Then the leader asks anyone he desires to make a speech. This
may emphasize any point in regard to peyote.
The moral harangue is no doubt derived from earlier Plains patterns,
though it is a Southwestern feature as well, among the Rio Grande Pueblos
and elsewhere.[133]
_Prophecy._ The gift of prophecy has often been claimed by individuals in
native America. The first well-known such was Popé of the Pueblo Revolt
in 1680, but his successors were many: Wabokieshiek, or “White Cloud,”
the Winnebago-Sauk prophet of the Black Hawk War; the Delaware prophet
of Pontiac’s Conspiracy (1762); Tenskwatawa, twin brother of Tecumseh,
and the well-known “Shawnee Prophet” (1805); Kanakuk, the Kickapoo[134]
reformer (1827); Smohalla, the Sokulk dreamer of the Columbia
(1870-1885); Tavibo, the Paiute; Nakaidoklini, the Apache (1881); Wovoka,
or Jack Wilson, the Paiute prophet of the Ghost Dance of 1889 and later;
Skaniadariio, or “Handsome Lake,” the Seneca teacher, etc.[135]
Save for the revelations of the Caddo-Delaware John Wilson, and the
teachings of John Rave and Jonathan Koshiway, this tradition has become
much attenuated as regards peyotism. Large-scale prophecies can no longer
be made to skeptical and disillusioned audiences, but prophecy in minor
matters still occurs via peyote (e.g., the Delaware case in which a
serious industrial accident might have been avoided if he had only been
able to interpret correctly a warning peyote gave him). Old-time Comanche
could hear the enemy while still away off when they ate peyote, and in
making raids could discover the whereabouts of horses, etc. White Wolf,
again, visioned Charley Seminole’s face all bloody at a peyote meeting,
but was unable to interpret the prophecy; somewhat later, sure enough,
the Seminole accidentally shot himself under the eye.
In the origin story of peyote, when the Kiowa or Comanche were on the
war-path, the Apache leader knew of their leader’s approach to the tipi
where they were having a meeting, and told his fireman to invite him in,
whence the visitor brought peyote back to his tribe; this story is known
all over the southern Plains. Around 1870 the only Kiowa who ate peyote
was Pabo, or Big Horse. When he wished to find the whereabouts of an
absent party he would go into a tipi and say “gʸäʰgūṇboṇta” (I am going
to look for medicine), and would drum and rattle and eat peyote, and tell
the results of his inquiry afterward. Pabo’s power was from the eagle,
but Kiowa owl-doctors had clairvoyant powers in pre-peyote times. Another
Kiowa user miraculously predicted the coming of telegraph lines and the
railroad to Anadarko, having previously never seen either, and a Wichita
predicted the World War.
_“Baptism” and Other Morning Ceremonies._ The “curing” ceremonies of
Mexico and the Southwest still find a reflex in the Plains “baptism” in
the morning ceremonies. The leader in the tipi whistles for the water
as in the midnight ceremony, and a smoke is made for the bearer, the
only difference being that this time it is a woman, often symbolically
costumed,[136] who some say represents Peyote Woman of the legend. Many
groups, however, have a ritual “baptism” in this morning ceremony, which
is lacking at midnight.[137] The Arapaho,[138] for example, untie the
drum and pass it around the circles; each man wrings out the wet drum
head, makes a loop of the lacing-rope and throws it lasso-fashion over
his foot to symbolize the roping of horses, presses the seven marbles of
the drum to various parts of his body, and drinks a little of the drum
water. The worshippers then wash the paint from their faces, and comb
their hair, a towel, a mirror, a comb and water making the round of the
tipi; then finally the drinking water is passed around.
The Delaware file out behind the fireman to greet the rising sun with
prayer, and, standing in the same relative positions they occupied in
the tipi, wash their faces with the water which the fireman pours on
their hands; those who fall down at this time are said to be visiting
heaven. The rest re-enter for the ritual breakfast. The Caddo similarly
file out to wash and comb their hair, and preserve the same order even
at the secular meal at noon. The Iowa wash with soap and water as they
sit in the tipi; “the peyote chief himself carries the water to show his
humility, because of Biblical references to the washing of feet.” The
Shawnee are marshalled outside in two lines at sun-up to wash their faces
and “do arm exercises.” The Kickapoo, Wichita, Oto, Northern Cheyenne and
others pass the drum and sometimes all the ritual paraphernalia around to
be handled; some lick the drum stick dipped in the water and touch it to
various parts of their bodies. The Ponca leader, using a feather, shakes
water on participants both at midnight and in the morning, and as in some
other groups, waters the drum also.[139]
The ritual “quitting songs” are sung by the Pawnee just at dawn, as the
first rays of the sun strike the altar through the opened door; the last
song is sung five times, and each member then prays in turn to God. The
“baptism” ceremony of the Winnebago John Rave cultists (derived from
the Oto) is more Christian in tone than that of the Jesse Clay rite (of
Arapaho origin). Rave dipped his fingers in a peyote infusion, and passed
them over the forehead of a new member saying, “God, His holiness,” (or,
as some say, “God, the Son, and the Holy Ghost”).[140] A little water is
also poured on the ground as a sacrifice. The well-nigh universal mode
of disposing of the remaining water in the drum is to pour it along the
earthen “moon.”
_Peyote Breakfast._ The foods in the ritual breakfast in the tipi are
so standardized as scarcely to allow comparative treatment. They are
merely minor variations on the theme: water, parched corn in sweetened
water, fruit and dried sweetened meat.[141] From the Lipan (roasted
corn, yucca fruit, wild fruit and meat, according to Opler) to the Ute
(canned corn, canned peaches and corned beef, as reported by Mrs. Cooke)
the uniformity is striking. These foods are eaten from a common set
of four vessels,[142] which are passed around with a single spoon in
each. Sometimes ground hominy or parched corn mush is substituted, and
Hoebel reports the Northern Cheyenne use of Cracker Jack for the parched
corn. Beef is the usual meat, in boneless chunks or dried, pounded and
sweetened, but pork (tabooed for the Comanche) is reported for the Ponca
and Northern Cheyenne.[143] Wild fruits are somewhat preferred to canned
varieties, but are not always obtainable. Although the original meanings
and connections with agricultural, gathering and hunting ceremonies
have long since been lost sight of, the feeling for the proper foods in
a peyote breakfast is still quite strong in the Plains, a remarkable
instance of culture continuity.