“When a boy is to be thus _initiated_, he is put under an alternate course of physic and fasting ... so that he sees, or fancies that he sees visions, and has extraordinary dreams. Then he has interviews with the Manitto or with spirits, who inform him of what he was before he was born, and what he will be after his death. His fate in this life is laid entirely open before him, the spirit tells him what is to be his future employment, whether he will be a valiant warrior, a mighty hunter, a doctor, a conjuror or a prophet.” Later in the chapter Heckewelder mentions the fact that persons favored with such dreams considered themselves under the protection of the “celestial powers,” and mentions the “strength, the power, and the courage” conveyed to them, but lays more stress on the prophetic side of these visions than on the actual aid rendered, according to Lenape belief, by the supernatural guardians. _Adams._—From Heckewelder’s time to the present, I know of but one writer, besides myself, who describes, from his own observation, the Lenape belief in visions and guardian spirits. This is R. C. Adams,[44] himself of Delaware blood, whose notes may be found in the volume on Indians of the United States Census Report for 1890 (p. 298 et seq.). He says: “It is believed by the Delawares that every one has a guardian spirit which comes in the form of some bird, animal, or other thing, at times in dreams, and tells them what to do and what will happen. The guardian spirit is sent from the Great Spirit.” Having now considered the very foundation of Lenape religion, we may turn with better understanding, to their great Annual Ceremony. CHAPTER V UNAMI ANNUAL CEREMONY THE LEADER The great Annual Ceremony of the Lenape now in Oklahoma was and is held when the leaves turn yellow in the fall of the year, usually, according to the “pale face” reckoning, some time between the tenth and twentieth of October. It is not exactly a tribal affair, although the whole tribe participates, but must be undertaken by some certain individual of the proper qualifications who takes the responsibility of “bringing in” the meeting and acting as a leader. The phratry to which this leader belongs determines the exact form of the ceremonies to be held; for each totemic group has a ritual of its own, that of the Wolf, which is here related, differing in some particulars from the ceremonies as practised by the Turtle or Turkey people. In former times, it is said, when one phratry had finished its twelve days of ceremonies, another would enact theirs, followed by the third; but at present qualified leaders are so few that it seldom if ever happens that more than one of them feels able to accept such exacting duties in any one year. This leader it is who sends a messenger forth to notify the people what day the ceremonies are to commence and to invite them all to attend.