom (as the Salvages say) were propagated these numerous People, which do occupy now one of the greatest parts of the Universe.

It is evident that the narrator has sufficiently distorted the traditions to make them conform, as much as practicable, to the biblical story of the birth of Christ. No reference whatever is made in the Ojibwa or Menomoni myths to the conception of the Daughter of Nokomis (the earth) by a celestial visitant, but the reference is to one of the wind G.o.ds. Minabozho became angered with the Kits.h.i.+ Manido, and the latter, to appease his discontent, gave to Minabozho the rite of the Midewiwin. The brother of Minabozho was destroyed by the malevolent underground spirits and now rules the abode of shadows,--the Land of the Midnight Sun.

Upon his arrival at the Bay of Puans (Green Bay, Wisconsin), Marquette found a village inhabited by three nations, viz: Miamis, Maskoutens, and Kikabeux. He says:

When I arrivd there, I was very glad to see a great Cross set up in the middle of the Village, adornd with several White Skins, Red Girdles, Bows and Arrows, which that good People had offerd to the Great _Manitou_, to return him their Thanks for the care he had taken of them during the Winter, and that he had granted them a prosperous Hunting. _Manitou_, is the Name they give in general to all Spirits whom they think to be above the Nature of Man.

Marquette was without doubt ignorant of the fact that the cross is the sacred post, and the symbol of the fourth degree of the Midewiwin, as will be fully explained in connection with that grade of the society.

The erroneous conclusion that the cross was erected as an evidence of the adoption of Christianity, and possibly as a compliment to the visitor, was a natural one on the part of the priest, but this same symbol of the Mide Society had probably been erected and bedecked with barbaric emblems and weapons months before anything was known of him.

The result of personal investigations among the Ojibwa, conducted during the years 1887, 1888 and 1889, are presented in the accompanying paper.

The information was obtained from a number of the chief Mide priests living at Red Lake and White Earth reservations, as well as from members of the society from other reservations, who visited the last named locality during the three years. Special mention of the peculiarity of the music recorded will be made at the proper place; and it may here be said that in no instance was the use of colors detected, in any birch-bark or other records or mnemonic songs, simply to heighten the artistic effect; though the reader would be led by an examination of the works of Schoolcraft to believe this to be a common practice. Col.

Garrick Mallery; U.S. Army, in a paper read before the Anthropological Society of Was.h.i.+ngton, District of Columbia, in 1888, says, regarding this subject:

The general character of his voluminous publications has not been such as to a.s.sure modern critics of his accuracy, and the wonderful minuteness, as well as comprehension, attributed by him to the Ojibwa hieroglyphs has been generally regarded of late with suspicion. It was considered in the Bureau of Ethnology an important duty to ascertain how much of truth existed in these remarkable accounts, and for that purpose its pictographic specialists, myself and Dr. W. J. Hoffman as a.s.sistant, were last summer directed to proceed to the most favorable points in the present habitat of the tribe, namely, the northern region of Minnesota and Wisconsin, to ascertain how much was yet to be discovered. * * * The general results of the comparison of Schoolcrafts statements with what is now found shows that, in substance, he told the truth, but with much exaggeration and coloring.

The word coloring is particularly appropriate, because, in his copious ill.u.s.trations, various colors were used freely with apparent significance, whereas, in fact, the general rule in regard to the birch-bark rolls was that they were never colored at all; indeed, the bark was not adapted to coloration. The metaphorical coloring was also used by him in a manner which, to any thorough student of the Indian philosophy and religion, seems absurd. Metaphysical expressions are attached to some of the devices, or, as he calls them, symbols, which, could never have been entertained by a people in the stage of culture of the Ojibwa.

SHAMANS.

There are extant among the Ojibwa Indians three cla.s.ses of mystery men, termed respectively and in order of importance the Mide, the Jessakkid, and the Wbeno, but before proceeding to elaborate in detail the Society of the Mide, known as the Midewiwin, a brief description of the last two is necessary.

The term Wbeno has been explained by various intelligent Indians as signifying Men of the dawn, Eastern men, etc. Their profession is not thoroughly understood, and their number is so extremely limited that but little information respecting them can be obtained. Schoolcraft,[5]

in referring to the several cla.s.ses of Shamans, says there is a third form or rather modification of the medawin, * * * the Wbeno; a term denoting a kind of midnight orgies, which is regarded as a corruption of the Meda. This writer furthermore remarks[6] that it is stated by judicious persons among themselves to be of modern origin.

They regard it as a degraded form of the mysteries of the Meda.

[Footnote 5: Information respecting the history, condition, and prospects of the Indian tribes of the United States. Philadelphia, 1851, vol. 1, p. 319.]

[Footnote 6: Ibid., p. 362.]

From personal investigation it has been ascertained that a Wbeno does not affiliate with others of his cla.s.s so as to const.i.tute a society, but indulges his pretensions individually. A Wbeno is primarily prompted by dreams or visions which may occur during his youth, for which purpose he leaves his village to fast for an indefinite number of days. It is positively affirmed that evil manidos favor his desires, and apart from his general routine of furnis.h.i.+ng hunting medicine, love powders, etc., he pretends also to practice medical magic. When a hunter has been successful through the supposed a.s.sistance of the Wbeno, he supplies the latter with part of the game, when, in giving a feast to his tutelary daimon, the Wbeno will invite a number of friends, but all who desire to come are welcome. This feast is given at night; singing and dancing are boisterously indulged in, and the Wbeno, to sustain his reputation, entertains his visitors with a further exhibition of his skill. By the use of plants he is alleged to be enabled to take up and handle with impunity red-hot stones and burning brands, and without evincing the slightest discomfort it is said that he will bathe his hands in boiling water, or even boiling maple sirup. On account of such performances the general impression prevails among the Indians that the Wbeno is a dealer in fire, or fire-handler. Such exhibitions always terminate at the approach of day. The number of these pretenders who are not members of the Midewiwin, is very limited; for instance, there are at present but two or three at White Earth Reservation and none at Leech Lake.

As a general rule, however, the Wbeno will seek entrance into the Midewiwin when he becomes more of a specialist in the practice of medical magic, incantations, and the exorcism of malevolent manidos, especially such as cause disease.

The Jessakkid is a seer and prophet; though commonly designated a juggler, the Indians define him as a revealer of hidden truths.

There is no a.s.sociation whatever between the members of this profession, and each practices his art singly and alone whenever a demand is made and the fee presented. As there is no a.s.sociation, so there is no initiation by means of which one may become a Jessakkid. The gift is believed to be given by the thunder G.o.d, or Animiki, and then only at long intervals and to a chosen few. The gift is received during youth, when the fast is undertaken and when visions appear to the individual.

His renown depends upon his own audacity and the opinion of the tribe.

He is said to possess the power to look into futurity; to become acquainted with the affairs and intentions of men; to prognosticate the success or misfortune of hunters and warriors, as well as other affairs of various individuals, and to call from any living human being the soul, or, more strictly speaking, the shadow, thus depriving the victim of reason, and even of life. His power consists in invoking, and causing evil, while that of the Mide is to avert it; he attempts at times to injure the Mide but the latter, by the aid of his superior manidos, becomes aware of, and averts such premeditated injury. It sometimes happens that the demon possessing a patient is discovered, but the Mide alone has the power to expel him. The exorcism of demons is one of the chief pretensions of this personage, and evil spirits are sometimes removed by sucking them through tubes, and startling tales are told how the Jessakkid can, in the twinkling of an eye, disengage himself of the most complicated tying of cords and ropes, etc. The lodge used by this cla.s.s of men consists of four poles planted in the ground, forming a square of three or four feet and upward in diameter, around which are wrapped birch bark, robes, or canvas in such a way as to form an upright cylinder. Communion is held with the turtle, who is the most powerful manido of the Jessakkid, and through him, with numerous other malevolent manidos, especially the Animiki, or thunder-bird. When the prophet has seated himself within his lodge the structure begins to sway violently from side to side, loud thumping noises are heard within, denoting the arrival of manidos, and numerous voices and laughter are distinctly audible to those without. Questions may then be put to the prophet and, if everything be favorable, the response is not long in coming. In his notice of the Jessakkid, Schoolcraft affirms[7] that while he thus exercises the functions of a prophet, he is also a member of the highest cla.s.s of the fraternity of the Midwin--a society of men who exercise the medical art on the principles of magic and incantations. The fact is that there is not the slightest connection between the practice of the Jessakkid and that of the Midewiwin, and it is seldom, if at all, that a Mide becomes a Jessakkid, although the latter sometimes gains admission into the Midewiwin, chiefly with the intention of strengthening his power with his tribe.

[Footnote 7: Op. cit., vol. 5, p. 423.]

The number of individuals of this cla.s.s who are not members of the Midewiwin is limited, though greater than that of the Wbeno. An idea of the proportion of numbers of the respective cla.s.ses may be formed by taking the case of Menomoni Indians, who are in this respect upon the same plane as the Ojibwa. That tribe numbers about fifteen hundred, the Mide Society consisting, in round numbers, of one hundred members, and among the entire population there are but two Wbeno and five Jessakkid.

It is evident that neither the Wbeno nor the Jessakkid confine themselves to the mnemonic songs which are employed during their ceremonial performances, or even prepare them to any extent. Such bark records as have been observed or recorded, even after most careful research and examination extending over the field seasons of three years, prove to have been the property of Wbeno and Jessakkid, who were also Mide. It is probable that those who practice either of the first two forms of ceremonies and nothing else are familiar with and may employ for their own information certain mnemonic records; but they are limited to the characteristic formul of exorcism, as their practice varies and is subject to changes according to circ.u.mstances and the requirements and wants of the applicant when words are chanted to accord therewith.

Some examples of songs used by Jessakkid, after they have become Mide, will be given in the description of the several degrees of the Mide wiwin.

There is still another cla.s.s of persons termed Mashkikikewinini, or herbalists, who are generally denominated medicine men, as the Ojibwa word implies. Their calling is a simple one, and consists in knowing the mysterious properties of a variety of plants, herbs, roots, and berries, which are revealed upon application and for a fee. When there is an administration of a remedy for a given complaint, based upon true scientific principles, it is only in consequence of such practice having been acquired from the whites, as it has usually been the custom of the Catholic Fathers to utilize all ordinary and available remedies for the treatment of the common disorders of life. Although these herbalists are aware that certain plants or roots will produce a specified effect upon the human system, they attribute the benefit to the fact that such remedies are distasteful and injurious to the demons who are present in the system and to whom the disease is attributed. Many of these herbalists are found among women, also; and these, too, are generally members of the Midewiwin. In Fig. 1 is shown an herbalist preparing a mixture.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 1.--Herbalist preparing medicine and treating patient.]

The origin of the Midewiwin or Mide Society, commonly, though erroneously, termed Grand Medicine Society, is buried in obscurity. In the Jesuit Relations, as early as 1642, frequent reference is made to sorcerers, jugglers, and persons whose faith, influence, and practices are dependent upon the a.s.sistance of Manitous, or mysterious spirits; though, as there is no discrimination made between these different professors of magic, it is difficult positively to determine which of the several cla.s.ses were met with at that early day. It is probable that the Jessakkid, or juggler, and the Mide, or Shaman, were referred to.

The Mide, in the true sense of the word, is a Shaman, though he has by various authors been termed powwow, medicine man, priest, seer, prophet, etc. Among the Ojibwa the office is not hereditary; but among the Menomoni a curious custom exists, by which some one is selected to fill the vacancy one year after the death of a Shaman. Whether a similar practice prevailed among other tribes of the Algonkian linguistic stock can be ascertained only by similar research among the tribes const.i.tuting that stock.

Among the Ojibwa, however, a subst.i.tute is sometimes taken to fill the place of one who has been prepared to receive the first degree of the Midewiwin, or Society of the Mide, but who is removed by death before the proper initiation has been conferred. This occurs when a young man dies, in which case his father or mother may be accepted as a subst.i.tute. This will be explained in more detail under the caption of Dzhibai Midewign or Ghost Lodge, a collateral branch of the Midewiwin.

As I shall have occasion to refer to the work of the late Mr. W. W.

Warren, a few words respecting him will not be inappropriate. Mr. Warren was an Ojibwa mixed blood, of good education, and later a member of the legislature of Minnesota. His work, entiled History of the Ojibwa Nation, was published in Vol. V of the Collections of the Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul, 1885, and edited by Dr. E. D. Neill. Mr.

Warrens work is the result of the labor of a lifetime among his own people, and, had he lived, he would undoubtedly have added much to the historical material of which the printed volume chiefly consists. His ma.n.u.script was completed about the year 1852, and he died the following year. In speaking of the Society of the Mide,[8] he says:

The grand rite of Me-da-we-win (or, as we have learned to term it, Grand Medicine,) and the beliefs incorporated therein, are not yet fully understood by the whites. This important custom is still shrouded in mystery even to my own eyes, though I have taken much pains to inquire and made use of every advantage possessed by speaking their language perfectly, being related to them, possessing their friends.h.i.+p and intimate confidence has given me, and yet I frankly acknowledge that I stand as yet, as it were, on the threshold of the Me-da-we lodge. I believe, however, that I have obtained full as much and more general and true information on this matter than any other person who has written on the subject, not excepting a great and standard author, who, to the surprise of many who know the Ojibways well, has boldly a.s.serted in one of his works that he has been regularly initiated into the mysteries of this rite, and is a member of the Me-da-we Society. This is certainly an a.s.sertion hard to believe in the Indian country; and when the old initiators or Indian priests are told of it they shake their heads in incredulity that a white man should ever have been allowed _in truth_ to become a member of their Me-da-we lodge.

An entrance into the lodge itself, while the ceremonies are being enacted, has sometimes been granted through courtesy; though this does not initiate a person into the mysteries of the creed, nor does it make him a member of the Society.

[Footnote 8: Op. cit., pp. 65, 66.]

These remarks pertaining to the pretensions of a great and standard authority have reference to Mr. Schoolcraft, who among numerous other a.s.sertions makes the following, in the first volume of his Information Respecting the Indian Tribes of the United States, Philadelphia, 1851, p. 361, viz:

I had observed the exhibitions of the Medawin, and the exactness and studious ceremony with which its rites were performed in 1820 in the region of Lake Superior; and determined to avail myself of the advantages of my official position, in 1822, when I returned as a Government agent for the tribes, to make further inquiries into its principles and mode of proceeding. And for this purpose I had its ceremonies repeated in my office, under the secrecy of closed doors, with every means of both correct interpretation and of recording the result. Prior to this transaction I had observed in the hands of an Indian of the Odjibwa tribe one of those symbolic tablets of pictorial notation which have been sometimes called music boards, from the fact of their devices being sung off by the initiated of the Meda Society. This const.i.tuted the object of the explanations, which, in accordance with the positive requisitions of the leader of the society and three other initiates, was thus ceremoniously made.

This statement is followed by another,[9] in which Mr. Schoolcraft, in a foot-note, affirms: