Imagine Ourselves Richly : Mythic Narratives of North American Indians
 0824508785, 9780824508784

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CHRISTOPHER VECSEV

IMAGINE OURSELVES RICHLY Mythic Narratives of North American Indians This

is

an introduction to the various ways of

understanding mythology and a resource for the study of North American Indian traditions.

describes and then employs the principal means of myth analysis in interpreting a It

sequence of myths and rituals from Indians across North America. Spanning a range of mythological possibilities and of American Indian culture areas, the myths and rituals treated here include the Hopi myth of emergence and clan migrations, the Ojibwa creation myth, the Iroquois myth of the Confederacy, the Navajo "Orpheus" tradition, the numerous pan-Indian myths (or monomyth) of peyotism's origins, and, finally, a contemporary sweat lodge ceremony.

As the

title

suggests, Imagine Ourselves

Richly treats these myths and rituals not only

and methods of survival but as a legacy of the spirit for us all. "The lessons they teach," says Vecsey, "community as clues to Indian identity

harmony, natural reciprocity, realism in facing death, yet hope and striving to better the

human

condition, a laughing sense of

absurdity,

and yet acceptance despite

it

life's all



these are healthy, eminently health-promoting ideas that

we

can hardly afford

to ignore." At

(continued on back

flap)

WHEATON PUBLIC LIBRARY 299.7

VEC 1988

Vecsey, Christopher. Imagine ourselves

3

richly :mythic narrati

5143 00153240

1

299.7 VEC

Vecsey, Christopher

Imagine ourselves richly

Wheaton 225 Wheaton,

Public Library N. Cross Illinois

60187

Digitized by the Internet Archive in

2016

https://archive.org/details/imagineourselves00vecs_0

Imagine Ourselves Richly

Imagine Ourselves Richly Mythic Narratives of

North American Indians

Christopher Vecsey

CROSSROAD



NEW YORK

1988

The Crossroad Publishing Company 370 Lexington Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10017 Copyright All rights reserved.

© No

1988 by Christopher Vecsey part of this

book may be reproduced,

stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form

or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the written permission of

The Crossroad Publishing Company. Printed in the United States of America

Library of Congress Cataloging- in-Publication Data Vecsey, Christopher.

Imagine ourselves richly Indians p.

/

:

mythic narratives of North American

Christopher Vecsey.

cm.

Bibliography: p.

Includes index.

ISBN 0-8245-0878-5 1. Indians of North America E98.R3V43 1988 299'.78—dcl9

—Religion and mythology.

I.

Title.

88-15065 CIP

Contents Acknowledgments

ix

Preface

xi

1.

Mythography

2.

The Emergence and Maintenance of the Hopi People

1

34

written with Carol Ann Lorenz 3.

The Ojibwa Creation Myth written with John F. Fisher

64

4.

The Story and Structure of the Iroquois Confederacy

94

5.

A

6.

An American

7.

The Genesis of Phillip Deere’s Sweat Lodge

118

Navajo Heroic

References

Index

Indian

Monomyth: Narratives of Peyote’s Origin

and Bibliographies

1

50

206 233 295

Vf

9/

;

-'.

pr.r

.

'

»

i

«

,)

"

t

ri^jP '

'

•f’-T'

r'"

S-'1

.

.

1

1

Index Busk ceremonials among Creek ans, 219-21, 227, 231 Buzzard Cult, 230

Aarne, Antti, 18

Orpheus 119-120 Agave chief, 36 Afterworld

tradition,

in

Indi-

Campbell, Joseph, 140-141

Ajitee

Way

see Prostitution

Cannibal, 100

Alabama Indian emergence myth, 225 Algonkian culture, folklore

of,

65-66

American Indian Movement (AIM),

Carrizo Apaches and peyote, 162 Cassirer, Ernst, 13

Cayuga Indians

208 as fertilizing clouds,

Changing Woman, 123, 127 Chantways, 124, 126-27, 142-48 Chekilli, 224 Chickasaw Indian emergence myth, 224

44

Hopi gods, 45—46 Antelope chief, 36 Antelope cult, 38 as

Anti-Christians,

6-7

Christianity

65 compared

compared

stories,

Aztec beliefs ty,

Confeder-

,acy stories, 102

Ancestors

Atisokanak

in Iroquois

to Christiani-

to Aztec myths,

relation to peyotism,

6

6

169-73,

179 Chuku, 53, 58

Banyacya, Tom, 40

Chukuwimkiya

Barton, Ron, 160

Clowns Clowns see

6 37-38

Bayle, Pierre,

Bear clan,

as bringers of rain,

and rivalry' with Spider Beautyway, 125 Beggar’s Son, story

of,

1

clan,

40—4

28-38 1

38

and hunting powers,

138 showing overwhelming power of the gods,

1

Benedict, Ruth, 4

220

importance of

in

Hopi

society,

as integrators of

Hopi

63

59-60 ritual,

218-

as satirists in

Hopi

society,

56

serving Hopi religion, 61

Boas, Franz, 15

tension toward,

38

57

Hopi subconscious,

solemn and sacred funtions

clan,

62-

society,

Blue bird clan, 38

Bow

55-

63

as reflections of

Blackbear, Joe, 154

19,

56-57

as leaders of kachina dancers,

38

Black Drink purification

59 demonstrating sexual and violent to the dead,

excesses,

emphasizing sexual conquests, linking sexual

compared

57

of,

58

58-59

Cohen, Percy, 30

295

1

296

Index

Comanche

162-

Indians and Peyote,

Cushing, Frank, 40-41

166-67 Condolence ceremony

Cusick, David,

peace negotiations, 113 Condolence ceremony as symbol of

Death

64,

as part of

Iroquois Confederacy, 105,

107 Consolation as basis for Iroquois Con-

112—113 Cooperative societies, Hopi as example of, 50 Corn Woman, 228—229 Coweta Indian emergence myth, 224-225 Coyote

attempts to conquer, 119

growth cycle, 45 as concept in myths, 29 importance of in Ojibwa Creation as beginning of

myth, 81-83

federacy,

as sexual copulator,

128

143-144

as trickster character,

43

Creek Indians Busk ceremonials among, 219-221 concept of sacred fire among, 220 Corn Woman tradition among,

228-29 cosmology

of,

218

creation beliefs of

compared

to

Hopi, 226 creation myths

of,

223-229

Green Corn Dance among, 22 influence of Christianity on myths of, 227, 229 Orpheus tradition among, 226 pan-Indianism of sweat

227-32 Deganawida, 99—106 as outsider,

1 1

217-221 separation of sexes among,

228-

229 plans

of,

208-21

218 215—17, 231—32

rituals of,

1,

use of Black Drink among, 218-19,

220

Delaware Indians and peyote,, 1 57158 Discours sur I’origine des fables, 6 Disease and ritual cures among Nava-

124-127 Divination as way to judge reality, 83 Djigonsasa (Mother of Nations), 100, 106-107 Dreams as way to judge reality, 8384 Drum Dance, 189-190 jos,

Diirkheim, Emile, 16, 25 Eagle Feather Belt Grace Dance,

acy,

105

25 Enlightenment, debunking of religions and myths during, 6-7 Epheus, 4 Euhemerism, 4 Euhemerus the Messanian, 4 Evilways, 124 Excess

Way

Way

use of sweating rituals among, Crisis cult,

peyotism

38 Flute ceremony, 38 Fat cavity clan,

as, 1

52,

1

53

92

Eagle as symbol of Iroquois Confeder-

see Prostitution

214-215

106

1—1 12

Eliade, Mircea,

purification as leitmotif of religion,

town

after

ritual of,

230

sweat

(Hopi culture), 45-46 Navajo view of, 121—122 Death Cult, 230 Deere, Phillip, 206-12, 217, 221-23, life

as historical person,

in the story of the Beggar’s Son,

132,

97

1

297

Index 37

Flute chief, 36,

Folklore, performative aspects of,

20—

Honko, Hopi

Lauri,

19

ceremonial year

21

compared to mythogra* phers, 18-19 Folktale, difference between myth and, 23 Folktales, compared to myths and legends, 22 Fontanelle, Bernard, 6 Four White Roots as symbol of IroFolklorists,

quois Confederacy, 105 Frazer, Sir James, 7-8, 12,

22

7,

example of “Waterworks” society, 50-51 importance of clowns in society of, 50-51

as

language concepts

of,

Hopi emergence and maintenance myth, 35-39 antisocial characteristics of,

compared 226

to

49

Ghost Dance, 152 Gluskabe compared to Nanabozho, 65 Goggles, John, 156, 165

as demonstration of

communal

human depen-

dence on nature, 53 as description of tribal existence,

39,

Great Pine Tree as symbol of Iroquois

of,

cooperation, 53

Goldfrank, Esther, 21, 40

94

as identification of

Hopi

culture,

47-48

Confederacy, 105 Spirit,

43

Creek creation myths,

defining necessity for

Great

41-42

contemporary political context 39-41, 42

Frenzy Witchcraft, 128 Freud, Sigmund,

5

of,

207, 222

as portrayal of

Green Corn Dance, 221

human

kinship,

47

and prophesy of trouble with

39-40 earth as mother of all

Whites, Hale, Horatio,

98

reflecting

22 Health, controlled by

beings, 52

Harrison, James,

Heart as

146-149 container of the soul, 84 ritual,

Hecataeus of Miletus, 4 Herder, Johann Gottried von,

Hero,

monomyth

of,

and separation of clans, 49 and separation of sexes, 49-50 social cohesion demonstrated in,

9-10

140-141

43 societal tensions reflected in,

Hero with a Thousand Faces, 140J.

N.

48-49

as symbolic representation of fertil-

141 Hewitt,

41, 42-43,

40—

B.,

97

50

witchcraft

Hiawatha as cannibal,

ity,

100

Horn

chief,

in,

43—44

36

as historical person,

Hultkrantz, Ake, 118, 120

in

Humans, opposing

106 Iroquois Confederacy stories,

quois Confederacy stories, 108

100-106 as outsider,

1 1

dualities of in Iro-

1-112

and struggle with Tadadaho, 108 Hide strap clan, 37-38 Holyways, 124, 128

Hume,

David,

8-9

Hunting depicted in Ojibwa Creation myth,

87-89

298

Index

Hunting {continued)

and

link

with sexual powers,

as sacred activity,

1

Hiawatha mourns and quits Onondaga, 101-102

38

87

Hiawatha’s relatives are killed,

Hydrocentric healing ritualism, 213

101

journey to the Mohawks, the Immortality, Navajo concept

of,

146—

the league declares

208

its

sovereignty,

105 migration and separation of the

Iroquois Confederacy

establishment

of,

95-96

99

people,

105 symbolic images of, 105 Iroquois Confederacy stories birth and growth of Deganawida, of,

the Mother of Nations accepts De-

ganawida’s message, 100

98

as myth,

the nations march to Tadadaho singing the Peace

99 conception of divine law and

Hymn, 103

the prophets prove their power,

the cannibal converts, 100

100-101

its

113—114 the Condolence ceremony mainapplication,

tains the confederacy,

105 the confederacy takes symbolic images, 105

Deganawida consoles Hiawatha, 102-103 Deganawida departs, 106 Deganawida and Hiawatha establish Iroquois unity and law, 104 Deganawida and Hiawatha establish league chiefs and council polity,

99—100

plained,

International Indian Treaty Council,

sovereignty

and the mission ex-

tion,

147

situa-

y

98

as sacred text,

scouts travel to Tadadaho, 103

Tadadaho the wizard prevents peace, 101 Iroquois Indians belief in

human

perfectability,

109 conception of divine law and

113-114 108-109

application,

dualism

of,

kinship systems

of,

narrative genres of,

109

97-98

unity and law established by Hia-

104

Deganawida and Hiawatha join Oneidas, Cayugas, and Senecas to Mohawks, 103 Deganawida and Hiawatha transform Tadadaho, 103-104 as epic of nation formation,

96

establishment of kinship systems

watha, 104 Isleta

Pueblo, 21

Ispahihtoa, 224,

227

Jesus Christ

appearing

in

peyotism, 170-73,

186, 197

myths

109 as examples of peacefiil means and purposes, 1 10

Jung, Carl Gustav, 14-15

as expression of teleology of Iro-

Kachinas, in Hopi ceremonials,

in,

quois national

96—97 Mohawks

of,

14

55-

56

life,

Hiawatha gives the

les-

sons in protocol, 102

Hiawatha invents

its

wampum, 102

emergence myth, 224 Kik-mongwi, 36 Kasihta Indian

“Kinaalda,” 140

3

Index Kiowa Apaches

Mide Society Ojibwa Creation myth and, 64, 65, 66 Mishongovi, 38 Moenkopi, 37-38

peyote and, 154-56, 161-62, 169 religious culture of,

299

169

Kluckhohn, Clyde, 123 Kochampanaskin, Ralph, 159

Mohawk

Indians

Confederacy 99-100, 102

in Iroquois

Lagon Lagon

36 cult, 38 Lang, Andrew, 12-13 Leach, Edmund, 16-17 Legends, compared to myths and folktales, 22 chief,

as leaders in the Iroquois Confed-

eracy,

69

Life

emerging from

earth,

82

existing in natural objects, Life after death,

82

Hopi concept

of,

97

Mortality, Navajo

Leighton, Dorothea, 123 Levi-Strauss, Claude,

stories,

45—

146-147

of,

Mother Earth, 206, 207, 222 Mother of Nations, 100 Motif-Index 18 Motsni, 36 Mudhead clowns, 55 Muller, F. Max, 1 1-12, 13 Muskogee Indians creation myths of, 222, 226 sweat lodge

46

concept

212-213

ritual of,

Myth-analysis

Lifeways

Navajo Indian theories regarding cause and cure of disease,

124-125 Lipan Apaches and peyote,

1

58

Longhouse as symbol of Iroquois Confederacy, 105 Lord, Albert, 20

etymologicaI-semantic-“solar”

11-12 see also Mythography school

My themes,

of,

17

Mythography functional school of,

15-16

psychoanalytic approaches

to, 1 3—

15

approach

structuralist

Malinowski, Bronislaw, 15-16

symbolist school

Mythological corpus, 2

Ojibwa Creation myth, 66, 7577 Marau chief, 36 Marau cult, 38

Mythology “cubist” view as essential life,

16-18

of, 1

Manitos in

to,

30 element of of,

religious

25

Marx, Karl, 7 Masau’u (the Skeleton), 36 as deity of death, 45—46

form, content, and function

Master of Breath, 222, 227 Mescalero Apaches and peyote,

ritual

nature

types

of,

158

19-

26 life-and-death content of, of,

26-33

22-23

8-19

see also Myths

Mexico

Myths

as origin of peyote mythology,

168-169 peyote use

of,

in,

as allegories of nature, 3 as allegories of philosophical argu-

176, 177

ments, 2-3

300

Index

Myths {continued)

supernatural content

as ancestor veneration carried to deification,

4

24

Christian beliefs intertwined with,

to falsehood,

and

to legends

folktales,

19-26 cultural reflections

in,

15

1

12-13 descriptions of nature and natural cycles, 12-13

as deification of the dead,

during the Renaissance, 5

examined by Greek

scholars,

3-5

human

as guide to relations with

and nonhuman environment,

24-25 as

medieval world, 5

model

for societal version of

reality,

as oral tradition,

19-20

as part of religion,

9 as performances, 20 problem-solving and ities of,

cathartic qual-

14

thought, 14—15

compared to Gluskabe, 65 and death of hunting companion, 73-74 and deluge, earth divers, and creation of new earth, 77—9 and his brothers, 70-72 as Ojibwa culture-hero and trickster, 64 as originator of death, 79-80 stump episode and, 75-76 and theft of fire, 69—71 and Toad Woman, 76-77 as transformer, 91

described as suprasocial, 141 of,

142

as paradigms of vitality

and model

of life-seeking force in the face

psychological cause and function

3-4

as reflection of evolution of

thought, 10—11

26 representing community’s sophical ideas, 24

religious functions of,

philo-

as a response to environment, 10

16

form of symbolic expression, 13

as a special

Nahaya, 122-123 Nanabozho

overassertion

as projections of subconscious

social-scientific study of,

18-19 used to describe celestial phenomena, 12-13

and the wolves, 72-73 Nasomta Chuku, 53 Native American Church, 198 Natural History of Religion, 8 Navajo heros

25

as nature-devotion, 10

of,

as universal natural

cate-

and analyzing,

criteria for defining

in the

14—15 phenomenon,

as universal archetypes,

universal structure of,

1

gories, 17

as

from vernacular into

14-15

22 as conveyances of cognitive

defined,

26-27

written English, 21

as anchors to meaningful past,

5—6 compared compared

translating

of,

of death,

1

39

and symbolic mediation of death and eternality, 146 Navajo Indians belief in ghosts among, 121-122 and belief in universal rules, 123— 124 Blessingways of, 1 24 Chantways of, 124 curing rituals

of,

124—127

diagnosticians among, 125

301

Index and emphasis on own power and control over events, 122-123 fear of dead among, 121—122 health and disease concerns of, 125 mythology as groundwork for medical beliefs and ceremonial cures, 127 peyotism among, 152, 160 preoccupation with details of travel in

myths

144—145

of,

prevalence of mediation in curing

39 relation of people to gods, 123 ritual classification among, 124 sandpainting of, 126-127 rites of,

1

and the story of the Beggar’s Son,

128-138 sweat lodge therapy as

ritual of,

ritual

210

norm

of,

125

use of ceremonials to actualize heroic quests,

148-149

Ne Gailhwiyo, 114 Ne Gashedenza, 114 Ne Skenno, 113—114

New

Fire ceremonial, 55,

Newhouse,

57-58

98

Seth, 97,

changes to Iroquois Con-

editorial

federacy stories, 107 Nietzsche, Friedrich,

way

85 Ojibwa Creation myth birth of

as heuristic device, 81 historical uses of,

86

hunting depicted

in,

modern analyses of, 64 Nanabozho and his brothers, 70-72 Nanabozho’s killing of the underwater manito(s) Toad Woman episode, 76-77 Nanbozho and the wolves, 72—73



pictographs

in,

compared

to

65

death of Nanbozho’s hunting companion,

73-74

deluge, earth divers, creation of

new

77—79 different versions of, 91—92 examples of suspicion in, 85 earth,

65

64 showing communication gap between humans and animals, 80-81 struggle between factional “families” in, 79 stump episode, 75—76 theft of fire, 69-70 Ojibwa Indians atomism of society, 66 Creation myth expressing world view of, 80-81 individualism among, 85—87 of,

physical survival as primary con-

cern

81, 86-87,

of,

92

89 suspicion among, 87

Omaha

of,

Indians and peyote,

Oneida Indians

in Iroquois

164—165 Confeder-

acy stories, 102

Onondaga

symbol of Iroquois Confederacy, 105

Hopi emergence

myth, 81-82

in,

seasonal retelling

Nanabozho, 68-69

categories

87-89

importance of death in, 79—81 judgement of reality in, 83-84 metamorphosis in, 83

sky imagery

to judge reality,

world ordered for

hunting, 81

9

Nokosi, Judge, 225

Observation as

as expression of

Oraibi,

as

38-39

factionalism

in,

40

Orenda, 98

Orpheus

tradition

among Creek compared 147

Indians,

226

to Navajo myth,

145-

302

Index

Orpheus

{continued)

tradition

118-119 one of most common myths worldNavajo versions

of,

wide, 119

paradigm for shamanism, 119 as source of religious revelation, 119 Osinoh the Witch, 101 as

153 similarities among, 165 see also Peyotism Peyote rattle, 196 Peyote road, 194, 196 Peyotism as origin myths,

brotherly love as all-encompassing ethic

of,

185-186

cleansing rituals associated with,

PaiyakyamUy

53,

Palatkwapi, 37,

176

55

communal

38-39

peyotism as expression

of,

188-

192 reflected in sweat house ritual,

230-231 Sundance as expression Parker, Cynthia Ann, 166

of,

197

202 as crisis cult, 1 52, 203 early history of, 150-152

compassion

Pan-lndianism

of,

emotionalism of contrasted to

tra-

ditional Plains ceremonies, of,

189

ethics

193

184-188

of,

as expression of Pan-lndianism,

Parker, Quanah, 166-67, 172,

175-

188-192 200-201

76, 183, 184, 187, 188, 191,

as a full-fledged religion,

202

Confederacy, 112—113

importance of personal contact with power of peyote, 173— 174 and nativism, 191 as “new” religion, 1 52 ordeal and exhilaration in, 175

Woman

as parallel to vision quest of Plains

Parrot clan, 38

Peace as central ethic of peyotism,

187-188 Peacemaking Peace

aspects

as basis for Iroquois

in Iroquois

Confedera-

cy stories, 106—107 Perryman, Louis, 225

ritual of,

Peyote, 150

sacramental aspects

chemical composition currative

powers

of,

175 180—181 of,

God, 174-175 effects of ingesting, 175 moral transformation wrought by, 185 nourishing powers of, 181 power of, to be use for group benas direct access to

efit,

182-183

165—173

hero separated, emptied, initiated and reunited in, 197

165-170

theology

in

17S)-180 and wearing of symbolic Indian of,

dress,

190-191

see also Peyote narratives Phillips,

George, 164

Pictographs, in Ojibwa Creation

Piptuku, 55 Plains Indians

peyotism among, 152

Peyote narratives

historicity of,

symbols used 196

197—198 practice of, 194— of,

myth, 65

and shamanistic patterns of Indian religiousness, 182 Christian influence on,

177 192-193

Indians,

169-170 vision quest among, 1 77 Plato, 3-4 religiousness of,

Polytheism, Greek, 3

1

1

Index

303

Powak-mana, 37, 38-39

Singer chief, 36

Pow-wow

Singer of Tales, 20

189-190 Way, 1 28, 1 38

religion,

Prostitution

Singer-physician {hatali), 125

as medicinal ritual, 121

Sioux Indian sweat lodge

Purification rituals of Navajos,

1

26-

127

Rave, John, 179,

184-185

Society of Faces, 108

Indian patterns

of,

as part of, 9,

peyotism

Soul

169

28-29

of animated entity, 84

8-9

origins of,

as,

distinguished from

169-70, 200-1 81

Ritual ability to transform individuals

societies,

and

107—108

Roundhouses, among Creek Indians,

215-217

126-127 in Iroquois

Confedera-

102 Serpents associated with meat by

Stewart,

Omer

C.,

1

52,

1

59

Beggar’s Son. See Beggar’s Son,

Stump episode, in Ojibwa Creation myth, 75-76 as expression of Pan-Indian-

ism,

189

Superego, expression of in myths of Jesus Christ, 14

Sweat lodge

Ojibwas, 92 Sexual powers linked with hunting,

138 Shaalako kachinas, 38 as animating force of living

84

to peyotism,

Woman, 37

Sundance

stories,

Shamanism compared

with Bear clan, 40—4

Story of

Sahagun, Bernardo, 177, 180

entities,

Spider

rivalry

“Story of San'hode'di begaeye, the

conquest, 138

Seneca Indains

in living

84 Southern Cult, 230—231 Soyal ceremony, 38 Soyal chief, 36 Spence, Lewis, 22 Spider clan, 37-38 and

interdependence with myth, 22 Rivalry and revenge linked to sexual

Sandpainting,

shadow

entity,

Revenge raids, Revenge warfare, 113 Rites of Passage, 1 4

206-208 shape of, compared to Mother Earth, 206, 210 ritual of,

Sweat lodge

ritual

contemporary appeal of, 208 as widespread Indian custom, 209,

183-184

democratized through vision quests, 120

Orpheus tradition, 1 19-120 to combat disease and disharmony, 120 Shongopovi, 38 in

45—46

Snake ceremony, 38 Snake clan, 38-39 Snake cult, 38

Religion

Shadow

Sipapu (place of emergence), 52 as deity of death,

Rattlesnake chief, 36

cy

210

Skeleton

Pythagoras, 3

myths

ritual,

210-211

Tabatcamowin {Tibadjimowin) stories, 65 Taboo violation as cause of disease, 126 Tachuktu, 55

Index

304

Wampum

Tadadaho 100

as cannibal,

as “he

obstructs the road,” 109

who

Confederacy

in Iroquois

as

106

as historical person,

invention of by Hiawatha, 102 as symbolic asssurance of truth, 110

symbol of peace agreement,

109-110

stories,

Wampum

101-104 straightening of

mind and body

of,

as reminders of Iroquois foundations,

112

and struggle with Hiawatha, 108 Tangik kachinas, 38 Tarenyawagon (Master of Life), 99, 108, 113 Tawiskaron, 108 Thales, 3

Theagenes of Rhegium, 3 The Golden Bough, 12 The Sacred Record, 4

Thompson, Stith, 18 Tihadjimowin stories, 66 Titiev, Mischa, 45 Tonkawa Indians and peyote, 16438

kachinas,

Tuscarora Indians, 97

Twisted Face, 108 Tyler, Hamilton,

Tylor, E.

as

110

symbol of Iroquois Confederacy, 105

“Wanderings of the Hopi, The,” 35-

39 Warrior chief, 36, 37 “Waterworks” societies, 50 Whawiki kachinas, 38 “White Brother” in Hopi myth, 37,

38-39 White

Butterfly, 128, 136, 137, 143,

144 “White Men.” See “White Brother” Willfulness as Navajo trait, 122 Windigos, 87

165

Tulwunang

belts

46

Witchcraft

10-11

B.,

Windway, 125 Winnebago Indians and peyote, 169170 Wilson, John, 201—202 coherent cause for evil, 44 and peyote, 182 as way to assign blame, 43—44 Witchcraft, in Navajo myth, 128 as

Underhill, Ruth,

22

Vansina, Jan, 19

Witches

Vapor baths as continent-wide

phenomena, 208,

as kahopi,

210, 211 see also Sweat lodge ritual Vico, Giovanni Battista, 8-9, 13, 30

Vision quest

and democratization of shamanism, 120 Visions obtained by use of peyote,

177-180 Voltaire as opponent of mythology and

religion, 6,

Wallace, Paul,

Walpi, 38, 39

as cause of societal sickness,

7

107-108

44

44

Witherspoon, Gary, 123

Wolves in Ojibwa Creation myth, 72-74 Wuwuchim ceremony, 51 Wuwuchim chief, 36

Xenophanes of Colophon, 3 Youths and Elders Conference, 208 Yuchi Indians creation myths of, 222, 223 purification among, 217

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(continued from front

flap)

the heart of the grand corpus of Indian stories the author finds a triple declaration of depen-

dence: of the individual on the community, of the

community on

nature,

and of nature on the

ultimately powerful world of

spirit.

CHRISTOPHER VECSEY is associate professor of religion and Native American studies at Colgate University.

He

is

the author of Traditional

Ojibwa Religion and Its

Changes and editor of several books, including The Study of American Indian Religions by Ake Hultkrantz. Historical

Jacket design by Vikki Sheatsley

The Crossroad Publishing Company 370 Lexington Avenue

New

York,

NY

10017 0 - 8245 - 0878-5

"Indian stories can help us'expand our concept of who

Too

readily

we

we are.

think of ourselves as white Western moderns,

belonging to a Judeo-Christlah religion and a Greco-Roman polity. However, by/seeing our humanity reflected and revealed

In Indian, stories,

repressed images of our

we

can release ourselves from the

humanity. Indian traditions have something to offer us non-Indians: values we have repressed or

never

known

full

regarding environment, society, and the spiritual

world. Their texts offer us insights concerning the possibility of human systems that \ve might recover or attain. The siudyV

American

Indians,

I

have found, challenges us

in

our American-

ness-and enriches N. Scott

Morpaday

us— as h.

richly.'"

22

..

CROSSROAD



NEW YORK

/