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For the purpose of a brief description of the religion of the American
Indians we may define religion as that group of concepts and acts which
spring from the relation of the individual to the outer world, so far as
these relations are not considered as due to physical forces the action
of which is accounted for by purely rationalistic considerations. The
scope of religious concepts will depend to a certain extent, therefore,
on the knowledge of the laws of nature; and, since the border-line of
the natural and the supernatural, as conceived in the mind of primitive
man, does not coincide with our view of this subject, there will be
marked differences between the scope of religion among civilized nations
and that among less advanced peoples.
For instance, the causal relations
determining the movements of the stars are recognized by civilized man;
but at an earlier time it was believed that the positions of the stars
influenced in a mysterious manner the fates of man and that their
movements could be controlled by his will. Among tribes which held to
the latter opinion, views relating to the heavenly bodies would form
part of the religion of the people; while among those peoples to which
the causal relations determining the motions of the stars are known,
these motions are no longer subject to religious interpretations.
Owing to the different point of view, it may also
happen that certain ideas of primitive man, which from our standpoint
would have to be considered as religious in character, are interpreted
by the people holding them as purely rationalistic. In our judgment, for
instance, sympathetic cures, which are believed in by most primitive
tribes and even by uneducated people among ourselves, can not be
considered as due to any physical effect, while among primitive tribes
they may be so viewed. The same is true of certain mythological
concepts. If an Indian tribe explains the markings on the skin of the
chipmunk as due to the fact that at an early time the grizzly bear
scratched its back, this may be to the mind of the Indian a perfectly
rationalistic explanation, while to us it would be entirely mysterious.
Thus it appears that the general views of nature-the explanations given
for the occurrence of natural phenomena, necessarily enter into a
consideration of the religions of primitive tribes, even if these
explanations should be based on a purely rationalistic attitude on the
part of primitive man. The less clear the line between observation and
reasoning on the one hand and imagination and inference due to emotional
states on the other, the less sharply drawn will be the line between
what may be called science and religion. In accordance with the
definition given before, those concepts that spring from the relation of
the individual to the outer world, and the form of which depends on
imagination and emotion, may be said to form the tenets of religion.
When religious acts are considered in greater detail,
it appears that here also acts prompted by rationalistic considerations
are not sharply separated from others dictated by imagination and
emotion. Thus, when a medicine-man pursues and captures the fleeing soul
of a sick man, he may follow out by his acts in a rational way opinions
based largely on reasoning, although deeply affected in their origin by
such emotions as fear and love. When, on the other hand, he tries to
gain greater efficiency by putting himself into a state of emotional
excitement, in which he believes his chances of success are enhanced,
his acts become religious, in the stricter sense of the term. This lack
of sharp division between rationalistic and religious forms of activity
is found everywhere.
Furthermore, it must be borne in mind that many
actions are performed without any conscious reason, except so far as
they are required by custom. This is true particularly of actions that
are considered as proper, like those determined by rules regulating the
behavior of the young to the old, or of the common people to the
nobility; or also of actions that are considered as ethical, like those
of hospitality and of pity. Here the line of demarcation between
religious activities and others not connected with religion becomes even
less sharp, because it often happens that actions originally performed
without any particular reason or for purely rationalistic purposes are
secondarily given religious motives. It thus follows that religious
views and actions are not primarily connected with ethical concepts.
Only in so far as man in his religious relations to the outer world
endeavors to follow certain rules of conduct, in order to avoid evil
effects, is a relation between primitive religion and ethics
established.
The religious concepts of the Indians may be described
in two groups, those that concern the individual, and those that concern
the social group, such as tribe and clan. The fundamental concept
bearing on the religious life of the individual is the belief in the
existence of magic power, which may influence the life of man, and which
in turn may be influenced by human activity. In this sense magic power
must be understood as the wonderful qualities which are believed to
exist in objects, animals, men, spirits, or deities, and which are
superior to the natural qualities of man.
This idea of magic power is
one of the fundamental concepts that occur among all Indian tribes. It
is what is called manito by the Algonquian tribes; wakanda, by the
Siouan tribes; orenda, by the Iroquois; sulia, by the Salish; naualak,
by the Kwakiutl, and tamanoas, by the Chinook. Notwithstanding slight
differences in the signification of these terms, the fundamental notion
of all of them is that of a power inherent in the objects of nature
which is more potent than the natural powers of man. This idea seems
adequately expressed by our term "wonderful"; and it is hardly necessary
to introduce an Indian term, as has often been attempted.
Among the American terms, the word manito (q. v.; see
also Orenda, Otkon, Oyaron) has been most frequently used to express
this idea. The degree to which the magic power of nature is
individualized differs considerably among various tribes. Although the
belief in the powers of inanimate objects is common, we find in America
that, on the whole, animals, particularly the larger ones, are most
frequently considered as possessed of such magic power.
Strong
anthropomorphic individualization also occurs, which justifies us in
calling these powers deities. It seems probable that among the majority
of tribes, besides the belief in the power of specific objects, a belief
in a magic power that is only vaguely localized, exists. In cases where
this belief is pronounced, the notion sometimes approaches the concept
of a deity, or of a great spirit which is hardly anthropomorphic in its
character. This is the case, for instance, among the Tsimshian of
British Columbia and among the Algonquian tribes of the Great Lakes, and
also in the figure of the Tirawa of the Pawnee.
As stated before, the whole concept of the world or, in
other words, the mythology of each tribe, enters to a very great extent
into their religious concepts and activities. The mythologies are highly
specialized in different parts of North America; and, although a large
number of myths are the common property of many American tribes, the
general view of the world appears to be quite distinct in various parts
of the continent. Taking into consideration the continent of America as
a whole, we find a type of explanation of the world which is
psychologically quite different from the familiar Semitic type.
In the Semitic religions eternal existence appeared as
an unintelligible problem, and the mind preferred to assume a beginning
which was accounted for by transferring the existing world, as it was
known by observation, into the thought of a creator, and interpreting
the creation as a projection of his thoughts by his willpower into
objective existence. The Indian mind, on the other hand, accepts the
eternal existence of the world, and accounts for its specific form by
the assumption that events which once happened in early times settled
for once and all the form in which the same kind of event must continue
to occur.
For instance, when the bear produced the stripes of the
chipmunk by scratching its back, this determined that all chipmunks were
to have such stripes; or when an ancestor of a clan was taught a certain
ceremony, that same ceremony must be performed by all future
generations. This idea is not by any means confined to America, but is
found among primitive peoples of other continents as well, and occurs
even in Semitic cults.
Considering American mythologies in their broadest
outlines, the following areas may be distinguished:
(1) The Eskimo area, the mythology of which
is characterized by an abundance of purely human hero-tales, and a
very small number of traditions accounting for the origin of
animals, and these generally largely in human setting.
(2) The North Pacific Coast area, characterized by a large cycle of
transformer myths, in which the origin of many of the arts of man is
accounted for, as well as the peculiarities of many animals; the
whole forming a very disconnected heterogeneous mass of traditions.
(3) Allied to these appear the traditions of the Western plateau and
of the Mackenzie basin area, a region in which animal tales abound,
many accounting for the present conditions of the world, the whole
being very disconnected and contradictory.
(4) The Californian area, the mythologies of which are characterized
by a stronger emphasis laid on creation by will-power than is found
in most other parts of the American continent.
(5) The principal characteristic of the mythologies of the area of
the Great Plains, the eastern woodlands, and the arid Southwest, is
the tendency to systematization of the myths under the influence of
a highly developed ritual.
This tendency is more
sharply defined in the south than in the north and northeast, and has
perhaps progressed further than anywhere else among the Pueblos, to whom
the origin of the clans and societies seems to give the keynote of
mythological concepts; and among the Pawnee, whose contemplation of the
stars seems to have given the principal tone to their mythology (see
also article Mythology). The religious concepts of the Indians deal
largely with the relation of the individual to the magic power mentioned
above, and are specialized in accordance with their general mythological
concepts, which determine largely the degree to which the powers are
personified as animals, spirits, or deities.
Another group of religious concepts, which are not less
important than the group heretofore discussed, refers to the relations
of the individual to his internal states, so far as these are not
controlled by the will, and are therefore considered as subject to
external magic influences. Most important among these are dreams,
sickness, and death. These may be produced by obsession, or by external
forces which compel the soul to leave the body. In this sense the soul
is considered by almost all tribes as not subject to the individual
will; it may be abstracted from the body by hostile forces, and it may
be damaged and killed. The concept of the soul itself shows a great
variety of forms. Very often the soul is identified with life, but we
also find commonly the belief in a multiplicity of souls.
Thus, among
the Eskimo, the name is considered as one of the souls of man, another
soul belongs to the body, a third one is independent of the body. The
soul is also identified with the blood, the bones, the shadow, the nape
of the neck (see Soul). Based on these ideas is also the belief in the
existence of the soul after death. Thus, in the belief of the Algonquian
Indians of the Great Lakes, the souls of the deceased are believed to
reside in the far west with the brother of the great culture-hero. Among
the Kutenai the belief prevails that the souls will return at a later
period, accompanying the culture-hero. Sometimes the land from which the
ancestors of the tribe have sprung, which in the south is often
conceived of as underground, is of equal importance.
Since the belief in the existence of magic powers is
very strong in the Indian mind, all his actions are regulated by the
desire to retain the good will of those friendly to him, and to control
those that are hostile.
The first means of retaining the good will of the
friendly power is the strict observance of a great variety of
proscriptions. An important group of these may be combined under the
term "taboo" (q. v. ). Among these, furthermore, food taboos are
particularly common. Every tribe of America, no matter how scanty their
means of subsistence may have been, had certain kinds of tabooed food
that is, food forbidden, either permanently or at certain seasons, or on
certain occasions.
Thus, one division of the Omaha were forbidden to eat
the shoulder of the buffalo, while another one was forbidden to eat the
elk; the Iroquois were forbidden to eat the animal from which their
family name was taken, and the same is true of Pueblo and other clans;
the Eskimo must not eat caribou and walrus at the same season; the
Navaho must not touch flesh of the bear, nor the Zuņi anything that
lives in the water.
Not less numerous are the taboos of work. These are
perhaps nowhere so highly developed as among the Eskimo, among whom work
on caribou-skins, seal-skins, metals, ice, and heather is forbidden
under certain conditions. Here belong, also, the taboos of
story-telling, and of playing certain games at certain seasons, which
are quite common. Of great importance are the taboos intended to prevent
the evil effects of impurity. Thus we find a large number of taboos
forbidding menstruating women, murderers, and mourners from performing
certain kinds of work. They must not touch fresh food lest the magic
powers controlling the food supply may be offended.
Social taboos, which are very common in Polynesia, are
not so markedly developed in America, although the strict secrecy with
which certain sacred actions are performed by privileged members of a
tribe is akin to this institution. Thus it is forbidden, except on
certain occasions, for any member of the tribe to touch or even see the
contents of sacred bundles (see Palladium), and even then only the
keeper of the bundle is allowed to open it to view. While all these
taboos are essentially negative in their character, forbidding certain
actions in order to avoid giving offense, there are positive acts which
are required for the same purpose.
Some of these might well be called
rules of ethical conduct, although the one reason given for them is the
endeavor to retain the good will of the wonderful powers of nature. All
the numerous regulations which are found all over the continent, and
intended to retain the good will of the food animals; and which are
essentially signs of respect shown to them, belong to this class. Dogs
must not gnaw the bones of food animals, because this is a sign of
disrespect.
The bear, after having been killed, receives marks of
reverence; and the first game animals obtained at the beginning of the
hunting season must be treated with particular care. The complicated
customs relating to buffalo hunting, and the salmon ceremonials of the
northwest Indians, as well as the whale ceremonials of the Eskimo, may
also be given as examples. Respectful behavior toward old people and
generally decent conduct are also often counted among such required
acts. Here may also be included the numerous customs of purification
that are required in order to avoid the ill will of the powers. These,
however, may better be considered as constituting one of the means of
controlling magic power, which form a very large part of the religious
observances of the American Indians.
The Indian is not satisfied with the attempt to avoid
the ill will of the powers, but he tries also to make them subservient
to his own needs. This end may be attained in a variety of ways. Perhaps
the most characteristic of North American Indian methods of gaining
control over supernatural powers is that of the acquisition of one of
them as a personal protector. Generally this process is called the
acquiring of a manito; and the most common method of acquiring it is for
the young man during the period of adolescence to purify himself by
fasting, bathing, and vomiting, until his body is perfectly clean and
acceptable to the supernatural beings.
At the same time the youth works
himself by these means, by dancing, and sometimes also by means of
drugs, into a trance, in which he has a vision of the guardian spirit
which is to protect him throughout life. These means of establishing
communication with the spirit world are in very general use, also at
other periods of life (see Black Drink, Dance, Ordeals, Peyote,
Tobacco). The magic power that man thus acquires may give him special
abilities; it may make him a successful hunter, warrior, or shaman; or
it may give him power to acquire wealth, success in gambling, or the
love of women.
While the above is the most common method of acquiring
magic power, other means are well known among the American Indians,
particularly among those tribes in which strong clan organizations
prevail. They believe that wonderful power may be attained by
inheritance. There are also numerous cases, as among the Arapaho and
Blackfeet (Siksika), where the privilege of acquiring it and the control
over it may be purchased. Among the American Eskimo the idea prevails
that it may be transmitted by teaching and by bodily contact with a
person who controls such powers. Ordinarily its possession is considered
so sacred that it must not be divulged except in cases of extreme
danger, but among other tribes it may be made known to the whole tribe.
In a few cases the opinion prevails that such powers exist in certain
localities, but can not be acquired by individuals.
Another means of controlling the powers of nature is by
prayer, which may be directed either to the protecting spirit of the
individual or to other powers. Objects of prayer may be protection in
danger, removal of sickness, the obtaining of food or other material
benefits, or a more general and abstract request for the blessing of the
powers. Many prayers are addressed in fixed form or contain at least
certain old formulas.
Another way of invoking the protection of the powers is
through the use of charms (also called fetishes, q. v.). The charm is
either believed to be the seat of magic power, or it may be a symbol of
such power, and its action may be based on its symbolic significance. Of
the former kind are presumably many objects contain6d in the sacred
bundles of certain Indians, which are believed to be possessed of sacred
powers; while symbolic significance seems to prevail in charms like the
stones worn by the North Pacific Coast Indians, which are believed to
harden the skin against missiles of hostile shamans, or the magic whip
of wolf-skin of the Eskimo, which is believed to have the power of
driving away spirits.
Symbolic actions are also made use of. Such acts are,
for instance, the setting-up of prayer-sticks (q. v.), which are meant
to convey man's wishes to the powers. Often these wishes are indicated
by special attachments, expressing in symbolic or pictographic manner
the thing wished for. Somewhat related to such symbolic actions are also
all processes of divination, in which, by a symbolic act, the
propitiousness of the proposed undertaking is ascertained.
Still more potent means of influencing the powers are
offerings and sacrifices. On the whole, these are not so strongly
developed in North America as they are in other parts of the world. In
many regions human sacrifices were common for instance, in Mexico and
Yucatan while in northern America they are known only in rare instances,
as among the Pawnee. However, many cases of torture, particularly of
self-torture, must be reckoned here (see Ordeals, Sun Dance). Other
bloody sacrifices are also rare in North America. We may mention the
sacrifice of the dog among the Iroquois.
Only to a limited extent do we
find the tendency of considering the killing of game as a bloody
sacrifice. On the other hand, sacrifices of tobacco smoke, of corn, and
of parts of food, of small manufactured objects, and of symbolic
objects, are very common. These gifts may be offered to any of the
supernatural powers with the intent of gaining their assistance and
avoiding their enmity.
Still another way of gaining control over supernatural
powers is by incantations, which in a way are related to prayers, but
which act rather through the magic influence of the words. Therefore the
traditional form of these incantations is rigidly adhered to. They occur
frequently among the Arctic tribes of the continent, but are not by any
means lacking among others, who believe that the recitation of a short
formula may aid in reaching a desired end. In the same way that
incantations are related to prayer, certain acts and charms are related
to offerings.
We find among almost all Indian tribes the custom of
performing certain acts, which are neither symbolic nor offerings, nor
other attempts to obtain the assistance of superior beings, but which
are effective through their own potency. Such acts are the use of lucky
objects intended to secure good fortune; or the peculiar treatment of
animals, plants, and other objects, in order to bring about a change of
weather.
There is also found among most Indian tribes the
idea that the supernatural powers, if offended by transgressions of
rules of conduct, may be propitiated by punishment. Such punishment may
consist in the removal of the offending individual, who may be killed by
the members of the tribe, or the propitiation may be accomplished by
milder forms of punishment. Of particular interest among these is
confession as a means of propitiation, which is found among the
Athapascan, the Iroquois, and the Eskimo. Other forms of punishment are
based largely on the idea of purification by fasting, bathing, and
vomiting. Among the Plains Indians the vow to perform a ceremony or
another act agreeable to the powers is considered an efficient means of
gaining their good will or of atoning for past offenses.
Protection against disease is also sought by the help
of superhuman powers. These practices have two distinct forms, according
to the fundamental conception of disease. Disease is conceived of
principally in two forms, either as due to the presence of a material
object in the body of the patient, or as an effect of the absence of the
soul from the body. The cure of disease is entrusted to the shamans or
medicine-men, who obtain their powers generally by the assistance of
guardian spirits, or who may personally be endowed with magic powers. It
is their duty to discover the material disease which is located in the
patient's body, and which they extract by sticking or pilling with the
hands; or to go in pursuit of the absent soul, to recover it, and to
restore it to the patient.
Both of these forms of shamanism are found
practically all over the continent, but in some regions, for instance,
in California, the idea of material bodies that cause sickness is
particularly strongly developed; while in other regions the idea of the
absence of the soul seems to be more marked. In treating the patient,
the shamans almost everywhere use various means to work themselves into
a state of excitement, which is produced by singing, by the use of the
drum and rattle, and by dancing. The belief also widely prevails that
unpropitious conditions may counteract the work of the shaman, and that
for this reason particular care must be taken to remove all disturbing
and impure elements from the place where the shamanistic performance is
held.
When the shaman has to have intercourse with the spirits, whom he
visits in their own domain, or when he has to pursue the soul of the
patient, we find frequently sleight-of-hand employed, such is the tying
of the hands of the shaman, who, when his soul leaves the body, is
believed to free himself with the help of the spirits. (See Magic,
Medicine and Medicine-men, Shamans and Priests.)
The belief that certain individuals can acquire control
over the powers has also led to the opinion that they may be used to
harm enemies. The possession of such control is not always beneficial,
but may be used also for purposes of witchcraft (q. v.). Hostile shamans
may throw disease into the bodies of their enemies, or they may abduct
their souls. They may do harm by sympathetic means, and control the
will-power of others by the help of the supernatural means at their
disposal. Witchcraft is everywhere considered as a crime, and is
punished.
Besides those manifestations of religious belief that
relate to the individual, religion has become closely associated with
the social structure of the tribes; so that the ritualistic side of
religion can be understood only in connection with the social
organization of the Indian tribes. Even the fundamental traits of their
social organization possess a religious import. This is true
particularly of the clans (q. v.), so far as they are characterized by
totems (q. v.). The totem is almost always an object of more or less
religious reverence to the clan; and there are many cases in which
taboos relating to the totemic animal exist, like those previously
referred to among the Omaha.
Also in cases where the clans have definite
political functions, like those of the Omaha and the Iroquois, these
functions are closely associated with religious concepts, partly in so
far as their origin is ascribed to myths, partly in so far as the
functions are associated with the performance of religious rites. The
position of officials is also closely associated with definite religious
concepts. Thus, the head of a clan at times is considered as the
representative of the mythological ancestor of the clan, and as such is
believed to be endowed with superior powers; or the position as officer
in the tribe or clan entails the performance of certain definite
religious functions. In this sense many, of the political functions
among Indian tribes are closely associated with what maybe termed
"priestly functions." The religious significance of social institutions
is most clearly marked in cases where the tribe, or large parts of the
tribe, join in the performance of certain ceremonies which are intended
to serve partly a political, partly a religious end.
Such acts are some of the intertribal ballgames, the
husk of the Creeks, the sun dance of the Plains Indians, performances of
the numerous warrior societies of the Plains, which will be found
treated under these headings. Here also belong the secret societies,
which are highly developed among the Pueblos, in California, and on the
North Pacific coast. It is characteristic of rituals in many parts of
the world that they tend to develop into a more or less dramatic
representation of the myth from which the ritual is derived. For this
reason the use of masks (q. v.; see also Ceremony) is a common feature
of these rituals, in which certain individuals impersonate supernatural
beings.
In those tribes among which very complex rituals have
developed we find the ceremonies frequently in charge of certain
officers, who are at the same time the keepers of the sacred objects
belonging to the tribe or to the societies (see Altar, Palladium); and
it would seem that the whole system of religious beliefs and practices
has developed the more systematically the more strictly the religious
practices have come to be in charge of a body of priests. This tendency
to systematization of religious beliefs may be observed particularly
among the Pueblos and the Pawnee, but it also occurs in isolated cases
in other parts of the continent; for instance, among the Bellacoola of
British Columbia, and those Algonquian tribes that have the Midewiwin
ceremonial fully developed.
In these cases we find that frequently an
elaborate series of esoteric doctrines and practices exists, which are
know to only a small portion of the tribe, while the mass of the people
are familiar only with part of the ritual and with its exoteric
features. For this reason we often find the religious beliefs and
practices of the mass of a tribe rather heterogeneous as compared with
the beliefs held by the priests.
Among many of the tribes in which priests are found, we
find distinct esoteric societies, and it is not by any means rare that
the doctrines of one society are not in accord with those of another.
All this is clearly due to the fact that the religious ideas of the
tribe are derived from many different sources, and have been brought
into order at a later date by the priests charged with the keeping of
the tribal rituals. Esoteric forms of religion in charge of priests are
found among the tribes of the arid region in the Southwest, the tribes
of the southern Mississippi basin, and to a less extent among the more
northerly tribes on the Plains.
It would seem that, on the whole, the
import of the esoteric teachings decreases among the more northerly and
northeasterly tribes of the continent. It is probably least developed
among the Eskimo, the tribes of the Mackenzie basin, and the tribes of
the great plateau region, in so far as these have remained uninfluenced
by the Plains Indians and by those of the Pacific coast.
On the whole, the Indians incline strongly toward all
forms of religious excitement. This is demonstrated not only by the
exuberant development of ancient religious forms, but also by the
frequency with which prophets (q. v.) have appeared among them, who
taught new doctrines and new rites, based either on older religious
beliefs, or on teaching partly of Christian, partly of Indian origin.
Perhaps the best known of these forms of religion is
the Ghostdance (q. v.), which swept over a large part of the continent
during the last decade of the 19th century. But other prophets of
similar type and of far reaching influence were numerous. One of these
was Tenskwatawa (q. v. ),the famous brother of Tecumseh; another, the
seer Smohalla (q. v.) of the Pacific coast; and even among the Eskimo
such prophets have been known, particularly in Greenland.
Handbook of American Indians, Frederick W. Hodge,1906
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