innermost row, which of course is next to the holy fire.[37] He begins
the dance round the supposed holy fire, by invoking YAH, after their
usual manner, on a bass key, and with a short accent; then he sings YO
YO, which is repeated by the rest of the religious procession; and he
continues his sacred invocations and praises, repeating the divine word,
or notes, till they return to the same point of the circular course,
where they began: then HE HE in like manner, and WAH WAH. While dancing
they never fail to repeat those notes; and frequently the holy train
strike up _Halelu, Halelu_; then _Haleluiah, Halelu-Yah_, and ALELUIAH
and ALELU-YAH, “Irradiation to the divine essence,” with great
earnestness and fervor, till they encircle the altar, while each strikes
the ground with right and left feet alternately, very quick, but
well-timed. Then the awful drums join the sacred choir, which incite the
old female singers to chant forth their pious notes, and grateful
praises before the divine essence, and to redouble their former quick
joyful steps, in imitation of the leader of the sacred dance, and the
religious men a-head of them. What with the manly strong notes of the
one, and the shrill voices of the other, in concert with the
bead-shells, and the two sounding, drum-like earthen vessels, with the
voices of the musicians who beat them, the reputed holy ground echoes
with the praises of YO HE WAH. Their singing and dancing in three
circles around their sacred fire, appears to have a reference to a like
religious custom of the Hebrews. And may we not reasonably suppose, that
they formerly understood the psalms, or divine hymns? at least those
that begin with _Halelu-Yah_; otherwise, how came all the inhabitants of
the extensive regions of North and South-America, to have, and retain
those very expressive Hebrew words? or how repeat them so distinctly,
and apply them after the manner of the Hebrews, in their religious
acclamations? The like cannot be found in any other countries.
In like manner, they sing on other religious occasions, and at their
feasts of love, _Ale-Yo Ale-Yo_; which is אל, the divine name, by his
attribute of omnipotence; and י, alluding to יהוה. They sing likewise
_Hewah Hewah_, which is הוה “the immortal soul;” drawn from the divine
essential name, {97} as deriving its rational faculties from YOHEWAH.
Those words that they sing in their religious dances, they never repeat
at any other time; which seems to have greatly occasioned the loss of
the meaning of their divine hymns; for I believe they are now so
corrupt, as not to understand either the spiritual or literal meaning of
what they sing, any further than by allusion.
In their circuiting dances, they frequently sing on a bass key, _Alué
Alué_, _Aluhé, Aluhé_, and _Aluwàh Aluwàh_, which is the Hebrew אלוה.
They likewise sing _Shilù-Yó, Shilù-Yó_, _Shilù-Hé Shilù-Hé_,
_Shilù-Wàh, Shilù-Wàh_, and _Shilù-Hàh Shilù-Hàh_. They transpose them
also several ways, but with the very same notes. The three terminations
make up in their order the four-lettered divine name. _Hah_ is a note of
gladness—the word preceding it, _Shilù_, seems to express the predicted
human and divine שילוה, Shiloh, who was to be the purifier, and
peace-maker.
They continue their grateful divine hymns for the space of fifteen
minutes, when the dance breaks up. As they degenerate, they lengthen
their dances, and shorten the time of their fasts and purifications;
insomuch, that they have so exceedingly corrupted their primitive rites
and customs, within the space of the last thirty years, that, at the
same rate of declension, there will not be long a possibility of tracing
their origin, but by their dialects, and war-customs.
At the end of this notable religious dance, the old beloved, or holy
women[38] return home to hasten the feast of the new sanctified fruits.
In the mean while, every one at the temple drinks very plentifully of
the Cusseena and other bitter liquids, to cleanse their sinful bodies;
after which, they go to some convenient deep water, and there, according
to the ceremonial law of the Hebrews, they wash away their sins with
water. Thus sanctified, they return with joyful hearts in solemn
procession, singing their notes of praise, till they enter into the holy
ground to eat of the new delicious fruits of wild Canaan[XXIII]. The
women now with the utmost cheerfulness, bring to {98} the outside of the
sacred square, a plentiful variety of all those good things, with which
the divine fire has blessed them in the new year; and the religious
attendants lay it before them, according to their stated order and
reputed merit. Every seat is served in a gradual succession, from the
white and red imperial long broad seats, and the whole square is soon
covered: frequently they have a change of courses of fifty or sixty
different sorts, and thus they continue to regale themselves, till the
end of the festival; for they reckon they are now to feast themselves
with joy and gladness, as the divine fire is appeased for past crimes,
and has propitiously sanctified their weighty harvest. They all behave
so modestly, and are possessed of such an extraordinary constancy and
equanimity, in the pursuit of their religious mysteries, that they do
not shew the least outward emotion of pleasure, at the first sight of
the sanctified new fruits; nor the least uneasiness to be tasting those
tempting delicious fat things of Canaan. If one of them acted in a
contrary manner, they would say to him, _Che-Hakset Kaneha_, “You
resemble such as were beat in Canaan.” This unconcern, doubtless
proceeded originally from a virtuous principle; but now, it may be the
mere effect of habit: for, jealousy and revenge excepted, they seem to
be divested of every mental passion, and entirely incapable of any
lasting affection.
Footnote XXIII:
They are so strictly prohibited from eating salt, or flesh-meat, till
the fourth day, that during the interval, the very touch of either is
accounted a great pollution: after that period, they are deemed lawful
to be eaten. All the hunters, and able-bodied men, kill and barbecue
wild game in the woods, at least ten days before this great festival,
and religiously keep it for that sacred use.
I shall give an instance of this.—If the husband has been a year absent
on a visit to another nation, and should by chance overtake his wife
near home, with one of his children skipping along side of her; instead
of those sudden and strong emotions of joy that naturally arise in two
generous breasts at such an unexpected meeting, the self-interested pair
go along as utter strangers, without seeming to take the least notice of
one another, till a considerable time after they get home.
The Indians formerly observed the grand festival[39] of the annual
expiation of sin, at the beginning of the first new moon, in which their
corn became full-eared; but for many years past they are regulated by
the season of their harvest. And on that head, they shew more religious
patience than the Hebrews formerly did; who, instead of waiting till
their grain was ripe, forced their barley, which ripened before any
other sort they planted. And they are perhaps as skilful in observing
the revolutions of the moon, as ever the Israelites were, at least till
the end of the first temple; for during that period, instead of
measuring time by astronomical calculations, they {99} knew it only by
the phases of the moon. In like manner, the supposed red Hebrews of the
American desarts, annually observed their festivals, and _Neetak
Yáh-àh_, “days of afflicting themselves before the Deity,” at a prefixed
time of a certain moon. To this day, a war-leader, who, by the number of
his martial exploits is entitled to a drum, always sanctifies himself,
and his out-standing company, at the end of the old moon, so as to go
off at the appearance of the new one by day-light; whereas, he who has
not sufficiently distinguished himself, must set out in the night.
As the first of the _Neetak Hoollo_, precedes a long strict fast of two
nights and a day, they gormandize such a prodigious quantity of strong
food, as to enable them to keep inviolate the succeeding fast, the
sabbath of sabbaths, the _Neetak Yah-ah_: the feast lasts only from
morning till sun-set. Being great lovers of the ripened fruits, and only
tantalized as yet, with a near view of them; and having lived at this
season, but meanly on the wild products of nature—such a fast as this
may be truly said to afflict their souls, and to prove a sufficient
trial of their religious principles. During the festival, some of their
people are closely employed in putting their temple in proper order for
the annual expiation; and others are painting the white cabbin, and the
supposed holiest, with white clay; for it is a sacred, peaceable place,
and white is its emblem. Some, at the same time are likewise painting
the war-cabbin with red clay, or their emblematical red root, as
occasion requires; while others of an inferior order, are covering all
the seats of the beloved square with new mattresses, made out of the
fine splinters of long canes, tied together with flags. In the mean
time, several of them are busy in sweeping the temple, clearing it of
every supposed polluting thing, and carrying out the ashes from the
hearth which perhaps had not been cleaned six times since the last
year’s general offering. Several towns join together to make the annual
sacrifice; and, if the whole nation lies in a narrow compass, they make
but one annual offering: by which means, either through a sensual or
religious principle, they strike off the work with joyful hearts. Every
thing being thus prepared, the _Archi-magus_ orders some of his
religious attendants to dig up the old hearth, or altar, and to sweep
out the remains that by chance might either be left, or drop down. Then
he puts a few roots of the button-snake-root, with some green leaves of
an uncommon small sort of tobacco, and a little of the new fruits, at
the bottom of the fire-place, which he {100} orders to be covered up
with white marley clay, and wetted over with clean water[XXIV].
Footnote XXIV:
Under the palladium of Troy, were placed things of the like nature, as
a preservative from evil; but the above practice seems to be pretty
much tempered with the Mosaic institution; for God commanded them to
make an altar of earth, to sacrifice thereon. _Exod._ xx. 24.
Immediately, the _magi_ order them to make a thick arbour over the
altar, with green branches of the various young trees, which the
warriors had designedly chosen, and laid down on the outside of the
supposed holy ground: the women, in the interim are busy at home in
cleaning out their houses, renewing the old hearths, and cleansing all
their culinary vessels, that they may be fit to receive the pretended
holy fire, and the sanctified new fruits, according to the purity of the
law; lest by a contrary conduct, they should incur damage in life,
health, future crops, &c. It is fresh in the memory of the old traders,
that formerly none of these numerous nations of Indians would eat, or
even handle any part of the new harvest, till some of it had been
offered up at the yearly festival by the _Archi-magus_, or those of his
appointment, at their plantations, though the light harvest of the past
year had forced them to give their women and children of the ripening
fruits, to sustain life. Notwithstanding they are visibly degenerating,
both in this, and every other religious observance, except what concerns
war; yet their magi and old warriors live contentedly on such harsh food
as nature affords them in the woods, rather than transgress that divine
precept given to their forefathers.
Having every thing in order for the sacred solemnity, the religious
waiters carry off the remains of the feast, and lay them on the outside
of the square; others of an inferior order carefully sweep out the
smallest crumbs, for fear of polluting the first-fruit offering; and
before sun-set, the temple must be cleared, even of every kind of vessel
or utensil, that had contained, or been used about any food in that
expiring year. The women carry all off, but none of that sex, except
half a dozen of old beloved women, are allowed in that interval to tread
on the holy ground, till the fourth day. Now, one of the waiters
proclaims with a loud voice, for all the warriors and beloved men, whom
the purity of the law admits, to come and enter the beloved square, and
observe the fast; he likewise exhorts all {101} the women and children,
and those who have not initiated themselves in war, to keep apart from
them, according to law. Should any of them prove disobedient, the young
ones would be dry-scratched, and the others stript of every thing they
had on them. They observe the same strict law of purity, in their method
of sanctifying themselves for war, in order to obtain the divine
protection, assistance, and success. But a few weeks since, when a large
company of these warlike savages were on the point of setting off to
commence war against the Muskohge, some of the wags decoyed a heedless
trader into their holy ground, and they stript him, so as to oblige him
to redeem his clothes with vermilion. And, on account of the like
trespass, they detained two Indian children two nights and a day, till
their obstinate parents paid the like ransom.
Their great beloved man, or _Archi-magus_, now places four centinels,
one at each corner of the holy square, to keep out every living creature
as impure, except the religious order, and the warriors who are not
known to have violated the law of the first-fruit-offering, and that of
marriage, since the last year’s expiation. Those centinels are regularly
relieved, and firm to their sacred trust; if they discerned a dog or cat
on the out-limits of the holy square, before the first-fruit-offering
was made, they would kill it with their arrows on the spot.
They observe the fast till the rising of the second sun; and be they
ever so hungry in that sacred interval, the healthy warriors deem the
duty so awful, and the violation so inexpressibly vicious, that no
temptation would induce them to violate it; for, like the Hebrews, they
fancy temporal evils are the necessary effect of their immoral conduct,
and they would for ever ridicule and reproach the criminal for every bad
occurrence that befel him in the new year, as the sinful author of his
evils; and would sooner shoot themselves, than suffer such
long-continued sharp disgrace. The religious attendants boil a
sufficient quantity of button-snake-root, highly imbittered, and give it
round pretty warm, in order to vomit and purge their sinful bodies. Thus
they continue to mortify and purify themselves, till the end of the
fast. When we consider their earnest invocations of the divine essence,
in this solemnity—their great knowledge of specific virtues in
simples—that they never apply the aforesaid root, only on religious
occasions—that they frequently drink it to such excess as to impair
their health, {102} and sometimes so as to poison themselves by its
acrid quality—and take into the account, its well-known medicinal
property of curing the bite of the most dangerous sort of the serpentine
generation; must not one think, that the Aboriginal Americans chose it,
as a strong emblem of the certain cure of the bite of the old serpent in
Eden.
That the women and children, and those worthless fellows who have not
hazarded their lives in defence of their holy places and holy things,
and for the beloved people, may not be entirely godless, one of the old
beloved men lays down a large quantity of the small-leafed green
tobacco, on the outside of a corner of the sacred square; and an old
beloved woman, carries it off, and distributes it to the sinners
without, in large pieces, which they chew heartily, and swallow, in
order to afflict their souls. She commends those who perform the duty
with cheerfulness, and chides those who seem to do it unwillingly, by
their wry faces on account of the bitterness of the supposed sanctifying
herb. She distributes it in such quantities, as she thinks are equal to
their capacity of sinning, giving to the reputed, worthless old
He-hen-pickers, the proportion only of a child, because she thinks such
spiritless pictures of men cannot sin with married women; as all the
females love only the virtuous manly warrior, who has often successfully
accompanied the beloved ark.
In the time of this general fast, the women, children, and men of weak
constitutions, are allowed to eat, as soon as they are certain the sun
has begun to decline from his meridian altitude; but not before that
period. Their indulgence to the sick and weak, seems to be derived from
divine precept, which forbad the offering of sacrifice at the cost of
mercy; and the snake-root joined with their sanctifying bitter green
tobacco, seem to be as strong expressive emblems as they could have
possibly chosen, according to their situation in life, to represent the
sacred institution of eating the paschal lamb, with bitter herbs; and to
shew, that though the old serpent bit us in Eden, yet there is a branch
from the root of Jesse, to be hoped for by those who deny themselves
their present sweet taste, which will be a sufficient purifier, and
effect the cure.
The whole time of this fast may with truth be called a fast, and to the
_Archi-magus_, to all the _magi_, and pretended prophets, in particular;
for, by {103} ancient custom, the former is obliged to eat of the
sanctifying small-leafed tobacco, and drink the snake-root, in a
separate hut for the space of three days and nights without any other
subsistence, before the solemnity begins; besides his full portion along
with the rest of the religious order, and the old war-chieftains, till
the end of the general fast, which he pretends to observe with the
strictest religion. After the first-fruits are sanctified, he lives most
abstemiously till the end of the annual expiation, only sucking
water-melons now and then to quench thirst, and support life, spitting
out the more substantial part.
By the Levitical law, the priests were obliged to observe a stricter
sanctity of life than the laity; all the time they were performing the
sacerdotal offices, both women and wine were strictly forbidden to them.
Thus the Indian religious are retentive of their sacred mysteries to
death, and the _Archi-magus_ is visibly thin and meagre at the end of
the solemnity. That rigid self-denial, seems to have been designed to
initiate the Levite, and give the rest an example of leading an innocent
simple life, that thereby they might be able to subdue their unruly
passions; and that by mortifying and purifying himself so excessively,
the sacrifice by passing through his pure hands, may be accepted, and
the holy Spirit of fire atoned, according to the divine law. The
superannuated religious are also emulous in the highest degree, of
excelling one another in their long fasting; for they firmly believe,
that such an annual self-denying method is so highly virtuous, when
joined to an obedience of the rest of their laws, as to be the
infallible means of averting evil, and producing good things, through
the new year. They declare that a steady virtue, through the divine
co-operating favour, will infallibly insure them a lasting round of
happiness.
At the end of this solemn fast, the women by the voice of a crier, bring
to the outside of the holy square, a plentiful variety of the old year’s
food newly drest, which they lay down, and immediately return home; for
every one of them know their several duties, with regard both to time
and place. The centinels report the affair, and soon afterward the
waiters by order go, and reaching their hands over the holy ground, they
bring in the provisions, and set them down before the famished
multitude. Though most of the people may have seen them, they reckon it
vicious and mean to shew a gladness for the end of their religious
duties; and shameful {104} to hasten the holy attendants, as they are
all capable of their sacred offices. They are as strict observers of all
their set forms, as the Israelites were of those they had from divine
appointment.
Before noon, the temple is so cleared of every thing the women brought
to the square, that the festival after that period, resembles a magical
entertainment that had no reality in it, consisting only in a delusion
of the senses. The women then carry the vessels from the temple to the
water, and wash them clean for fear of pollution. As soon as the sun is
visibly declining from his meridian, this third day of the fast, the
_Archi-magus_ orders a religious attendant to cry aloud to the crowded
town, that the holy fire is to be brought out for the sacred
altar—commanding every one of them to stay within their own houses, as
becomes the beloved people, without doing the least bad thing—and to be
sure to extinguish, and throw away every spark of the old fire;
otherwise, the divine fire will bite them severely with bad diseases,
sickness, and a great many other evils, which he sententiously
enumerates, and finishes his monitory caution, by laying life and death
before them.
Now every thing is hushed.—Nothing but silence all around: the
_Archi-magus_, and his beloved waiter, rising up with a reverend
carriage, steady countenance, and composed behaviour, go into the
beloved place, or holiest, to bring them out the beloved fire. The
former takes a piece of dry poplar, willow, or white oak, and having cut
a hole, so as not to reach through it, he then sharpens another piece,
and placing that with the hole between his knees, he drills it briskly
for several minutes, till it begins to smoke—or, by rubbing two pieces
together, for about a quarter of an hour, by friction he collects the
hidden fire; which all of them reckon to immediately issue from the holy
Spirit of fire. The Muskohge call the fire their grandfather—and the
supreme Father of mankind, _Esakàta-Emishe_, “the breath master,” as it
is commonly explained. When the fire appears, the beloved waiter
cherishes it with fine chips, or shaved splinters of pitch-pine, which
had been deposited in the holiest; then he takes the unsullied wing of a
swan, fans it gently, and cherishes it to a flame. On this, the
_Archi-magus_ brings it out in an old earthen vessel, whereon he had
placed it, and lays it on the sacred altar, which is under an arbour,
thick-weaved a-top with green boughs. It is observable, that when the
Levites laid wood on the sacred fire, it was unlawful {105} for them
either to blow it with bellows, or their breath. The Magians, or
followers of Zoroaster, poured oil on their supposed holy fire, and left
it to the open air to kindle it into flame. Is not this religious
ceremony of these desolate Indians a strong imitation, or near
resemblance of the Jewish customs?