Indians of North America -- Religion; Indians of North America -- Rites and ceremonies; Peyotism
[104] This is the first of four sets of four songs each, sung at stated
times in the ritual; the others are: Yáhiyano (midnight water song),
Wakahó (daylight song for morning water) and Gayatina (Closing Song). All
are Esikwita (Mescalero); all end with a fast unrhythmical shaking of the
gourd. The two Kiowa groups sęįhoṇ (Peyote Road) and Goihoṇ (Kiowa Road)
differ in that in the former only the initial song of each group is set,
in the latter all songs of all four groups are set.
[105] There are specific and detailed rules about passing the
paraphernalia. Ordinarily, save in the case of the leader and his
assistant at the opening song, etc., the paraphernalia (here the staff)
never move counter-clockwise. The drum always passes inside the staff,
i.e., proximally, the staff at arm’s length in the left hand, the drum
being passed under it with the right, when for any reason this occurs.
The symbolism of this is perhaps obvious. A man may not be the singer
more than once in a round, but he may be successively drummer, singer and
drummer. (Though the staff may not go backward, the drum may, and in this
case A receiving the staff, passes the drum with his right hand under
his outstretched left, from the man on his right to the man on his left,
B. A then sings to B’s drumming; the staff is then passed forward from A
to B, and the drum exchanged or passed backward from B to A, this time A
drumming and B singing. Still going clockwise, the staff may be passed
from B to C, and the drum from A to B, C singing this time and B drumming
a second time.)
[106] At the east door the drum may be passed as stated to the second man
so that the first man south of the door gets a chance to sing (because
the fireman is too far away to drum for him) then an exchange and normal
passing again, staff first. If a person right of the singer is old, sick,
a woman or a visitor, he may request a friend to drum for him of the
leader; the friend moves clockwise and sits by him temporarily. Women
neither drum nor rattle nor sing (but like other participants they tend
to sing softly favorite songs or the universally known set songs). Men
try to make their four songs different from those previously sung, but
favorites may be repeated.
[107] Kutubi (Comanche) in a war-party peyote meeting once visioned that
they would be killed, and wept and upbraided peyote for doing this. H. H.
(Wichita) during a meeting wept with total unrestraint for his brother
and nephew, who had been hurt in an auto accident.
[108] The Kiowa sometimes make a humming-bird of the ashes (a prominent
Kiowa family is called Hummingbird); cf. the Comanche, Oto, Shawnee,
Yuchi and (?) Ute ash-birds.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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