Indians of North America -- Religion; Indians of North America -- Rites and ceremonies; Peyotism
Save for the revelations of the Caddo-Delaware John Wilson, and the
teachings of John Rave and Jonathan Koshiway, this tradition has become
much attenuated as regards peyotism. Large-scale prophecies can no longer
be made to skeptical and disillusioned audiences, but prophecy in minor
matters still occurs via peyote (e.g., the Delaware case in which a
serious industrial accident might have been avoided if he had only been
able to interpret correctly a warning peyote gave him). Old-time Comanche
could hear the enemy while still away off when they ate peyote, and in
making raids could discover the whereabouts of horses, etc. White Wolf,
again, visioned Charley Seminole’s face all bloody at a peyote meeting,
but was unable to interpret the prophecy; somewhat later, sure enough,
the Seminole accidentally shot himself under the eye.
In the origin story of peyote, when the Kiowa or Comanche were on the
war-path, the Apache leader knew of their leader’s approach to the tipi
where they were having a meeting, and told his fireman to invite him in,
whence the visitor brought peyote back to his tribe; this story is known
all over the southern Plains. Around 1870 the only Kiowa who ate peyote
was Pabo, or Big Horse. When he wished to find the whereabouts of an
absent party he would go into a tipi and say “gʸäʰgūṇboṇta” (I am going
to look for medicine), and would drum and rattle and eat peyote, and tell
the results of his inquiry afterward. Pabo’s power was from the eagle,
but Kiowa owl-doctors had clairvoyant powers in pre-peyote times. Another
Kiowa user miraculously predicted the coming of telegraph lines and the
railroad to Anadarko, having previously never seen either, and a Wichita
predicted the World War.
_“Baptism” and Other Morning Ceremonies._ The “curing” ceremonies of
Mexico and the Southwest still find a reflex in the Plains “baptism” in
the morning ceremonies. The leader in the tipi whistles for the water
as in the midnight ceremony, and a smoke is made for the bearer, the
only difference being that this time it is a woman, often symbolically
costumed,[136] who some say represents Peyote Woman of the legend. Many
groups, however, have a ritual “baptism” in this morning ceremony, which
is lacking at midnight.[137] The Arapaho,[138] for example, untie the
drum and pass it around the circles; each man wrings out the wet drum
head, makes a loop of the lacing-rope and throws it lasso-fashion over
his foot to symbolize the roping of horses, presses the seven marbles of
the drum to various parts of his body, and drinks a little of the drum
water. The worshippers then wash the paint from their faces, and comb
their hair, a towel, a mirror, a comb and water making the round of the
tipi; then finally the drinking water is passed around.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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