The Medicine-Men of the Apache. (1892 N 09 / 1887-1888 (pages 443-604))Bourke, John Gregory
Religion
The Medicine-Men of the Apache. (1892 N 09 / 1887-1888 (pages 443-604))
Bourke, John Gregory
Apache Indians -- Medicine; Apache Indians -- Religion; Apache Indians -- Rites and ceremonies; Shamans -- New Mexico
Torquemada[741] repeats the Aztec myth already given from Mendieta. He
says that in 1537 Fray Antonio de Ciudad-Rodrigo, provincial of the
Franciscans, sent friars of his order to various parts of the Indian
country; in 1538 he sent them to the north, to a country where they
heard of a tribe of people wearing clothes and having many
turquoises.[742] The Aztec priesthood adopted green as the sacred
color. The ceremony of their consecration ended thus: "puis on
l'habillait tout en vert."[743]
Maximilian, Prince of Wied, saw some of the Piegans of northwestern
Montana "hang round their necks a green stone, often of various
shapes." He describes it as "a compact talc or steatite which is found
in the Rocky Mountains."[744]
PHYLACTERIES.
The term phylactery, as herein employed, means any piece of buckskin
or other material upon which are inscribed certain characters or
symbols of a religious or "medicine" nature, which slip or phylactery
is to be worn attached to the person seeking to be benefited by it,
and this phylactery differs from the amulet or talisman in being
concealed from the scrutiny of the profane and kept as secret as
possible. This phylactery, itself "medicine," may be employed to
enwrap other "medicine" and thus augment its own potentiality. Indians
in general object to having their "medicine" scrutinized and touched;
in this there is a wide margin of individual opinion; but in regard to
phylacteries there is none that I have been able to discover, and the
rule may be given as antagonistic to the display of these sacred
"relics," as my Mexican captive interpreter persisted in calling them.
The first phylactery which it was my good fortune to be allowed to
examine was one worn by Ta-ul-tzu-je, of the Kaytzentin gens. It was
tightly rolled in at least half a mile of orange-colored saddlers'
silk, obtained from some of the cavalry posts. After being duly
uncovered, it was found to be a small piece of buckskin two inches
square, upon which were drawn red and yellow crooked lines which the
Apache said represented the red and yellow snake. Inside were a piece
of green chalchihuitl and a small cross of lightning-riven twig (pine)
and two very small perforated shells. The cross was called
"intchi-dijin," the black wind.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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