Indians of North America -- Religion; Indians of North America -- Rites and ceremonies; Peyotism
The Shawnee[19] say that if you listen carefully you can “catch songs”
from Peyote Woman. The Kickapoo likewise have the concept of the peyote
“goddess” who sometimes sings in meetings when pleased; one informant
further said that “the spirit of a woman who had been faithful to peyote
sings after she has passed away. Sometimes we put pieces of food near
the fire for spirits of a dead man or woman or child. Sometimes you hear
a man’s voice too.” The Lipan say they hear “Changing Woman’s” voice in
peyote meetings. The Wichita believe it is kicu·ídie, “the woman who
stays in the water,” and her little son, wi·ḱιdiwιdá, “the boy who rolls
along the banks of the water,” who are mentioned in prayer, and who give
power in meetings. The “peyote-woman” belief is attenuated elsewhere in
the Plains.[20]
NAMES FOR PEYOTE
Native terms for peyote differ somewhat in denotation and connotation.
For clarity sake we shall list only those terms referring specifically
to _Lophophora williamsii_. Native classifications of cacti, as well as
extensions of the term “peyotl,” will be discussed in an appendix, as
involving special problems.
The Huichol of Jalisco call peyote hícuri, hicori, xicori or hicouri (in
the notation of speakers of different European languages); sometimes
they refer to it metaphorically as foutouri, “flower.” The Cora of the
Tepic mountains term peyote huatari, houtari or watara; the Tepehuane
of Durango, kamaba. The Tarahumari of Chihuahua call it hikuli or
hikori, sometimes adding, according to Lumholtz, the epithet wanamé (or
houanamé), “superior,” to designate the peyote par excellence; the same
meaning appears to be indicated in the reduplication híkurí-íkuríwa.[21]
The Opata[22] call it pejori, the Otomi beyo. The Pima of the Gila River
region use the name peyori. The Comecrudo or Carrizo of Tamaulipas
call peyote kóp, and Gatschet recorded the term kúampamát for “bailar
el peyote” (“many are dancing [the peyote dance]”). The Lipan name
is xʷucdjiyahi, “pricker one eats.” The Tonkawa of southern Texas
call peyote nonč-gáⁱɛn; the Taos name is walena, the generic term for
“medicine.” Mescalero Apache call it ho or hos; the Wichita nesac’. The
Comanche wokwi or wokowi is said by Mooney to be the generic name for
cacti.[23] The Arapaho call peyote hahaayāⁿx. Most of the Oklahoma tribes
have their own version of the term peyotl, such as the Kickapoo pi·yot,
or, like them, they may use some older native term for “medicine” such
as natáⁱnoni. John Wilson (Caddo-Delaware), curiously, called peyote
“sugar” or “bee-sugar”; and some Anadarko Delaware call peyote-eating
“ear-eating.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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