The American Indian/Chapter 12

by Clark Wissler

CHAPTER XII

RITUALISTIC OBSERVANCES

Formal ceremonialism, or ritualism, was developed to an unusual degree in the New World. The high poetic feeling of the natives and their fondness for symbolism is strikingly reflected in their tribal mythologies. This also finds expression in formal and ritualistic procedures, usually in connection with songs. However, before entering into generalizations on American ritualism we must review some of its typical forms.

In the regions of higher culture we find the political organization closely paralleled by a priestly hierarchy. Thus, in Peru, the priest of the sun at Cuzco, a near relative of the ruler, was the head of the religious system, and for each province another member of the family served as a sub-priest. Under each of the latter was a complex of priestly offices and functions. The ruler himself was a sacred person not to be looked upon by common men. The supreme power was conceived as resting in a culture hero, commonly passing under the name, Viracocha, though a number of other names appear in the literature of the subject, with somewhat contradictory attributes, seemingly due to original differences between the older creator gods for the several localities, differences which the Inca conquest could not entirely eradicate. The true Viracocha seems to have been a white man with a long gray beard, whose acts and disappearance have a curious resemblance to those of similar characters in the mythologies of the wilder peoples of both continents. That Viracocha was a highly personal and spiritual being is shown by one of the Inca prayers to him as translated by Sir Clements Markham.^[1]

Next in rank to Viracocha were the heavenly bodies of which the sun was the most significant. The moon, the earth (All Mother), and on the coast, the sea (Mother Sea), were also of great importance. As a rule, temples and priests were for these gods only and not for Viracocha, the creator of culture. Sacrifices and gifts were likewise to them and not to the latter. Below these gods stood innumerable objects invested with huaca, a term difficult to define, but seemingly equivalent to wakan and manitou, as used by the wilder tribes of North America. All these objects, or huaca, were the places of sacrifice and observance for which priests were detailed.

From what we know of Chibcha, Maya, and Nahua religions, this outline of Inca beliefs will serve as the type. Each had its creator, then the heavenly bodies to which sacrifices were made, and lastly a long array of fetish-like objects invested with some holy quality. Throughout, the political functions of the rulers were so closely intertwined with the priestly functions, that a strict separation of them is quite impossible. Thus, the Maya system provided a religious program for each day in the year, or a complete cycle of never-ending services. The great Maya calendar is essentially the recorded order of these ceremonies, rather than a dating device, the day being named after the god to be recognized in its particular form of worship. That an analogous calendar existed in Peru is most certain, but seems lost beyond recovery.

The present status of our subject makes it difficult to truly characterize the ceremonial patterns for these four great centers, but certain striking features may be noted. The Maya and Nahua are notorious for the extent of their human sacrifice systems. One common form of such sacrifice was to bind the victim to a frame or pole and shoot him full of darts. This was a custom in Colombia also. For Peru there is conflicting evidence, the Inca being credited with prohibiting the practice by some authorities, but it is clear that the custom did prevail at one time. We may infer, therefore, that such sacrifices were fundamental traits among the many small social groups from which these great military empires were built up. Human sacrifice, however, appears but as an exceptional element in a larger complex, for from Mexico to Chile throughout, there was a daily round of sacrifices of animals, birds, fruits, and inanimate objects.

It has frequently been remarked how the great historic cultures grew up around lakes or water holes which in consequence came to be sacrificial shrines. The most famous of these are Guatovita and Titicaca in South America. Among other ceremonial features of comparative interest are the conception of a "maize mother," the snake cults, the foot races, and the new-fire ceremonies. Of great festivals we have in Peru the June sun ceremony and in August that for driving out disease.

For the other parts of South America, we have but meager information. One striking feature in the Amazon region is the taboo against women, who are not permitted to take part or even to see the objects used in important ceremonies. Thus, it is stated that all women of the Uaupés tribe who happen to see the leading mask in their tribal ceremony must be executed, as required by the ritual. This masked ritualistic procedure is found throughout the whole of Brazil and has some curious analogies to a Pacific Island ceremony. This is also the land of the couvade, that curious procedure in which the father is put to bed at the birth of a child, which has received undue attention in sociological literature.^[2] The other most universal ritualistic idea is that of the ceremonial whipping, usually a part of the puberty ceremony for both girls and boys, but also found in certain public dances of adults. Agricultural rituals are also in evidence, the two most distinctive being the manioc and the pineapple harvests.

Turning now to North America, we find a new-fire ceremony among the Mexicans, but here it occurs every fifty-two years, on the day marking the completion of the calendar cycle. Again, every eight years the Atamalqualiztli ceremony was performed, a kind of fasting observance, but also the occasion when a peculiar cult, called Mazateca, danced about with live frogs and snakes in their mouths, somewhat like the Hopi of Arizona. In addition, each month and day of the year had its more or less elaborate ceremonies, but to outline the whole gamut of Mexican and Maya gods would take us too far afield. Joyce^[3] believes that the bewildering multiplicity of Mexican gods is in part due to the Aztec having assimilated the respective religious systems of conquered cities; yet the Maya seem almost equally complex in their supernatural hierarchy. In both the Aztec and Maya systems there was a powerful god with a beard, resembling Viracocha of Peru, who was also the creator, but of very high rank; he was the sun and the god of thunder and rain. Particularly prominent were the star gods, of whom Venus seems to have been the most adored.

Just north of the Aztec are the Pueblo Indians of southwestern United States who have preserved the greater part of their prehistoric religious culture even down to this day and time. Hence, among these eminently conservative villages we may look for hints as to what formerly underlay the systematized religious cultures further south. Thus, the Hopi, who seem to be typical, have a large number of definite priestly organizations, each of which administers special and distinct rituals. To one is assigned astronomical observations and the keeping of the calendar, another is charged with snake worship, etc. The appearance of the clouds, the rain, maize planting, in short, the whole round of daily life is accompanied by ritualistic procedures, each group of priests performing its part at the appointed time. While essentially magical, these rituals contain a large amount of practical knowledge as to the care of seed, time and place of planting, etc. The supernatural hierarchy is composed of numerous gods among which are the sun, the goddess of all hardness, the spider goddess, the horned serpent, the thunder, and the four world quarters. Formerly, some forms of human sacrifice seem to have been practised among the Rio Grande Pueblos and even in very recent times certain newly-born were fed to sacred snakes. The ceremonial footrace is also found, and even the kindling of new fire.

If now we turn to the maize-raising tribes of central and eastern United States, we note certain similarities in the ritualistic procedures. Thus, the Pawnee had a human sacrifice and a whole yearly cycle of ceremonies centering around the cultivation of maize. On the lower Mississippi were temples to the sun to whom the rulers bore a relation not unlike that of the Inca.^[4] Even the South American practice of bearing the ruler in a litter was also found here. The widespread use of the "black drink," a purifying emetic, also reminds one of Pueblo practices. Finally, certain special maize ceremonies are found throughout the whole extent of maize culture, though the farther we get from Mexico and Peru, the weaker these become.

Among the Central Algonkin tribes of the Great Lakes we have another ritualistic form in the sense that it does not pertain to agriculture or to a yearly cycle. Its most complete expression seems to be the Midé ritual which concerns itself with the spiritual relations between the individual and the powers above.^[5] The spectacular public performance of pretending to pass, or "shoot" a shell into the initiate is the best known objective feature of this ceremony. Important parts of the ritual are recorded on bark tablets so that we see here also the beginnings of written records.

In the Plains area, beyond the encroachments of maize culture, we have the sun dance festival which seems to have been the occasion for the fulfilling of conventional vows made during the preceding year, but we also have a considerable development of the ceremonial pipe ritual, shared with certain contiguous tribes to the east. In California, ritualistic performance is very inconspicuous, which in contrast to what is observed elsewhere presents this culture as one of very little interest here.

The only other part of North America where ritualism is prominent is among the Pacific Coast tribes of Canada and southern Alaska. Here, perhaps more than elsewhere, the social group, clan or gens, is the keeper of special rituals and is wholly responsible for the ceremonies based upon the same. One idea, or pattern, seems to dominate these rituals, viz., the paying of proper homage to one's supernatural clan ancestors. In fact, the ritualistic ceremonies of the whole salmon area are little more than staged demonstrations of the clan, or family, origin myth. The principal features of these "ritualistic plays" are the impersonations of the animal-like monsters who are the true heroes of the myths. For this very elaborate masks are prepared, some of which have movable eyes, ears, or jaws, as the case may require.^[6] Collections of these masks are to be found in our large museums, where they stand as objective data as to what the native conceives his gods to be like. Masks are used elsewhere, even among the Aztec and Inca, but among the wilder tribes are not highly developed as here on the coast of the salmon area.

The whole subject of ritualism in the New World is too complicated to give an adequate view of it in a single chapter. Yet, from even this superficial sketch it appears that the phenomenon is strongest in Mexico and Peru, or the regions of highest culture, and that as we go outward in both continents from these centers, ritualism becomes less and less conspicuous. If we consider the United States and Canada only, it appears strongest in the centers of clan organization. Another general characteristic of New World ritualism is that wherever it appears, these rituals are the formalized narratives of an assumed supernatural, or spirit revelation, from the gods. The tracing out of the distribution of these rituals over the several areas of the New World is destined to become one of the most important problems of our subject and promises to reveal in the most satisfactory way the earlier historical contacts of the various existing tribes.

SUPERNATURAL GUARDIANS AND TOTEMISM

Under the head of Social Grouping we enumerated the most striking totemic features associated with clans and gentes, but the totemic complex is also intimately bound up with the very fundamental trait of individual guardians. This trait is particularly strong among the bison hunters but far from infrequent elsewhere. It is usually one of the equipments of a warrior which youths acquire by fasting and spiritual endeavors. The procedure usually takes this form: if a youth does not have a dream or vision which his superiors regard as supernatural, he is instructed and prepared for the inducing of such an experience and left in a lonely place to fast and pray, day and night. If a spirit appears, it is usually in animal form and that animal becomes in a sense the individual guardian of the supplicant. This guardian is, however, conceived of as a spirit and not merely as a bear, eagle, wolf, etc., which are after all, but the objective links between the individual and the source of spiritual power. A very considerable number of objects in our museum collections are the material bonds between warriors and these personal guardians, usually classed under the technical name of medicine objects, or charms. Particularly among the tribes of the Mississippi Valley, these often form small bundles with short rituals and in some cases we find these accompanied by series of larger and more complex bundles often rising to the level of tribal ceremonies. The Pawnee, for example, have a hierarchy of these bundles extending from the tribe down to family groups. The center for this special bundle development seems to be about the Great Lakes in the Central Algonkin sphere of influence, but it has its analogies in the tribes of the Lower Mississippi and the Pueblos of the Rio Grande. Further, we note that certain Aztec legends mention two bundles miraculously handed down to the people in the days of their tribal migrations. Each of the two main divisions of the Aztec took one of these bundles for its chief guidance. As to the contents of these bundles, we are not fully enlightened, but one contained a crystal of some kind and the other a set of fire sticks, reminding us of Pawnee bundles. We must suspect, therefore, that the ritualistic bundle is an old and fundamental development in North American culture, and that it is based upon the much less specialized and more widely distributed concept of the individual guardian.

In the extended discussions of totemism by Frazer and others this generalized concept of the relation between the New World native and his animal-like guardians is elevated to the plane of an explanatory theory, often called the "American theory of totemic origin." However, the leading American students of the subject are disposed to regard this theory as accounting for facts peculiar to the New World totemic systems rather than as universal in application. Even in the New World, exceptions have been cited to show that similar totemic complexes seem to have had very different histories and so have superficial similarity. Facts of this tenor have led to the interpretation^[7] that the phenomenon of totemism is little more than the incidental association between individuals or kinship groups and animal-like guardians, exogamous or analogous restrictions to marriage, ceremonial privileges, etc. The conception is that in this manner were accidentally formed tribal complexes of varying content which we class together under the name totemism because they have some elements in common. Like the other culture traits we have discussed, these complexes show a geographical grouping and so fall into more or less localized types.

SHAMANISM

The medicineman, or as he is sometimes called, the shaman, occupies a large place in our literature. Some writers^[8] give this functionary the chief place in all religious and ceremonial activities, thus making shamanism synonymous with religion. While it is conceivable that shamanism can be so defined as to include all religion, we must not overlook the fact that the medicineman of the New World is not the priest. A large number of tribes have distinct names for each and their cultures give them distinct and sometimes antagonistic functions. It is the shaman rather than the priest who is called upon to treat the sick, to foretell the future, etc. The priest is essentially the keeper and demonstrator of rituals, his right to do so arising chiefly from his mere knowledge of the subject, but the native conception of the shaman is one who works directly by virtue of some extra-human power. Consequently, it is the shaman who goes into trances and mystifies by jugglery, not the priest.

The importance of this distinction appears when we consider its wide distribution. For the three great centers of higher culture, Inca, Chibcha, and Maya-Nahua, we have far less data than for some of the wilder peoples, but what are available reveal a distinction between the two. The priests of these cultures were organized, as we have noted, in a manner comparable to and complementary to the political scheme, but the shaman class appears as unorganized and in some cases is described as itinerant. In Peru, they were sometimes given a room in the outer precincts of the temple where those who so desired could consult them. In the Mississippi Valley and the Great Lakes region, we have fewer organized cultures, but among the Pawnee and Ojibway, for example, the distinction is sharply made, as also appears to be the case on the Atlantic seaboard. In the great plateau region, we find among the Shoshoni a less formalized, but still perceptible distinction, while among the Navajo and Apache of the South, the line is again sharply drawn. In central California, the distinction vanishes, but appears in the mixed cultures of the North and South. Again, on the Northwest Coast, the priest and the shaman are distinguished one from the other.

On the other hand, we find the Eskimo angakok to be both the shaman and the priest. In the great Déné area of Canada, practically the same condition holds as for the Eskimo and an analogous one for some of the Cree. Turning back to South America, we meet with the undifferentiated priest in the Amazon country under the names, page, paye, kenaima, etc. For each group there is usually one such who performs all priestly and shamanistic functions.

Supplementary to our previous discussion of rituals it may be noted that the differentiation of the priest from the shaman occurs wherever ritualism is highly developed. While it is true that we cannot always draw a definite line between priestly and shamanistic activities, the rule is for all tribes having well formed rituals themselves clearly to differentiate two sets of individuals, priests and shamans. We cannot therefore ignore this fact in our consideration of the subject.

As we have stated, the shaman is usually the doctor, prophet, and seer. In native theory, he gets his powers not by training, but by direct transmission from some extra-human source. He is credited with the ability to perform extraordinary feats which we call jugglery. Some of these tricks fall into type classes with continuous geographical distributions. Thus, among the Ojibway and other Central Algonkin tribes, we find a form of the rope-tying trick which extends northward among some of the Déné to the Eskimo. Centering among the Siouan tribes of the bison area, we find the handling of fire and the plunging of the hand into boiling water. Forms of the sword-swallowing trick were found among the eastern tribes from the Lakes to the Gulf and on into the Pueblo area of the Southwest. In the Amazon country, the special feature is a kind of ventriloquism in which animals and men carry on conversations with the shaman in almost the same fashion as the jesako of the Central Algonkin.^[9] A plant-growing trick comparable to that of the Hindu fakir was found among the Navajo, Pawnee,^[10] and a few neighboring tribes. Other distributions could be cited, but we have gone far enough to reveal the geographical character of the phenomenon.

When a shaman undertakes to treat the sick, he frequently pretends to suck out the cause of disease through a tube. This trick has been reported from the whole of the New World except probably the region of highest culture and the Eskimo.^[11] The use of a calabash rattle is also found throughout the Amazon area, the whole of the Pueblo and bison areas, though in the latter the bulb is often fashioned of rawhide. This distribution also extends up through the Columbia River Basin into the North Pacific Coast where rattles are made of wood, but still of the same essential form.

Though the individualism of the shaman is apparent, there does appear a tendency for the formation of cults, the best examples of which are the wabano and jesako cults of the Central Algonkin, the heyoka of the Siouan tribes, and the animal lodges of the Caddoan.^[12] In nearly every case, these take the form of a group of followers with a single leader, each group specializing in certain devices and tricks.

As we have noted, these tricks are not strictly confined to shamanism, but occasionally occur in priestly organizations. One of the best known examples is found in the Hopi snake and antelope society, whose members perform tricks with rattlesnakes; among others are the shell-shooting feat of the Central Algonkin midéwin, and the dog-eating of the Nootka cannibal society. These tricks are, however, integral parts of the respective rituals and form a large portion of the public part of the ceremonies.

In literature the term shamanism specifically applies to the religious culture of Siberia. There we find a complicated conception of seventeen or more worlds in one of which human beings reside. Communication between these worlds can be made only through shamans conversing with the spirits of the dead. The typical shamanistic feats in Siberia are states of ecstasy, trembling, sweating, contortions, ravings, fits, etc. The shaman of the New World also manifests many of these reactions, particularly in those regions where there are no separate priests. The trances and ravings of the Eskimo angakok and the Tlingit doctor have an intensity comparable to those of the Siberian shaman, apparently much more so than have the methods of the page in the Amazon country. Yet, these abnormal psychic activities are to some degree the stock in trade of all shamans, only that when ritualism rises, they become relatively less important.

Turning now to the priesthood, we find it most characteristic of the Inca, Chibcha, and Maya-Nahua centers. The priestcraft of the Maya, for example, illustrates the maximum development of ritualism where each day and night in the yearly cycle had its required rituals. Of the intermediate tribes, we may cite the Pueblo of the north with their far less elaborate, but yet complete, yearly round of ceremony and on the south the Araucans of Chile who make sacrificial offerings at every turn. The tribes of the lower Mississippi had also a ceremonial cycle and maintained rude temples as did also the natives of the West Indies. But as we move outward in both continents from these centers, the rituals quickly shrink to a small residue, with the exception that on the North Pacific Coast they are to a degree recurrent. In view of all this, one cannot escape the conviction that the existence of the great Inca and Maya centers of priestcraft is responsible for many specific features of New World ritualism. In these centers, one of the chief functions of the priests was the making of sacrifices. Innumerable birds, rabbits, fruits, and even leaves of plants were offered up from day to day in one ceaseless round. The occasional human sacrifice was but an incident in an otherwise steady flow of sacrificial blood. This, like other aspects of ritualism, rapidly shrinks as we move outward but, far up among the Pawnee, we find offerings of animal and human blood and likewise among the Araucan and other Chaco tribes of the South. The Maya and Nahua priests offered their own blood upon blades of grass and also far up in the bison area devotees cut off bits of flesh or even fingers to offer the sun, and again the extinct Charrua of the Chaco are said to have offered up fingers in much the same way.

What we have then is a great center of rank growth in priestcraft with a ponderous system of blood sacrifice, the influence of which wanes as we move outward. The fact that the shaman lagged behind and shared but little in this elaboration would seem further basis for the assumption that the chief formative factors in priestcraft and ritualism are not found in shamanism. The shaman gets his power by an extraordinary experience. He usually seeks it in fasting and prayer; whence, if his tortured nervous system bring the desired illusion, he goes out among his fellows with the faith and confidence that convinces. While he has a great deal to learn from his fellow shamans, such learning is quite secondary and dispensable. The priest, on the other hand, may also fast and be fired with faith and zeal, but this is secondary to him, for he must master with infinite detail the arbitrary forms of rituals. In last analysis, the priest must be a man of intellect; the shaman may be a veritable idiot.

THE PERSONAL RELATION IN RITUALISM

While many anthropologists object to the view that all New World religion springs from the conceived relation between the shaman and the source of his power, it may be conceded that an analogous relation does hold for the masses. Thus, among many tribes, it is not merely the shaman who goes out to fast and pray, but practically every individual, at least once in his life, such a procedure being one of the essential equipments of youth for the duties of life, as noted under our discussion of the individual guardian. This trait is prominent among the more warlike tribes of the bison area, the eastern maize area, and the guanaco area of South America, in all of which one of the primary equipments of the would-be warrior is to secure a personal guardian spirit, or power. Under the tutelage of a shaman he fasts, prays, or tortures himself as his tribal convention may demand, until he either has a visitation or gives up in despair. The attending shaman usually assists in formalizing a kind of personal rite which remains a more or less secret individual formula. In most cases, it is in animal form that the visitation comes, a speaking and otherwise human animal, which belief is no doubt intimately related to the great prevalence of animal tales in New World mythology. In this meeting, some specific protection is promised the penitent for the remainder of his life. A man may repeat these fasts and ultimately secure a great variety of such guardians and eventually be recognized as a shaman, though one usually becomes a shaman by virtue of some one remarkable experience. This personal relation of an individual to his mentor is the fundamental concept in New World religion and ritualistic procedure. In fact, where rituals have been carefully studied, we find their reported origins to have been in the unusual experience of a single individual; hence, we can safely say that a typical New World ceremony is the performing of a ritual demonstrating this initial experience and that the concept of the individual guardian underlies the whole. While the ideal thing would be to close this discussion with the presentation of a type ritual, the limitations of space forbid. The reader may, however, be referred to Dorsey's "Arapaho Sun Dance,"^[13] Hoffman's "Mide'wiwin or 'Grand Medicine Society' of the Ojibwa"^[14], or the author's "Ceremonial Bundles of the Blackfoot Indians."^[15] These will give examples typical of the United States and Canada and when sufficiently generalized, will be representative of the whole of the New World, tentatively, however, since our data from the southern continent are meager.

---

1. Markham, 1910. I, p. 100.
2. Tylor (no date).
3. Joyce, 1914. I.
4. Swanton, 1911. I.
5. Hoffman, 1891. I; Radin, 1914. I.
6. Boas, 1897. II; 1909. I.
7. Morgan, 1904. I, Vol. 1, p. 321.
8. Adair, 1775. I; Cushman, 1899. I.
9. Hoffman, 1891. I.
10. Grinnell, 1893. I.
11. Tylor (no date).
12. Murie, 1914. I; Hoffman, 1891. I; Dorsey, J.O., 1894. I.
13. Dorsey, G. A., 1903. I.
14. Hoffman, 1891. I.
15. Wissler, 1912. II.