THE RELIGION OF THE IROQUOIS.
The council fire was the watchword in Indian government, in Indian
politics, and Indian life. Around it old and young rallied on all
occasions of public interest, and connected with it were the most
delightful associations, memories, and legends of Indian history.
Indian eloquence has been the theme of poet and historian, and it was
at the council fire that the enthusiasm of the orator was kindled; here
the war-song awoke its echoes; here was heard
“The sound of revelry by night,”
when victory filled their hearts with rejoicing; and here were
celebrated their solemn feasts.
When they gathered together, they came over the mountain and through
the valley; crossed the silvery lake and the flowing river; listened to
the music of the winds among the forest boughs, the songs of the birds,
and the rippling of the waters; and to their quick impulsive spirits,
all the voices of nature were inspiration.
The kindling of the council fire was the signal for the display of
their eloquence, when danger threatened from their enemies, and their
young men panted for the war-path; and when they returned, around its
glowing embers was chanted the mournful requiem for those who had
fallen in battle. Here, too, were offered the prayers that they might
be taken to the “happy home beyond the setting sun;” and here, at each
returning festival, the song of thanksgiving went up to heaven, with
the burning incense, for the good gifts which were showered upon the
people.
There was little of what we term social life among the Indians. There
were among them large villages, but there were no streets. They had
houses and occupied them during some portion of the year, season after
season, perhaps for centuries; but still they were considered, in a
measure, temporary abodes. The hunters left them many months in the
winter, for their excursions into distant forests, and the warriors
were often absent weeks, and sometimes years. Often the women
accompanied them on the war path and the hunting tour, and they
returned to their homes, as to a resting-place, till they were ready
again to go forth.
At the annual festivals they all gathered, and these were the seasons
of sociality, of amusement, and religious instruction.
Not very long ago, a Romish priest visited a small Indian settlement,
for the purpose of establishing a church. The people met together to
listen to the expounding of the new doctrine and ceremonies; and after
respectful attention to all the preacher had to say, an aged chief
arose, and deliberately and coolly remarked that he could not see the
necessity of a change from their Pagan customs and doctrines to these
which had been presented, as they were so similar. So they went on in
the old way, and the priest found no foothold for his worse than Pagan
mummeries.
The Iroquois believed in a state of future rewards and punishments,
where the good would be separated from the bad; but they did not
descend into the depths of the heart to find sin, or trouble themselves
about the motives of action. Their code of morality, as well as
religious creed, was very simple; but all that it required they
performed.
They believed in one God—Ha-wen-ne-yu—the Great ruler, and ascribed to
Him all good. They also believed in the Evil One, who was similar to
the Devil of the Bible, as they believed him ever going about doing
evil, “seeking whom he might devour.” But they also supposed him to
possess creative powers, saying that as God created man and all useful
animals, so the Evil-minded created all monsters, noxious reptiles, and
poisonous plants. As one delighted in the virtue and happiness of his
creatures, the other delighted in discord and unhappiness.
There have been found individuals who worshipped visible and tangible
objects; but, as a people, theirs was an entirely spiritual religion,
and in this respect, differed from that of all other heathen nations.
The author of “principalities and powers” could not more thoroughly
believe in guardian angels, and “princes of the powers of the air,”
than these simple people, who never heard of Revelation; and whose
Theology, though systematic and well defined, never caused them any
wars of words or of more “carnal weapons.” Not only they themselves,
but every thing in nature, that was beautiful to the eye or good for
food, had a protecting spirit. There was the spirit of fire, of
medicine and of water; the spirit of every herb and fruit-bearing tree;
the spirit of the oak, the hemlock and the maple; the spirit of the
blackberry, the blueberry and the whortleberry; the spirit of
spearmint, of peppermint and tobacco; there was a spirit at every
fountain and by every running stream, and with all they held
communion—personifying every mountain and river and lake. The poet has
done them no more than justice in the following lines: [3]
“Gwe-u-gwe the lovely! Gwe-u-gwe the bright!
Our bosoms rejoice in thy beautiful sight:
Thou hearest our kah-we-yahs, we bathe in thy flow,
And when we are hungered thy bounties we know.
“In peace now is spread the pure plain of thy waves,
Like the maidens that cast their kind looks on their Braves;
But when the black tempest comes o’er with its sweep,
Like the Braves on their war-path fierce rages thy deep.
“Thou art lovely, when morning breaks forth from the sky,
Thou art lovely when noon hurls his darts from on high,
Thou art lovely, when sunset paints brightly thy brow,
And in moonlight and starlight still lovely art thou.
“Gwe-u-gwe, Gwe-u-gwe, how sad would we be
Were the gloom of our forests not brightened by thee;
Ha-wen-ne-yu would seem from his sons turned away,
Gwe-u-gwe, Gwe-u-gwe, then list to our lay.”
To any person who has taken pains to understand their character or
their faith it must be strikingly evident that they were a peculiarly
confiding and loving people. Their God was emphatically a God of love.
They could not easily comprehend how the Good Spirit could meditate
evil to any of his children. They looked up to him with confidence, and
not only said and believed, but felt that he heard them and granted
their prayers.
Some of the Indian nations expected to hunt and fish in the other
world, and engage in all the occupations which employ them in this. But
the Iroquois divested it more entirely of its sensual nature. All that
was beautiful in this world their imaginations transferred to the next;
and though they believed they took their bodies, and retained all their
faculties, it was for pleasure and never for toil. There was “no
marriage or giving in marriage,” but families would recognize each
other, and all live in one universal brotherhood, where neither
dissension nor sorrow could enter, and where there was no more death.
No people of whom we have any knowledge are so thoroughly imbued with
religious sentiment, though it seldom became exalted into enthusiasm.
It is simple trust and love, and pervaded all their thoughts and
actions.
They had no governmental officers whose sole duty it was to regulate
public affairs, and no religious teachers who devoted all their time to
the “spiritual concerns” of the people. But there were some who had
special duties to perform when they assembled for their festivals, who
were called “keepers of the faith,” and, in accordance with their
universal custom, in promoting women, they, as well as men, were
honored with this office.
They opened the ceremonies by some appropriate address, exercised a
general supervision during the celebrations and presided at the feasts.
Neither Sachems, chiefs, warriors, or keepers of the faith received any
compensation for the duties they performed, or wore any distinguishing
costume.
During the year there were six national festivals, at which the
ceremonies and observances were nearly the same; and all were of a
decidedly religious character, and so conducted that they were looked
forward to as seasons of enjoyment, in which all had an equal interest.
There was not a class of religious and a class of irreligious people—a
portion who lifted their hearts to God in gratitude and sung
thanksgivings, and another portion who “cared for none of these
things;” they were one nation, one church and one people, with the same
government, the same temple and the same faith. Yet there were no
penalties for disobedience, no excommunications, no anathemas and no
proselyting. They were indeed a strange people, and one is sometimes
tempted to doubt whether they were entirely human, but I think it would
certainly be above, rather than below, the human family that they would
occupy a place! It seems marvellous to those who have been all their
lives attempting to unravel and perfect the complicated machinery of
society, that whole nations could exist for centuries exemplifying to
perfection the command of Paul, “to learn in whatever state they are in
to be content.”
There are many customs among them now that seem to have been obtained
from the Jesuit missionaries who with their characteristic zeal were so
early among them. Their strings of wampum by which they confess their
sins bear a great resemblance to the beads of the Catholics, yet they
seem to have no idea of atonement for sin.
The first festival was held in the spring when the sap began to flow,
to return thanks to the maple for its sweet juices, and also to God for
having given it to his red children. Dancing constituted a part of
their religious worship, and they believed was particularly pleasing to
Ha-wen-ne-yu. They had thirty-two distinct dances, and some of them
were exceedingly graceful and beautiful. They danced all the way
through this world and expected to dance in Heaven. They were not so
much given to praying as to giving thanks, and only one festival was
appointed for the purpose of asking a blessing. This was at the
planting season, to implore that the “seed time and harvest” be one of
prosperity, and that the earth might yield abundantly for their food.
The strawberry was one of their delicacies, and one which they believed
they were to enjoy in another world. Some of them indeed expected the
felicity of Heaven to consist in one continual strawberry feast, and
this is something from which the most cultivated palate will not
revolt, and is a proof that there was a great degree of refinement in
their taste! So they had a special festival to give thanks for the
Strawberry; another called the Green Corn festival, when the corn, and
beans, and squashes ripened; another after the harvest, and a New
Year’s festival, which was the great jubilee of the Six Nations.
The ceremonies at each festival were nearly the same. They gathered in
summer under the green boughs, and first made preparations for a great
feast, which consisted of all the good things an Indian wife’s
storehouse could furnish, and which was conducted with the utmost order
and solemnity.
After the feast, the men indulged in various sports and games, which
were trials of strength and skill, and then was called the Council, at
the opening of which, a speech was made, of which the following is a
specimen.
“Friends and relatives:—The sun, the ruler of the day, is high in his
path, and we must hasten to do our duty. We are assembled to observe an
ancient custom. It is an institution handed down by our forefathers. It
was given to them by the Great Spirit. He has ever required them to
return thanks for all the blessings they receive. We have always
endeavored to live faithful to this wise command.
“Friends and relatives:—It is to perform this duty that we are this day
gathered together. The season when the maple tree yields its sweet
waters has again returned. We are all thankful that it is so. We
therefore expect all to join in one general thanksgiving to the Maple.
We also expect you to join in a thanksgiving to the Great Spirit who
has wisely made this tree for the good of man. We hope and expect order
and harmony will prevail.
“Friends and relatives:—We are gratified to see so many here, and we
thank you that you have all thought well of this matter. We thank the
Great Spirit that he has been so kind to many of us in sparing our
lives to participate in the festivities of the season.”
During the session of the council, several similar addresses were made,
accompanied by advice, intended to inspire them with a desire to live
as they knew would be pleasing to the Great Spirit; when the services
of the day were closed with a dance, called the Great Father dance
“which was very spirited and beautiful:” for this there was a peculiar
costume prescribed, and in it all joined. After this followed other
dances, and then a thanksgiving address to the Great Spirit, during
which, they continually threw tobacco upon the fire, that their words
might ascend to Heaven upon the incense. It was only when addressing
the Great Spirit directly that they used incense.
“Great Spirit, who dwellest above, listen now to the words of thy
people here assembled. The smoke of our offering arises. Give kind
attention to our words as they arise to Thee in the smoke. We thank
Thee for this return of the planting season. Give to us a good season
that our crops may be plentiful.
“Continue to listen, for the smoke yet arises (throwing on Tobacco).
Preserve us from all pestilential diseases. Give strength to us that we
may not fall. Preserve our old men among us, and protect the young.
Help us to celebrate with feeling the ceremonies of the season. Guide
the minds of thy people that they may remember Thee in all their
actions.”
The poet has rendered this prayer in the following words: [4]
“Mighty, mighty, Ha-wen-ne-yu, Spirit, pure and mighty! hear us,
We thine own Ho-de-no-sonne, wilt thou be for ever near us!
Keep the sacred flame still burning! guide our chase, our planting
[cherish.
Make our warrior hearts yet taller! let our foes before us perish!
Kindly watch our waving harvests! make each Sachem’s wisdom deeper!
Of our old men! of our women, of our children be the keeper!
Mighty Ha-wen-ne-yu, Spirit pure and mighty hear us!
We thine own Ho-de-no-sonne, wilt thou be for ever near us!
“Mighty, mighty, Ha-wen-ne-yu, thou dost, Spirit, purest, greatest,
Love thine own Ho-de-no-sonne, thou as well their foemen hatest.
Panther’s heart and eye of eagle, moose’s foot and fox’s cunning,
Thou dost give our valiant people when the war path’s blood is
[running!
But the eye of owl in daylight, foot of turtle, heart of woman,
Stupid brain of bear in winter, to our valiant people’s foemen;
Mighty, holy, Hah-wen-ne-yu! Spirit pure and mighty! hear us.
We thine own Ho-de-no-sonne, wilt thou be for ever near us!
Yah-hah for ever near us! wilt thou be for ever near us!”
If there was not an abundance of rain, so that the corn did not
flourish after it was planted, they often called another council, and
held another festival, to pray for rain. At this time they addressed
Heno, the Thunderer, in whose power it was to form clouds, and give
water to refresh the earth. He was to the Indian what Jupiter was to
the Roman, and inspired him with the same terror. He could inflict
great evil, and calamities were ascribed to his vengeance. He was
subject, as were all the lesser spirits, to Ha-wen-ne-yu, but was yet
very powerful. He is represented in the form of a man, in the costume
of a warrior, with a feather upon his head, which, like the wand of the
fairy, preserved him from the influence of the Evil-Minded, and
procured him whatever he desired. On his back he carried a basket
filled with stones, which he threw at witches and evil spirits, as he
rode through the clouds. The Great Spirit was implored to take care of
him, and at every festival thanks were rendered to Heno, and
supplications made for his watchful goodness. They called themselves
his Grandchildren; and if the earth was parched, and the plants were
withering, they met and laid before him their distresses.
“Heno, our Grandfather, now listen to the words of thy Grandchildren.
We feel grieved. Our minds are sorely troubled. We fear our supporters
will fail, and bring famine upon us. We ask our Grandfather to come and
give us rain, that the earth may not dry up, and refuse to produce us
support. Thy Grandchildren all send their salutations to their
Grandfather.”
Fearing that some of the people had done wrong, and it was for their
sins that the “early and latter rains” were withheld, they, at the same
time, prayed to the Great Spirit, throwing tobacco upon the fire, that
their words might reach his ear and prove acceptable.
“Great Spirit, listen to the words of thy suffering children. They come
to thee with pure minds. If they have done wrong, they have confessed
and turned their minds. Be kind to us. Hear our grievances and supply
our wants. Direct that Heno may come and give us rain, that our
supporters may not fail, and famine come to our homes.”
Those who have been in the habit of thinking the Indians a godless,
prayerless, and perfectly heathen race, will read, with surprise, those
outpourings of their hearts in perfect love and trust, and their simple
dependence upon the Great Giver for all they enjoyed. If they did
wrong, they believed He would forgive them; if they did right, they
believed He approved and loved them. They had no Sabbaths, yet they
instituted regular periods of worship and formal ceremonies. These
periods were indicated to them by natural events, and they heeded the
voice of the spring-time and harvest, and “looked through nature up to
Nature’s God.”
At the strawberry festival, the feast consisted entirely of
strawberries, eaten with maple sugar, in bark trays; and it was at
these feasts alone that they all ate together, and before partaking,
they were accustomed to say grace, as devoutly and reverentially as
Christian people.
A popular poet has thus rendered the thanksgiving prayer at the
strawberry festival, which was repeated at every returning season, when
they met to express their gratitude for this delicious fruit: [5]
“Earth, we thank thee! thy great frame
Bears the stone from whence we came;
And the boundless sweeping gloom,
Of our glorious league the Home.
Thou the strawberry’s seed dost fold,
Thou its little roots dost hold,
First of all the fruits that raise
Gifts for us in summer days.
Thanks, too, thanks we give thee, lowly
Ha-wen-ne-yu, great and holy!
Maker wise! of all the sire—
Earth and water, air and fire.
Water, thanks! we safely glide,
On thy bosom long and wide;
Thou dost give the strawberry vine
Drink when hot the sunbeams shine,
Till its leaves spread fresh and bright,
And its buds burst forth in white.
Thanks, too, thanks we give thee, lowly,
Ha-wen-ne-yu, great and holy!
Maker wise! of all the sire—
Earth and water, air and fire.
Air, we thank thee for the breeze,
Sweeping off the dire disease:
Thou dost bring the gentle rains;
Thou dost cool our feverish veins;
Thou dost kiss the strawberry flower,
Till its little wreath of snow
Swings its fragrance to and fro.
Thanks, too, thanks we give thee, lowly
Ha-wen-ne-yu, great and holy!
Maker wise! of all the sire—
Earth and water, air and fire!
Fire, we thank thee for thy ball,
With its glory brightening all;
And the blaze which warms our blood,
Lights our weed, and cooks our food.
To thy glance the strawberry swells,
With its ripening particles,
Till the fruit is at our tread,
In its beauty, rich and red.
Thanks, too, thanks we give thee, lowly,
Ha-wen-ne-yu, great and holy:
Maker wise! of all the sire—
Earth and water, air and fire!”
At the green corn festival, the feast consisted principally of
succotash, which is supposed by many to be a Yankee dish, but which
dates farther back than centuries, and is purely Indian, being a soup
of corn, and beans, boiled together. Any thing in the way of soup can
scarcely be more delicious.
But the grand Indian jubilee was the New Year’s festival, held in the
month of February.
This festival lasted nine days, and the ceremonies commenced by two
persons, generally of those called Keepers of the Faith, making a call
at every house morning and evening, dressed so as to disguise the real
personages.
They would envelope themselves in buffalo or bearskins fastened about
their heads with wreaths of corn-husks, and falling loosely over the
body or girdled about the loins. Their arms and wrists, too, were
ornamented with wreaths of husks, and in their hands they took corn
pounders. On entering a house they knocked upon the floor to command
silence, and then made a speech.
“Listen, listen, listen. The ceremonies which the Great Spirit
commanded us to perform, are about to commence. Prepare your houses.
Clear away the rubbish, drive out all evil animals; we wish nothing to
obstruct the coming observances. We enjoin every one to obey our
requirements. Should any of your friends be taken sick and die, we
command you not to mourn for them, nor allow any of your friends to
mourn. But lay the body aside and enjoy the coming ceremonies with us;
when they are over we will mourn with you.”
When the address was finished they sang a thanksgiving song and
departed, to repeat the ceremony in every house.
And so scrupulous were they in performing these ceremonies, that if a
person did die during this festival, the body was put aside, and no
evidence of sorrow was visible till the end of the nine days, when the
usual funeral rites were performed, and the mourning hymns were chanted
as if the calamity had just occurred.
In all their religious festivals they had only one sacrifice, and this
was at the beginning of the year.
All white animals were considered consecrated to the Great Spirit, as
white was the emblem of purity and faith. But dogs alone were
sacrificed. On the first day of the festival one was chosen, and
sometimes two, “without spot or blemish,” and strangled, carefully
avoiding shedding of blood or breaking the bones. He was then painted
with red spots and decorated with feathers, and around his neck hung a
string of wampum. He was then suspended in the air about twenty feet
from the ground, where he remained till the fifth day, when he was
taken down and burned on an altar of wood. As they did not recognize
any species of atonement, believing that good deeds balanced the evil,
this could not have been a sacrifice for sin, as superficial observers
supposed, neither was it a scape-goat to carry away the sins of the
people. Their sins had nothing to do with it. The dog was a favorite
animal, and they believed a favorite with the Great Spirit, and
therefore burned him, that his spirit might ascend to heaven with their
petitions, that they might find favor in the eyes of God.
As they laid him upon the altar, the great thanksgiving address was
made, whilst tobacco was continually thrown upon the fire that their
prayers might ascend upon the clouds of smoke, and is curious as a
specimen of a heathen prayer.
“Hail! hail! hail! Listen now with an open ear to the words of thy
people, as they ascend to thy dwelling in the smoke of thy offering.
Look down upon us beneficently.
“Continue to listen: The united voice of thy people continues to ascend
to thee. Give us power to celebrate at all times with zeal and fidelity
the sacred ceremonies which thou hast given us. Continue to listen: We
thank thee that the lives of so many of thy children are spared, to
participate in these ceremonies. Give to our warriors and mothers
strength to perform thy sacred ceremonies. We thank thee that thou hast
preserved them pure unto this day.
“We thank thee that the lives of so many of thy children are spared to
participate in the ceremonies of this occasion.
“We give thanks to our mother the earth which sustains us. We thank
thee that thou hast caused her to yield so plentifully of her fruits.
Cause that in the coming season, she may not withhold of her fulness,
and leave any to suffer want.
“We return thanks to the rivers and streams, and thank thee that thou
hast supplied them with life, for our comfort and happiness. Grant that
this blessing may continue.
“We return thanks to all the herbs and plants of the earth. We return
thanks to the three sisters. We return thanks to the bushes and trees
which provide us with fruit. We thank thee that thou hast blest them
and made them produce for the good of thy creatures. We return thanks
to the winds, which moving have banished all diseases. We thank thee
that thou hast thus ordered.
“We return thanks to our grandfather Heno. We thank thee that thou hast
provided the rain, to give us water, and to cause all plants to grow.
We ask thee to continue these great blessings.
“We return thanks to the moon and stars which give us light when the
sun has gone to rest. Continue to us this goodness. We return thanks to
the sun, that he has looked upon us with a beneficent eye. We thank
thee, that thou bast in thy unbounded wisdom commanded the sun to
regulate the seasons, to dispense heat and cold, and to watch over the
comfort of thy people. Give unto us wisdom that will guide us in the
path of truth. Keep us from all evil ways, that the sun may never hide
his face from us for shame, and leave us in darkness. Lastly, we return
thanks to thee, our Creator and Ruler. In thee are embodied all things.
We believe that thou canst do no evil; that thou doest all things for
our good and happiness. Be kind to us, as thou hast been to our
fathers, in times long gone by. Hearken unto our words as they have
ascended; and may they be pleasing to thee, our Creator, the preserver
and ruler of all things, visible and invisible.”
All the ceremonies upon these festival days were not strictly
religious, but consisted of various sports and pastimes for amusement.
On one day all the people went about making calls, in little parties.
One of each group carried a wooden shovel, and immediately after
entering the house, began to stir the ashes, and then to scatter a
little upon the hearth, invoking the blessing of the Great Spirit upon
the household.
Another amusement was to form little parties to go about and collect
materials for a feast. Each family was expected to contribute
something. If the messengers entered a house and nothing was bestowed,
they were justified in taking whatever they could, without, at the
time, being discovered. If undetected, they were allowed to bear away
their treasures; but if detected, they were obliged immediately to give
them up and try again. A feast was made with the avails of their
begging and purloining, and a dance followed.
Another diversion was the guessing of dreams. Some person went about
from house to house telling a wonderful dream he had had, and
requesting any one who pleased to relate it. Whether those who
attempted, guessed rightly or not, the dreamer after a while
acknowledged that the true interpretation had been given, and then he
was obliged to pay a forfeit, and whatever was required, he cheerfully
performed, however great the sacrifice.
There was a great variety of games, and the design and effect of all
their festivities was, in addition to their spiritual improvement, to
promote friendly feeling and healthy exhilaration; and, in this, the
children of darkness were certainly wiser in their generation than some
of the children of light! Those who thought it necessary to the honor
of religion that all merriment should be banished from the domestic and
social circle, might have learned something from the forest heathen,
whom they were in the habit of pronouncing utterly benighted. The
Catholics adopted the policy of baptizing paganism, wherever they went.
Instead of requiring the heathen to give up their national or religious
ceremonies, they engrafted them upon their own, and thus removed all
obstacles to their becoming, or being called Christians. The Puritans
went to the other extreme, and would allow little that bore the name
pleasure. The pagan must renounce not only his religion but his health,
in order to became a faithful servant of the Lord. Every thing that was
natural was “carnal,” and thus religion became repulsive, and, in the
eyes of many, synonymous with every thing disagreeable. In a system
which differed from this they could see no good thing, and were sadly
deficient in a knowledge of human nature, and the facility of becoming
all things to all men, thereby to save some. In throwing off the
fetters of superstition they were scarcely in advance of the red men of
the wilderness. The beliefs of the Christian and pagan in witches
almost entirely coincided, and the manner of punishing them was nearly
the same. The stories of ghosts and hobgoblins to which I listened in
childhood, and which were related in perfect good faith are not less
ridiculous or more indicative of heathen blindness than those which I
hear in the wigwam.
The fables, fairy tales, and rural sports of our Saxon ancestors have
never been recorded as evidence of their inferiority, or as very
heinous misdemeanors. Their descendants have felt it to be a duty to
honor them, and have clothed their customs in the garb of fascination;
neither their ferocity, their barbarism, nor their superstitions have
been held up to scorn. The dark side of the picture has been kept
entirely out of view. Pages and volumes have been devoted also by
historians to the Olympic and Pythian games, and the “crowns of the
victors;” yet they involved no more light, or knowledge, or skill, and
far less moral purity than the national games of the sons of the
forest. The Indian had no laurel wreaths, believing that to excel was
sufficient; but his code of honor was as nice as that of feudal lords
in the days of chivalry, and no Indian ventured to incur censure by
transgressing the rules of courtesy. In their dances it was the custom
for women to choose their partners, and no warrior thought of offering
his hand to a maiden till she had signified that it would be agreeable
to her!
The Aztecs were more advanced in many respects than the Iroquois; but
their worship was a continued series of bloody sacrifices, without any
of that beautiful spirituality which we see in those who drew near to
the Great Spirit, not only with their lips but with their hearts, and
recognized his fostering care in all the events of their lives.
The sacrifice of dogs was universal among all the North American
Indians; but for a long time it was alluded to as a heathenish custom,
without any attempt to understand its import. Cotton Mather speaks of
it by saying, “That the Indians, in their wars with us, finding a sore
inconvenience by our dogs, sacrificed a dog to the devil, after which
no English dog would bark at an Indian for divers months ensuing.” This
would imply that the devil had an interpreter, in order to understand
the nature of the sacrifice, and the manner of influencing the dog; for
the author does not give him the credit of being so thorough a linguist
as to understand himself, as appears by the following
affirmation.—“Once finding that the dæmons in a possessed young woman
understood the Latin, Greek, and Hebrew tongues, my curiosity induced
me to make trial of this Indian language, and the dæmons did seem as if
they did not understand it.” [6] And as the Indians were considered
little less than demons themselves, a learned divine was excusable for
not attempting to acquaint himself with their language or their
character.
But there are those rising up among themselves who will wipe out this
stain upon their national honor, and vindicate the faith and the
customs of their fathers.
Since wars and rumors of wars have ceased, there has been some attempt
to understand Indian character and habits, and they have been found to
be no worse, at least, than those of other heathen nations, who were
the inhabitants of classic Greece and Rome.
The Jews held three yearly festivals, and several monthly festivals;
and one was in commemoration of the first fruits, and another at the
in-gathering of harvest, and another at the commencement of the year.
Among the Iroquois there were no particular ceremonies of purification;
but among some of the Western tribes, there was a custom which
resembled that of the Jews, when they used scarlet, and cedar, and
hyssop.
Dogs were not sacrificed by the Jews; but these were the only domestic
animals the Indians had. At the death of his friend, Patroclus
sacrificed two dogs of purest white, saying, “To the gods the purest
things must be offered.” The Greeks and Romans each had a festival,
which lasted nine days, the ceremonies of which were strikingly similar
to those which attended the annual thank offerings which went up in the
forest and on the prairie, by the lake and the streamlet in the
American wilderness. But when we read that the Indian ornamented
himself with the husks of his favorite zea-maize, and went from house
to house with a basket to gather offerings from the people, we call it
heathenish and barbarous, while the story of Ceres, the goddess of
corn, whose head was ornamented with sheafs, and who held in her hand a
hoe and basket, is picturesque and beautiful!
To make dancing a part of a religious festival, is, among Indians,
irreverent and grovelling. While we are taught to read, with pious
emotion, how Miriam and her maidens went out with timbrels and dances
to celebrate the overthrow of the Egyptians, and the women of all the
cities of Israel came forth singing and dancing, and exclaimed, “Saul
hath slain his thousands, and David his tens of thousands,” and David,
the man after God’s own heart, “danced before the Lord.”
The sacred fire in the temple of Vesta was kept ever burning, and the
Romans looked upon the extinguishing of the vestal flame as a
prognostication of the destruction of their city. In all this there is
not so much of poetry or beauty or purity as dwelt in the bosom of
those who kindled the mysterious council fire in the heart of the
forest, to burn for ever as a symbol of the love and patriotism which
glowed in the bosoms of those who rallied around it, and called
themselves the UNITED PEOPLE.
The nymphs and naiads of the woods of Greece and Italy are the
embellishments of every classic song, but they are no more beautiful
than the guardian-spirits of every tree and leaf and flower with which
the imagination of the Indian peopled our own forest wilds.
The Christian orator goes back to those dark days of ignorance and
superstition for the allusions which are to give point and brilliancy
to his metaphors, and the poems which have for their framework the
grossest of all heathen mythology are still the text-books, for years,
of Christian students, whose mission is to preach the Gospel to all the
nations of the earth.
We read of Indian women who were Keepers of the Faith, and revolt at
their incantations and unintelligible mummeries, but our delicacy is
thought in no danger from being initiated into the mysteries of the
Priestess of Apollo, the oracles of Delhi and the feasts of Eleusinia.
The wealthy virgins of Greece and Rome were present with fruits in
golden baskets at Bacchanalian revels, but they have never been held up
as monsters, while our school-books have teemed with amours of gods and
goddesses, such as find no place on the darkest pages of Indian lore.
We listen to the story of the woman in the moon, who is constantly
employed in weaving a net, which a cat ravels whenever she sleeps, and
that the world is to come to an end when the net is finished, and call
it ridiculous. While the story of Penelope weaving her purple web by
day to be unraveled by night, and thus prolong the absence of her
husband Ulysses, who went to the siege of Troy, is a conception worthy
of being expanded into a poem of a thousand lines, and translated into
all languages.
The Indian had no Cupids, or their representatives, to attend the
affairs of the heart, but he had charms which obtained the love of any
fair maiden whom he desired, and charms which secured him the love of
his wife during his long absence on the war-path and hunting
excursions, and made every thing that he could do bright and beautiful
in her eyes. And they had no Bacchus to preside at drunken revels, for
they “did not tarry long at the wine, or look upon it when it was red.”
But they had spirits to preside at the pure fountain, where alone they
went to slake their thirst.
Human sacrifices were offered annually among the Aztecs, but never
among the Iroquois. But even these were not entirely the result of
Indian barbarity. “Human sacrifices have been practised by many
nations, not excepting the most polished nations of antiquity.” “They
were of frequent occurrence among the Greeks, as every school-boy
knows, and in Egypt. In Rome they were so common as to require to be
interdicted by an express law, less than a hundred years before the
Christian Era,—a law recorded in a very honest strain of exultation by
Pliny, notwithstanding which, traces of the existence of the practice
may be discerned to a much later period.” [7]
Zurita was an eminent jurist from Spain, who resided nineteen years
among the Aztecs, and is indignant that they should be called
barbarians, saying, “It is an epithet which could come from no one who
had personal knowledge of the capacity of the people or their
institutions, and which in some respects is quite as well merited by
Europeans.”
If the Aztecs did not deserve the term barbarians, surely I shall be
thought just in denying the term savage to belong to the Iroquois; and
from their mythology, if nothing else, it is evident that they were
destitute neither of genius nor of poetry. They were heathen and
Pagans, but not savages, and before we boast that we have attained unto
perfection, let us remember that Spiritualists and Mormons have arisen
in the nineteenth century, and multitudes have wended their way to Salt
Lake City, who were trained in the churches of New England!