Eighth Annual Report Part 29

The prayer being offered, the parcels were given by the theurgist to an attendant, who deposited them in line three feet apart along the side of the dancing ground in front of the lodge. Their proper place is immediately on the ground that is to be danced upon, but to prevent them from being trampled on they are laid to one side. The black tubes are offerings to the G.o.ds and the blue to the G.o.ddesses of the mountains and to the earth.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Plate CXIV. BLANKET RUG AND MEDICINE TUBES.]

THIRD DAY.

FIRST CEREMONY.

The construction of the second sweat house began at sunrise and was completed at nine oclock. Several large rocks were heated and placed in the sweat house and as before white sage and _Bigelovia Douglasii_ were thrown in, the fumes of which were designed as medicine for the sick man. After the invalid entered the sweat house, buckskin blankets, etc., were drawn over the entrance. The song-priest, accompanied by two attendants, sat a little to the south. He sprinkled meal around the west base of the house and over the top from north to south and placed the wands around its base in the manner heretofore described (the twelve wands and medicine used were the special property of the theurgist). The song-priest holding the rattle joined the choir in a chant. To his right were two Navajo jugs filled with water and an Apache basket partly filled with corn meal. A bunch of buckskin bags, one of the small blue medicine tubes, a mountain sheeps horn, and a piece of undressed hide lay on the meal. Near by was a gourd half filled with water in which meal was sprinkled; near this was a small earthenware vase containing water and finely chopped herbs. At the conclusion of the chant the song-priest pa.s.sed his rattle to one of the choir and stirred the mixture in the bowl with his forefinger, and after a few remarks to the invalid, who was still in the sweat house, he threw some of the mixture in upon the hot rocks. This was repeated four times, when the song-priest returned to his former position. The sweat-house priest took from his shoulders a Navajo blanket and spread it near the door a little to the right. A call from one of the attendants was a signal for Hasjelti and Hostjoghon to appear. The two men personating these G.o.ds were behind a tree south of the sweat house, their bodies, arms, and legs painted white. Foxskins were attached pendent to the backs of their girdles. As the G.o.ds approached the sweat house, the patient came out and sat upon the blanket, and Hasjelti took a mountain sheeps horn, in the right hand and the piece of hide in the other and rubbed the sick man, beginning with the limbs; as he rubbed down each limb, he threw his arms toward the eastern sky and cried yo-yo! He also rubbed the head and body, holding the hands on opposite sides of the body. After this rubbing, the sick man drank from the bowl of medicine-water, then arose and bathed himself with the same mixture, the filled gourds being handed to him four times by Hasjelti, each time accompanied with his peculiar hoot. Hostjoghon repeated the same ceremony over the invalid. There was a constant din of rattle and chanting, the G.o.ds disappeared, and immediately thereafter the theurgist gathered the twelve wands from the base of the sweat house. He removed the blue reed from the basket and laid it a little to the left of the priest of the sweat house, who in turn handed it to an attendant to be deposited with the wood of the sweat house in a neighboring tree. The invalid proceeded to the medicine lodge followed by the song-priest uttering a low chant. After entering the lodge the invalid took his seat on the west side; the song-priest, still standing, took from a small buckskin bag white powdered material which he rubbed on the soles of the feet, palms, knees, breast, shoulders, and head of the invalid; then taking a pinch of the same material he extended his hand first toward the east and then toward the heavens and the earth. After these attentions he took his accustomed seat in the lodge and joined in conversation with his attendants.

SECOND CEREMONY.

Two sheepskins, a blanket, and cotton cloth were spread one upon the other in front of the song-priest; and from the long reeds that had been first rubbed with a polishing stone, then with tobacco, were cut ten pieces an inch and a quarter long and two pieces 2 inches long. These were colored black and blue, one long piece and five small ones being black, the others blue. While these were being decorated the song-priest and choir sang My fathers, see, we are getting ready! We do our work well, and you would better go into the house for we are to have rain!

Now, mothers, send down rain upon us! This song was constantly repeated.

The tubes when completed were laid in position to form a dual person.

The long black tube representing the body was first placed in position.

The long blue tube was then laid by its side and south of it. The pollen end of the tubes pointed to the east. The right black leg was the next placed in position, then the right blue leg, the left black leg and left blue leg. The right black arm, then the right blue arm, the left black arm and the left blue arm, then the black head and the blue head. (See Pl. CXV.)

These tubes were filled with feathers, b.a.l.l.s, and tobacco, and tipped with the corn pollen and lighted with the crystal, the black tubes being offerings to the G.o.ds, the blue to the G.o.ddesses. After they were completed they were placed in position by a second attendant; and while the tubes were being filled the song-priest and choir sang See, fathers! We fill these with tobacco; it is good; smoke it! A message was received from the fathers that they would smoke, and, puffing the smoke from their mouths, they would invoke the watering of the earth.

They again sang All you people who live in the rocks, all you who are born among the clouds, we wish you to help us; we give you these offerings that you may have food and a smoke! All women, you who live in the rocks, you who are born among the fog, I pray you come and help us; I want you to come and work over the sick; I offer to you food of humming-birds plumes, and tobacco to smoke! Two bunches of feathers which had been placed to the east side of the rug pointing east were deposited in two corn husks, each husk containing bits of turquoise, black archaic beads, and abalone sh.e.l.l; corn pollen was sprinkled on these. The song-priest then placed the dual body in the husks thus: First, the black body was laid upon the husks to the north, and upon this a pinch of pollen was sprinkled; the blue body was placed in the other husks and pollen sprinkled upon it; then the two right legs (black and blue) were put into the corn husks with the black body; the two left legs were added to the same; the right and left arms and the two heads were placed in the husk with the blue body and corn pollen sprinkled upon them. The husks were closed and held by the song-priest to the soles of the feet, palms, knees, breast, shoulders, back, and top of head of the invalid, who repeated a long prayer after the theurgist, and the parcels were given to an attendant, who carried them some distance from the lodge to the north and placed them in a secluded shady spot upon the ground. Two bits of tobacco were laid upon the ground and upon these the body was placed, the figure in a rec.u.mbent position with the arms over the head. The invalid for whom this ceremony was held spared no expense in having the theurgist make the most elaborate explanation to his near relatives of the secrets of the medicine tubes.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Plate CXV. CEREMONIAL MASKS.]

THIRD CEREMONY.

The theurgist occupied his usual seat, surrounded by his corps of attendants. The man personating Naiyenesgony had his body and limbs painted black. The legs below the knee, the scapula, the b.r.e.a.s.t.s, and the arm above the elbow were painted white. His loins were covered with a fine red silk scarf, held by a silver belt; his blue knit stockings were tied with red garters below each knee, and quant.i.ties of coral, turquois, and white sh.e.l.l beads ornamented the neck. The man representing Tobaidischinni had his body colored reddish brown, with this figure [Drawing] (the scalp knot) in white on the outside of each leg below the knee, on each arm below the shoulder, each scapula, and on each breast. This design represents the knot of hair cut from the heads of enemies, and the style is still in use by the Navajo. The man wore a red woolen scarf around the loins, caught on by a silver belt, and his neck was profusely ornamented with coral, turquois, and white beads.[1]

Naiyenesgony and Tobaidischinni left the lodge, carrying with them their masks. (See Pl. CXV, 1, 2, 3.) Bunches of pine boughs, which during the forenoon had been made into wreaths by joining pieces together with yucca in this fashion were [Drawing], laid across each end of the rug.

[Footnote 1: In the decoration of the bodies several men a.s.sisted, but the personators of the G.o.ds did much of the work on their own persons, and they seemed quite fastidious. The fingers were dipped into the paint and rubbed on the body.]

[Inline drawings: __ / scalp knot /

III__III__III__III III III III III wreath ]

After the two men personating the G.o.ds left the lodge the invalid entered and took his seat on the rug with his back to the theurgist. Two attendants dressed him with the wreaths, beginning with the right ankle; a piece was then tied around the calf, thigh, waist, around the chest, right wrist, elbow, upper arm, throat, forehead, then around the upper left arm, elbow, wrist, thigh, left knee, calf, and ankle. Thus the man was literally obscured with a ma.s.s of pine. He sat in an upright position with the legs extended and arms falling by his sides. A chant was sung by the song priest, and in a few minutes Naiyenesgony and Tobaidischinni appeared. Naiyenesgony drew his stone knife in front of the invalid over the forehead to the feet, then down the right side and down the back and down the left side. He then began to remove the pine.

As each wreath was taken off the cl.u.s.ters were partly separated with the stone knife. Tobaidischinni a.s.sisted Naiyenesgony by holding the wreaths while they were being cut.

When all the evergreen had been removed the personators of the G.o.ds exclaimed, Now, my people, we have killed all enemies! and immediately left the lodge. The song priest placed a small wreath of the pine on the sick mans head, and holding in his left hand a bunch of eagle plumes, and in his right hand a rattle, he sang the ten songs and prayers, a.s.sisted by the choir, that were given by Naiyenesgony and Tobaidischinni to the Navajo to bring health and good fortune. After the pine-bough wreaths had been separated the bits of yucca-strings were picked up by the attendant and handed to Naiyenesgony, who held them over the sick mans head, after which the bits were again divided with the knife. After the ten songs and prayers had been chanted the invalid left the rug and sat a little to the northeast, of it, with his knees drawn up. The song priest placed two live coals in front of the invalid and sprinkled chopped herbs on the coals, the fumes of which the invalid inhaled. The pines were carried off and placed in the shade of a pine tree, that the disease might not leave the pine and return to the invalid.[2]

[Footnote 2: Continency must be observed by the personators of the G.o.ds until all paint is removed from their bodies.]

FOURTH CEREMONY.

The personators of Hasjelti and Hostjoghon adorned themselves for the ceremony. Hasjelti wore ordinary clothing and a red scarf, with a silver belt around the waist. Hostjoghons body was painted white, and he wore a red woolen scarf around the loins, caught on with a silver belt. A rug, composed of a blanket and a piece of white cotton, was spread in front of the song priest, and the masks of Hasjelti and Hostjoghon placed thereon. (See Pl. CXV, 4, 5, 6.)

Upon the completion of the toilets of the personators of the G.o.ds they hurried from the lodge, bearing their masks with them, when an attendant made a cavity immediately in front of the rug 4 inches in diameter, and the song priest sprinkled a circle of meal around the cavity. The invalid entered the lodge and stood on the rug and removed all of his clothing except the breech cloth. He then took his seat facing east, with knees drawn up. A mask of the Hostjobokon, which had been laid upon the rug, was drawn over the invalids head. Hasjelti and Hostjoghon appeared at this juncture bearing a pine bough some 5 feet in height. An attendant made gestures over the sick man, holding in his right hand a pinch of sacred meal, which was afterward placed in the cavity. Hasjelti waved the pine bough five times around the invalid and planted it in the cavity, where it was held in place by the G.o.ds. Then bending its top, the attendant attached it to the mask over the invalids head by a buckskin string which was fastened to the mask. The song priest and choir all the while sang a weird chant. The G.o.ds raised the bough, gave their peculiar hoots, and disappeared from the lodge, carrying with them the pine bough with the mask attached to it. In a few minutes they came back with the mask. After the chant the song-priest placed meal on the soles of the invalids feet, knees, palms, breast, back, shoulders, and head, and then put some in the cavity, after which the cavity was filled with earth. Two coals were laid in front of the invalid, and upon these the song priest placed finely broken herbs; an attendant sprinkled water on the herbs, and the invalid inhaled the fumes. The cotton cloth was removed from the blanket rug, and the invalid stepped upon the rug and put on his clothing. When the mask was removed from the invalids head it drew all fever with it.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Plate CXVI. BLANKET RUG AND MEDICINE TUBES.]

FOURTH DAY.

FIRST CEREMONY.

The theurgist carried a bowl of water and pine needles, and an attendant bore a gourd of water, a small vase of powdered herbs, and an Apache basket containing corn meal, buckskin bags, horn of the mountain sheep and a piece of hide cut from between the eyes of the animal. The theurgist and attendant took seats to the right of the entrance of the sweat house west of the medicine lodge. This sweat house was decorated with the rainbow. Over the entrance were, first, two striped blankets, one upon the other, a buckskin, and a piece of white cotton. Hot stones, etc., having been previously placed in the sweat house, the sick man entered. The song-priest and four attendants sang, accompanied by the rattle. At the conclusion of the chant Hasjelti and Hostjoghon appeared as on the previous days. Hasjelti lifted the coverings from the entrance and the invalid came out and sat upon a blanket south of the entrance and bathed both his hands in the bowl containing the pine needles and water; he then drank of it and bathed his feet and legs to the thighs, his arms and shoulders, body and face and head, and then emptied the remainder over his back. Hasjelti manipulated the right leg with the sheeps horn and hide, rubbing the upper part of the leg with the right hand, then the under part with the left; he then rubbed the sides of the leg in the same manner, each time giving a hoot; the arms, chest, head, and face were similarly manipulated. Hostjoghon repeated the hooting every time he changed the position of the hands. Hasjelti, taking the gourd containing the water and corn meal, gave four draughts of it to the invalid, hooting each time the bowl was put to the lips; Hostjoghon did the same. The song and rattle continued. Hasjelti, then put the powdered plants from the small vase to the soles of the feet, knees, palms, breast, back, shoulders, and top of the head of the invalid, hooting each time an application was made; this was repeated by Hostjoghon. The invalid took a sip from the bowl and rubbed the remainder over his body. The song-priest then removed the wands from the base of the sweat house and the coverings from the door; the pine boughs and hot stones were also removed and the invalid preceded the song-priest to the medicine lodge. All the wood of the sweat house was placed in a tree, excepting four small pieces, which were deposited, together with the pine boughs from the interior of the sweat house, in a semicircle formed by the rocks from the sweat house at the base of a pion tree. A line of meal 2 inches in length running east and west was sprinkled on the apex of the semicircle, and upon this line the black tube was laid. A bit of meal was sprinkled on the tube and a quant.i.ty over the pine boughs of this small shrine. Before sprinkling the meal on the top of the medicine tube the attendant waved his hand in a circle from left to right, calling hooshontko; meaning: Widespread blessings that come not from spoken words, but come to all, that people may have the blessings of corn pollen, and that tongues may speak with the softness of corn pollen.

SECOND CEREMONY.

A rug was laid in front of the theurgist. Four medicine tubes were placed on the rug, the one to the north end being white; the second one black and red, a white line dividing the two colors; the third one, blue; the fourth, black. The white tube was an offering to Hasjelti; the red, to Zaadoltjaii; the blue, to Hostjoboard; the black, to Naaskiddi, the hunchback. The tubes were filled as before described. These tubes were begun and finished by the same person. (See Pl. CXVI.) When the tubes were finished they were put into corn husks and bits of cotton cloth; tiny pieces of turquois, white sh.e.l.l, abalone, and archaic black beads having first been placed on the husks and cloths. The four turkey plumes with barred tips that lay upon the rug were subsequently placed upon the tubes. These parcels were sprinkled by the song priest with corn pollen, and after closing them he placed them in the hands of the invalid, who sat at the northeast corner of the rug facing east. The song-priest sat before him and said a long prayer, which the invalid repeated. At the close of the prayer an aged attendant received the parcels from the theurgist and placed them to the soles of the feet, palms, etc., of the invalid. They were afterward placed to his mouth and he drew from them a long breath. The old man carried the parcels south over the brow of a hill and deposited them in secluded spots about 4 feet apart, repeating a brief prayer over each one; he then motioned toward the east, south, west, and north, and returned to the lodge.

During his absence the choir sang; in the meantime the fire in the lodge was reduced to embers.

THIRD CEREMONY.

About noon a circular bed of sand, some four inches in height and four feet in diameter, was made. Five grains of corn and five pine boughs were laid thereon; four of the grains of corn and four of the boughs were placed to the cardinal points. The fifth and center branch of pine covered most of the circle, its tips pointing to the east. The fifth grain of corn was dropped in the center of the sand bed. (See Pl.

CXVII, 1). Four of these pine boughs were cut from the east, south, north, and west sides of one tree. The fifth bough may be taken from any part of the tree. Of the five grains of corn one must be white, one yellow, and one blue, and the other two grains may be of either of these three colors. On this particular occasion there were two blue, two white, and one yellow. These grains were, after the ceremony, dried and ground by the theurgist and placed among his medicines. The boughs and sand absorbed the disease from the invalid, and at the close of the ceremony they were carried to the north and deposited in a shady spot that the sun might not touch and develop the latent disease that had been absorbed by them. The boughs and sand were never afterward to be touched. An Apache basket containing yucca root and water was placed in front of the circle. (See Pl. CXVII 2.) There was a second basket south of it which contained water and a quant.i.ty of pine needles sufficiently thick to form a dry surface, and on the top a number of valuable necklaces of coral, turquois, and silver. A square was formed on the edge of the basket with four turkey wands. (See Pl. CXVII 3.) The song-priest with rattle led the choir. The invalid sat to the northeast of the circle; a breechcloth was his only apparel. During the chanting an attendant made suds from the yucca. The basket remained in position; the man stooped over it facing north; his position allowed the sunbeams which came through the fire opening to fall upon the suds. When the basket was a ma.s.s of white froth the attendant washed the suds from his hands by pouring a gourd of water over them, after which the song-priest came forward and with corn pollen drew a cross over the suds, which stood firm like the beaten whites of eggs, the arms of the cross pointing to the cardinal points. A circle of the pollen was then made around the edge of the suds. The attendant who prepared the suds touched his right hand to the four points of the pollen lines and in the center and placed it upon the head of the patient who first made a circle embracing the sand and basket and then knelt upon the boughs in the center of the sand.[3] A handful of the suds was afterwards put upon his head. The basket was placed near him and he bathed his head thoroughly; the maker of the suds afterwards a.s.sisted him in bathing the entire body with the suds, and pieces of yucca were rubbed upon the body. The chant continued through the ceremony and closed just as the remainder of the suds was emptied by the attendant over the invalids head. The song priest collected the four wands from the second basket and an attendant gathered the necklaces. A second attendant placed the basket before the invalid who was now sitting in the center of the circle and the first attendant a.s.sisted him in bathing the entire body with this mixture; the body was quite covered with the pine needles which had become very soft from soaking. The invalid then returned to his former position at the left of the song priest, and the pine needles and yucca, together with the sands, were carried out and deposited at the base of a pion tree.

The body of the invalid was dried by rubbing with meal.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Plate CXVII. 1. PINE BOUGHS. 2, 3. BASKETS.]

[Footnote 3: The suds were crossed and encircled with the pollen to give them additional power to restore the invalid to health.]

FOURTH CEREMONY.

This ceremony commenced almost immediately after the close of the one preceding. The rug was spread over the ground in front of the song priest; four bunches of small sticks were brought in and laid in piles north, south, east, and west of the rug. Four attendants took seats, each before a pile of the wood, and sc.r.a.ped off the bark of their respective heaps; they then cut twelve pieces 2 inches in length, except that cut by the attendant who sat at the north, who made his about 1 inches long. Being asked why he cut his shorter than the rest, he replied, All men are not the same size. The sticks were sharpened at one end and cut squarely off at the other. In order that all of the sticks should be of the same length they were measured by placing the three first fingers across the stick. The fifth man sat immediately to the right of the song priest, who took a hollow reed from the large medicine bag from which he cut four pieces, each piece the breadth of his three fingers. The reed, which was cut with a stone knife, was afterwards rubbed with native tobacco. Six sticks of each of the piles had their square ends beveled; these represented females. The attendant on the east side of the rug having completed his twelve sticks, painted them white with kaolin finely ground and mixed with water. The flat ends of the sticks were colored black; the beveled parts were painted blue; around the lower end of the blue was a bit of yellow which represented the jaw painted with corn pollen. Three black dots were painted upon the blue for the eyes and mouth; the ground color was laid on with the finger; the other decorations were made with yucca brushes. The man on the south side colored his sticks blue. The tops of six sticks were painted yellow, and six were black. The black ends were those having the beveled spots. These spots were blue with a chin of yellow; they also had the three black dots for eyes and mouth. The man to the west colored his sticks yellow with the flat ends black; the beveled spots of six of them were blue with a yellow chin and three black dots for eyes and mouth. The sticks to the north were colored black; six of them had the beveled parts colored blue with a yellow jaw, and three spots for eyes and mouth; the six sticks that were not beveled had their flat tops painted blue. All these sticks were laid on the rug with their flat ends outward. The attendants who prepared the reeds, each reed being colored for a cardinal point, filled them with b.a.l.l.s of humming-bird feathers and tobacco and lighted them with a crystal, when they were touched with corn pollen. The reed for the east was white, the one for the south blue, that for the west yellow, and that for the north black. Each reed was placed at its appropriate point in line with the sticks. (See Pl.

CXVIII.) The theurgist then advanced, carrying a basket half filled with corn meal. This he placed in the center of the rug; when kneeling on the edge of the rug and beginning with the white sticks, he placed first the white reed in the east side of the basket, and pa.s.sing from this point around to the right he placed the six offerings to the G.o.ds, then the six to the G.o.ddesses. Next taking the blue tube at the south end he placed it to the left of the white line of sticks, leaving sufficient s.p.a.ce for the sticks between it and the white tube; all the blue ones were placed in position corresponding to the white. The yellow followed next, and then the black. All were placed with their flat ends or heads pointed to the rim of the basket. The theurgist deposited the basket in the niche on a pile of turkey feather wands, the wands resting upon a large medicine bag. The sticks and sc.r.a.ps left after making the tubes were carried out and deposited without ceremony.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Plate CXVIII.

BLANKET RUG AND MEDICINE TUBES AND STICKS.]

FIFTH CEREMONY.

The rug which was spread in front of the song priest was composed of two blankets whose edges met, and upon this rug there were two lines of masks running north and south; the tops of the masks were to the east.

There were sixteen masks; those representing the G.o.ds cover the head, and those representing G.o.ddesses cover the face only. They were decorated with ribbons, plumes, etc. During the forenoon prayers were said over them and meal sprinkled upon them.