THE IZZE-KLOTH OR MEDICINE CORD OF THE APACHE.
There is probably no more mysterious or interesting portion of the
religious or "medicinal" equipment of the Apache Indian, whether he be
medicine-man or simply a member of the laity, than the "izze-kloth" or
medicine cord, illustrations of which accompany this text. Less,
perhaps, is known concerning it than any other article upon which he
relies in his distress.
I regret very much to say that I am unable to afford the slightest
clew to the meaning of any of the parts or appendages of the cords
which I have seen or which I have procured. Some excuse for this is to
be found in the fact that the Apache look upon these cords as so
sacred that strangers are not allowed to see them, much less handle
them or talk about them. I made particular effort to cultivate the
most friendly and, when possible, intimate relations with such of the
Apache and other medicine-men as seemed to offer the best chance for
obtaining information in regard to this and other matters, but I am
compelled to say with no success at all.
[Illustration: FIG. 435.--Single-strand medicine cord (Zuñi).]
I did advance so far in my schemes that Na-a-cha, a prominent
medicine-man of the Tonto Apache, promised to let me have his cord,
but as an eruption of hostility on the part of the tribe called me
away from the San Carlos Agency, the opportunity was lost. Ramon, one
of the principal medicine-men of the Chiricahua Apache, made me the
same promise concerning the cord which he wore and which figures in
these plates. It was, unfortunately, sent me by mail, and, although
the best in the series and really one of the best I have ever been
fortunate enough to see on either living or dead, it was not
accompanied by a description of the symbolism of the different
articles attached. Ramon also gave me the head-dress which he wore in
the spirit or ghost dance, and explained everything thereon, and I am
satisfied that he would also, while in the same frame of mind, have
given me all the information in his power in regard to the sacred or
medicine cord as well, had I been near him.
There are some things belonging to these cords which I understand from
having had them explained at other times, but there are others about
which I am in extreme doubt and ignorance. There are four specimens of
medicine cords represented and it is worth while to observe that they
were used as one, two, three, and four strand cords, but whether this
fact means that they belonged to medicine-men or to warriors of
different degrees I did not learn nor do I venture to conjecture.
The single-strand medicine cord with the thirteen olivella shells
belonged to a Zuñi chief, one of the priests of the sacred order of
the bow, upon whose wrist it was worn as a sign of his exalted rank in
the tribe. I obtained it as a proof of his sincerest friendship and
with injunctions to say nothing about it to his own people, but no
explanation was made at the moment of the signification of the
wristlet or cord itself or of the reason for using the olivella shells
of that particular number or for placing them as they were placed.
[Illustration: FIG. 436.--Four-strand medicine cord (Apache).]
One of the four-strand cords was obtained from Ramon and is the most
beautiful and the most valuable of the lot. Ramon called my attention
to the important fact that it was composed of four strands and that
originally each had been stained a different color. These colors were
probably yellow, blue, white, and black, although the only ones still
discernible at this time are the yellow and the blue.
The three-strand cord was sent to me at Washington by my old friend,
Al. Seiber, a scout who has been living among the Apache for
twenty-five years. No explanation accompanied it and it was probably
procured from the body of some dead warrior during one of the
innumerable scouts and skirmishes which Seiber has had with this
warlike race during his long term of service against them. The two
strand cord was obtained by myself so long ago that the circumstances
connected with it have escaped my memory. These cords, in their
perfection, are decorated with beads and shells strung along at
intervals, with pieces of the sacred green chalchihuitl, which has had
such a mysterious ascendancy over the minds of the American
Indians--Aztec, Peruvian, Quiche, as well as the more savage tribes,
like the Apache and Navajo; with petrified wood, rock crystal, eagle
down, claws of the hawk or eaglet, claws of the bear, rattle of the
rattlesnake, buckskin bags of hoddentin, circles of buckskin in which
are inclosed pieces of twigs and branches of trees which have been
struck by lightning, small fragments of the abalone shell from the
Pacific coast, and much other sacred paraphernalia of a similar kind.
[Illustration: FIG. 437.--Three-strand medicine cord (Apache).]
That the use of these cords was reserved for the most sacred and
important occasions, I soon learned; they were not to be seen on
occasions of no moment, but the dances for war, medicine, and
summoning the spirits at once brought them out, and every medicine-man
of any consequence would appear with one hanging from his right
shoulder over his left hip.
Only the chief medicine-men can make them, and after being made and
before being assumed by the new owner they must be sprinkled, Ramon
told me, with "heap hoddentin," a term meaning that there is a great
deal of attendant ceremony of a religious character.
These cords will protect a man while on the warpath, and many of the
Apache believe firmly that a bullet will have no effect upon the
warrior wearing one of them. This is not their only virtue by any
means; the wearer can tell who has stolen ponies or other property
from him or from his friends, can help the crops, and cure the sick.
If the circle attached to one of these cords (see Fig. 436) is placed
upon the head it will at once relieve any ache, while the cross
attached to another (see Fig. 439) prevents the wearer from going
astray, no matter where he may be; in other words, it has some
connection with cross-trails and the four cardinal points to which the
Apache pay the strictest attention. The Apache assured me that these
cords were not mnemonic and that the beads, feathers, knots, etc.,
attached to them were not for the purpose of recalling to mind some
duty to be performed or prayer to be recited.
[Illustration: FIG. 438.--Two-strand medicine cord (Apache).]
I was at first inclined to associate these cords with the quipus of
the Peruvians, and also with the wampum of the aborigines of the
Atlantic coast, and investigation only confirms this first suspicion.
It is true that both the wampum and the quipu seem to have advanced
from their primitive position as "medicine" and attained,
ethnologically speaking, the higher plane of a medium for facilitating
exchange or disseminating information, and for that reason their
incorporation in this chapter might be objected to by the
hypercritical; but a careful perusal of all the notes upon the
subject can not fail to convince the reader that the use of just such
medicine cords prevailed all over the world, under one form or
another, and has survived to our own times.
First, let me say a word about rosaries, the invention of which has
been attributed to St. Dominick, in Spain, and to St. Bridget, in
Ireland. Neither of these saints had anything to do with the invention
or introduction of the rosary, although each in his or her own
province may have adapted to new and better uses a cord already in
general service among all the peoples of Europe. The rosary, as such,
was in general use in parts of the world long before the time of
Christ. Again, the cords of the various religious orders were looked
upon as medicine cords and employed in that manner by the ignorant
peasantry.
[Illustration: FIG. 439.--Four-strand medicine cord (Apache).]
In this chapter I will insert notes showing the use of such cords by
other tribes, and follow with descriptions of the uses to which the
cords of St. Francis and others were put, and with references to the
rosaries of different races or different creeds; finally, I will
remark upon the superstitions connected with cords, belts, and
strings, knotted or unknotted, made of serpent skin, human skin, or
human hair. The strangest thing about it all is that observers have,
with scarcely an exception, contented themselves with noting the
existence of such cords without making the slightest effort to
determine why they were used.
There are certain cords with medicine bags attached to be seen in the
figures of medicine-men in the drawings of the sacred altars given by
Matthews in his account of the Navajo medicine-men.
Cushing also has noted the existence of such cords in Zuñi, and there
is no doubt that some at least of the so-called "fishing lines" found
in the Rio Verde cliff dwellings in Arizona were used for the same
purposes.
Describing the tribes met on the Rio Colorado, in 1540-1541, Alarcon
says: "Likewise on the brawne of their armes they weare a streit
string, which they wind so often about that it becommeth as broad as
one's hand."[533] It must be remembered that the Indians thought that
Alarcon was a god, that they offered sacrifice to him, and that they
wore all the "medicine" they possessed.
In 1680, the Pueblos, under the leadership of Popé, of the pueblo of
San Juan, were successful in their attempt to throw off the Spanish
yoke. He made them believe that he was in league with the spirits, and
"that they directed him to make a rope of the palm leaf and tie in it
a number of knots to represent the number of days before the rebellion
was to take place; that he must send this rope to all the Pueblos in
the kingdom, when each should signify its approval of, and union with,
the conspiracy by untying one of the knots."[534]
I suspect that this may have been an izze-kloth. We know nothing about
this rebellion excepting what has been derived through Spanish
sources; the conquerors despised the natives, and, with a very few
notable exceptions among the Franciscans, made no effort to study
their peculiarities. The discontent of the natives was aggravated by
this fact; they saw their idols pulled down, their ceremonial chambers
closed, their dances prohibited, and numbers of their people tried and
executed for witchcraft.[535] Fray Geronimo de Zarate Salmeron was a
striking example of the good to be effected by missionaries who are
not above studying their people; he acquired a complete mastery of the
language of the pueblo of Jemez, "and preached to the inhabitants in
their native tongue." He is represented as exercising great influence
over the people of Jemez, Sia, Santa Ana, and Acoma. In this rebellion
of 1680 the Pueblos expected to be joined by the Apache.[536]
The izze-kloth of the Apache seems to have had its prototype in the
sacred string of beans with which Tecumseh's brother, the Shawnee
prophet, traveled among the Indian tribes, inciting them to war. Every
young warrior who agreed to go upon the warpath touched this "sacred
string of beans" in token of his solemn pledge.[537]
Tanner says in the narrative of his captivity among the Ojibwa: "He
[the medicine-man] then gave me a small hoop of wood to wear on my
head like a cap. On one-half of this hoop was marked the figure of a
snake, whose office, as the chief told me, was to take care of the
water."[538] The "small hoop of wood" of which Tanner speaks, to be
worn on the head, seems to be analogous to the small hoop attached to
the izze-kloth, to be worn or applied in cases of headache (Fig. 436).
Reference to something very much like the izze-kloth is made by Harmon
as in use among the Carriers of British North America. He says: "The
lads, as soon as they come to the age of puberty, tie cords, wound
with swan's-down, around each leg a little below the knee, which they
wear during one year, and then they are considered as men."[539]
Catlin speaks of "mystery-beads" in use among the Mandan.[540] "The
negro suspends all about his person cords with most complicated
knots."[541]
The female inhabitants of Alaska, Unalaska, and the Fox Islands were
represented by the Russian explorers of 1768 (Captain Krenitzin) to
"wear chequered strings around the arms and legs."[542] These cords
bear a striking resemblance to the "wresting cords" of the peasantry
of Europe. Some of the Australians preserve the hair of a dead man.
"It is spun into a cord and fastened around the head of a
warrior."[543] "A cord of opossum hair around the neck, the ends
drooping down on the back and fastened to the belt," is one of the
parts of the costume assumed by those attaining manhood in the
initiation ceremonies of the Australians.[544] Again, on pages 72 and
74, he calls it "the belt of manhood." "The use of amulets was common
among the Greeks and Romans, whose amulets were principally formed of
gems, crowns of pearls, necklaces of coral, shells, etc."[545]
When I first saw the medicine cords of the Apache, it occurred to me
that perhaps in some way they might be an inheritance from the
Franciscans, who, two centuries ago, had endeavored to plant missions
among the Apache, and did succeed in doing something for the Navajo
part of the tribe. I therefore examined the most convenient
authorities and learned that the cord of S. François, like the cord of
St. Augustine and the cord of St. Monica, was itself a medicine cord,
representing a descent from a condition of thought perfectly parallel
to that which has given birth to the izze-kloth. Thus Picart tells us:
"On appelle Cordon de S. François la grosse corde qui sert de ceinture
aux Religieux qui vivent sous la Regle de ce Saint.... Cette corde
ceint le corps du Moine, & pend à peu prés jusqu'aux pieds. Elle lui
sert de discipline, & pour cet effet, elle est armée de distance en
distance de fort gros nœuds.... La Corde de S. François a souvent
gueri les malades, facilité les accouchemens, fortifié la santé,
procuré lignée & fait une infinité d'autres miracles édifians."[546]
This author says of the girdle of St. Augustine "Elle est de cuir,"
and adds that the Augustinians have a book which treats of the origin
of their order, in which occur these words: "Il est probable que nos
premiers Peres, qui vivoient sous la Loi de nature, étant habillés de
peau devoient porter une Ceinture de même étoffe."[547] This last
assumption is perfectly plausible. For my part it has always seemed to
me that monasticism is of very ancient origin, antedating Christianity
and representing the most conservative element in the religious part
of human nature. It clings obstinately to primitive ideas with which
would naturally be associated primitive costume. The girdle of St.
Monica had five knots. "The monks [of the Levant] use a girdle with
twelve knots, to shew that they are followers of the twelve
apostles."[548] Among the "sovereign remedies for the headache" is
mentioned "the belt of St. Guthlac."[549] Buckle refers to the fact
that English women in labor wore "blessed girdles." He thinks that
they may have been Thomas Aquinas's girdles.[550]
And good Saynt Frances gyrdle,
With the hamlet of a hyrdle,
Are wholsom for the pyppe.[551]
Some older charms are to be found in Bale's Interlude concerning the
Laws of Nature, Moses, and Christ, 4to, 1562. Idolatry says:
For lampes and for bottes
Take me Saynt Wilfride's knottes.[552]
The "girdle of St. Bridget," mentioned by Mooney[553] and by other
writers, through which the sick were passed by their friends, was
simply a "survival" of the "Cunni Diaboli" still to be found in the
East Indies. This "girdle of St. Bridget" was made of straw and in the
form of a collar.
The custom prevailing in Catholic countries of being buried in the
habits of the monastic orders, of which we know that the cord was a
prominent feature, especially in those of St. Francis or St. Dominick,
is alluded to by Brand.[554] This custom seems to have been founded
upon a prior superstitious use of magical cords which were, till a
comparatively recent period, buried with the dead. The Roman Catholic
church anathematized those "qui s'imaginent faire plaisir aux morts ou
leur mettant entre les mains, ou en jettant sur leurs fosses, ou dans
leurs tombeaux de petites cordes nouées de plusieurs nœuds, &
d'autres semblables, ce qui est expressement condamné par le Synode
de Ferrare en 1612."[555] Evidently the desire was to be buried with
cords or amulets which in life they dared not wear.
We may infer that cords and other articles of monastic raiment can be
traced back to a most remote ancestry by reading the views of Godfrey
Higgins, in Anacalypsis, to the effect that there was a tradition
maintained among the Carmelites that their order had been established
by the prophet Elisha and that Jesus Christ himself had been one of
its members. Massingberd, speaking of the first arrival of the
Carmelites in England (about A. D. 1215), says: "They professed to be
newly arrived in Italy, driven out by the Saracens from the Holy Land,
where they had remained on Mount Carmel from the time of Elisha the
prophet. They assert that 'the sons of the prophets' had continued on
Mount Carmel as a poor brotherhood till the time of Christ, soon after
which they were miraculously converted, and that the Virgin Mary
joined their order and gave them a precious vestment called a
scapular."[556]
ANALOGUES TO BE FOUND AMONG THE AZTECS, PERUVIANS, AND OTHERS.
According to the different authorities cited below, it will be seen
that the Aztec priests were in the habit of consulting Fate by casting
upon the ground a handful of cords tied together; if the cords
remained bunched together, the sign was that the patient was to die,
but if they stretched out, then it was apparent that the patient was
soon to stretch out his legs and recover. Mendieta says: "Tenian unos
cordeles, hecho de ellos un manojo como llavero donde las mujeres
traen colgadas las llaves, lanzábanlos en el suelo, y si quedaban
revueltos, decian que era señal de muerte. Y si alguno ó algunos
salian extendidos, teníanlo por señal de vida, diciendo: que ya
comenzaba el enfermo á extender los piés y las manos."[557] Diego
Duran speaks of the Mexican priests casting lots with knotted cords,
"con nudillos de hilo echaban suertes."[558] When the army of Cortes
advanced into the interior of Mexico, his soldiers found a forest of
pine in which the trees were interlaced with certain cords and papers
which the wizards had placed there, telling the Tlascaltecs that they
would restrain the advance of the strangers and deprive them of all
strength:
Hallaron un Pinar mui espeso, lleno de hilos i papeles, que
enredaban los Arboles, i atravesaban el camino, de que mucho
se rieron los Castellanos; i dixeron graciosos donaires,
quando luego supieron que los Hechiceros havian dado à
entender à los Tlascaltecas que con aquellos hilos, i papeles
havian de tener à los Castellanos, i quitarles sus
fuerças.[559]
Padre Sahagun speaks of the Aztec priests who cast lots with little
cords knotted together: "Que hechan suertes con unas cordezuelas que
atan unas con otros que llaman Mecatlapouhque."[560] Some such method
of divining by casting cords must have existed among the Lettons, as
we are informed by Grimm.[561] "Among the Lettons, the bride on her
way to church, must throw a bunch of colored threads and a coin into
every ditch and pond she sees."[562]
In the religious ceremonies of the Peruvians vague mention is made of
"a very long cable," "woven in four colours, black, white, red, and
yellow."[563] The Inca wore a "llautu." "This was a red fringe in the
fashion of a border, which he wore across his forehead from one temple
to the other. The prince, who was heir apparent, wore a yellow fringe,
which was smaller than that of his father."[564] In another place,
Garcilaso says: "It was of many colours, about a finger in width and a
little less in thickness. They twisted this fringe three or four times
around the head and let it hang after the manner of a garland."[565]
"The Ynca made them believe that they were granted by order of the
Sun, according to the merits of each tribe, and for this reason they
valued them exceedingly."[566] The investiture was attended with
imposing ceremonies. "When the Grounds of the Sun were to be tilled
[by the Peruvians], the principal men went about the task wearing
white cords stretched across the shoulders after the manner of
ministers of the altar"[567] is the vague description to be gathered
from Herrera.
Knotted cords were in use among the Carib; "ce qui revient aux Quippos
des Péruviens."[568] The accompanying citation from Montfaucon would
seem to show that among the Romans were to be found sacred baldrics in
use by the war priests; such baldrics are to be seen also among the
American aborigines, and correspond very closely to the medicine
cords. Montfaucon describes the Saliens, who among the Romans were the
priests of Mars, the god of war; these priests in the month of March
had a festival which was probably nothing but a war dance, as that
month would be most favorable in that climate for getting ready to
attack their neighbors and enemies. He says that these Saliens "sont
vêtus de robes de diverses couleurs, ceints de baudriers d'airain."
These would seem to have been a sort of medicine cord with plates of
brass affixed which would rattle when shaken by the dancer.[569]
Captain Cook found that the men of the tribes seen in Australia wore
"bracelets of small cord, wound two or three times about the upper
part of their arm."[570]
"Whilst their [the Congo natives'] children are young, these people
bind them about with certain superstitious cords made by the wizards,
who, likewise, teach them to utter a kind of spell while they are
binding them."[571] Father Merolla adds that sometimes as many as four
of these cords are worn.
Bosman remarks upon the negroes of the Gold Coast as follows: "The
child is no sooner born than the priest (here called Feticheer or
Consoe) is sent for, who binds a parcel of ropes and coral and other
trash about the head, body, arms, and legs of the infant; after which
he exorcises, according to their accustomed manner, by which they
believe it is armed against all sickness and ill accidents."[572]
In the picture of a native of Uzinza, Speke shows us a man wearing a
cord from the right shoulder to the left hip.[573]
In the picture of Lunga Mândi's son, in Cameron's Across Africa,[574]
that young chief is represented as wearing a cord across his body from
his right shoulder to the left side.
On the Lower Congo, at Stanley Pool, Stanley met a young chief: "From
his shoulders depended a long cloth of check pattern, while over one
shoulder was a belt, to which was attached a queer medley of small
gourds containing snuff and various charms, which he called his
Inkisi."[575] This no doubt was a medicine cord. "According to the
custom, which seems to belong to all Africa, as a sign of grief the
Dinka wear a cord round the neck."[576] "The Mateb, or baptismal cord,
is _de rigueur_, and worn when nothing else is. It formed the only
clothing of the young at Seramba, but was frequently added to with
amulets, sure safeguards against sorcery."[577] The Abyssinian
Christians wear a blue cord as a sign of having been baptized, and
"baptism and the blue cord are, in the Abyssinian mind,
inseparable."[578] "The cord,[579] or mateb, without which nobody can
be really said in Abyssinia to be respectable."[580] It further
resembles the Apache medicine cord, inasmuch as it is "a blue cord
around the neck."[581] The baptismal cords are made of "blue floss
silk."[582]
THE MAGIC WIND KNOTTED CORDS OF THE LAPPS AND OTHERS.
"The navigators of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries have
related many wonderful stories about the magic of the _Finns_ or
_Finno Lappes_, who sold wind contained in a cord with three knots.
If the first were untied, the wind became favourable, if the second,
still more so, but, if the third were loosed, a tempest was the
inevitable consequence."[583] The selling of wind knots was ascribed
not only to the Lapps and Finns, but to the inhabitants of Greenland
also.[584] "The northern shipmasters are such dupes to the delusions
of these impostors that they often purchase of them a magic cord which
contains a number of knots, by opening of which, according to the
magician's directions, they expect to gain any wind they want."[585]
"They [Lapland witches] further confessed, that while they fastened
three knots on a linen towel in the name of the devil, and had spit on
them, &c., they called the name of him they doomed to destruction."
They also claimed that, "by some fatal contrivance they could bring on
men disorders," ... as "by spitting three times on a knife and
anointing the victims with that spittle."[586]
Scheffer describes the Laplanders as having a cord tied with knots for
the raising of the wind; Brand says the same of the Finlanders, of
Norway, of the priestesses of the island of Sena, on the coast of
Gaul, in the time of the Emperor Claudius, the "witches" of the Isle
of Man, etc.[587]
Macbeth, speaking to the witches, says:
Though you untie the winds, and let them fight
Against the churches; though the yesty waves
Confound and swallow navigation up.[588]
ROSARIES AND OTHER MNEMONIC CORDS.
The rosary being confessedly an aid to memory, it will be proper to
include it in a chapter descriptive of the different forms of mnemonic
cords which have been noticed in various parts of the world. The use
of the rosary is not confined to Roman Catholics; it is in service
among Mahometans, Tibetans, and Persians.[589] Picart mentions
"chaplets" among the Chinese and Japanese which very strongly suggest
the izze-kloth.[590]
Father Grébillon, in his account of Tartary, alludes several times to
the importance attached by the Chinese and Tartars to the privilege of
being allowed to touch the "string of beads" worn by certain Lamas met
on the journey, which corresponds very closely to the rosaries of the
Roman Catholics.[591]
"Mr. Astle informs us that the first Chinese letters were knots on
cords."[592]
Speaking of the ancient Japanese, the Chinese chronicles relate: "They
have no writing, but merely cut certain marks upon wood and make knots
in cord."[593] In the very earliest myths of the Chinese we read of
"knotted cords, which they used instead of characters, and to instruct
their children."[594] Malte-Brun calls attention to the fact that "the
hieroglyphics and little cords in use amongst the ancient Chinese
recall in a striking manner the figured writing of the Mexicans and
the Quipos of Peru."[595] "Each combination [of the quipu] had,
however, a fixed ideographic value in a certain branch of knowledge,
and thus the _quipu_ differed essentially from the Catholic rosary,
the Jewish phylactery, or the knotted strings of the natives of North
America and Siberia, to all of which it has at times been
compared."[596]
E. B. Tylor differs in opinion from Brinton. According to Tylor, "the
quipu is a near relation of the rosary and the wampum-string."[597]
The use of knotted cords by natives of the Caroline Islands, as a
means of preserving a record of time, is noted by Kotzebue in several
places. For instance: "Kadu kept his journal by moons, for which he
made a knot in a string."[598]
During the years of my service with the late Maj. Gen. Crook in the
Southwest, I was surprised to discover that the Apache scouts kept
records of the time of their absence on campaign. There were several
methods in vogue, the best being that of colored beads, which were
strung on a string, six white ones to represent the days of the week
and one black or other color to stand for Sundays. This method gave
rise to some confusion, because the Indians had been told that there
were four weeks, or Sundays ("Domingos"), in each "Luna," or moon, and
yet they soon found that their own method of determining time by the
appearance of the crescent moon was much the more satisfactory. Among
the Zuñi I have seen little tally sticks with the marks for the days
and months incised on the narrow edges, and among the Apache another
method of indicating the flight of time by marking on a piece of paper
along a horizontal line a number of circles or of straight lines
across the horizontal datum line to represent the full days which had
passed, a heavy straight line for each Sunday, and a small crescent
for the beginning of each month.
Farther to the south, in the Mexican state of Sonora, I was shown,
some twenty years ago, a piece of buckskin, upon which certain Opata
or Yaqui Indians--I forget exactly which tribe, but it matters very
little, as they are both industrious and honest--had kept account of
the days of their labor. There was a horizontal datum line, as before,
with complete circles to indicate full days and half circles to
indicate half days, a long heavy black line for Sundays and holidays,
and a crescent moon for each new month. These accounts had to be drawn
up by the overseer or superintendent of the rancho at which the
Indians were employed before the latter left for home each night.
THE SACRED CORDS OF THE PARSIS AND BRAHMANS.
I have already apologized for my own ignorance in regard to the origin
and symbolical signification of the izze-kloth of the Apache, and I
have now to do the same thing for the writers who have referred to the
use by the religious of India of the sacred cords with which, under
various names, the young man of the Parsis or Brahmans is invested
upon attaining the requisite age. No two accounts seem to agree and,
as I have never been in India and cannot presume to decide where so
many differ, it is best that I should lay before my readers the exact
language of the authorities which seem to be entitled to greatest
consideration.
"A sacred thread girdle (kûstîk), should it be made of silk, is not
proper; the hair of a hairy goat and a hairy camel is proper, and from
other hairy creatures it is proper among the lowly."[599]
Every Parsi wears "a triple coil" of a "white cotton girdle," which
serves to remind him of the "three precepts of his morality--'good
thoughts,' 'good words,' 'good deeds.'"[600]
Williams describes the sacred girdle of the Pārsīs as made "of
seventy-two interwoven woollen threads, to denote the seventy-two
chapters of the Yasna, but has the appearance of a long flat cord of
pure white wool, which is wound round the body in three coils." The
Pārsī must take off this kustī five times daily and replace it with
appropriate prayers. It must be wound round the body three times and
tied in two peculiar knots, the secret of which is known only to the
Pārsīs.[601]
According to Picart, the "sudra," or sacred cord of the Pārsīs, has
four knots, each of which represents a precept.[602]
Marco Polo, in speaking of the Brahmans of India, says: "They are
known by a cotton thread, which they wear over the shoulders, tied
under the arm, crossing the breast."[603]
Picart described the sacred cord of the Brahmans, which he calls the
Dsandhem, as made in three colors, each color of nine threads of
cotton, which only the Brahmans have the right to make. It is to be
worn after the manner of a scarf from the left shoulder to the right
side. It must be worn through life, and, as it will wear out, new ones
are provided at a feast during the month of August.[604] The Brahman
"about the age of seven or nine ... is invested with 'the triple
cord,' and a badge which hangs from his left shoulder."[605]
The Upavita or sacred cord, wound round the shoulders of the Brahmans,
is mentioned in the Hibbert Lectures on the Origin and Growth of
Religion. "Primarily, the sacred cord was the distinguishing mark of
caste among the Aryan inhabitants. It consisted for the Brahmans of
three cotton threads; for the Kshatriyas or warriors of three hempen
threads; and for the Vaisyas or artisans and tradesmen of woollen
threads."[606]
"All coiling roots and fantastic shrubs represent the serpent and are
recognized as such all over India. In Bengal we find at the present
day the fantastically growing Euphorbia antiquorum regularly
worshipped, as the representative of the serpent god. The sacred
thread, worn alike by Hindoo and Zoroastrian, is the symbol of that
old faith; the Brahman twines it round his body and occasionally
around the neck of the sacred bull, the Lingam, and its altar.... With
the orthodox, the serpent thread should reach down to its closely
allied faith, although this Ophite thread idea is now no more known to
Hindoos than the origin of arks, altars, candles, spires, and our
church fleur-de-lis to Jews and Christians."[607]
General Forlong alludes to the thigh as the symbol of phallic
worship. "The serpent on head denoted Holiness, Wisdom, and
Power, as it does when placed on gods and great ones of the
East still; but the Hindoo and Zoroastrian very early adopted
a symbolic thread instead of the ophite deity, and the
throwing of this over the head is also a very sacred rite,
which consecrates the man-child to his God; this I should
perhaps have earlier described, and will do so now. The
adoption of the Poita or sacred thread, called also the
_Zenar_, and from the most ancient pre-historic times by
these two great Bactro-Aryan families, points to a period
when both had the same faith, and that faith the Serpent. The
Investiture is the Confirmation or second birth of the Hindoo
boy; until which he can not, of course, be married. After the
worship of the heavenly stone--the Sāligrāma, the youth or
child takes a branch of the Vilwa tree in his right hand,
and a mystic cloth-bag in the left, when a Poita is formed of
three fibres of the Sooroo tree (for the first cord must
always be made of the _genuine living fibres_ of an orthodox
tree), and this is hung to the boy's left shoulder; he then
raises the Vilwa branch over his right shoulder, and so
stands for some time, _a complete figure_ of the old faiths
in Tree and Serpent, until the priest offers up various
prayers and incantations to Soorya, Savitri or Sot, the
Eternal God. The Sooroo-Poita is then removed as not durable
enough, and the permanent thread is put over the neck. It
also is formed of three threads, each 96 cubits or 48 yards
long, folded and twisted together until only so long that,
when thrown over the left shoulder, it extends half-way down
the right thigh, or a little less; for the object appears to
be to unite the Caput, Sol, or Seat of intellect with that of
passion, and so form a perfect man."[608]
All Parsis wear the sacred thread of serpent and phallic
extraction, and the investiture of this is a solemn and
essential rite with both sects [i.e., the Hindus and
Parsis], showing their joint Aryan origin in high Asia, for
the thread is of the very highest antiquity. The Parsi does
not, however, wear his thread across the shoulder, and knows
nothing of the all-but-forgotten origin of its required
length. He wears it next to his skin, tied carefully round
the waist, and used to tie it round his right arm, as is
still the custom with some classes of Brahmins who have lost
purity of caste by intermarriage with lower classes.[609]
At the baptism or investiture of the thread, which takes the
place of the Christian confirmation ceremony, but between the
ages of 7 and 9, Fire and Water are the great sanctifying
elements, and are the _essentials_. The fire is kindled from
the droppings of the sacred cow, then sprinkled over with
holy water and blessed; and when so consecrated by the priest
it is called "Holy Fire."[610]
"The _Brahmans_, the _Rajas_, and the _Merchants_, distinguish
themselves from the various casts of Sudras by a narrow belt of
thread, which they always wear suspended from the left shoulder to the
opposite haunch like a sash."[611] But, as Dubois speaks of the
division of all the tribes into "Right-hand and Left-hand," a
distinction which Coleman[612] explains as consisting in doing exactly
contrariwise of each other, it is not a very violent assumption to
imagine that both the present and a former method of wearing the
izze-kloth, akin to that now followed by the Apache, may once have
obtained in India. The sectaries of the two Hands are bitterly
antagonistic and often indulge in fierce quarrels, ending in
bloodshed.[613]
"All the Brahmans wear a Cord over the shoulder, consisting of three
black twists of cotton, each of them formed of several smaller
threads.... The three threads are not twisted together, but separate
from one another, and hang from the left shoulder to the right haunch.
When a Brahman marries, he mounts nine threads instead of three."
Children were invested with these sacred cords at the age of from 7 to
9. The cords had to be made and put on with much ceremony, and only
Brahmans could make them. According to Dubois, the material was
cotton; he does not allude to buckskin.[614]
Coleman[615] gives a detailed description of the manner in which the
sacred thread of the Brahmans is made:
The sacred thread must be made by a Brahman. It consists of
three strings, each ninety-six hands (forty-eight yards),
which are twisted together: it is then folded into three and
again twisted; these are a second time folded into the same
number and tied at each end in knots. It is worn over the
left shoulder (next the skin, extending half way down the
right thigh), by the Brahmans, Ketries and Vaisya castes. The
first are usually invested with it at eight years of age, the
second at eleven, and the Vaisya at twelve.... The Hindus of
the Sutra caste do not receive the poita.
The ceremony of investiture comprehends prayer, sacrifice, fasting,
etc., and the wearing of a preliminary poita "of three threads, made
of the fibers of the _suru_, to which a piece of deer's skin is
fastened."[616] This piece of buckskin was added no doubt in order to
let the neophyte know that once buckskin formed an important part of
the garment. The Brahmans use three cords, while the Apache employ
four; on this subject we shall have more to learn when we take up the
subject of numbers.
Maurice says that the "sacred cord of India," which he calls the
zennar, is "a cord of three threads in memory and honor of the three
great deities of Hindostan."[617] It "can be woven by no profane hand;
the Brahmin alone can twine the hallowed threads that compose it and
it is done by him with the utmost solemnity, and with the addition of
many mystic rites."[618] It corresponds closely to the izze-kloth; the
Apache do not want people to touch these cords. The zennar "being put
upon the left shoulder passes to the right side and hangs down as low
as the fingers can reach."[619] The izze-kloth of the Apache, when
possible, is made of twisted antelope skin; they have no cord of hemp;
but when the zennar is "put on for the first time, it is accompanied
with a piece of the skin of an antelope, three fingers in breadth, but
shorter than the zennar."[620]
On p. 128 of Vining's An Inglorious Columbus, there is a figure of
worshipers offering gifts to Buddha; from Buddha's left shoulder to
his right hip there passes what appears to be a cord, much like the
izze-kloth of the Apache.
Examples of the use of such cords are to be found elsewhere.
In the conjuration of one of the shamans, "They took a small line made
of deers' skins of four fathoms long, and with a small knot the priest
made it fast about his neck and under his left arm, and gave it unto
two men standing on both sides of him, which held the ends
together."[621] It is difficult to say whether this was a cord used on
the present occasion only or worn constantly by the shaman. In either
case the cord was "medicine."
Hagennaar relates that he "saw men wearing ropes with knots in them,
flung over their shoulders, whose eyes turned round in their heads,
and who were called Jammaboos, signifying as much as conjurors or
exorcists."[622]
The Mahometans believe that at the day of judgment Jesus Christ and
Mahomet are to meet outside of Jerusalem holding a tightly-stretched
cord between them upon which all souls must walk. This may or may not
preserve a trace of a former use of such a cord in their "medicine,"
but it is well to refer to it.[623]
The sacred thread and garment which were worn by all the perfect
among the Cathari, and the use of which by both Zends and Brahmans
shows that its origin is to be traced back to a pre-historic
period.[624]
"No religious rite can be performed by a (child) before he has been
girt with the sacred girdle, since he is on a level with a Sûdra
before his (new) birth from the Veda."[625]
In explaining the rules of external purification--that is,
purification in which water is the medium--Baudhâyana says:[626]
The sacrificial thread (shall be made) of Kusa grass, or
cotton, (and consist) of thrice three strings.
(It shall hang down) to the navel.
(In putting it on) he shall raise the right arm, lower the
left, and lower the head.
The contrary (is done at sacrifices) to the manes.
(If the thread is) suspended around the neck (it is called)
nivita.
(If it is) suspended below (the navel, it is called)
adhopavita.
A former use of sacred cords would seem to be suggested in the
constant appearance of the belief in the mystical properties and the
power for good or evil of the knots which constitute the
characteristic appendage of these cords. This belief has been confined
to no race or people; it springs up in the literature of the whole
world and survives with a pertinacity which is remarkable among the
peasantry of Europe and among many in both America and Europe who
would not hesitate to express resentment were they to be included
among the illiterate.
The powers of these knots were recognized especially in strengthening
or defeating love, as aiding women in labor, and in other ways which
prove them to be cousins-german to the magic knots with which the
medicine-men of the Lapps and other nations along the shores of the
Baltic were supposed to be able to raise or allay the tempest. "One of
the torments with which witchcraft worried men was the Knot by which a
man was withheld so that he could not work his will with a woman. It
was called in the Latin of the times Nodus and Obligamentum, and
appears in the glossaries, translated by the Saxons into lyb, drug."
"To make a 'ligatura' is pronounced 'detestable' by Theodoras,
Archbishop of Canterbury, in 668. The knot is still known in France,
and Nouer l'aiguillette is a resort of ill-will." Then is given the
adventure of Hrut, prince of Iceland, and his bride Gunnhilld,
princess of Norway, by whom a "knot" was duly tied to preserve his
fidelity during his absence.[627] "Traces of this philosophy are to be
found elsewhere," (references are given from Pliny and Galens in
regard to "nod").[628] "A knot among the ancient northern nations
seems to have been the symbol of love, faith, and friendship, pointing
out the indissoluble tie of affection and duty. Thus the ancient Runic
inscriptions, as we gather from Hickes's Thesaurus, are in the form of
a knot. Hence, among the northern English and Scots, who still
retain, in a great measure, the language and manners of the ancient
Danes, that curious kind of a knot, a mutual present between the lover
and his mistress, which, being considered as the emblem of plighted
fidelity, is therefore called a true-love knot: a name which is not
derived, as one would naturally suppose it to be, from the words
'true' and 'love,' but formed from the Danish verb _Trulofa, fidem
do_, I plight my troth, or faith.... Hence, evidently, the bride
favors or the top-knots at marriages, which have been considered as
emblems of the ties of duty and affection between the bride and her
spouse, have been derived."[629]
Sir Thomas Browne, in his Vulgar Errors,[630] says "the true-lover's
knot is much magnified, and still retained in presents of love among
us; which, though in all points it doth not make out, had, perhaps,
its original from Nodus Herculanus, or that which was called Hercules,
his knot resembling the snaky complications in the caduceus or rod of
Hermes and in which form the zone or woolen girdle of the bride was
fastened, as Turnebus observes in his Adversaria." Brand shows[631]
that the true-lover's knot had to be tied three times. Another species
of knot divination is given in the Connoisseur, No. 56: "Whenever I go
to lye in a strange bed, I always tye my garter nine times round the
bed-post, and knit nine knots in it, and say to myself: 'this knot I
knit, this knot I tye, to see my love as he goes by,' etc. There was
also a suggestion of color symbolism in the true-lover's knot, blue
being generally accepted as the most appropriate tint. I find among
the illiterate Mexican population of the lower Rio Grande a firm
belief in the power possessed by a lock of hair tied into knots to
retain a maiden's affections.
"I find it stated that headache may be alleviated by tying a woman's
fillet round the head.[632] To arrest incontinence of urine, the
extremities of the generative organs should be tied with a thread of
linen or papyrus, and a binding passed round the middle of the
thigh.[633] It is quite surprising how much more speedily wounds will
heal if they are bound up and tied with a Hercules' knot; indeed, it
is said that if the girdle which we wear every day is tied with a knot
of this description, it will be productive of certain beneficial
effects, Hercules having been the first to discover the fact."[634]
"Healing girdles were already known to Marcellus."[635]
"In our times 'tis a common thing, saith Erastus in his book _de
Lamiis_, for witches to take upon them the making of these philters,
to force men and women to love and hate whom they will; to cause
tempests, diseases, &c., by charms, spels, characters, knots."[636]
Burton[637] alludes to the "inchanted girdle of Venus, in which,
saith Natales Comes, ... all witchcraft to enforce love was
contained."
The first general council of Milan, in 1565, prohibited the use of
what were called phylacteries, ligatures, and reliquaries (of heathen
origin) which people all over Europe were in the habit of wearing at
neck or on arms or knees.[638]
"King James[639] enumerates thus: 'Such kinde of charmes as ...
staying married folkes to have naturally adoe with each other, by
knitting so many knots upon a point at the time of their
marriage.'"[640]
"Tying the point was another fascination, illustrations of which may
be found in Reginald Scott's Discourse Concerning Devils and Spirits,
p. 71; in the Fifteen Comforts of Marriage, p. 225; and in the British
Apollo, vol. 2, No. 35, 1709. In the old play of The Witch of
Edmonton, 1658, Young Banks says, 'Ungirt, unbless'd, says the
proverb.'"[641]
Frommann speaks of the frequent appearance of knots in witchcraft,
but, beyond alluding to the "Nodus Cassioticus" of a certain people
near Pelusia, who seem, like the Laplanders, to have made a business
of fabricating and selling magic knots, he adds nothing to our stock
of information on the subject. He seems to regard the knot of Hercules
and the Gordian knot as magical knots.[642]
Bogle mentions the adoration of the Grand Lama (Teshu Lama). The
Lama's servants "put a bit of silk with a knot upon it, tied, or
supposed to be tied, with the Lama's own hands, about the necks of the
votaries."[643]
A girdle of Venus, "possessing qualities not to be described," was
enumerated among the articles exhibited at a rustic wedding in
England.[644]
In 1519, Torralva, the Spanish magician, was given by his guardian
spirit, Zequiel, a "stick full of knots," with the injunction, "shut
your eyes and fear nothing; take this in your hand, and no harm will
happen to you."[645] Here the idea evidently was that the power
resided in the knots.
"Immediately before the celebration of the marriage ceremony [in
Perthshire, Scotland] every knot about the bride and bridegroom
(garters, shoe-strings, strings of petticoats, &c.), is carefully
loosened."[646]
"The precaution of loosening every knot about the new-joined pair is
strictly observed [in Scotland], for fear of the penalty denounced in
the former volumes. It must be remarked that the custom, is observed
even in France, _nouer l'aiguillette_ being a common phrase for
disappointments of this nature."[647]
In some parts of Germany "a bride will tie a string of flax around
her left leg, in the belief that she will thereby enjoy the full
blessing of the married state."[648]
"There was formerly a custom in the north of England, which will be
thought to have bordered very closely upon indecency ... for the young
men present at a wedding to strive, immediately after the ceremony,
who could first pluck off the bride's garters from her legs. This was
done before the very altar ... I have sometimes thought this a
fragment of the ancient ceremony of loosening the virgin zone, or
girdle, a custom that needs no explanation." "It is the custom in
Normandy for the bride to bestow her garter on some young man as a
favour, or sometimes it is taken from her ... I am of opinion that the
origin of the Order of the Garter is to be traced to this nuptial
custom, anciently common to both court and country."[649]
Grimm quotes from Hincmar of Rheims to show the antiquity of the use
for both good and bad purposes of "ligatures," "cum filulis colorum
multiplicium."[650]
To undo the effects of a "ligature," the following was in high repute:
"Si quem voles per noctem cum fœmina coire non posse, pistillum
coronatum sub lecto illius pone."[651] But a pestle crowned with
flowers could be nothing more or less than a phallus, and, therefore,
an offering to the god Priapus.
"Owing to a supposed connection which the witches knew between the
relations of husband and wife and the mysterious knots, the
bridegroom, formerly in Scotland and to the present day in Ireland,
presents himself occasionally, and in rural districts, before the
clergyman, with all knots and fastenings on his dress loosened, and
the bride, immediately after the ceremony is performed, retires to be
undressed, and so rid of her knots."[652]
USE OF CORDS AND KNOTS AND GIRDLES IN PARTURITION.
Folk medicine in all regions is still relying upon the potency of
mystical cords and girdles to facilitate labor. The following are a
few of the many examples which might be presented:
Delivery was facilitated if the man by whom the woman has conceived
unties his girdle, and, after tying it round her, unties it, saying:
"I have tied it and I will untie it," and then takes his
departure.[653]
"Henry, in his History of Britain, vol. 1, p. 459, tells us that
'amongst the ancient Britons, when a birth was attended with any
difficulty, they put certain girdles made for that purpose about the
women in labour which they imagined gave immediate and effectual
relief. Such girdles were kept with care till very lately in many
families in the Highlands of Scotland. They were impressed with
several mystical figures; and the ceremony of binding them about the
woman's waist was accompanied with words and gestures, which showed
the custom to have been of great antiquity, and to have come
originally from the Druids.'"[654]
"But my girdle shall serve as a riding _knit_, and a fig for all the
witches in Christendom."[655] The use of girdles in labor must be
ancient.
"Ut mulier concipiat, homo vir si solvat semicinctum suum et eam
præcingat."[656] "Certum est quod partum mirabiliter facilirent,
siveinstar cinguli circumdentur corpori." These girdles were believed
to aid labor and cure dropsy and urinary troubles.[657]
"The following customs of childbirth are noticed in the Traité des
Superstitions of M. Thiers, vol. 1, p. 320: 'Lors qu'une femme est
preste d'accoucher, prendre _sa ceinture_, aller à l'Eglise, _lier la
cloche avec cette ceinture_ et la faire sonner trois coups afin que
cette femme accouche heureusement. Martin de Arles, Archidiacre de
Pampelonne (Tract. de Superstition) asseure que cette superstition est
fort en usage dans tout son pays.'"[658]
In the next two examples there is to be found corroboration of the
views advanced by Forlong that these cords (granting that the
principle upon which they all rest is the same) had originally some
relation to ophic rites. Brand adds from Levinus Lemnius: "Let the
woman that travels with her child (is in her labour) be girded with
the skin that a serpent or a snake casts off, and then she will
quickly be delivered."[659] A serpent's skin was tied as a belt about
a woman in childbirth. "Inde puerperæ circa collum aut corporem
apposito, victoriam in puerperii conflictu habuerunt, citissimeque
liberatæ fuerunt."[660]
The following examples, illustrative of the foregoing, are taken from
Flemming: The skins of human corpses were drawn off, preferably by
cobblers, tanned, and made into girdles, called "Cingula" or
Chirothecæ, which were bound on the left thigh of a woman in labor to
expedite delivery. The efficacy of these was highly extolled, although
some writers recommended a recourse to tiger's skin for the purposes
indicated. This "caro humano" was euphemistically styled "mummy" or
"mumia" by Von Helmont and others of the early pharmacists, when
treating of it as an internal medicament.
There was a "Cingulum ex corio humano" bound round patients during
epileptic attacks, convulsions, childbirth, etc., and another kind of
belt described as "ex cute humana conficiunt," and used in contraction
of the nerves and rheumatism of the joints,[661] also bound round the
body in cramp.[662]
"The _girdle_ was an essential article of dress, and early ages
ascribe to it other magic influences: e.g., Thôr's divine strength lay
in his girdle."[663] In speaking of the belief in lycanthropy he says:
"The common belief among us is that the transformation is effected by
_tying a strap round the body_; this girth is only three fingers
broad, and is cut out of human skin."[664] Scrofulous tumors were
cured by tying them with a linen thread which had choked a viper to
death.[665] "Filum rubrum seraceum [silk] cum quo strangulata fuit
vipera si circumdatur collo angina laborantes, eundem curare dicitur
propter idem strangulationis et suffocationis."[666]
"Quidam commendant tanquam specificum, ad Anginam filum purpureum cum
quo strangulata fuit vipera, si collo circumdetur."[667]
"MEDIDAS," "MEASURING CORDS," "WRESTING THREADS," ETC.
Black says:[668] "On the banks of the Ale and the Teviot the women
have still a custom of wearing round their necks blue woollen threads
or cords till they wean their children, doing this for the purpose of
averting ephemeral fevers. These cords are handed down from mother to
daughter, and esteemed in proportion to their antiquity. Probably
these cords had originally received some blessing."
Black's surmise is well founded. These cords were, no doubt, the same
as the "medidas" or measurements of the holy images of Spain and other
parts of Continental Europe. "The ribands or serpent symbols [of Our
Lady of Montserrat] are of silk, and exactly the span of the Virgin's
head, and on them is printed '_medida de la cabeza de Nuestra Señora
Maria Santísima de Montserrat_,' i.e., exact head measurement of Our
Lady of Montserrat."[669]
These same "medidas" may be found in full vogue in the outlying
districts of Mexico to-day. Twenty years ago I saw them at the
"funcion" of San Francisco, in the little town of Magdalena, in
Sonora. I watched carefully to see exactly what the women did and
observed that the statue of St. Francis (which, for greater
convenience, was exposed outside of the church, where the devout could
reach it without disturbing the congregation within) was measured from
head to foot with pieces of ribbon, which were then wrapped up and
packed away. In reply to my queries, I learned that the "medida" of
the head was a specific for headache, that of the waist for all
troubles in the abdominal region, those of the legs, arms, and other
parts for the ailments peculiar to each of them respectively. This was
in a community almost, if not absolutely, Roman Catholic; but in the
thoroughly Protestant neighborhood of Carlisle, Pa., the same
superstition exists in full vigor, as I know personally. Three years
ago my second child was suffering from the troubles incident to
retarded dentition and had to be taken to the mountains at Holly
Springs, within sight of Carlisle. I was begged and implored by the
women living in the place to have the child taken to "a wise woman" to
be "measured," and was assured that some of the most intelligent
people in that part of the country were firm believers in the
superstition. When I declined to lend countenance to such nonsense I
was looked upon as a brutal and unnatural parent, caring little for
the welfare of his offspring.
"In John Bale's Comedye concernynge thre Lawes, 1538 ... Hypocrysy is
introduced, mentioning the following charms against barrenness:
And as for Lyons, there is the length of our Lorde
In a great pyller. She that will with a coorde
Be fast bound to it, and _take soche chaunce as fall_
Shall sure have chylde, for within it is hollowe all."[670]
When a person in Shetland has received a sprain "it is customary to
apply to an individual practiced in casting the 'wrested thread.' This
is a thread spun from black wool, on which are cast nine knots, and
tied round a sprained leg or arm." It is applied by the medicine-man
with the usual amount of gibberish and incantation.[671] These
"wresting or wrested threads" are also to be found among Germans,
Norwegians, Swedes, and Flemings.[672]
Grimm quotes from Chambers's Fireside Stories, Edinburgh, 1842, p. 37:
"During the time the operator is putting the thread round the
afflicted limb he says, but _in such a tone of voice as not to be
heard by the bystanders_, nor even by the person operated upon: "The
_Lord_ rade, and the foal slade; he lighted, and he righted, set joint
to joint, bone to bone, and sinew to sinew. Heal in the Holy Ghost's
name!"[673]
"Eily McGarvey, a Donegal wise woman, employs a green thread in her
work. She measures her patient three times round the waist with a
ribbon, to the outer edge of which is fastened a green thread.... She
next hands the patient nine leaves of 'heart fever grass,' or
dandelion, gathered by herself, directing him to eat three leaves on
successive mornings."[674]
Miss Edna Dean Proctor, the poet, told me, June 9, 1887, that some
years ago, while visiting relations in Illinois, she met a woman who,
having been ill for a long time, had despaired of recovery, and in
hope of amelioration had consulted a man pretending to occult powers,
who prescribed that she wear next the skin a certain knotted red cord
which he gave her.
On a previous page the views of Forlong have been presented, showing
that there were reasons for believing that the sacred cords of the
East Indies could be traced back to an ophic origin, and it has also
been shown that, until the present day, among the peasantry of Europe,
there has obtained the practice of making girdles of snake skin which
have been employed for the cure of disease and as an assistance in
childbirth. The snake itself, while still alive, as has been shown, is
applied to the person of the patient by the medicine-men of the
American Indians.
In connection with the remarks taken from Forlong's Rivers of Life on
this subject, I should like to call attention to the fact that the
long knotted blacksnake whip of the wagoners of Europe and America,
which, when not in use, is worn across the body from shoulder to hip,
has been identified as related to snake worship.
There is another view to take of the origin of these sacred cords
which it is fair to submit before passing final judgment. The
izze-kloth may have been in early times a cord for tying captives who
were taken in war, and as these captives were offered up in sacrifice
to the gods of war and others they were looked upon as sacred, and all
used in connection with them would gradually take on a sacred
character. The same kind of cords seem to have been used in the chase.
This would explain a great deal of the superstition connected with the
whole subject of "hangman's rope" bringing luck, curing disease, and
averting trouble of all sorts, a superstition more widely disseminated
and going back to more ancient times than most people would imagine.
One of the tribes of New Granada, "quando iban à la Guerra llevaban
Cordeles para atar à los Presos."[675] This recalls that the Apache
themselves used to throw lariats from ambush upon travelers, and that
the Thugs who served the goddess Bhowani, in India, strangled with
cords, afterwards with handkerchiefs. The Spaniards in Peru, under
Jorge Robledo, going toward the Rio Magdalena, in 1542, found a large
body of savages "que llevaban Cordeles, para atar à los Castellanos, i
sus Pedernales, para despedaçarlos, i Ollas para cocerlos."[676] The
Australians carried to war a cord, called "Nerum," about 2 feet 6
inches long, made of kangaroo hair, used for strangling an enemy.[677]
The easiest method of taking the hyena "is for the hunter to tie his
girdle with seven knots, and to make as many knots in the whip with
which he guides his horse."[678] Maj. W. Cornwallis Harris[679]
describes a search made for a lost camel. A man was detailed to search
for the animal and provided with the following charm to aid him in his
search: "The rope with which the legs of the lost animal had been
fettered was rolled betwixt his (the Ras el Káfilah's) hands, and
sundry cabalistic words having been muttered whilst the Devil was
dislodged by the process of spitting upon the cord at the termination
of each spell, it was finally delivered over to the Dankáli about to
be sent on the quest." Stanley describes the "lords of the cord" at
the court of Mtesa, king of Uganda, but they seem to be provost
officers and executioners merely.[680] "In cases of quartan fever they
take a fragment of a nail from a cross, or else a piece of a halter
that has been used for crucifixion, and after wrapping it in wool,
attach it to the patient's neck, taking care, the moment he has
recovered, to conceal it in some hole to which the light of the sun
can not penetrate."[681] There is a widespread and deeply rooted
belief that a rope which has hanged a man, either as a felon or
suicide, possesses talismanic powers.[682] Jean Baptiste Thiers[683]
says: "Il y a des gens assez fous pour s'imaginer qu'ils seront
heureux au jeu ... pourvu qu'ils ayent sur eux un morceau de corde de
pendu." Brand says: "I remember once to have seen, at Newcastle upon
Tyne, after a person executed had been cut down, men climb upon the
gallows and contend for that part of the rope which remained, and
which they wished to preserve for some lucky purpose or other. I have
lately made the important discovery that it is reckoned a cure for the
headache."[684] "A halter with which one had been hanged was regarded
within recent times in England as a cure for headache if tied round
the head."[685]
In the long list of articles employed by the ancients for the purpose
of developing affection or hatred between persons of opposite sex,
Burton mentions "funis strangulati hominis."[686] "A remarkable
superstition still prevails among the lowest of our vulgar, that a man
may lawfully sell his wife to another, provided he deliver her over
with a halter about her neck. It is painful to observe that instances
of this frequently occur in our newspapers."[687] While discussing
this branch of the subject, it might be well to peruse what has
already been inserted under the head of the uses to which were put the
threads which had strangled vipers and other serpents.
UNCLASSIFIED SUPERSTITIONS UPON THIS SUBJECT.
In conclusion, I wish to present some of the instances occurring in my
studies which apparently have a claim to be included in a treatise
upon the subject of sacred cords and knots. These examples are
presented without comment, as they are, to all intents and purposes,
"survivals," which have long ago lost their true significance.
Attention is invited to the fact that the very same use seems to be
made by the Irish of hair cords as we have already seen has been made
by the Australians.
The Jewish garment with knots at the corners would appear to have been
a prehistoric garment preserved in religious ceremonial; it would seem
to be very much like the short blanket cloak, with tufts or knots at
the four corners, still made by and in use among the Zuñi, Navajo,
Tusayan, and Rio Grande Pueblos. But magic knots were by no means
unknown to Jews, Assyrians, or other nations of Syria and Mesopotamia.
"In Memorable Things noted in the Description of the World, we read:
About children's necks the wild Irish hung the beginning of St. John's
Gospel, a crooked nail of a horseshoe, or a piece of a wolve's skin,
and both the sucking child and nurse were girt with girdles finely
plaited with woman's hair."[688]
Gainsford, in his Glory of England, speaking of the Irish, p. 150,
says: "They use _incantations_ and _spells_, wearing _girdles of
woman's haire_, and _locks of their lover's_."
Camden, in his Ancient and Modern Manners of the Irish, says that
"they are observed to present their lovers with bracelets of women's
hair, whether in reference to Venus' cestus or not, I know not."[689]
This idea of a resemblance between the girdle of Venus and the use of
the maiden's hair may be worth consideration; on the same page Brand
quotes from Beaumont and Fletcher:
Bracelets of our lovers' hair,
Which they on our arms shall twist,
and garters of the women were generally worn by lovers.[690]
"Chaque habit qu'ils [the Jews] portent doit avoir quatre pands, & à
chacun un cordon pendant en forme de houppe, qu'ils nomment Zizit. Ce
cordon est ordinairement de huit fils de laine filée exprès pour cela,
avec cinq nœuds chacun, qui occupent la moitié de la longueur. Ce
qui n'est pas noué étant éfilé acheve de faire une espece de houppe,
qu'ils se fassent, dit la Loi, des cordons aux pands de leurs
habits."[691]
The following is from Black:[692]
When Marduk [Assyrian god] wishes to comfort a dying man his
father Hea says: "Go--
Take a woman's linen kerchief!
Bind it round thy left hand: loose it from the left hand!
Knot it with seven knots: do so twice:
Sprinkle it with bright wine:
Bind it round the head of the sick man:
Bind it round his hands and feet, like manacles and fetters.
Sit round on his bed:
Sprinkle holy water over him.
He shall hear the voice of Hea.
Davkina shall protect him!
And Marduk, Eldest Son of heaven, shall find him a happy
habitation."
A variant of the same formula is to be found in François Lenormant's
Chaldean Magic.[693] Lenormant speaks of the Chaldean use of "magic
knots, the efficacy of which was so firmly believed in even up to the
middle ages."
Again, he says that magic cords, with knots, were "still very common
among the Nabathean sorcerers of the Lower Euphrates," in the
fourteenth century, and in his opinion the use of these was derived
from the ancient Chaldeans. In still another place he speaks of the
"magic knots" used by Finnish conjurors in curing diseases.
"The Jewish phylactery was tied in a knot, but more generally knots
are found in use to bring about some enchantment or disenchantment.
Thus in an ancient Babylonian charm we have--
'Merodach, the Son of Hea, the prince, with his holy hands
cuts the knots.'
That is to say, he takes off the evil influence of the knots. So, too,
witches sought in Scotland to compass evil by tying knots. Witches, it
was thought, could supply themselves with the milk of any neighbor's
cows if they had a small quantity of hair from the tail of each of the
animals. The hair they would twist into a rope and then a knot would
be tied on the rope for every cow which had contributed hair. Under
the clothes of a witch who was burned at St. Andrews, in 1572, was
discovered 'a white claith, like a collore craig, with stringis,
wheron was mony knottis vpon the stringis of the said collore craig.'
When this was taken from her, with a prescience then wrongly
interpreted, she said: 'Now I have no hope of myself.' 'Belyke scho
thought,' runs the cotemporary account, 'scho suld not have died, that
being vpon her,' but probably she meant that to be discovered with
such an article in her possession was equivalent to the sentence of
death. So lately as the beginning of the last century, two persons
were sentenced to capital punishment for stealing a charm of knots,
made by a woman as a device against the welfare of Spalding of
Ashintilly."[694]
"Charmed belts are commonly worn in Lancashire for the cure of
rheumatism. Elsewhere, a cord round the loins is worn to ward off
toothache. Is it possible that there is any connection between this
belt and the cord which in Burmah is hung round the neck of a
possessed person while he is being thrashed to drive out the spirit
which troubles him? Theoretically the thrashing is given to the
spirit, and not to the man, but to prevent the spirit escaping too
soon a charmed cord is hung round the possessed person's neck. When
the spirit has been sufficiently humbled and has declared its name it
may be allowed to escape, if the doctor does not prefer to trample on
the patient's stomach till he fancies he has killed the demon."[695]
"The numerous notices in the folklore of all countries of magic
stones, holy girdles, and other nurses' specials, attest the common
sympathy of the human race."[696]
This is from Brand:[697] "Devonshire cure for warts. Take a piece of
twine, tie in it as many knots as you have warts, touch each wart with
a knot, and then throw the twine behind your back into some place
where it may soon decay--a pond or a hole in the earth; but tell no
one what you have done. When the twine is decayed your warts will
disappear without any pain or trouble, being in fact charmed away."
"In our time, the anodyne necklace, which consists of beads turned out
of the root of the white Bryony, and which is hung round the necks of
infants, in order to assist their teething, and to ward off the
convulsions sometimes incident to that process, is an amulet."[698]
"Rowan, ash, and red thread," a Scotch rhyme goes, "keep the devils
frae their speed."[699]
For the cure of scrofula, grass was selected. From one, two, or three
stems, as many as nine joints must be removed, which must then be
wrapped in black wool, with the grease in it. The person who gathers
them must do so fasting, and must then go, in the same state, to the
patient's house while he is from home. When the patient comes in, the
other must say to him three times, "I come fasting to bring a remedy
to a fasting man," and must then attach the amulet to his person,
repeating the same ceremony three consecutive days.[700]
Forlong says: "On the 2d [of May], fearing evil spirits and witches,
Scotch farmers used to tie red thread upon their wives as well as
their cows, saying these prevented miscarriages and preserved the
milk."[701]
In Scotland "they hope to preserve the milk of their cows, and their
wives from miscarriage, by tying threads about them."[702]
Brand gives a remedy for epilepsy: "If, in the month of October, a
little before the full moon, you pluck a twig of the elder, and cut
the cane that is betwixt two of its knees, or knots, in nine pieces,
and these pieces, being bound in a piece of linnen, be in a thread so
hung about the neck that they touch the spoon of the heart, or the
sword-formed cartilage."[703]
Black says:[704] "To cure warts a common remedy is to tie as many
knots on a hair as there are warts and throw the hair away. Six knots
of elderwood are used in a Yorkshire incantation to ascertain if
beasts are dying from witchcraft. Marcellus commended for sore eyes
that a man should tie as many knots in unwrought flax as there are
letters in his name, pronouncing each letter as he worked; this he was
to tie round his neck. In the Orkneys, the blue thread was used for an
evil purpose because such a colour savored of Popery and priests; in
the northern counties it was used because a remembrance of its once
preeminent value still survived in the minds of those who wore it,
unconsciously, though still actively, influencing their thoughts. In
perhaps the same way we respect the virtue of red threads, because, as
Conway puts it, 'red is sacred in one direction as symbolising the
blood of Christ.'"[705]
"To cure ague [Hampshire, England] string nine or eleven snails on a
thread, the patient saying, as each is threaded, 'Here I leave my
ague.' When all are threaded they should be frizzled over a fire, and
as the snails disappear so will the ague."[706]
Dr. Joseph Lanzoni scoffed at the idea that a red-silk thread could
avail in erysipelas; "Neque filum sericum chermisinum parti affectæ
circumligatum erysipelata fugat." The word "chermesinum" is not given
in Ainsworth's Latin-English Dictionary, but it so closely resembles
the Spanish "carmesi" that I have made bold to render it as "red" or
"scarlet."[707]
"Red thread is symbolical of lightning," and is consequently laid on
churns in Ireland "to prevent the milk from being bewitched and
yielding no butter." "In Aberdeenshire it is a common practice with
the housewife to tie a piece of red worsted thread round the cows'
tails before turning them out for the first time in the season to
grass. It secured the cattle from the evil-eye, elf-shots, and other
dangers."[708] "It [blue] is the sky color and the Druid's sacred
colour."[709] "In 1635, a man in the Orkney Islands was, we are led to
believe, utterly ruined by nine knots cast on a blue thread and given
to his sister."
"In a curious old book, 12mo., 1554, entitled A Short Description of
Antichrist, is this passage: 'I note all their Popishe traditions of
confirmacion of yonge children with oynting of oyle and creame, and
with _a ragge knitte about the necke of the younge babe_.'"[710]
A New England charm for an obstinate ague. "The patient in this case
is to take a string made of woolen yarn, of three colors, and to go by
himself to an apple-tree; there he is to tie his left hand loosely
with the right to the tree by the tri-colored string, then to slip his
hand out of the knot and run into the house without looking behind
him."[711]
The dust "in which a hawk has bathed itself, tied up in a linen cloth
with a red string, and attached to the body,"[712] was one of the
remedies for fevers. Another cure for fever: "Some inclose a
caterpillar in a piece of linen, with a thread passed three times
round it, and tie as many knots, repeating at each knot why it is that
the patient performs that operation."[713]
"To prevent nose-bleeding people are told to this day to wear a skein
of scarlet silk thread round the neck, tied with nine knots down the
front; if the patient is a man, the silk being put on and the knots
tied by a woman; and if the patient is a woman, then these good
services being rendered by a man."[714]
A cord with nine knots in it, tied round the neck of a child suffering
from whooping cough, was esteemed a sovereign remedy in Worcester,
England, half a century ago.
Again, references will be found to the superstitious use of
"ligatures" down to a comparatively recent period, and "I remember it
was a custom in the north of England for boys that swam to wear an
eel's skin about their naked leg to prevent the cramp."[715]
THE MEDICINE HAT.
The medicine hat of the old and blind Apache medicine-man,
Nan-ta-do-tash, was an antique affair of buckskin, much begrimed with
soot and soiled by long use. Nevertheless, it gave life and strength
to him who wore it, enabled the owner to peer into the future, to tell
who had stolen ponies from other people, to foresee the approach of an
enemy, and to aid in the cure of the sick. This was its owner's own
statement in conversation with me, but it would seem that the power
residing in the helmet or hat was not very permanent, because when the
old man discovered from his wife that I had made a rude drawing of it
he became extremely excited and said that such a delineation would
destroy all the life of the hat. His fears were allayed by presents of
money and tobacco, as well as by some cakes and other food. As a
measure of precaution, he insisted upon sprinkling pinches of
hoddentin over myself, the hat, and the drawing of it, at the same
time muttering various half-articulate prayers. He returned a month
afterwards and demanded the sum of $30 for damage done to the hat by
the drawing, since which time it has ceased to "work" when needed.
This same old man gave me an explanation of all the symbolism depicted
upon the hat and a great deal of valuable information in regard to the
profession of medicine-men, their specialization, the prayers they
recited, etc. The material of the hat, as already stated, was
buckskin. How that was obtained I can not assert positively, but from
an incident occurring under my personal observation in the Sierra
Madre in Mexico in 1883, where our Indian scouts and the medicine-men
with them surrounded a nearly grown fawn and tried to capture it
alive, as well as from other circumstances too long to be here
inserted, I am of the opinion that the buckskin to be used for sacred
purposes among the Apache must, whenever possible, be that of a
strangled animal, as is the case, according to Dr. Matthews, among the
Navajo.
The body of Nan-ta-do-tash's cap (Fig. 434, p. 503) was unpainted, but
the figures upon it were in two colors, a brownish yellow and an
earthy blue, resembling a dirty Prussian blue. The ornamentation was
of the downy feathers and black-tipped plumes of the eagle, pieces of
abalone shell, and chalchihuitl, and a snake's rattle on the apex.
Nan-ta-do-tash explained that the characters on the medicine hat
meant: A, clouds; B, rainbow; C, hail; E, morning-star; F, the God of
Wind, with his lungs; G, the black "kan"; H, great stars or suns.
"Kan" is the name given to their principal gods. The appearance of the
kan himself and of the tail of the hat suggest the centipede, an
important animal god of the Apache. The old man said that the figures
represented the powers to which he appealed for aid in his "medicine"
and the kan upon whom he called for help. There were other doctors
with other medicines, but he used none but those of which he was going
to speak to me.
[Illustration: FIG. 440.--Apache war bonnet.]
When an Apache or other medicine-man is in full regalia he ceases to
be a man, but becomes, or tries to make his followers believe that he
has become, the power he represents. I once heard this asserted in a
very striking way while I was with a party of Apache young men who had
led me to one of the sacred caves of their people, in which we came
across a great quantity of ritualistic paraphernalia of all sorts.
"We used to stand down here," they said, "and look up to the top of
the mountain and see the kan come down." This is precisely what the
people living farther to the south told the early Spanish
missionaries.
The Mexicans were wont to cry out "Here come our gods!" upon seeing
their priests masked and disguised, and especially when they had
donned the skins of the women offered up in sacrifice.[716]
The headdresses worn by the gods of the American Indians and the
priests or medicine-men who served them were persistently called
"miters" by the early Spanish writers. Thus Quetzalcoatl wore "en la
cabeça una Mitra de papel puntiaguda."[717] When Father Felician Lopez
went to preach to the Indians of Florida, in 1697, among other matters
of record is one to the effect that "the chief medicine man called
himself bishop."[718] Possibly this title was assumed because the
medicine-men wore "miters."
Duran goes further than his fellows. In the headdress used at the
spirit dances he recognizes the tiara. He says that the Mexican
priests at the feast of Tezcatlipoca wore "en las cabezas tiaras
hechas de barillas."[719] The ghost dance headdress illustrated in
this paper (Fig. 441) is known to the Chiricahua Apache as the
"ich-te," a contraction from "chas-a-i-wit-te," according to Ramon,
the old medicine-man from whom I obtained it. He explained all the
symbolism connected with it. The round piece of tin in the center is
the sun; the irregular arch underneath it is the rainbow. Stars and
lightning are depicted on the side slats and under them; the
parallelograms with serrated edges are clouds; the pendant green
sticks are rain drops; there are snakes and snake heads on both
horizontal and vertical slats, the heads in the former case being
representative of hail.
[Illustration: FIG. 441.--Ghost-dance headdress.]
There are feathers of the eagle to conciliate that powerful bird,
turkey feathers to appeal to the mountain spirits, and white gull
feathers for the spirits of the water. There are also small pieces of
nacreous shells and one or two fragments of the "duklij," or
chalchihuitl, without which no medicine-man would feel competent to
discharge his functions.
The spirit dance itself is called "cha-ja-la." I have seen this dance
a number of times, but will confine my description to one seen at Fort
Marion (St. Augustine, Fla.), in 1887, when the Chiricahua Apache
were confined there as prisoners; although the accompanying figure
represents a ghost dance headdress seen among the Apache in the winter
of 1885. A great many of the band had been suffering from sickness of
one kind or another and twenty-three of the children had died; as a
consequence, the medicine-men were having the Cha-ja-la, which is
entered into only upon the most solemn occasions, such as the setting
out of a war party, the appearance of an epidemic, or something else
of like portent. On the terreplein of the northwest bastion, Ramon,
the old medicine-man, was violently beating upon a drum, which, as
usual, had been improvised of a soaped rag drawn tightly over the
mouth of an iron kettle holding a little water.
Although acting as master of ceremonies, Ramon was not painted or
decorated in any way. Three other medicine-men were having the
finishing touches put to their bodily decoration. They had an
under-coating of greenish brown, and on each arm a yellow snake, the
head toward the shoulder blade. The snake on the arm of one of the
party was double-headed, or rather had a head at each extremity.
Each had insignia in yellow on back and breast, but no two were
exactly alike. One had on his breast a yellow bear, 4 inches long by 3
inches high, and on his back a kan of the same color and dimensions. A
second had the same pattern of bear on his breast, but a zigzag for
lightning on his back. The third had the zigzag on both back and
breast. All wore kilts and moccasins.
While the painting was going on Ramon thumped and sang with vigor to
insure the medicinal potency of the pigments and the designs to which
they were applied. Each held, one in each hand, two wands or swords of
lathlike proportions, ornamented with snake-lightning in blue.
The medicine-men emitted a peculiar whistling noise and bent slowly to
the right, then to the left, then frontward, then backward, until the
head in each case was level with the waist. Quickly they spun round in
full circle on the left foot; back again in a reverse circle to the
right; then they charged around the little group of tents in that
bastion, making cuts and thrusts with their wands to drive the
maleficent spirits away.
It recalled to my mind the old myths of the angel with the flaming
sword guarding the entrance to Eden, or of St. Michael chasing the
discomfited Lucifer down into the depths of Hell.
These preliminaries occupied a few moments only; at the end of that
time the medicine-men advanced to where a squaw was holding up to them
a little baby sick in its cradle. The mother remained kneeling while
the medicine-men frantically struck at, upon, around, and over the
cradle with their wooden weapons.
The baby was held so as successively to occupy each of the cardinal
points and face each point directly opposite; first on the east side,
facing the west; then the north side, facing the south; then the west
side, facing the east; then the south side, facing the north, and
back to the original position. While at each position, each of the
medicine-men in succession, after making all the passes and gestures
described, seized the cradle in his hands, pressed it to his breast,
and afterwards lifted it up to the sky, next to the earth, and lastly
to the four cardinal points, all the time prancing, whistling, and
snorting, the mother and her squaw friends adding to the dismal din by
piercing shrieks and ululations.
That ended the ceremonies for that night so far as the baby personally
was concerned, but the medicine-men retired down to the parade and
resumed their saltation, swinging, bending, and spinning with such
violence that they resembled, in a faint way perhaps, the Dervishes of
the East. The understanding was that the dance had to be kept up as
long as there was any fuel unconsumed of the large pile provided; any
other course would entail bad luck. It was continued for four nights,
the colors and the symbols upon the bodies varying from night to
night. Among the modes of exorcism enumerated by Burton, we find
"cutting the air with swords."[720] Picart speaks of the "flêches ou
les baguettes dont les Arabes Idolâtres se servoient pour deviner par
le sort." He says that the diviner "tenoit à la main" these arrows,
which certainly suggest the swords or wands of the Apache medicine-men
in the spirit dance.[721]
There were four medicine-men, three of whom were dancing and in
conference with the spirits, and the fourth of whom was general
superintendent of the whole dance, and the authority to whom the first
three reported the result of their interviews with the ghostly powers.
The mask and headdress of the first of the dancers, who seemed to be
the leading one, was so elaborate that in the hurry and meager light
supplied by the flickering fires it could not be portrayed. It was
very much like that of number three, but so fully covered with the
plumage of the eagle, hawk, and, apparently, the owl, that it was
difficult to assert this positively. Each of these medicine-men had
pieces of red flannel tied to his elbows and a stick about four feet
long in each hand. Number one's mask was spotted black and white and
shaped in front like the snout of a mountain lion. His back was
painted with large arrowheads in brown and white, which recalled the
protecting arrows tightly bound to the backs of Zuñi fetiches. Number
two had on his back a figure in white ending between the shoulders in
a cross. Number three's back was simply whitened with clay.
All these headdresses were made of slats of the Spanish bayonet,
unpainted, excepting that on number two was a figure in black, which
could not be made out, and that the horizontal crosspieces on number
three were painted blue.
The dominos or masks were of blackened buckskin, for the two fastened
around the neck by garters or sashes; the neckpiece of number three
was painted red; the eyes seemed to be glass knobs or brass buttons.
These three dancers were naked to the waist, and wore beautiful kilts
of fringed buckskin bound on with sashes, and moccasins reaching to
the knees. In this guise they jumped into the center of the great
circle of spectators and singers and began running about the fire
shrieking and muttering, encouraged by the shouts and the singing, and
by the drumming and incantation of the chorus which now swelled forth
at full lung power.
THE SPIRIT OR GHOST DANCE HEADDRESS.
As the volume of music swelled and the cries of the on-lookers became
fiercer, the dancers were encouraged to the enthusiasm of frenzy. They
darted about the circle, going through the motions of looking for an
enemy, all the while muttering, mumbling, and singing, jumping,
swaying, and whirling like the dancing Dervishes of Arabia.
Their actions, at times, bore a very considerable resemblance to the
movements of the Zuñi Shálako at the Feast of Fire. Klashidu told me
that the orchestra was singing to the four willow branches planted
near them. This would indicate a vestige of tree worship, such as is
to be noticed also at the sun dance of the Sioux.
At intervals, the three dancers would dart out of the ring and
disappear in the darkness, to consult with the spirits or with other
medicine-men seated a considerable distance from the throng. Three
several times they appeared and disappeared, always dancing, running,
and whirling about with increased energy. Having attained the degree
of mental or spiritual exaltation necessary for communion with the
spirits, they took their departure and kept away for at least half an
hour, the orchestra during their absence rendering a mournful refrain,
monotonous as a funeral dirge. My patience became exhausted and I
turned to go to my quarters. A thrill of excited expectancy ran
through the throng of Indians, and I saw that they were looking
anxiously at the returning medicine-men. All the orchestra now stood
up, their leader (the principal medicine-man) slightly in advance,
holding a branch of cedar in his left hand. The first advanced and
bending low his head murmured some words of unknown import with which
the chief seemed to be greatly pleased. Then the chief, taking his
stand in front of the orchestra on the east side of the grove or
cluster of trees, awaited the final ceremony, which was as follows:
The three dancers in file and in proper order advanced and receded
three times; then they embraced the chief in such a manner that the
sticks or wands held in their hands came behind his neck, after which
they mumbled and muttered a jumble of sounds which I can not
reproduce, but which sounded for all the world like the chant of the
"hooter" at the Zuñi Feast of Fire. They then pranced or danced
through the grove three times. This was repeated for each point of the
compass, the chief medicine-man, with the orchestra, taking a position
successively on the east, south, west, and north and the three dancers
advancing, receding, and embracing as at first.
[Illustration: FIG. 442.--Apache kan or gods. (Drawn by Apache.)]
This terminated the "medicine" ceremonies of the evening, the glad
shouts of the Apache testifying that the incantations of their
spiritual leaders or their necromancy, whichever it was, promised a
successful campaign. These dancers were, I believe, dressed up to
represent their gods or kan, but not content with representing them
aspired to be mistaken for them.
[Illustration: APACHE MEDICINE HAT USED IN GHOST DANCE. Plate V.]
AMULETS AND TALISMANS.
THE "TZI-DALTAI."
The Apache, both men and women, wear amulets, called tzi-daltai, made
of lightning-riven wood, generally pine or cedar or fir from the
mountain tops, which are highly valued and are not to be sold. These
are shaved very thin and rudely cut in the semblance of the human
form. They are in fact the duplicates, on a small scale, of the
rhombus, already described. Like the rhombus, they are decorated with
incised lines representing the lightning. Very often these are to be
found attached to the necks of children or to their cradles. Generally
these amulets are of small size. Below will be found figures of those
which I was permitted to examine and depict in their actual size. They
are all unpainted. The amulet represented was obtained from a
Chiricahua Apache captive. Deguele, an Apache of the Klukaydakaydn
clan, consented to exhibit a kan, or god, which he carried about his
person. He said I could have it for three ponies. It was made of a
flat piece of lath, unpainted, of the size here given, having drawn
upon it this figure in yellow, with a narrow black band, excepting the
three snake heads, _a_, _b_, and _c_, which were black with white
eyes; _a_ was a yellow line and _c_ a black line; flat pearl buttons
were fastened at _m_ and _k_ respectively and small eagle-down
feathers at _k_ on each side of the idol. The rear of the tablet,
amulet, or idol, as one may be pleased to call it, was almost an exact
reproduction of the front.
[Illustration: FIG. 443.--Tzi-daltai amulet (Apache).]
The owner of this inestimable treasure assured me that he prayed to it
at all times when in trouble, that he could learn from it where his
ponies were when stolen and which was the right direction to travel
when lost, and that when drought had parched his crops this would
never fail to bring rain in abundance to revive and strengthen them.
The symbolism is the rain cloud and the serpent lightning, the
rainbow, rain drops, and the cross of the four winds.
These small amulets are also to be found inclosed in the phylacteries
(Fig. 447) which the medicine-men wear suspended from their necks or
waists.
Sir Walter Scott, who was a very good witness in all that related to
prehistoric customs and "survivals" among the Celtic Scots, may be
introduced at this point:
A heap of wither'd boughs was piled
Of juniper and rowan wild,
Mingled with shivers from the oak,
Rent by the lightning's recent stroke.[722]
[Illustration: Front view. Rear view.
FIG. 444.--Tzi-daltai amulet (Apache).]
CHALCHIHUITL.
The articles of dress depicted in this paper are believed to represent
all those which exclusively belong to the office of the Apache "diyi"
or "izze-nantan." Of late years it can not be said that every
medicine-man has all these articles, but most of them will be found in
the possession of the man in full practice.
[Illustration: APACHE MEDICINE SHIRT. Plate VI.]
No matter what the medicine-man may lack, he will, if it be possible,
provide himself with some of the impure malachite known to the whites
of the Southwest as turquoise. In the malachite veins the latter stone
is sometimes found and is often of good quality, but the difference
between the two is apparent upon the slightest examination. The color
of the malachite is a pea green, that of the turquoise a pale sky
blue. The chemical composition of the former is a carbonate of copper,
mixed with earthy impurities; that of the latter, a phosphate of
alumina, colored with the oxide of copper. The use of this malachite
was widespread. Under the name of chalchihuitl or chalchihuite, it
appears with frequency in the old Spanish writings, as we shall
presently see, and was in all places and by all tribes possessing it
revered in much the same manner as by the Apache. The Apache call it
duklij, "blue (or green) stone," these two colors not being
differentiated in their language. A small bead of this mineral affixed
to a gun or bow made the weapon shoot accurately. It had also some
relation to the bringing of rain, and could be found by the man who
would go to the end of a rainbow, after a storm, and hunt diligently
in the damp earth. It was the Apache medicine-man's badge of office,
his medical diploma, so to speak, and without it he could not in olden
times exercise his medical functions.
[Illustration: Front view. Rear view.
FIG. 445.--Tzi-daltai amulet (Apache).]
In the curious commerce of the Indian tribes, some possessed articles
of greater worth than those belonging to their neighbors. In the
southwest the red paint sold by the tribes living in the Grand Canyon
of the Colorado was held in higher repute than any other, and the
green stone to be purchased from the Rio Grande Pueblos always was in
great demand, as it is to this day. Vetancurt[723] speaks of the
Apache, between the years 1630 and 1680, coming to the pueblo of Pecos
to trade for "chalchihuites." John de Laet speaks of "petites pierres
verdes" worn in the lower lip by the Brazilians.[724]
Among the Mexicans the chalchihuitl seems to have been the
distinguishing mark or badge of the priesthood. Duran, in speaking of
the consecration of a sacrificial stone in Mexico by Montezuma the
elder, and his assistant or coadjutor, Tlacaclel, says: "Echáronse á
las espaldas unas olletas [I do not know what this word means] hechas
de piedras verdes muy ricas, donde significaban que no solamente eran
Reyes, pero juntamente Sacerdotes."[725]
[Illustration: FIG. 446.--Tzi-daltai amulet (Apache).]
Among the tribes in Central America, a chalchihuitl was placed in the
mouths of the dying to receive their souls: "que era para que
recibiese su ánima."[726]
One of the Mexican myths of the birth of Quetzalcoatl narrates that
his mother, Chimalma, while sweeping, found a chalchihuitl, swallowed
it, and became pregnant: "Andando barriendo la dicha Chimalma halló un
chalchihuitl, (que es una pedrezuela verde) y que la tragó y de esto
se empreñó, y que así parió al dicho Quetzalcoatl."[727] The same
author tells us that the chalchihuitl (which he calls "pedrezuela
verde") are mentioned in the earliest myths of the Mexicans.[728]
In South America the emerald seems to have taken the place of the
chalchihuitl. Bollaert[729] makes frequent mention of the use of the
emerald by the natives of Ecuador and Peru, "a drilled emerald, such
as the Incas wore;" "large emeralds, emblematic of their [the Incas']
sovereignty."
From Torquemada we learn that the Mexicans adorned their idols with
the chalchihuitl, and also that they buried a chalchihuitl with their
dead, saying that it was the dead man's heart.[730]
"Whenever rain comes the Indians [Pima and Maricopa] resort to these
old houses [ruins] to look for trinkets of shells, and a peculiar
green stone."[731] The idols which the people of Yucatan gave to Juan
de Grijalva in 1518 were covered with these stones, "cubierta de
pedrecicas."[732] Among the first presents made to Cortes in Tabasco
were "unas turquesas de poco valor."[733] The fact that the Mexicans
buried a "gem" with the bodies of their dead is mentioned by Squier,
but he says it was when the body was cremated.[734]
The people of Cibola are said to have offered in sacrifice to their
fountains "algunas turquesas que las tienen, aunque ruines."[735]
"Turquesas" were given to the Spaniards under Coronado by the people
of the pueblo of Acoma.[736]
"The Mexicans were accustomed to say that at one time all men have
been stones, and that at last they would all return to stones; and,
acting literally on this conviction, they interred with the bones of
the dead a small green stone, which was called the principle of
life."[737]
The great value set upon the chalchihuitl by the Aztecs is alluded to
by Bernal Diaz, who was with the expedition of Grijalva to Yucatan
before he joined that of Cortes to Mexico.[738] Diaz says that
Montezuma sent to Charles V, as a present "a few chalchihuis of such
enormous value that I would not consent to give them to any one save
to such a powerful emperor as yours."[739] These stones were put "in
the mouth of the distinguished chiefs who died."[740]
[Illustration: APACHE MEDICINE SHIRT. Plate VII.]
Torquemada[741] repeats the Aztec myth already given from Mendieta. He
says that in 1537 Fray Antonio de Ciudad-Rodrigo, provincial of the
Franciscans, sent friars of his order to various parts of the Indian
country; in 1538 he sent them to the north, to a country where they
heard of a tribe of people wearing clothes and having many
turquoises.[742] The Aztec priesthood adopted green as the sacred
color. The ceremony of their consecration ended thus: "puis on
l'habillait tout en vert."[743]
Maximilian, Prince of Wied, saw some of the Piegans of northwestern
Montana "hang round their necks a green stone, often of various
shapes." He describes it as "a compact talc or steatite which is found
in the Rocky Mountains."[744]
PHYLACTERIES.
The term phylactery, as herein employed, means any piece of buckskin
or other material upon which are inscribed certain characters or
symbols of a religious or "medicine" nature, which slip or phylactery
is to be worn attached to the person seeking to be benefited by it,
and this phylactery differs from the amulet or talisman in being
concealed from the scrutiny of the profane and kept as secret as
possible. This phylactery, itself "medicine," may be employed to
enwrap other "medicine" and thus augment its own potentiality. Indians
in general object to having their "medicine" scrutinized and touched;
in this there is a wide margin of individual opinion; but in regard to
phylacteries there is none that I have been able to discover, and the
rule may be given as antagonistic to the display of these sacred
"relics," as my Mexican captive interpreter persisted in calling them.
The first phylactery which it was my good fortune to be allowed to
examine was one worn by Ta-ul-tzu-je, of the Kaytzentin gens. It was
tightly rolled in at least half a mile of orange-colored saddlers'
silk, obtained from some of the cavalry posts. After being duly
uncovered, it was found to be a small piece of buckskin two inches
square, upon which were drawn red and yellow crooked lines which the
Apache said represented the red and yellow snake. Inside were a piece
of green chalchihuitl and a small cross of lightning-riven twig (pine)
and two very small perforated shells. The cross was called
"intchi-dijin," the black wind.
A second phylactery which I was also allowed to untie and examine
belonged to Na-a-cha and consisted of a piece of buckskin of the same
size as the other, but either on account of age or for some other
reason no characters could be discerned upon it. It, however,
enwrapped a tiny bag of hoddentin, which, in its turn, held a small
but very clear crystal of quartz and four feathers of eagle down.
Na-a-cha took care to explain very earnestly that this phylactery
contained not merely the "medicine" or power of the crystal, the
hoddentin, and the itza-chu, or eagle, but also of the shoz-dijiji, or
black bear, the shoz-lekay, or white bear, the shoz-litzogue, or
yellow bear, and the klij-litzogue or yellow snake, though just in
what manner he could not explain.
[Illustration: FIG. 447.--Phylacteries.]
It would take up too much time and space to describe the manner in
which it was necessary for me to proceed in order to obtain merely a
glimpse of these and other phylacteries, all of the same general type;
how I had to make it evident that I was myself possessed of great
"medicine" power and able to give presents of great "medicine"
value, as was the case. I had obtained from cliff dwellings, sacred
caves, and other places beads of talc, of chalchihuitl, and of shell,
pieces of crystal and other things, sacred in the eyes of the Apache,
and these I was compelled to barter for the information here given.
[Illustration: APACHE MEDICINE SHIRT. Plate VIII.]
The medicine shirts of the Apaches, several of which are here
represented, do not require an extended description. The symbolism is
different for each one, but may be generalized as typical of the sun,
moon, stars, rainbow, lightning, snake, clouds, rain, hail, tarantula,
centipede, snake, and some one or more of the "kan" or gods.
The medicine sashes follow closely in pattern the medicine shirts,
being smaller in size only, but with the same symbolic decoration.
Similar ornamentation will be found upon the amulets (ditzi), made of
lightning-struck pine or other wood. All of these are warranted, among
other virtues, to screen the wearer from the arrows, lances, or
bullets of the enemy. In this they strongly resemble the salves and
other means by which people in Europe sought to obtain "magical
impenetrability." The last writer to give receipts for making such
salves, etc., that I can recall, was Etmüller, who wrote in the early
years of the seventeenth century.
[Illustration: FIG. 448.--Apache medicine sash.]
Such as the reader can imagine the medicine-man to be from this
description of his paraphernalia, such he has been since the white man
first landed in America. Never desirous of winning proselytes to his
own ideas, he has held on to those ideas with a tenacity never
suspected until purposely investigated. The first of the Spanish
writers seem to have employed the native terms for the medicine-men,
and we come across them as cemis or zemis, bohiti, pachuaci, and
others; but soon they were recognized as the emissaries of Satan and
the preachers of witchcraft, and henceforth they appear in the
documents as "hechicheros" and "brujos" almost exclusively. "Tienan
los Apaches profetas ó adivinos que gozan de la mas alta estimacion.
Esos adivinos pratican la medicina lamas rudimental, la aplicacion de
algunas yerbas y esto acompañado de ceremonias y cantos
supersticiosos."[745] Pimentel seems to have derived his information
from Cordero, a Spanish officer who had served against the Apache at
various times between 1770 and 1795, and seemed to understand them
well.
"There was no class of persons who so widely and deeply influenced the
culture and shaped the destiny of the Indian tribes as their priests.
In attempting to gain a true conception of the race's capacities and
history there is no one element of their social life which demands
closer attention than the power of these teachers.... However much we
may deplore the use they made of their skill, we must estimate it
fairly and grant it its due weight in measuring the influence of the
religious sentiment on the history of man."[746]
"Like Old Men of the Sea, they have clung to the neck of their
nations, throttling all attempts at progress, binding them to the
thraldom of superstition and profligacy, dragging them down to
wretchedness and death. Christianity and civilization meet in them
their most determined, most implacable foes."[747]
In spite of all the zeal and vigilance of the Spanish friars,
supported by military power, the Indians of Bogotá clung to their
idolatry. Padre Simon cites several instances and says tersely: "De
manera que no lo hay del Indio que parece mas Cristiano y ladino, de
que no tenga ídolos á quien adore, como nos lo dice cada dia la
experiencia." (So that there is no Indian, no matter how well educated
he may appear in our language and the Christian doctrine, who has not
idols which he adores, as experience teaches us every day.)[748]
"The Indian doctor relied far more on magic than on natural remedies.
Dreams, beating of the drum, songs, magic feasts and dances, and
howling to frighten the female demon from the patient, were his
ordinary methods of cure."[749]
In a very rare work by Padre José de Arriaga, published in Lima, 1621,
it is shown that the Indians among whom this priest was sent on a
special tour of investigation were still practicing their old
idolatrous rites in secret. This work may be found quoted in
Montesinos, Mémoires sur l'Ancien Pérou, in Ternaux-Compans, Voyages,
vol. 17; the title of Arriaga's work is Extirpacion de la Idolatría de
los Indios del Peru. Arriaga also states that the functions of the
priesthood were exercised by both sexes.
It will only be after we have thoroughly routed the medicine-men from
their intrenchments and made them an object of ridicule that we can
hope to bend and train the mind of our Indian wards in the direction
of civilization. In my own opinion, the reduction of the medicine-men
will effect more for the savages than the giving of land in severalty
or instruction in the schools at Carlisle and Hampton; rather, the
latter should be conducted with this great object mainly in view: to
let pupils insensibly absorb such knowledge as may soonest and most
completely convince them of the impotency of the charlatans who hold
the tribes in bondage.
Teach the scholars at Carlisle and Hampton some of the wonders of
electricity, magnetism, chemistry, the spectroscope, magic lantern,
ventriloquism, music, and then, when they return to their own people,
each will despise the fraud of the medicine-men and be a focus of
growing antagonism to their pretensions. Teach them to love their own
people and not to despise them; but impress upon each one that he is
to return as a missionary of civilization. Let them see that the world
is free to the civilized, that law is liberty.
FOOTNOTES:
[533] Relation of the Voyage of Don Fernando Alarcon, in Hakluyt's
Voyages, vol. 3, p. 508.
[534] Davis, Conquest of New Mexico, p. 288.
[535] Davis, ibid., pp. 280, 284, 285.
[536] Ibid., pp. 277, 292.
[537] Catlin, North American Indians, London, 1845, vol. 2, p. 117.
[538] Tanner's Narrative, p. 188.
[539] Journal, p. 289.
[540] North American Indians, London, 1845, vol. 1, p. 135.
[541] Schultze, Fetichism, New York, 1885, p. 32, quoting Bastian.
[542] Coxe, Russian Discoveries between America and Asia, London,
1803, p. 254.
[543] Smyth, Aborigines of Victoria, vol. 1, pp. xxix, 112.
[544] Ibid., vol. 1, p. 68.
[545] Pettigrew, Medical Superstitions, Philadelphia, 1844, pp. 67,
72, 74.
[546] Cérémonies et Coûtumes Religieuses, Amsterdam, 1739, vol. 2, pp.
28, 29.
[547] Ibid., p. 29.
[548] Higgins, Anacalypsis, vol. 2, book 2, p. 77.
[549] Pettigrew, Medical Superstitions, Philadelphia, 1844, p. 61. See
also Black, Folk-Medicine, p. 93.
[550] Citations, Common place Book, p. 395, London, 1872.
[551] Brand, Popular Antiquities, vol. 3, pp. 310, 311.
[552] Brand, Popular Antiquities, vol. 3, p. 310.
[553] Holiday Customs of Ireland, pp. 381 et seq.
[554] Popular Antiquities, vol. 3, p. 325.
[555] Picart, Cérémonies et Coûtumes, etc., vol. 10, p. 56.
[556] Massingberd, The English Reformation, London, 1857, p. 105.
[557] Mendieta, p. 110.
[558] Vol. 3, cap. 5, p. 234.
[559] Herrera, dec. 2, lib. 6, p. 141.
[560] Kingsborough, vol. 7, chap. 4.
[561] Teutonic Mythology, vol. 3, p. 1233.
[562] Ibid.
[563] Fables and Rites of the Incas, Padre Christoval de Molina
(Cuzco, 1570-1584), transl. by Clements R. Markham, Hakluyt Society
trans., vol. 48, London, 1873, p. 48.
[564] The common people wore a black "llautu." See Garcilaso,
Comentarios, Markham's transl., Hak. Soc., vol. 41, pp. 88, 89.
[565] Ibid., p. 85.
[566] Ibid., p. 89.
[567] "Quando vàn à sembrar las Tierras del Sol, vàn solos los
Principales à trabajar, i vàn con insignias blancas, i en las espaldas
unos Cordones tendidos blancos, à modo de Ministros del
Altar."--Herrera, dec. 5, lib. 4, cap. 6, pp. 94-95.
[568] Picart, Cérémonies et Coûtumes, etc., Amsterdam, 1735, vol. 6,
p. 92.
[569] Montfaucon, L'antiquité expliquée, tome 2, pt. 1, p. 33.
[570] Hawkesworth, Voyages, vol. 3, p. 229.
[571] Voyage to Congo, in Pinkerton's Voyages, vol. 16, p. 237.
[572] Pinkerton, Voyages, vol. 16, p. 388.
[573] Speke, Source of the Nile, London, 1863, p. 125.
[574] London, 1877, vol. 2, p. 131.
[575] Stanley, Through the Dark Continent, vol. 2, p. 330.
[576] Schweinfurth, Heart of Africa, London, 1873, vol. 1, p. 154.
[577] Winstanley, Abyssinia, vol. 2, p. 68.
[578] This cord is worn about the neck. Ibid., p. 257.
[579] Ibid., vol. 1, p. 235.
[580] Ibid., vol. 2, p. 132.
[581] Ibid., p. 165.
[582] Ibid., p. 292.
[583] Malte-Brun, Universal Geography, vol. 4, p. 259, Phila., 1832.
[584] Grimm, Teutonic Mythology, vol. 2, p. 640.
[585] Nightingale, quoted in Madden, Shrines and Sepulchres, vol. 1,
pp. 557, 558.
[586] Leems, Account of Danish Lapland, in Pinkerton, Voyages, London,
1808, vol. 1, p. 471.
[587] Brand, Popular Antiquities, vol. 3, p. 5. See also John
Scheffer, Lapland, Oxford, 1674, p. 58.
[588] Act IV, scene 1.
[589] Benjamin, Persia, London, 1877, p. 99.
[590] Cérémonies et Coûtumes, vol. 7, p. 320.