Indian Tribes of the Upper Missouri: Edited with Notes and Biographical SketchDenig, Edwin Thompson
History
Indian Tribes of the Upper Missouri: Edited with Notes and Biographical Sketch
Denig, Edwin Thompson
Assiniboine Indians; Indians of North America -- Missouri River Valley
The majority of these people believe, or say they believe, that some of
these old conjurors can “shoot them with bad spells” (as they express
it) at the distance of 100 miles off, and it is on the assumption that
they are the cause of some of their deaths, that the lives of these
professors are sometimes forfeited. We believe their confidence in the
powers of these priests and medicine men is pretty general, though
some of them (the priests) are more divine or Wa-con than others. When
an Indian is sick they endeavor to cure him, as has been stated, and
if unsuccessful and death ensues they usually keep out of sight until
the first bursts of grief are over. Others of the same profession who
have not been called to administer to the patient attend the funeral,
their object being to secure whatever property they can by loud crying,
cutting their hair and bodies, and other display of profound grief.
Nothing resembling a prayer is said over the dead at the burial nor
anything spoken. Indeed, on account of their loud lamentations it
would be impossible to hear it if it were. Some weeks afterwards,
however, other ceremonies take place regarding the dead which will be
described in another place. The body is placed in the fork of a tree,
on a scaffold, or occasionally interred on the top of a high hill. No
device, inscription, or hieroglyphics are made at or near the place of
interment by any of these nations.
As far as we have proceeded with their religion, belief is the general
one, though it may be clothed in different language by different
Indians, sometimes superstitious and fabulous, but our object has been
to arrive at the philosophy of their religion by rejecting fables,
etc., which do not bear upon the inquiry.
From this point all other religion diverges into different minor
beliefs and superstitions according to the fancy of each individual.
Many believe in certain evil spells and troubles brought on them by
lesser spirits or ghosts and even of the spirits of monsters which
have no existence nor ever had except in their dreams and morbid
imagination. It appears that these ghosts are the cause of all petty
malice, vexations, or bad luck, not being of sufficient consequence to
attract the attention or induce the influence of Wakoñda. To relate
the different kinds of belief in these powers as each would explain
it would require the labor of years, and it is somewhat difficult to
generalize, owing to the prevailing differences. Under some of the
answers that will follow regarding charms, amulets, ghosts, etc., will
be detailed enough in conjunction with what has already been stated to
form a tolerably connected idea of this feature of their faith.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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