Whosoever believeth in Him will have everlasting life.
This is God’s way.
We are living humbly on this earth [five times]
Our Heavenly Father, we want everlasting life through Jesus Christ.
We are living humbly on this earth.
He is the only way, Christ is the Way of Life,
He is the only way.[113]
Radin[114] adds the following Winnebago songs:
Ask God for life and he will give it to us.
God created us, so pray to him.
To the home of Jesus we are going, pray to him.
Come ye to the road of the son of God; come ye to the road.
_Midnight Ceremonies._ The whistling outside the tipi at the four
quarters is variously rationalized. The Kickapoo say the leader’s circuit
follows that of the singing inside, the Shawnee that he whistles at the
cardinal points “on account of the four different winds.” The Northern
Cheyenne, according to Hoebel, say they are following the instructions
of their culture-hero Sweet Medicine in this, while the Comanche say the
whistling is to “notify all things in all directions that we are having
a meeting here in the center of the cross, and calling the great power
to be with us while we drink so that it could hear our prayers.” The
Winnebago “flute” blown at this time is to “announce the birth of Christ
to all the world”; it also represents the trumpet of the Day of Judgment,
and the leader’s otter skin hat symbolizes Christ’s crown of glory. Other
Winnebago[115] say the whistling symbolizes the song of praise of the
birds in heaven whom God created. The Arapaho say the whistling is an
eagle’s cry when it is searching for water, and imitates its coming from
a great distance until it dips its beak into the water.[116]
The midnight songs of the Pawnee are said to be for the protection of
the man who fetches the water. Old-time Comanche used a paunch for the
water, but a bucket is everywhere now used; Comanche and Iowa drinking
begin at the cedar chief, rather than south of the door as is usual.
The Ponca leader dips a feather in the water and sprinkles patients and
those nearby with it; and Shawnee sacrifice a cupful to the earth before
drinking. The Kickapoo and others drink directly from the bucket when the
fireman brings the midnight water, but use a cup when the woman brings
the morning water, in graceful symbolism. Some say the woman represents
“Peyote Woman”; others, like the Wichita, identify her with older native
powers.[117]
The Lipan have no midnight water ceremony. The Hoag (Caddo) rite has
no water ceremonies until the drum has made four rounds of the tipi,
but water is brought in for visitors who might call for it or provided
outside to be drunk at recesses.[118] In Moonhead’s meeting the fireman
gets a feather from the leader on leaving and touches the peyote on his
return as he is fanned and incensed with cedar.
_Recess._ After the midnight water ceremony anyone can leave on
permission of the leader when he has returned from the whistling ritual
outside and been incensed with cedar smoke. People usually leave in
twos and threes, as the meeting continues, but they return promptly
since others may wish to go out. The Pawnee are apparently unique in
their midnight recess: after the water ceremony all leave for a ten to
twenty-five minute period, the paraphernalia meanwhile resting on the
altar cloth.
_Doctoring._ Doctoring in peyote meetings (save those of the Kickapoo,
Caddo and possibly the Osage)[119] is of prime importance, and in a
majority of cases is the expressed purpose of calling a meeting. The
supposed therapeutic virtues of peyote, or in the less technological
view, its “power,” have been important in the history of the cult. Quanah
Parker, the great Comanche proselytizer of peyote, at first opposed to
it, was cured of a stomach ailment in 1884 and became one of the most
enthusiastic proponents of the herb. Peyote doctoring has been the
occasion many times of the spread of peyotism from tribe to tribe (e.g.,
the Kiowa bringing it to the Creek). Kiowa doctoring was also probably
influential in modifying the Church of the First-born on Koshiway’s visit
in their country, and in bringing it into the fold of the Native American
Church.
The motives for the spread of peyotism in the Plains could perhaps be
equally divided between doctoring and power-seeking, but the dichotomy
is somewhat artificial in terms of native ideologies: indeed, the chief
“power” one gets in meetings is for doctoring.[120] Winnebago attitudes
recorded by Radin[121] find parallels elsewhere:
The first and foremost virtue predicated by Rave for the peyote
was its curative power. He gives a number of instances in which
hopeless venereal diseases and consumption were cured by its
use; and this to the present day is the first thing one hears
about it. In the early days of the peyote cult it appears that
Rave relied principally for new converts upon the knowledge
of this great curative virtue of the peyote.... Along this
line lay unquestionably its appeal for the first converts. Its
spread was due to a large number of interacting factors. One
informant claims that there was little religion connected with
it at first, and that people drank the peyote on account of its
peculiar effects.
Densmore[122] says that prayer during Winnebago peyote doctoring “are
petitions to God for the recovery of the sick person, not affirmations of
his recovery.”