Religion and ceremonies of the Lenape — John Shaqi
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
“In no case is a dog allowed to enter the temple, and no one is
allowed to laugh inside it, or in any way be rude. Each person
is allowed to speak and tell his dream or dreams or to give
advice. 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.
“Traditions say that 10 years before white men came to this
country (America) a young man told his dream in the temple.
This was on the Atlantic coast. He saw coming across the great
waters a large canoe with pinions (wings) and containing
strange people, and that in 10 years they would in fact come.
He told this dream and predicted the arrival of the white men
each year until they came and were seen by his people. Many of
our people still keep up this dance, but the temple is not so
large as it used to be, and the attendance now is not more than
100 persons. Any Indian of any tribe can also take part in the
dance, but no white man can.
“When the dance is over all the people go out and stand in a
single line from east to west with their faces to the south.
Then they kneel down and pray, and then go home. We do not know
the origin of the worship dance, but the old Indians claim that
the Great Spirit came many years ago and instructed it and also
gave them the wampum.”
In spite of several inaccuracies, such as the statement that the people
face _south_ (instead of east) while praying after the ceremony, this
account is valuable on account of the additional data it furnishes on
several points of interest, especially the tradition concerning the
prophecy of the coming of the whites.
ANOTHER FORM OF THE ANNUAL CEREMONY
It appears that in former years there was, in addition to the rite just
described, another form of the Annual Ceremony practised by the Lenape,
before their removal to what is now Oklahoma from Kansas, where the last
man to “bring in” such a meeting was John Sarcoxie, now dead.
The ceremony, which was called _MuxhatoLʹzing_, seems, from the accounts
given the writer by his informants, to have taken place in a similar
building, and to have been similar in ritual to that just described,
except that it was held for only eight days instead of twelve, and that,
after the return of the hunters the skin of one of the deer they had
brought in was stuffed with grass and stood up by the central post of
the Big House, antlers and all, while about its neck hung a string of
wampum—perhaps as a propitiatory offering.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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