Indians of North America -- Religion; Indians of North America -- Rites and ceremonies; Peyotism
Living beyond the habitat of peyote, all Plains tribes have to make
pilgrimages for it or buy it. The journey is not ritualized, but there
is a modest ceremony at the site: on finding the first plant, a Kiowa
pilgrim sits west of it, rolls a cornshuck cigarette and prays, “I have
found you, now open up, show me where the rest of you are;[87] I want to
use you to pray for the health of my people.” He sings and eats green
plants while harvesting them; only the tops are taken, that the root may
regenerate buds, a fine large one being saved as a “father peyote” for
meetings later.[88]
Many groups, like the Kiowa, “vow” meetings as in the Sun Dance. They may
be held in gratitude for recovery from illness, on a child’s first four
birthdays, for doctoring the sick, to pray for the successful delivery of
a child, or for the health of the participants in general. Present too
is the possibility of instruction and power through a peyote vision; in
the Plains this is the primary motive, with doctoring second. In the last
twenty years “holiday meetings” have been introduced.[89]
[Illustration: Fig. 1. Arrangement of interior of tipi for peyote
meeting. a, Kiowa “standard” peyote meeting; b, Comanche horseshoe moon
variant.]
In preparation, the Kiowa commonly take a sweatbath.[90] In the old
days buckskin dress was prescribed, but nowadays a “blanket” or folded
sheet for men and a shawl for women satisfies this requirement; buckskin
moccasins are more comfortable than stiff-soled shoes during a night
spent sitting cross-legged. Older men still paint for meetings; one
leader for example had a yellow hair-part with a short red forehead line
perpendicular to this, vertical red lines in front of the ears, and
yellow around the eyes.[91]
The sponsor selects his leader (ᴅωλḱi) or himself acts as one; a leader
usually has his own drummer (o’ᴅ’asodeḱi) and fireman (ɢ’iɢ’uḱi), and
some a “cedar man” also. The sponsor’s womenfolk erect the tipi, prepare
and bring the food and water the next morning. The floor is carefully
cleaned and plumes of sagebrush are spread around the inside of the
tipi, as in a sweat-lodge, for a seat. The sponsor stands the cost of
the meeting (from twenty-five to fifty dollars), or others may help
in paying; he also supplies the peyote or pays the leader for it, but
communicants often bring their own buttons also.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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