THE MĬSIʹNGʷ‛ OR MASK
The Minsi version of the myth explaining the origin of their great
ceremonies has been already related, but not that of the Unami, for the
latter, which concerns itself with the origin of the Unami rites as now
practised, is so intimately interwoven with the story of the _Mĭsiʹngʷ‛_,
or mask (fig. 1), that it was thought best to place it in the chapter
devoted to that curious being, with whose position in the Lenape
pantheon, recorded history, and activities in the Annual Ceremony, we
have already become acquainted.
The myth is therefore presented herewith, as related by Chief Charley
Elkhair, the Lenape master of ceremonies, with only such additions as
later questioning brought forth.
ORIGIN OF THE MASK, AND OF THE BIG HOUSE
This is the way the Lenape found out that there is a living
Mĭsinghâliʹkŭn above us. Many years ago, when the Delawares lived in
the East, there were three boys who were not treated very well. Their
relatives did not take care of them, and it seemed as if it made no
difference whether the children died or not. These boys were out in the
woods thinking about their troubles, when they saw the Mĭsinghâliʹkŭn or
Living Solid Face. He came and spoke to them, and gave them strength so
that nothing could hurt them again. To one of these boys he said, “You
come along with me and I will show you the country I come from.” So he
took the boy up in the air to the place whence he came, which is rocky
mountains above us, reaching out from the north and extending toward the
south. It is not the place where people go when they die, for it is not
very far from this earth. A long time ago people could see this country
of Mĭsinghâliʹkŭn, but none can see it now.
While he was showing the boy his country, the Mĭsinghâliʹkŭn promised him
that he would become stout and strong, and would have the power to get
anything he wished. Then he brought the boy back.
Afterward, when the boy grew up and went hunting, he used to see the
Mĭsinghâliʹkŭn riding a buck around among the other deer, herding them
together. Thus it happened that there were three men in the tribe, who
knew that there is a Mĭsinghâliʹkŭn, because they had seen him with their
own eyes.
The Delawares had always kept a Big House (_xiʹngwikan_) to worship in,
but in those days it was built entirely of bark and had no faces of the
Mĭsiʹngʷ‛ carved upon the posts as it has now. Here they used to sing
about their dreams (visions of power); but some time after the three boys
talked with the Mĭsinghâliʹkŭn, the people gave up this worship, and for
ten years had none. Then there came a great earthquake, which lasted
twelve months and gave great trouble to the Lenape. It came because they
had abandoned the worship their fathers had taught them. In those times
the tribe lived in towns, not scattered about the country as they are
now, and in one of these towns a chief had a big bark house, and here the
people met to worship, hoping to stop the earthquake, while they were
building a new Big House. When it was finished, they began to worship
there, and sang and prayed all winter for relief. After spring came,
they were holding a meeting one night when they heard the Mĭsinghâliʹkŭn
making a noise, “_Hoⁿ-hoⁿ-hoⁿ_,” right east of the Big House. The chief,
who did not know what was making the noise, called for somebody to go and
see what it was. Then these three men offered to go, because, as they
said, they knew what was making the noise and could find out what he
wanted. So they went out and found Mĭsinghâliʹkŭn, and asked him what he
wanted. He answered:
“Go back and tell the others to stop holding meetings and attend to
their crops. Do not meet again until fall, when I will come and live
with you, and help in the Big House. You must take wood and carve a face
(Mĭsiʹngʷ‛) just like mine, painted half black and half red, as mine is,
and I will put my power in it, so that it will do what you ask. When the
man who takes my part puts the face on, I will be there, and this is how
I will live among you. This man must carry a turtle rattle and a stick,
just as I do now.” Then he told them how to fix the twelve carved faces
on the posts of the Big House, and the faces on the drumsticks, and
taught them how to hold the ceremony.
Then he said:
“You must also give me hominy every year in the spring. I take care of
the deer and other game, that is what I am for. Wherever you build the
Big House, I will keep the deer close by, so that you can get them when
you need them.
“Never give up the Big House. If you do, there will be another
earthquake, or something else just as bad.
“The earthquake stopped that time; that is why the Delawares have kept
the Mĭsiʹngʷ‛ and the Big House ever since. The Mask is left in charge of
some family who will take good care of it, and burn Indian tobacco for it
from time to time.”
It will be seen that, according to the above tradition, the Mĭsiʹngʷ‛
was, first of all, a personal helper, or guardian Spirit, that afterward
became more or less of a tribal deity, and that his cult became engrafted
on the Annual Ceremony among the Unami, the rites of which were already
ancient among them. That this engrafting really took place seems possible
from the fact that among the Minsi there were no masked performers at the
Big House ceremonies, and that, while the central post of the temple was
provided with carved faces, the masks had an entirely different function
among this people. The innovation, if it took place at all, must have
been before Brainerd’s[52] time, however, for, as related in our first
chapter, he found the Mĭsiʹngʷ‛ and Big House in use, as among the Unami
today, as early as May, 1745, while traveling among the Delawares living
at that time on Susquehanna river.
MĬSIʹNGʷ‛ DANCE
Besides the part taken by the Mĭsiʹngʷ‛ in the Annual Ceremony, he has
certain rites peculiar to himself which were held every spring. As the
Indians put it:
“When spring comes, the Delawares are glad, and they are thankful that
their helper, the Mĭsiʹngʷ‛ is still among them. For this reason they
give a feast and dance to make him happy too.”
_Notification._—So at the time of the full moon (about May), the keeper
of the mask gives another Indian a yard of wampum to ride around to
all the Delaware houses, wearing the mask and bearskin costume (pl.
II) to let the people know that the time for the Mĭsiʹngʷ‛ dance
(_Mĭsingkĭʹnĭkä_) is at hand. The Mĭsiʹngʷ‛ rides horseback, and another
man, also mounted, follows him to see that he comes to no harm. At each
house the impersonator dismounts and enters, making known his errand by
signs, but saying only “_Hoⁿ-hoⁿ-hoⁿ_,” and everywhere they give him
tobacco, which he puts in his sack. At this time the people frighten
disobedient children with the threat that, unless they behave, the
Mĭsiʹngʷ‛ will carry them away in a sack full of snakes.
_Preparations._—The dance-ground customarily used for this purpose has
meanwhile been put in order, a cleared place in the woods selected for
good shade and pleasant surroundings, and the logs which serve as seats
arranged to form the rectangle within which the dance takes place. A
great pot of hominy is also prepared; this constitutes the main dish of
the feast.
_The Ceremony._—When the people have gathered on the night appointed,
and the impersonator has returned from the bushes where he retired
to dress, wearing the mask and bearskin suit (pl. II), the speaker
addresses the people and relates the origin of the dance, then addressing
the Mĭsiʹngʷ‛, says, “Take care of us while we are dancing, so that
everything goes smoothly.” Then they have a dance in which the Mĭsiʹngʷ‛
joins, but he dances around the outside of the circle of people, not with
them. When they have finished, he dances twelve changes alone, which
occupies the time until morning. When daylight appears, the hominy is
brought out and everyone eats, including the Mĭsiʹngʷ‛, after which the
speaker says, “Now we have eaten with our Mĭsiʹngʷ‛. We will have this
dance again next spring.” The people then disperse to their homes, the
Mĭsiʹngʷ‛ is put away and the impersonator paid a yard of wampum for his
dancing. At this dance the singers keep time by striking with sticks on
a dry deerhide rolled over and stuffed with dried grass, very similar to
the “drum” used in the Big House.
_Adams’ Account._—The only account the writer has seen of this ceremony
is that of Adams’,[53] the chief inaccuracy of which is the statement
that the dance is “only for amusement.” It furnishes, however, several
additions to our knowledge of the “Solid Face.” It is as follows:
“_Messingq or Solid Face Dance or Devil Dance._—The principal
leader in this dance is the Messingq, an Indian, who is
dressed in a bearskin robe with a wooden face, one-half red
and one-half black. He has a large bearskin pouch and carries
a stick in one hand and a tortoise shell rattle in the other.
He is a very active person. The dance is only for amusement,
and men and women join in it. A large place is cleared in
the woods, and the ground is swept clean and a fire built in
the center. Across the fire and inside of the ring is a long
hickory pole supported at each end by wooden forks set in
the ground. On the east of this pole the singers stand; on
the west end is a venison or deer, which is roasted. About
daylight, when the dance is nearly over, all the dancers eat of
the venison. They have a dried deer hide stretched over some
hickory poles, and standing around it beat on the hide and
sing. The dancers proceed around the fire to the right, the
women on the inside next to the fire. After the dance is under
headway the Messingq comes from the darkness, jumps over the
dancers, and dances between the other dancers and the fire. He
makes some funny and queer gestures, kicks the fire, and then
departs. The Messingq is never allowed to talk, but frequently
he visits the people at their homes. He is a terror to little
children, and when he comes to a house or tent the man of the
house usually gives him a piece of tobacco, which the Messingq
smells and puts in his big pouch, after which he turns around
and kicks back toward the giver which means ‘thank you,’ and
departs. He never thinks of climbing a fence, but jumps over
it every time that one is in his way. The Devil dance is what
the white men call it, but the Delawares call it the Messingq,
or ‘solid face’ dance. The Messingq does not represent an evil
spirit, but is always considered a peacemaker. I suppose that
it is from his hideous appearance that white men call him the
devil.”
OTHER FUNCTIONS OF MĬSIʹNGʷ‛
The Mĭsiʹngʷ‛ the Indians claim, “takes care of the children,” as well
as of the deer, for as before related if any Delaware has a child who is
weak, sickly, or disobedient, he sends for the Mĭsiʹngʷ‛ and asks him to
“attend to” his child. On his arrival it does not take the impersonator
long to frighten the weakness, sickness, or laziness out of such
children, so that “afterward they are well and strong, and whenever they
are told to do a thing, they lose no time in obeying.” This is the only
trace of the doctoring function of the mask found among the Unami.
When the keeper of the Mĭsiʹngʷ‛ burns tobacco for him and asks for good
luck in hunting, “it turns out that way every time;” and the Lenape say
moreover that if anyone loses horses or cattle, either strayed away or
stolen, he can go to the keeper of the Mĭsiʹngʷ‛ with some tobacco as
a gift and get them back. He explains his errand to the keeper, who in
turn informs the Mĭsiʹngʷ‛ that they want him to look for the horses or
cattle. The loser then goes back home, and after a few days the missing
animals return, driven back by the Mĭsiʹngʷ‛, who if they had been tied
or hobbled by the thieves, frightened them until they broke away and came
home. When the Big House meeting is held in the fall, the Mĭsiʹngʷ‛, as
before related, is seen going around among the tents of the Delawares
assembled, and in and out of the Big House, always coming from the woods,
where the impersonator has a place to change his clothes. The Indians
say:
“He helps the people with their hunting, and also helps in the Big House
while the ceremonies are in progress. If he finds anyone there who has
not done right, he informs the three guards of the meeting, who take
that person and put him out. In all these ways the Mĭsiʹngʷ‛ helps the
Delawares.”
MASKS OF THE MINSI
The Minsi Miziʹnk (cognate with the Unami _Mĭsiʹngʷ‛_) was a mask made
of wood with copper or brass eyes and a crooked nose, according to my
informants at Munceytown; and judging by Peter Jones’ drawings (pl. III)
they were provided also with hair, tufts of feathers, and jingling copper
cones or deer-hoofs. The Mizink at Grand river was of Minsi type, judging
by the specimen obtained by the writer (fig. 4).
Such masks were made to represent Mizinkhâliʹkŭn, who was “something like
a person, but different from the Indians, and was powerful. They saw him
first among the rocks on a hill, and he spoke to them and told them what
to do to get his power. When a man put on a Mizink he received the power
of this person or spirit; he could even see behind him, and could cure
diseases.”
_The Mask Society._—The men who owned these masks formed a kind of
society which Nellis Timothy says originally had twelve members, but
which, before it disbanded, dwindled to about five. Sometimes only two
appeared in costume.
The society had a meeting-house of its own where its dances,
_Mizinkĭʹntĭka_, were held, for, unlike the Unami custom, no Mizink ever
appeared in the Big House. The members appeared wearing their masks and
clad in rough bearskin and deerskin costumes, while some, at least, were
provided with a turtleshell rattle which they would rub on a long pole,
crying “_Oⁿ-oⁿ-oⁿ!_” the while.
_Ceremonies._—While no consecutive account of their ceremonies is now
remembered, it was said that they sometimes put down their rattles,
heaped up the ashes from the two fires, then threw the ashes all over
the house to prevent the people assembled from having disease.
Should any sick person appear, he or she would be especially treated with
ashes. Sometimes the performers would pick up live coals and throw them
about, frightening the people. At other times the whole company of them
would go around to the different houses begging for tobacco, and would
dance in any house where someone was willing to sing for them.
Nothing was said among the Minsi about the Mizink bringing back stray
stock or driving deer, characteristic attributes of the Mask Being of the
Unami. The writer obtained but one mask among the Canadian Lenape, and
this was from the Grand River band (fig. 4); it has been described by
him[54] in the following words:
“But one mask (_mizink_) was obtained. It differed from
those of the Iroquois chiefly in being cruder, and also in
decoration, the lines being burnt into the wood instead of
being painted or carved. The original use of the mask had to
do, in part at least, with healing the sick, but Isaac Montour
(_Kaʹpyŭ‛hŭm_), from whom I bought it, failed to make himself
clear as to the details.”
It will be seen that the Minsi beliefs and practices noted above resemble
those of the False Face Company of the Iroquois tribes much more than
they do the customs connected with Mĭsiʹngʷ‛ among the Unami.
In fact, a vague tradition exists to the effect that the False Face
Company of the Cayuga once put a stop to an epidemic of cholera among the
Minsi. While this was not given to account for the origin of the society
among the Minsi, it at least shows that they were familiar with the
Iroquois practices in this line.