is that for punishing offenders.[26] The main purpose seems to be the
punishment of an individual “in order to keep the people in order
and check crime, such as molesting wives or daughters and destroying
property and so causing mischief in the tribe.” This was effected
through a sacred figure supposed to represent the society.... “The
arms contained poisons for punishment, and the leg the magic shells
which made it possible to administer this punishment.... When a man
committed an offence that seemed to demand punishment, the society
met at night, and if it had determined to punish the man, then this
figure was brought out.”[27] Now, it must be borne in mind that
there is here no suggestion of any legal procedure, but merely, as
we shall see, an application of the magical powers of the society to
a very specific social purpose. Punishment consisted in causing the
offender to become sick through the application of poison to a figure
supposed to symbolize him, which is drawn on the earth. This figure was
subsequently shot at. When the ceremony was over, the leaders waited
until they had been informed that the offender had become sick, when
they assembled in a tent and sang until the man died.
In this ceremony we have again a shamanistic practice which was
probably exercised by many members of the tribe, associated in one
of the societies with a definite and specific function. But this
specific function, plus the other traits that have been enumerated as
characteristic of the society, go to make up a complex that is looked
upon as a definite unit.
4. _Pebble Society._—The remarks made on the purpose of the Shell
Society are, generally speaking, applicable to the Pebble Society.
Instead of being attached to a shell, the magical powers are here
attached to a translucent pebble. The possibility for a greater
variability in the nature of the powers obtained was given by the fact
that all those who had had a vision of water, or its representative,
the pebble or the water-spirit, could become members. The water-spirit
was always associated with the granting of knowledge relating to
medicinal herbs and the power of healing sickness generally; and we
find in the society, consequently, a large preponderance of individuals
with such powers. The association between these powers and some
definite object, in this case the pebble, is not as intimate as that
found to exist between corresponding powers and a similar object in the
Shell Society; in other words, the shaman, as an individual, is more
prominent.
The most important association of the society is that connected with
the curing of disease. It would be erroneous to consider this function
as a secondary association, as it is conditioned by the fact that the
visions from the water-spirit would necessarily be connected with “the
powers” relating to medicinal herbs and their healing virtues.
5. _Medicine Dance._—The Medicine Dance, looked upon in its entirety,
is composed of a long course of preparation (now discontinued), the
Four Nights’ Preparation, the sweat-bath ceremony, the night and the
day divisions of the general ceremony, and the secret brush ceremony.
These ceremonies have all become amalgamated into a more or less firm
unit, whose individual characteristics we have touched upon before.
The society is known in Winnebago as _Mañkaⁿ′ni_, the word _mañkaⁿ′_,
meaning “medicine” in its medicinal aspect, as opposed to _wasê′_,
meaning “medicine” in its magical aspect. As far as can be seen from
a detailed study of the rituals, no prominence seems, however, to be
given to the therapeutic or herbalist aspect. There are, it is true,
medicines for general therapeutic practice and for hunting, fishing,
love, and especially for “bad” purposes. But in the ceremony as given
to-day, and as described by those well versed in the ritual of the
society, these medicines find no place.
There is, however, a very persistent exoteric interpretation of
the Medicine Dance, according to which the members are regarded
primarily as powerful shamans concerned preferably with the practice
of “bad” magic. In this practice they are greatly aided by the fact
that their membership in the society increases their magical powers,
especially that connected with the ability to transform themselves
into all kinds of animate and inanimate objects for the furtherance
of their evil designs. The most feared shamans—those who are
distinguished from all others by the possession of the iron moccasins
(_maⁿzua′gudjê_)—belonged to this society. This exoteric interpretation
does not, however, seem to tally with the designation _mankaⁿ′ni_.
Personally I think this term is a popular one, and has no real
significance as a characterization of the functions of the society,
at least to-day. This exoteric interpretation is in all probability
true to a certain extent. It would, however, be essential to determine
whether these shamanistic powers are characteristic of members as
individuals, and only secondarily connected with them as members of the
society, before we can properly understand their significance. That
membership was connected in any way with an increase of shamanistic
powers, is certainly improbable. These powers are unquestionably
identical with the general shamanistic and magical practices mentioned
previously in the Shell and Pebble Societies.
In other words, the general shamanistic and magical beliefs of the
tribe are found present in this society, as they are found in other
societies.
What would tend to minimize our considering these features as in any
way significant of the Medicine Dance, is the fact that there has been
no tendency to develop or emphasize any specific aspect of magic, and
that shamanistic practices are absent and appear entirely disassociated
from the society.
The purpose of the Medicine Dance is in part the desire to attain a
long life, a safe journey to the next world, and the possibility of
a return to this life again, preferably in human shape. All these
benefits may be obtained by taking an active part in the ceremony,
and by performing to the best of one’s ability all the duties of a
member. Although it is essential to participate in the entire ritual in
order to obtain these benefits to the fullest extent, nevertheless the
phenomena of shooting and being shot at play an especially important
rôle in this connection.
Long life means essentially the life consisting of a normal length of
years, with all the possessions of wealth, social and intellectual
distinction, that would naturally be included. Among the Winnebago,
this concept of years is very definite, because they believe that to
each individual has been assigned a life containing a certain number of
years, a certain amount of wealth, a certain number of enemies killed
on the warpath, etc. If a man, therefore, dies before he has reached
the end of his “predestined” life, the residue, it is hoped, will be
distributed among his relatives.
When in the Medicine Dance they pray for long life, what they mean is
the ability to surmount the crises of life. Whatever may be the nature
of these crises,—whether they relate to family disasters, sickness, old
age, etc.,—it is expected that they will be overcome by membership and
active participation in the society. There seems to be no suggestion
that this is attained through the influence of magic. It is mere
membership and obedience to the society’s teachings, ambition to raise
one’s status by purchasing more and more privileges, that accomplish
the desired end in view. The safe journey to the future world and the
belief in transmigration may be obtained in a similar way. If one
performs his duties and rises to the highest distinction, he will have
no difficulty in attaining his object and in successfully overcoming
all the obstacles to his passage.
The prayer for long life is specifically addressed to the Rabbit,
the mythical founder of the society, and indirectly addressed to
Earth-Maker (_maⁿ′’una_), the spirit who sent him to clear the earth of
the obstacles to man’s progress. It is the only prayer ever addressed
to him. No supernatural communication is possible. As a matter of
fact, it is only in this and in the Winter Feast that Earth-Maker is
associated with this specific power of granting long life.
It would be quite erroneous to imagine that the prayer for long life,
passage to the next world, and transmigration, are ideas specifically
connected with the Medicine Dance. As a matter of fact, they constitute
the characteristic cultural traits of the Winnebago, and crop out
everywhere in the folk-lore and in the general rituals. The question of
the safe passage to the next world is perhaps even more specifically
associated with the Four Nights’ Wake. The purpose of the wake is to
enable the deceased to successfully overcome the four great obstacles
on the road to the spirit home of his clan. This is accomplished,
first, by the performance of a definite ritual; and, secondly, by some
warrior relating one of his exploits on the warpath and putting at
the disposal of the deceased the spirit of the man he had killed, to
act as a servant to him. The close relation between the ethical worth
of the deceased and of the one who relates the exploit, on the one
hand, and the safe journey to the spirit world, on the other, comes
out as strongly here as it does in the Medicine Dance; but it seems
unnecessary, for that reason, to predicate any historical connection
between the two. They both reflect the cultural background around them.
Similarly the various elements that make up the life which the
members of the Medicine Dance pray for,—the food-supply, the power of
healing, success on the warpath, a normal quota of years,—these are
all definitely associated with spirits and ceremonials. Success in war
is associated, not with one society, but with a number of societies.
It would, however, be manifestly erroneous and unnecessary to claim
that it belongs essentially more to the one than to the other society,
unless direct historical proof for such a statement were forthcoming.
6. _Summary._—We are now in a better position to see in what the nature
of the complete ceremonial complex consists. The unit it consists of
is loose in the Ojibwa-Menominee, and strong in the Shell and Pebble
Societies and in the Medicine Dance. The specific component elements
are to a large extent different in each. It is utterly impossible now
to discover the origin of the differences in the individual component
elements; but it is quite clear that the forces tending to develop the
larger ceremonial complexes have been, not those of a dissociation, but
distinctly those of an association, of elements.
These associations may be of the most diverse kind. Certain features
may always have been associated with certain other elements, such as
medicinal herbs and medicines with the water-spirit, as in the case of
the Omaha and Winnebago. This, then, is for all practical purposes an
ultimate unit. If, consequently, we find an intimate connection between
a vision from the water-spirit and the practice of medicinal herbs, we
must not consider this as a secondary association that has come about
through the influence of a ceremony.
In the same way, the connection of the buffalo with the magical renewal
of the food-supply will probably have to be looked upon as such an
ultimate unit.
Our first object, therefore, when we find certain elements associated,
is to determine whether there is any reason for believing that we are
dealing with some such ultimate complex or unit.
On the other hand, when we find a magical ceremony for punishing
offenders (viewed from its social aspect) associated with the Shell
Society, or mortuary ceremonies associated with the Menominee
Midewiwin, these associations cannot be considered as being ultimately
connected with any particular aspect of the society’s function, as
the complexes which they form exhibit an extreme variability. Their
presence in various societies must be interpreted as secondary
associations of some kind. As secondary associations, however, they
may have been conditioned either by their specific nature or by the
specific development of the society. As such we might, for instance,
view either certain aspects of the shamanistic practices of the Ojibwa
Midewiwin, or the mortuary ceremonies connected with the Menominee
Midewiwin, or the punishment of offenders in the Shell Society.
When, however, we find cultural phenomena, which are generally
possessed by a tribe, associated in varying degrees with this or
that ceremonial, this association must be looked upon as due to the
influence of the cultural environment. This influence may be conceived
as setting in at any time during the historical development of the
ceremony, while the ceremony itself remains passive; as, for instance,
if the journey to the spirit land is connected with the Medicine Dance,
or with the wake, with the telling of truth, or with membership in
a clan. Here it is obviously the cultural environment that has been
active. If, however, the mide, united in an organization, develop
certain phases of this general cultural environment, such as magic and
shamanistic practices, in a specific way, we have a right to credit
this development as due to the activity of the society, and we have
consequently a real secondary association of definite practices with
an historically older organization. Of course, a good deal in this
particular case would be caused by the fact that the members are mide;
but after this historically preliminary stage, the Midewiwin became an
active unit as a society; and in this sense, if it then specifically
utilizes certain beliefs in a special manner, it can be said to be
secondarily associating them.
It is thus seen that the mechanism of the association is both
psychologically and historically highly complex. One thing, however,
seems to be quite demonstrable; namely, that there is always one
constant element,—the specific cultural background or type of each
tribe.
Bearing this in mind, the similarities in the association of the
Midewiwin of the Ojibwa-Menominee, the Medicine Dance of the Winnebago,
and the Shell and Pebble Societies of the Omaha, do not necessarily
indicate an historical relationship, but would most likely tend
to show that a number of ideas and customs were common to a large
cultural area. This does not of course interfere in the least with the
possibility of an historical connection, but this historical connection
must in each case be demonstrated. However, even if it were proved,
an historical connection alone cannot possibly explain the entire
phenomenon; for the cultural environment, if it is the same, will
condition general similarities and resemblances in ceremonies that
historically are quite unrelated, so that the convergent evolution thus
resulting will completely obscure at times the individual history of a
ceremony. It is, for instance, possible that historically the journey
to the spirit land was connected with the wake among the Winnebago. The
general prevalence of the same idea among so many social and ceremonial
groups to-day, however, makes it unjustifiable to assume such a
connection in the absence of any direct historical data; so that,
although there is to my mind little doubt that these associations are
all historically different, owing to the influence of certain general
cultural ideas, they present to-day the same picture.
It is quite safe to assume that, just as we have shown that the
shooting ceremony in the Medicine Dance is the borrowed initiation
ritual of the Midewiwin, so it would be possible to demonstrate, were
we in the possession of fuller historical data, that other elements
have been borrowed. However, when we have demonstrated the borrowing of
a certain element, we have only partially, and often only inadequately,
explained it. Its further explanation is possible only in terms of the
specific type of ceremony, and of the general cultural environment with
which it has been associated. Both of these may change. It does not
follow that because, among the Winnebago to-day, all the societies are
practically associations of individuals who have obtained supernatural
communication from this or that spirit, this was therefore always the
basis of the societies. To-day the Medicine Dance and the Night Spirit
or Sore-Eye Dance have a different type of organization. Originally the
latter had the former type, and the Medicine Dance may have had it. It
is, for instance, barely possible that we may in this case be dealing
with the beginning of a change of type of organization, and that,
similarly, types of organization preceded that, whose essence to-day
lies in the possession of common visions.
* * * * *
We have now finished the examination of a number of definite
ceremonies. Our object in analyzing them was to determine in what the
significance of the common elements lay, and what general historical
and psychological tendencies were operative in their growth. We may now
examine the results of our study in the light of Schurtz’s theory, and
examine the data upon which Schurtz based his theory in the light of
the leading points of view emphasized above.
VII. RÉSUMÉ AND CONCLUSION.—The main thesis Schurtz sought to establish
was the demonstration of the parallel historical development of society
as determined by certain psychological tendencies of the race. It is
of prime importance to remember that he claimed to have found certain
survivals by means of which he was able to reconstruct the stages in
the history of society. Initiation degrees, the exclusion of women,
etc., he considered “symptomatic” of these stages. His main object was
to prove the existence of these symptoms. Wherever he found them, he
was satisfied that he was dealing with vestiges of the stages through
which society had passed. All these symptoms, according to Schurtz, had
definite and specific connotations, and were associated with definite
and specific stages in the development of society.
We have seen, in the analysis of the ceremonies of a limited area, that
the common elements which were supposed to be symptomatic of historical
relationship had no such value, and that they entered into a number
of cultural complexes historically distinct one from another. In the
same way we will now examine the more fundamental symptoms—initiation,
degrees, and the exclusion of women—to see whether any specific
significance attaches to them, and whether they, too, have not become
associated with a number of cultural complexes historically distinct.
If they have thus become associated, then their value as criteria for
definite stages of social evolution is _nil_.
1. _Initiation._—It was our main purpose, in analyzing the above
ceremonies, to examine them quite apart from any theoretical
presuppositions. In so proceeding, we obtained as a resultant the fact
that initiation connoted psychologically and historically a number of
different things, and that this difference seemed dependent upon the
historical and psychological individuality of each tribe. To Schurtz,
however, initiation meant primarily an initiation into puberty, and
into that social status with which puberty has been so long and closely
associated,—an association that seemed, historically speaking, almost
an ultimate complex; namely, initiation into the tribe. He assumes that
if it is found to mean anything else, then this new meaning is either
a secondary association, or, preferably, an historical development
from the first conception. Carried out logically, we should therefore
have to consider initiation into a masonic order or into a college
fraternity as a transformation of an original tribal initiation. To
this, I think, Schurtz would have taken serious exception, on the
ground that we are here dealing with a purely rational and artificial
social group. But are we not to a certain extent dealing with the same
phenomenon in the primitive societies discussed?
In examining a phenomenon such as initiation, we must not forget
that it is, in a general way, absolutely conditioned by the specific
individuality of one man as opposed to that of another. The desire of
one man for participation in the possessions of another, or in those of
some differentiated group, is an ultimate fact for which we need give
no explanation. What is essential for our discussion is the realization
that the methods of this participation are infinite, depending entirely
upon the influence of cultural factors in the development of specific
areas, and of institutions within them. Thus initiation into the
Midewiwin is the transfer of certain mide powers; into the Pebble and
other Omaha Societies, a common vision; into the Medicine Dance, the
transfer of certain knowledge. This transfer or initiation is in no
way different from that which takes place between two individuals,
except that in the former case we are dealing with phenomena between an
individual on the one hand, and a group of individuals on the other.
This conception of initiation has become associated everywhere with
social and ceremonial groups. One may, for instance, be initiated into
a clan, into a name, into a family, etc.
To Schurtz, however, the concept of initiation is primarily associated
with puberty. His argument is that puberty is a physiological stage
through which every one must pass. The change to sexual maturity is so
important a fact, that it cannot possibly have escaped any tribe. It
follows that this physiological change must have been correlated with
a change in the position of the individual in the tribe. He will, for
instance, among other things, be less subjected to the influence of his
mother, and more to that of his father, etc.
All these general propositions are true; and it is also unquestionably
true that there has been a marked tendency for ceremonies to cluster
around that period of physiological change which we call puberty.
Similarly, in some cultural areas there has been a secondary, or,
if you wish, a constant association of puberty rites with a formal
adoption into the tribe. In Australia, for instance, the individual
does not become of active social importance until he has passed through
certain rites at the age of puberty.
The essential point, however, is whether he does not always become of
active social importance at about that age. He unquestionably does. We
cannot, therefore, assume offhand that it is the fact of puberty that
is being emphasized by the initiatory rites. This would be the case
only if we could prove that puberty is invariably associated with some
form of initiation. If it is not, then we must regard the clustering
of the concept of initiation around the age of puberty, among the
Australians and other tribes, as a cultural peculiarity of these
peoples.[28]
In other words, the beginning of the social importance of an individual
may be associated with puberty initiation rites. Initiation may,
however, be associated with any period of development. For instance,
among the Christians and Semites, it is found associated with birth in
the forms of baptism and circumcision; and just as with any age, so it
may become associated with any social or ceremonial unit. It can thus
become associated with entrance into a society; and we may consequently
say that a society is only one of the numerous cultural elements with
which initiation has become associated.