Indians of North America -- Medicine; Pomo Indians; Shamans
Mountain-man danō gak danō baiya
Water-man xa gak ka baiya
Night-man dūwē gak īwē baiya
Valley-man gagō gak kakō baiya
Brush-man se gak see baiya
Rock-man xabē gak kabē baiya
Spring-man gapa gak gapa baiya
Shade-man cīyō gak
Fire-man xō gak hō baiya
Disease-man gak kalal ītal baiya
Insanity-man gak dagōl dakōl baiya
gūksū gūksū kūksū
Whitled-leg widow kama sīlī dūket mīya cakū kattciū
Dream-man marū marū
Wind-man yai kī ya tcatc
Pond-woman danō kawō
Blind-man ūī bagō ūī nasai
Sun-man da tca
Sun-woman da mata
Deer-man bice gaūk pce tca
To all these he sang songs and made prayers the substance of which
usually was: “You know what I am doing. I am doing as you do and using
your ways. You must help me and give me good luck.”
He sang to and invoked particularly Sun-man because he was an
all-seeing deity and knew everything that happened all over the earth,
and more particularly because as Sun-man rises with the sun each
morning he comes with his bow and arrow drawn and ready to shoot on
sight any wrongdoer. Unless, therefore, Sun-man was propitiated and
previously informed of the bear doctor’s intentions, he was likely to
shoot him just as the sun appeared above the horizon. The substance of
his prayer to Sun-man was: “I am going to do as you do. I shall kill
people. You must give me good luck.”
When the suit was finally put on there was a certain amount of
ceremonial procedure. The beads used as armor were first put on the
naked body. The arms and legs were closely wound, each with a single
long string of beads. The bear doctor then danced around the practice
ground four times in a clockwise direction and then four times in a
contra-clockwise direction. He next advanced toward and receded from
the suit four times each from the north, west, south, and east. He
then made four times a motion as if to pick up the suit, and again
four times the motion of putting the suit on, after which he donned it
and was completely ready for his journey, being endowed with all the
supernatural powers of the bear doctor.
Throughout the entire construction of the suit, and also throughout the
ceremony connected with putting it on, he turned his head around toward
the left after each separate action, such as lifting up or putting down
any article and after each dancing up and back toward the suit, or
running around the practice ground.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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