Introduction to the History of Religions: Handbooks on the History of Religions, Volume IVToy, Crawford Howell
HistoryHistory
Introduction to the History of Religions: Handbooks on the History of Religions, Volume IV
Toy, Crawford Howell
Mythology; Religion -- History; Religions -- History; Rites and ceremonies
+497+. There are indications that the institutions of the Pueblo tribes
(who are now wholly agricultural) have undergone modifications, perhaps
under foreign (Spanish) influence. Hopi myths represent clans as
descended from ancestors originally animal, and transformed into human
shape by deities. But the elaborate sun-worship and the complicated
solstice ceremonies are tribal.[850] The Zuñi economic ceremonies appear
to have passed from under clan control. Thus, the magical ceremony for
procuring rain, properly the function of the Frog clan, is now in the
hands of rain-priests; and the magical, dramatic performances for
insuring a supply of food are conducted by nontotemic religious
fraternities. The great Snake "dance" may have been originally a totemic
ceremony intended to secure rain and corn.[851]
+498+. For a former totemic organization among the Navahos, Apaches, and
Mohaves (these last live on the Colorado River) there are only vague
traditions and other faint traces; the taboos on foods now touch not a
particular clan but a whole tribe.
+499+. The coast tribes of Northwest America (in British Columbia and
the United States)[852] differ in social organization from the other
Indians in several respects, and particularly in the importance they
attach to rank, in their employment of the crest or badge, and in the
prominence they give to the individual guardian animal or spirit.
+500+. In the civil organization of the Carrier division of the Déné,
the Salish, the Kwakiutl, and other tribes, three or four castes or
groups are recognized: hereditary nobles; the middle class, whose
position is based on property; and the common folk; and to these is to
be added among some tribes the class of slaves. In the summer ceremonies
the men are seated according to class and rank. The family pride of the
nobles is great--every family has its traditions and pedigrees. In such
a scheme the zoönymous clan plays an insignificant part. Classes and
clans are mixed in the villages in which, for the most part, these
people live, and trade is prominent in their life. The curious custom of
the "potlatch"--a man invites his friends and neighbors to a gathering
and makes them magnificent presents, his reputation being great in
proportion to the extent of his gifts--appears to be a device for
laying up property; the host in his turn receives presents from friends
and neighbors.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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