Religion and ceremonies of the LenapeHarrington, M. R. (Mark Raymond)
Religion
Religion and ceremonies of the Lenape
Harrington, M. R. (Mark Raymond)
Delaware Indians -- Religion
“When he opened his hand
Something came out of the center
That’s his blessing
(For?) our kinfolks, the
Lenape; because that
Is what he said, he did say
This, when
He spoke, he said this.”
Then came the dance song:
_He-e-e-e nehani_
_Latamaⁿne_
_Nehani lamaⁿne_
_Kwĕⁿnanowagŭⁿ, nowagŭn_
_Hayelaⁿgomaⁿ_
_Gweheyeha_
_Gehe!_
This, according to the interpreter, means simply, when stripped of its
superfluous syllables, “We own a temple—his blessing—our kinfolks.”
Another man saw in his boyhood vision the Mĭsinghâliʹkŭn, or Living Solid
Face, riding on a deer. I was unable to get the details of their meeting,
or the chant, but this is the dance song:
_Hehotawegeʹna_
_Hotowegeʹna_
_Xingâloʹ pai awheʹwani_
_Mĭsinghâliʹkŭn_
_Hâliʹkŭne_
_A-heʹ-he-heʹ!_
This, the interpreter said, means “Riding it, riding it, big buck deer,
this one, Mĭsinghâliʹkŭn!” Seldom do the songs or chants refer so
definitely to the protector as does this.
A third Lenape, when a boy, was sent out to the corn-field to drive away
the crows. As he stood by the field he saw them flying around to light
on a tree near by. Suddenly someone spoke to him, and among the things
said (which were not revealed to me) were the words “I like this Lenape
food,” referring to the corn. The boy thought a man was addressing him,
until the person suddenly flew away in the form of a crow, crying “_Ha!
Ha! Ha!_” I failed to get the Indian words for the song, and my informant
did not remember the chant, but the translation of the song was given as
follows:
“I like this Lenape food:”
I never knew a crow said that
Till the crow was cawing
“Ha! Ha! Ha!”
A fourth had seen some kind of an animal in his vision, but never told
any of his tribesmen what it was. His song, as now remembered, was
translated thus:
Come, follow me,
I am going
Out into the country.
A fifth had “Mother Corn” (the Corn Spirit) for a guardian, but only part
of his song is remembered.
“All my children
Are glad when I come out!”
Some people were helped by the spirits of the dead in the same way that
others received aid from animal or other nature spirits.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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