When the suit was put on for the first time by the bear doctor, the
following elaborate ceremony was performed. The assistant took up his
position in the center of the practice ground, having on one side
of him four hundred counting sticks, each about the size of a lead
pencil, nicely arranged in even rows. Directly in front of him was the
entire bear doctor’s suit, except the beads and bead belts; that is,
the basketry helmet, the bearskin garment, the two water baskets, the
dagger of elk antler, and the obsidian knife. These were the articles
which were strictly ceremonial, and which must never be handled by
women or children for the reason that they were the property of the
particular supernatural beings under whose patronage the bear doctor
operated and whose powers were invoked for his success, especially
by means of a long series of ritualistic songs sung by his assistant
during the ceremony of donning the suit, now to be described.
While the assistant sang the ritualistic songs, the bear doctor who was
to wear the suit danced up toward it four times each from each of the
four cardinal points in the following order: north, west, south, and
east. Each time the dancer advanced toward the suit, the singer raised
above his head one counter from the one side and as the dancer receded
placed it on his opposite side. Thus this portion of the ceremony took
sixteen counters. Having thus approached the suit four times the sacred
number four, the dancer picked up with his left hand the basketry
helmet and danced with it four times around the practice ground, the
singer keeping tally with the necessary four sticks. He then danced
four times up toward and back from the place on the practice ground
where he intended to temporarily place this object, so using another
four counters. Thus there were used in all with this one object
twenty-four counters.
He did precisely the same with each of the remaining five articles of
the suit. Thus one hundred and forty-four counters were transferred
from the original group to the singer’s opposite side.
He next took all six of these articles in both hands and performed the
same cycle of twenty-four dance movements that was employed in handling
each separately, so using one hundred and sixty-eight counters up to
this point.
He then repeated this entire cycle of one hundred and sixty-eight dance
movements in precisely the same order and manner as just described, but
using the right hand instead of the left, thus using three hundred and
thirty-six counters up to this point.
He next repeated all the foregoing movements exactly in reverse order
in every respect; taking up the articles in reverse order and dancing
toward the cardinal points in reverse order and using the hands in
reverse order, thus using six hundred and seventy-two counters up to
this point.
He finally took the entire suit in both hands and went around the
practice ground four times in a clockwise direction and then four
times in a contra-clockwise direction, thus using in all six hundred
and eighty counters, indicative of that number of separate movements,
or rather one hundred and seventy distinct types of movements each
repeated four times.
Throughout this entire ceremony the assistant sang ritualistic songs
invoking, in the ascending order of their importance, the aid of the
particular supernatural beings under whose patronage the bear doctor
was supposed to be and with whom he came into direct contact. According
to one informant, these were, in order, brush-man, rock-man, shade-man,
spring-man, pond-man, mountain-man, and sun-man, though a large number
of others are also included.[17] In fact, it seems probable that all
the spirits of the Pomo world are supposed to be directly concerned.
The following were specifically mentioned by the informants:
_English_ _Eastern Dialect_ _Central Dialect_
Mountain-man danō gak danō baiya
Water-man xa gak ka baiya
Night-man dūwē gak īwē baiya
Valley-man gagō gak kakō baiya
Brush-man se gak see baiya
Rock-man xabē gak kabē baiya
Spring-man gapa gak gapa baiya
Shade-man cīyō gak
Fire-man xō gak hō baiya
Disease-man gak kalal ītal baiya
Insanity-man gak dagōl dakōl baiya
gūksū gūksū kūksū
Whitled-leg widow kama sīlī dūket mīya cakū kattciū
Dream-man marū marū
Wind-man yai kī ya tcatc
Pond-woman danō kawō
Blind-man ūī bagō ūī nasai
Sun-man da tca
Sun-woman da mata
Deer-man bice gaūk pce tca
To all these he sang songs and made prayers the substance of which
usually was: “You know what I am doing. I am doing as you do and using
your ways. You must help me and give me good luck.”
He sang to and invoked particularly Sun-man because he was an
all-seeing deity and knew everything that happened all over the earth,
and more particularly because as Sun-man rises with the sun each
morning he comes with his bow and arrow drawn and ready to shoot on
sight any wrongdoer. Unless, therefore, Sun-man was propitiated and
previously informed of the bear doctor’s intentions, he was likely to
shoot him just as the sun appeared above the horizon. The substance of
his prayer to Sun-man was: “I am going to do as you do. I shall kill
people. You must give me good luck.”
When the suit was finally put on there was a certain amount of
ceremonial procedure. The beads used as armor were first put on the
naked body. The arms and legs were closely wound, each with a single
long string of beads. The bear doctor then danced around the practice
ground four times in a clockwise direction and then four times in a
contra-clockwise direction. He next advanced toward and receded from
the suit four times each from the north, west, south, and east. He
then made four times a motion as if to pick up the suit, and again
four times the motion of putting the suit on, after which he donned it
and was completely ready for his journey, being endowed with all the
supernatural powers of the bear doctor.
Throughout the entire construction of the suit, and also throughout the
ceremony connected with putting it on, he turned his head around toward
the left after each separate action, such as lifting up or putting down
any article and after each dancing up and back toward the suit, or
running around the practice ground.
Each subsequent donning of the suit was quite simple. The bear doctor
picked up each article separately and made a motion with it four times
toward the part of the body it was to cover, turning his head four
times to the left after each of these sets of four motions. He then
put on the suit and danced in a contra-clockwise direction four times
around the practice area or the interior of his cavern, as the case
might be, after which he was fully ready for his journey.
In case of inclement weather the bear doctor dressed in the shelter of
the cavern, but if the weather was fair this was always done on the
practice ground.
In undressing, on the other hand, the bear doctor performed no ceremony
at all, but simply took off his suit and carefully laid it away,
hanging up in the cavern the bearskin itself to keep it clean. It was
necessary that a bear doctor swim immediately upon removing his suit.
Still dressed in his bead armor, he went, therefore, to his swimming
place, removing the beads and piling them on the bank. This was done so
that if discovered he had immediately at hand a treasure with which to
buy secrecy. The penalty paid by an informer who had been thus bribed
was certain death at the hands of the bear doctor. Upon emerging from
the pool, he returned to his cavern, carefully folded the belts and
strings of beads and laid each away separately until the suit was again
needed.