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
The exact details and order of the ceremony were not remembered by our
informant, but it was certain that the family in question “fed the otter”
every two years in the spring, that being the time of year when the
little girl had been taken ill. Everyone was invited, men and women, and
a man was selected to cook the hog, and another to supply wood and to cut
the poles for swinging the kettle, both of whom were paid with a yard of
wampum. The fire was kindled with a special flint-and-steel always kept
with the outfit (fig. 17).
[Illustration: FIG. 17.—Flint and steel used in the Otter Rite. (Length
of _a_, 3 in.)]
It will be observed that the otter-skin has a slit down the middle of the
neck, through which the owner thrust his head in such manner that the
otter’s nose lay under the wearer’s chin, while its body and tail hung
down his back. Wearing the skin in this manner (fig. 16, _b_), himself
impersonating the original otter, the owner would open the ceremony by
walking about the fire, chanting and shaking the turtle rattle (fig.
18), which resembles those used in the Big House, while the audience kept
time to his song by uttering “_Hu-hu-hu-hu!_” The nature of the song the
writer was unable to learn, but, like the chants of the Bear Ceremony,
it probably was concerned with the singer’s “dream helper.” When he had
finished, another man put on the skin and took up the chant, and so on
until noon the next day, when the ceremony was brought to a close and
all joined in the feast. At this time the skin is told, “We will feed
you again in two years.”
[Illustration: FIG. 18.—Rattle of land-tortoise shell used in the Otter
Rite. (Length, 3.9 in.)]
BUFFALO DANCE
Such was the list of native Lenape ceremonies furnished by our
informants; but Adams[58] mentions several more, for which the writer was
unable to procure much in the way of data. One of these was the Buffalo
dance, which the writer feels should be included with the Otter and Bear
ceremonies, although Adams calls it a “pleasure dance.” He admits, it
will be observed, that it usually took place before hunters started on
the chase. His account follows:
“The Buffalo dance is a pleasure dance and always begins in the
morning and lasts all day. The ground is made clean in a circle
large enough to dance on, and in the center a fire is built and
a fork driven into the ground on each side, and a pole placed
across the fire east and west. On each side of the fire is a
large brass kettle hanging across the pole with hominy in it,
and when the dance is nearly over, the dancers eat the hominy,
dipping their hands in the kettle. The singers are outside of
the ring and beat on a dried deer hide stretched over poles.
They do not use the same step in the dance, but gallop like
buffaloes and bellow like them, also have horns on their heads
and occasionally hook at each other. The dance is usually given
before starting on a chase.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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