John Wesley Powell

The variation between “Ojibwa” and “Ojibway” is as in the original. In correction popups, superscript ⁿ is shown as {n}.

Note on language.

Note on MIDI files.

THE MIDE´WIWIN OR “GRAND MEDICINE SOCIETY”

OF

THE OJIBWA.

BY

W. J. HOFFMAN.

CONTENTS.

ILLUSTRATIONS.

Illustrations have been placed as close as practicable to their discussion in the text. Multi-part Plates have been divided. The page numbers show the original location of the illustrations.

THE MIDE´WIWIN OR “GRAND MEDICINE SOCIETY”
OF THE OJIBWAY.

By W. J. Hoffman.

INTRODUCTION.

The Ojibwa is one of the largest tribes of the United States, and it is scattered over a considerable area, from the Province of Ontario, on the east, to the Red River of the North, on the west, and from Manitoba southward through the States of Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan. This tribe is, strictly speaking, a timber people, and in its westward migration or dispersion has never passed beyond the limit of the timber growth which so remarkably divides the State of Minnesota into two parts possessing distinct physical features. The western portion of this State is a gently undulating prairie which sweeps away to the Rocky Mountains, while the eastern portion is heavily timbered. The dividing line, at or near the meridian of 95° 50' west longitude, extends due north and south, and at a point about 75 miles south of the northern boundary the timber line trends toward the northwest, crossing the State line, 49° north latitude, at about 97° 10' west longitude.

Minnesota contains many thousand lakes of various sizes, some of which are connected by fine water courses, while others are entirely isolated. The wooded country is undulating, the elevated portions being covered chiefly with pine, fir, spruce, and other coniferous trees, and the lowest depressions being occupied by lakes, ponds, or marshes, around which occur the tamarack, willow, and other trees which thrive in moist ground, while the regions between these extremes are covered with oak, poplar, ash, birch, maple, and many other varieties of trees and shrubs.

Wild fowl, game, and fish are still abundant, and until recently have furnished to the Indians the chief source of subsistence.

Tribal organization according to the totemic system is practically broken up, as the Indians are generally located upon or near the several reservations set apart for them by the General Government, where they have been under more or less restraint by the United States Indian agents and the missionaries. Representatives of various totems or gentes may therefore be found upon a single reservation, where they continue to adhere to traditional customs and beliefs, thus presenting an interesting field for ethnologic research.

The present distribution of the Ojibwa in Minnesota and Wisconsin is indicated upon the accompanying map, Pl. II. In the southern portion many of these people have adopted civilized pursuits, but throughout the northern and northwestern part many bands continue to adhere to their primitive methods and are commonly designated “wild Indians.” The habitations of many of the latter are rude and primitive. The bands on the northeast shore of Red Lake, as well as a few others farther east, have occupied these isolated sites for an uninterrupted period of about three centuries, as is affirmed by the chief men of the several villages and corroborated by other traditional evidence.

Father Claude AlloÜez, upon his arrival in 1666 at Shagawaumikong, or La Pointe, found the Ojibwa preparing to attack the Sioux. The settlement at this point was an extensive one, and in traditions pertaining to the “Grand Medicine Society” frequent allusion is made to the fact that at this place the rites were practiced in their greatest purity.

Mr. Warren, in his History of the Ojibwa Indians,1 bases his belief upon traditional evidence that the Ojibwa first had knowledge of the whites in 1612. Early in the seventeenth century the French missionaries met with various tribes of the Algonkian linguistic stock, as well as with bands or subtribes of the Ojibwa Indians. One of the latter, inhabiting the vicinity of Sault Ste. Marie, is frequently mentioned in the Jesuit Relations as the Saulteurs. This term was applied to all those people who lived at the Falls, but from other statements it is clear that the Ojibwa formed the most important body in that vicinity. La Hontan speaks of the “Outchepoues, alias Sauteurs,” as good warriors. The name Saulteur survives at this day and is applied to a division of the tribe.

According to statements made by numerous Ojibwa chiefs of importance the tribe began its westward dispersion from La Pointe and Fond du Lac at least two hundred and fifty years ago, some of the bands penetrating the swampy country of northern Minnesota, while others went westward and southwestward. According to a statement2 of the location of the tribes of Lake Superior, made at Mackinaw in 1736, the Sioux then occupied the southern and northern extremities of that lake. It is possible, however, that the northern bands of the Ojibwa may have penetrated the region adjacent to the Pigeon River and passed west to near their present location, thus avoiding their enemies who occupied the lake shore south of them.

From recent investigations among a number of tribes of the Algonkian linguistic division it is found that the traditions and practices pertaining to the Mide´wiwin, Society of the Mide´ or Shamans, popularly designated as the “Grand Medicine Society,” prevailed generally, and the rites are still practiced at irregular intervals, though in slightly different forms in various localities.

In the reports of early travelers and missionaries no special mention is made of the Mide´, the Jes´sakkid´, or the WÂbeno´, but the term sorcerer or juggler is generally employed to designate that class of persons who professed the power of prophecy, and who practiced incantation and administered medicinal preparations. Constant reference is made to the opposition of these personages to the introduction of Christianity. In the light of recent investigation the cause of this antagonism is seen to lie in the fact that the traditions of Indian genesis and cosmogony and the ritual of initiation into the Society of the Mide´ constitute what is to them a religion, even more powerful and impressive than the Christian religion is to the average civilized man. This opposition still exists among the leading classes of a number of the Algonkian tribes, and especially among the Ojibwa, many bands of whom have been more or less isolated and beyond convenient reach of the Church. The purposes of the society are twofold; first, to preserve the traditions just mentioned, and second, to give a certain class of ambitious men and women sufficient influence through their acknowledged power of exorcism and necromancy to lead a comfortable life at the expense of the credulous. The persons admitted into the society are firmly believed to possess the power of communing with various supernatural beings—manidos—and in order that certain desires may be realized they are sought after and consulted. The purpose of the present paper is to give an account of this society and of the ceremony of initiation as studied and observed at White Earth, Minnesota, in 1889. Before proceeding to this, however, it may be of interest to consider a few statements made by early travelers respecting the “sorcerers or jugglers” and the methods of medication.

In referring to the practices of the Algonkian tribes of the Northwest, La Hontan3 says:

When they are sick, they only drink Broth, and eat sparingly; and if they have the good luck to fall asleep, they think themselves cur’d: They have told me frequently, that sleeping and sweating would cure the most stubborn Diseases in the World. When they are so weak that they cannot get out of Bed, their Relations come and dance and make merry before ’em, in order to divert ’em. To conclude, when they are ill, they are always visited by a sort of Quacks, (Jongleurs); of whom ’t will now be proper to subjoin two or three Words by the bye.

A Jongleur is a sort of Physician, or rather a Quack, who being once cur’d of some dangerous Distemper, has the Presumption and Folly to fancy that he is immortal, and possessed of the Power of curing all Diseases, by speaking to the Good and Evil Spirits. Now though every Body rallies upon these Fellows when they are absent, and looks upon ’em as Fools that have lost their Senses by some violent Distemper, yet they allow ’em to visit the Sick; whether it be to divert ’em with their Idle Stories, or to have an Opportunity of seeing them rave, skip about, cry, houl, and make Grimaces and Wry Faces, as if they were possess’d. When all the Bustle is over, they demand a Feast of a Stag and some large Trouts for the Company, who are thus regal’d at once with Diversion and Good Cheer.

When the Quack comes to visit the Patient, he examines him very carefully; If the Evil Spirit be here, says he, we shall quickly dislodge him. This said, he withdraws by himself to a little Tent made on purpose, where he dances, and sings houling like an Owl; (which gives the Jesuits Occasion to say, That the Devil converses with ’em.) After he has made an end of this Quack Jargon, he comes and rubs the Patient in some part of his Body, and pulling some little Bones out of his Mouth, acquaints the Patient, That these very Bones came out of his Body; that he ought to pluck up a good heart, in regard that his Distemper is but a Trifle; and in fine, that in order to accelerate the Cure, ’t will be convenient to send his own and his Relations Slaves to shoot Elks, Deer, &c., to the end they may all eat of that sort of Meat, upon which his Cure does absolutely depend.

Commonly these Quacks bring ’em some Juices of Plants, which are a sort of Purges, and are called Maskikik.

Hennepin, in “A Continuation of the New Discovery,” etc.,4 speaks of the religion and sorcerers of the tribes of the St. Lawrence and those living about the Great Lakes as follows:

We have been all too sadly convinced, that almost all the Salvages in general have no notion of a God, and that they are not able to comprehend the most ordinary Arguments on that Subject; others will have a Spirit that commands, say they, in the Air. Some among ’em look upon the Skie as a kind of Divinity; others as an Otkon or Manitou, either Good or Evil.

These People admit of some sort of Genius in all things; they all believe there is a Master of Life, as they call him, but hereof they make various applications; some of them have a lean Raven, which they carry always along with them, and which they say is the Master of their Life; others have an Owl, and some again a Bone, a Sea-Shell, or some such thing;

There is no Nation among ’em which has not a sort of Juglers or Conjuerers, which some look upon to be Wizards, but in my Opinion there is no Great reason to believe ’em such, or to think that their Practice favours any thing of a Communication with the Devil.

These Impostors cause themselves to be reverenced as Prophets which fore-tell Futurity. They will needs be look’d upon to have an unlimited Power. They boast of being able to make it Wet or Dry; to cause a Calm or a Storm; to render Land Fruitful or Barren; and, in a Word to make Hunters Fortunate or Unfortunate. They also pretend to Physick, and to apply Medicines, but which are such, for the most part as have little Virtue at all in ’em, especially to Cure that Distemper which they pretendto.

It is impossible to imagine, the horrible Howlings and strange Contortions that those Jugglers make of their Bodies, when they are disposing themselves to Conjure, or raise their Enchantments.

Marquette, who visited the Miami, Mascontin and Kickapoo Indians in 1673, after referring to the Indian herbalist, mentions also the ceremony of the “calumet dance,” as follows:

They have Physicians amongst them, towards whom they are very liberal when they are sick, thinking that the Operation of the Remedies they take, is proportional to the Presents they make unto those who have prescrib’d them.

In connection with this, reference is made by Marquette to a certain class of individuals among the Illinois and Dakota, who were compelled to wear women’s clothes, and who were debarred many privileges, but were permitted to “assist at all the Superstitions of their Juglers, and their solemn Dances in honor of the Calumet, in which they may sing, but it is not lawful for them to dance. They are call’d to their Councils, and nothing is determin’d without their Advice; for, because of their extraordinary way of Living, they are look’d upon as Manitous, or at least for great and incomparable Genius’s.”

That the calumet was brought into requisition upon all occasions of interest is learned from the following statement, in which the same writer declares that it is “the most mysterious thing in the World. The Sceptres of our Kings are not so much respected; for the Savages have such a Deference for this Pipe, that one may call it The God of Peace and War, and the Arbiter of Life and Death. Their Calumet of Peace is different from the Calumet of War; They make use of the former to seal their Alliances and Treaties, to travel with safety, and receive Strangers; and the other is to proclaim War.”

This reverence for the calumet is shown by the manner in which it is used at dances, in the ceremony of smoking, etc., indicating a religious devoutness approaching that recently observed among various Algonkian tribes in connection with the ceremonies of the Mide´wiwin. When the calumet dance was held, the Illinois appear to have resorted to the houses in the winter and to the groves in the summer. The above-named authority continues in this connection:

They chuse for that purpose a set Place among Trees, to shelter themselves against the Heat of the Sun, and lay in the middle a large Matt, as a Carpet, to lay upon the God of the Chief of the Company, who gave the Ball; for every one has his peculiar God, whom they call Manitoa. It is sometime a Stone, a Bird, a Serpent, or anything else that they dream of in their Sleep; for they think this Manitoa will prosper their Wants, as Fishing, Hunting, and other Enterprizes. To the Right of their Manitoa they place the Calumet, their Great Deity, making round about it a Kind of Trophy with their Arms, viz. their Clubs, Axes, Bows, Quivers, and Arrows. ***Every Body sits down afterwards, round about, as they come, having first of all saluted the Manitoa, which they do in blowing the Smoak of their Tobacco upon it, which is as much as offering to it Frankincense. ***This Preludium being over, he who is to begin the Dance appears in the middle of the Assembly, and having taken the Calumet, presents it to the Sun, as if he wou’d invite him to smoke. Then he moves it into an infinite Number of Postures sometimes laying it near the Ground, then stretching its Wings, as if he wou’d make it fly, and then presents it to the Spectators, who smoke with it one after another, dancing all the while. This is the first Scene of this famous Ball.

The infinite number of postures assumed in offering the pipe appear as significant as the “smoke ceremonies” mentioned in connection with the preparatory instruction of the candidate previous to his initiation into the Mide´wiwin.

In his remarks on the religion of the Indians and the practices of the sorcerers, Hennepin says:

As for their Opinion concerning the Earth, they make use of a Name of a certain Genius, whom they call Micaboche, who has cover’d the whole Earth with water (as they imagine) and relate innumerable fabulous Tales, some of which have a kind of Analogy with the Universal Deluge. These Barbarians believe that there are certain Spirits in the Air, between Heaven and Earth, who have a power to foretell future Events, and others who play the part of Physicians, curing all sorts of Distempers. Upon which account, it happens, that these Savages are very Superstitious, and consult their Oracles with a great deal of exactness. One of these Masters-Jugglers who pass for Sorcerers among them, one day caus’d a Hut to be erected with ten thick Stakes, which he fix’d very deep in the Ground, and then made a horrible noise to Consult the Spirits, to know whether abundance of Snow wou’d fall ere long, that they might have good game in the Hunting of Elks and Beavers: Afterward he bawl’d out aloud from the bottom of the Hut, that he saw many Herds of Elks, which were as yet at a very great distance, but that they drew near within seven or eight Leagues of their Huts, which caus’d a great deal of joy among those poor deluded Wretches.

That this statement refers to one or more tribes of the Algonkian linguistic stock is evident, not only because of the reference to the sorcerers and their peculiar methods of procedure, but also that the name of Micaboche, an Algonkian divinity, appears. This Spirit, who acted as an intercessor between Ki´tshi Man´ido (Great Spirit) and the Indians, is known among the Ojibwa as Mi´nabo´zho; but to this full reference will be made further on in connection with the Myth of the origin of the Mide´wiwin. The tradition of Nokomis (the earth) and the birth of Manabush (the Mi´nabo´zho of the Menomoni) and his brother, the Wolf, that pertaining to the re-creation of the world, and fragments of other myths, are thrown together and in a mangled form presented by Hennepin in the following words:

Some Salvages which live at the upper end of the River St. Lawrence, do relate a pretty diverting Story. They hold almost the same opinion with the former [the Iroquois], that a Woman came down from Heaven, and remained for some while fluttering in the Air, not finding Ground whereupon to put her Foot. But that the Fishes moved with Compassion for her, immediately held a Consultation to deliberate which of them should receive her. The Tortoise very officiously offered its Back on the Surface of the Water. The Woman came to rest upon it, and fixed herself there. Afterwards the Filthiness and Dirt of the Sea gathering together about the Tortoise, there was formed by little and little that vast Tract of Land, which we now call America.

They add that this Woman grew weary of her Solitude, wanting some body for to keep her Company, that so she might spend her time more pleasantly. Melancholy and Sadness having seiz’d upon her Spirits, she fell asleep, and a Spirit descended from above, and finding her in that Condition approach’d and knew her unperceptibly. From which Approach she conceived two Children, which came forth out of one of her Ribs. But these two Brothers could never afterwards agree together. One of them was a better Huntsman than the other; they quarreled every day; and their Disputes grew so high at last, that one could not bear with the other. One especially being of a very wild Temper, hated mortally his Brother who was of a milder Constitution, who being no longer able to endure the Pranks of the other, he resolved at last to part from him. He retired then into Heaven, whence, for a Mark of his just Resentment, he causeth at several times his Thunder to rore over the Head of his unfortunate Brother.

Sometime after the Spirit descended again on that Woman, and she conceived a Daughter, from whom (as the Salvages say) were propagated these numerous People, which do occupy now one of the greatest parts of the Universe.

It is evident that the narrator has sufficiently distorted the traditions to make them conform, as much as practicable, to the biblical story of the birth of Christ. No reference whatever is made in the Ojibwa or Menomoni myths to the conception of the Daughter of Nokomis (the earth) by a celestial visitant, but the reference is to one of the wind gods. Mi´nabo´zho became angered with the Ki´tshi Man´ido, and the latter, to appease his discontent, gave to Mi´nabo´zho the rite of the Midewiwin. The brother of Mi´nabo´zho was destroyed by the malevolent underground spirits and now rules the abode of shadows,—the “Land of the Midnight Sun.”

Upon his arrival at the “Bay of Puans” (Green Bay, Wisconsin), Marquette found a village inhabited by three nations, viz: “Miamis, Maskoutens, and Kikabeux.” He says:

When I arriv’d there, I was very glad to see a great Cross set up in the middle of the Village, adorn’d with several White Skins, Red Girdles, Bows and Arrows, which that good People had offer’d to the Great Manitou, to return him their Thanks for the care he had taken of them during the Winter, and that he had granted them a prosperous Hunting. Manitou, is the Name they give in general to all Spirits whom they think to be above the Nature of Man.

Marquette was without doubt ignorant of the fact that the cross is the sacred post, and the symbol of the fourth degree of the Mide´wiwin, as will be fully explained in connection with that grade of the society. The erroneous conclusion that the cross was erected as an evidence of the adoption of Christianity, and possibly as a compliment to the visitor, was a natural one on the part of the priest, but this same symbol of the Mide´ Society had probably been erected and bedecked with barbaric emblems and weapons months before anything was known of him.

The result of personal investigations among the Ojibwa, conducted during the years 1887, 1888 and 1889, are presented in the accompanying paper. The information was obtained from a number of the chief Mide´ priests living at Red Lake and White Earth reservations, as well as from members of the society from other reservations, who visited the last named locality during the three years. Special mention of the peculiarity of the music recorded will be made at the proper place; and it may here be said that in no instance was the use of colors detected, in any birch-bark or other records or mnemonic songs, simply to heighten the artistic effect; though the reader would be led by an examination of the works of Schoolcraft to believe this to be a common practice. Col. Garrick Mallery; U.S. Army, in a paper read before the Anthropological Society of Washington, District of Columbia, in 1888, says, regarding this subject:

The general character of his voluminous publications has not been such as to assure modern critics of his accuracy, and the wonderful minuteness, as well as comprehension, attributed by him to the Ojibwa hieroglyphs has been generally regarded of late with suspicion. It was considered in the Bureau of Ethnology an important duty to ascertain how much of truth existed in these remarkable accounts, and for that purpose its pictographic specialists, myself and Dr. W.J. Hoffman as assistant, were last summer directed to proceed to the most favorable points in the present habitat of the tribe, namely, the northern region of Minnesota and Wisconsin, to ascertain how much was yet to be discovered. ***The general results of the comparison of Schoolcraft’s statements with what is now found shows that, in substance, he told the truth, but with much exaggeration and coloring. The word “coloring” is particularly appropriate, because, in his copious illustrations, various colors were used freely with apparent significance, whereas, in fact, the general rule in regard to the birch-bark rolls was that they were never colored at all; indeed, the bark was not adapted to coloration. The metaphorical coloring was also used by him in a manner which, to any thorough student of the Indian philosophy and religion, seems absurd. Metaphysical expressions are attached to some of the devices, or, as he calls them, symbols, which, could never have been entertained by a people in the stage of culture of the Ojibwa.

SHAMANS.

There are extant among the Ojibwa Indians three classes of mystery men, termed respectively and in order of importance the Mide´, the Jes´sakkid´, and the WÂbeno´, but before proceeding to elaborate in detail the Society of the Mide´, known as the Mide´wiwin, a brief description of the last two is necessary.

The term WÂbeno´ has been explained by various intelligent Indians as signifying “Men of the dawn,” “Eastern men,” etc. Their profession is not thoroughly understood, and their number is so extremely limited that but little information respecting them can be obtained. Schoolcraft,5 in referring to the several classes of Shamans, says “there is a third form or rather modification of the medawin, ***the WÂbeno´; a term denoting a kind of midnight orgies, which is regarded as a corruption of the Meda.” This writer furthermore remarks6 that “it is stated by judicious persons among themselves to be of modern origin. They regard it as a degraded form of the mysteries of the Meda.”

From personal investigation it has been ascertained that a WÂbeno´ does not affiliate with others of his class so as to constitute a society, but indulges his pretensions individually. A WÂbeno´ is primarily prompted by dreams or visions which may occur during his youth, for which purpose he leaves his village to fast for an indefinite number of days. It is positively affirmed that evil man´idos favor his desires, and apart from his general routine of furnishing “hunting medicine,” “love powders,” etc., he pretends also to practice medical magic. When a hunter has been successful through the supposed assistance of the WÂbeno´, he supplies the latter with part of the game, when, in giving a feast to his tutelary daimon, the WÂbeno´ will invite a number of friends, but all who desire to come are welcome. This feast is given at night; singing and dancing are boisterously indulged in, and the WÂbeno´, to sustain his reputation, entertains his visitors with a further exhibition of his skill. By the use of plants he is alleged to be enabled to take up and handle with impunity red-hot stones and burning brands, and without evincing the slightest discomfort it is said that he will bathe his hands in boiling water, or even boiling maple sirup. On account of such performances the general impression prevails among the Indians that the WÂbeno´ is a “dealer in fire,” or “fire-handler.” Such exhibitions always terminate at the approach of day. The number of these pretenders who are not members of the Mide´wiwin, is very limited; for instance, there are at present but two or three at White Earth Reservation and none at Leech Lake.

As a general rule, however, the WÂbeno´ will seek entrance into the Mide´wiwin when he becomes more of a specialist in the practice of medical magic, incantations, and the exorcism of malevolent man´idos, especially such as cause disease.

The Jes´sakkid´ is a seer and prophet; though commonly designated a “juggler,” the Indians define him as a “revealer of hidden truths.” There is no association whatever between the members of this profession, and each practices his art singly and alone whenever a demand is made and the fee presented. As there is no association, so there is no initiation by means of which one may become a Jes´sakkid´. The gift is believed to be given by the thunder god, or Animiki´, and then only at long intervals and to a chosen few. The gift is received during youth, when the fast is undertaken and when visions appear to the individual. His renown depends upon his own audacity and the opinion of the tribe. He is said to possess the power to look into futurity; to become acquainted with the affairs and intentions of men; to prognosticate the success or misfortune of hunters and warriors, as well as other affairs of various individuals, and to call from any living human being the soul, or, more strictly speaking, the shadow, thus depriving the victim of reason, and even of life. His power consists in invoking, and causing evil, while that of the Mide´ is to avert it; he attempts at times to injure the Mide´ but the latter, by the aid of his superior man´idos, becomes aware of, and averts such premeditated injury. It sometimes happens that the demon possessing a patient is discovered, but the Mide´ alone has the power to expel him. The exorcism of demons is one of the chief pretensions of this personage, and evil spirits are sometimes removed by sucking them through tubes, and startling tales are told how the Jes´sakkid´ can, in the twinkling of an eye, disengage himself of the most complicated tying of cords and ropes, etc. The lodge used by this class of men consists of four poles planted in the ground, forming a square of three or four feet and upward in diameter, around which are wrapped birch bark, robes, or canvas in such a way as to form an upright cylinder. Communion is held with the turtle, who is the most powerful man´ido of the Jes´sakkid´, and through him, with numerous other malevolent man´idos, especially the Animiki´, or thunder-bird. When the prophet has seated himself within his lodge the structure begins to sway violently from side to side, loud thumping noises are heard within, denoting the arrival of man´idos, and numerous voices and laughter are distinctly audible to those without. Questions may then be put to the prophet and, if everything be favorable, the response is not long in coming. In his notice of the Jes´sakkid´, Schoolcraft affirms7 that “while he thus exercises the functions of a prophet, he is also a member of the highest class of the fraternity of the MidÂwin—a society of men who exercise the medical art on the principles of magic and incantations.” The fact is that there is not the slightest connection between the practice of the Jes´sakkid´ and that of the Mide´wiwin, and it is seldom, if at all, that a Mide´ becomes a Jes´sakkid´, although the latter sometimes gains admission into the Mide´wiwin, chiefly with the intention of strengthening his power with his tribe.

The number of individuals of this class who are not members of the Mide´wiwin is limited, though greater than that of the WÂbeno´. An idea of the proportion of numbers of the respective classes may be formed by taking the case of Menomoni Indians, who are in this respect upon the same plane as the Ojibwa. That tribe numbers about fifteen hundred, the Mide´ Society consisting, in round numbers, of one hundred members, and among the entire population there are but two WÂbeno´ and five Jes´sakkid´.

It is evident that neither the WÂbeno´ nor the Jes´sakkid´ confine themselves to the mnemonic songs which are employed during their ceremonial performances, or even prepare them to any extent. Such bark records as have been observed or recorded, even after most careful research and examination extending over the field seasons of three years, prove to have been the property of WÂbeno´ and Jes´sakkid´, who were also Mide´. It is probable that those who practice either of the first two forms of ceremonies and nothing else are familiar with and may employ for their own information certain mnemonic records; but they are limited to the characteristic formulÆ of exorcism, as their practice varies and is subject to changes according to circumstances and the requirements and wants of the applicant when words are chanted to accord therewith.

Some examples of songs used by Jes´sakkid´, after they have become Mide´, will be given in the description of the several degrees of the Mide ’wiwin.

There is still another class of persons termed Mashki´kike´winini, or herbalists, who are generally denominated “medicine men,” as the Ojibwa word implies. Their calling is a simple one, and consists in knowing the mysterious properties of a variety of plants, herbs, roots, and berries, which are revealed upon application and for a fee. When there is an administration of a remedy for a given complaint, based upon true scientific principles, it is only in consequence of such practice having been acquired from the whites, as it has usually been the custom of the Catholic Fathers to utilize all ordinary and available remedies for the treatment of the common disorders of life. Although these herbalists are aware that certain plants or roots will produce a specified effect upon the human system, they attribute the benefit to the fact that such remedies are distasteful and injurious to the demons who are present in the system and to whom the disease is attributed. Many of these herbalists are found among women, also; and these, too, are generally members of the Mide´wiwin. In Fig.1 is shown an herbalist preparing a mixture.

herbalist

Fig. 1.—Herbalist preparing medicine and treating patient.

The origin of the Mide´wiwin or Mide´ Society, commonly, though erroneously, termed Grand Medicine Society, is buried in obscurity. In the Jesuit Relations, as early as 1642, frequent reference is made to sorcerers, jugglers, and persons whose faith, influence, and practices are dependent upon the assistance of “Manitous,” or mysterious spirits; though, as there is no discrimination made between these different professors of magic, it is difficult positively to determine which of the several classes were met with at that early day. It is probable that the Jes´sakkid´, or juggler, and the Mide´, or Shaman, were referredto.

The Mide´, in the true sense of the word, is a Shaman, though he has by various authors been termed powwow, medicine man, priest, seer, prophet, etc. Among the Ojibwa the office is not hereditary; but among the Menomoni a curious custom exists, by which some one is selected to fill the vacancy one year after the death of a Shaman. Whether a similar practice prevailed among other tribes of the Algonkian linguistic stock can be ascertained only by similar research among the tribes constituting that stock.

Among the Ojibwa, however, a substitute is sometimes taken to fill the place of one who has been prepared to receive the first degree of the Mide´wiwin, or Society of the Mide´, but who is removed by death before the proper initiation has been conferred. This occurs when a young man dies, in which case his father or mother may be accepted as a substitute. This will be explained in more detail under the caption of Dzhibai´ Mide´wigÂn or “Ghost Lodge,” a collateral branch of the Mide´wiwin.

As I shall have occasion to refer to the work of the late Mr. W.W. Warren, a few words respecting him will not be inappropriate. Mr. Warren was an Ojibwa mixed blood, of good education, and later a member of the legislature of Minnesota. His work, entiled “History of the Ojibwa Nation,” was published in Vol. V of the Collections of the Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul, 1885, and edited by Dr. E.D. Neill. Mr. Warren’s work is the result of the labor of a lifetime among his own people, and, had he lived, he would undoubtedly have added much to the historical material of which the printed volume chiefly consists. His manuscript was completed about the year 1852, and he died the following year. In speaking of the Society of the Mide´,8 he says:

The grand rite of Me-da-we-win (or, as we have learned to term it, “Grand Medicine,”)and the beliefs incorporated therein, are not yet fully understood by the whites. This important custom is still shrouded in mystery even to my own eyes, though I have taken much pains to inquire and made use of every advantage possessed by speaking their language perfectly, being related to them, possessing their friendship and intimate confidence has given me, and yet I frankly acknowledge that I stand as yet, as it were, on the threshold of the Me-da-we lodge. I believe, however, that I have obtained full as much and more general and true information on this matter than any other person who has written on the subject, not excepting a great and standard author, who, to the surprise of many who know the Ojibways well, has boldly asserted in one of his works that he has been regularly initiated into the mysteries of this rite, and is a member of the Me-da-we Society. This is certainly an assertion hard to believe in the Indian country; and when the old initiators or Indian priests are told of it they shake their heads in incredulity that a white man should ever have been allowed in truth to become a member of their Me-da-we lodge.

An entrance into the lodge itself, while the ceremonies are being enacted, has sometimes been granted through courtesy; though this does not initiate a person into the mysteries of the creed, nor does it make him a member of the Society.

These remarks pertaining to the pretensions of “a great and standard authority” have reference to Mr. Schoolcraft, who among numerous other assertions makes the following, in the first volume of his Information Respecting the Indian Tribes of the United States, Philadelphia, 1851, p. 361, viz:

I had observed the exhibitions of the Medawin, and the exactness and studious ceremony with which its rites were performed in 1820 in the region of Lake Superior; and determined to avail myself of the advantages of my official position, in 1822, when I returned as a Government agent for the tribes, to make further inquiries into its principles and mode of proceeding. And for this purpose I had its ceremonies repeated in my office, under the secrecy of closed doors, with every means of both correct interpretation and of recording the result. Prior to this transaction I had observed in the hands of an Indian of the Odjibwa tribe one of those symbolic tablets of pictorial notation which have been sometimes called “music boards,” from the fact of their devices being sung off by the initiated of the Meda Society. This constituted the object of the explanations, which, in accordance with the positive requisitions of the leader of the society and three other initiates, was thus ceremoniously made.

This statement is followed by another,9 in which Mr. Schoolcraft, in a foot-note, affirms:

Having in 1823 been myself admitted to the class of a Meda by the Chippewas, and taken the initiatory step of a Sagima and Jesukaid in each of the other fraternities, and studied their pictographic system with great care and good helps, I may speak with the more decision on the subject.

Mr. Schoolcraft presents a superficial outline of the initiatory ceremonies as conducted during his time, but as the description is meager, notwithstanding that there is every evidence that the ceremonies were conducted with more completeness and elaborate dramatization nearly three-quarters of a century ago than at the present day, I shall not burden this paper with useless repetition, but present the subject as conducted within the last three years.

Mr. Warren truly says:

In the Me-da-we rite is incorporated most that is ancient amongst them—songs and traditions that have descended not orally, but in hieroglyphs, for at least a long time of generations. In this rite is also perpetuated the purest and most ancient idioms of their language, which differs somewhat from that of the common everyday use.

As the ritual of the Mide´wiwin is based to a considerable extent upon traditions pertaining to the cosmogony and genesis and to the thoughtful consideration by the Good Spirit for the Indian, it is looked upon by them as “their religion,” as they themselves designateit.

In referring to the rapid changes occurring among many of the Western tribes of Indians, and the gradual discontinuance of aboriginal ceremonies and customs, Mr. Warren remarks10 in reference to the Ojibwa:

Even among these a change is so rapidly taking place, caused by a close contact with the white race, that ten years hence it will be too late to save the traditions of their forefathers from total oblivion. And even now it is with great difficulty that genuine information can be obtained of them. Their aged men are fast falling into their graves, and they carry with them the records of the past history of their people; they are the initiators of the grand rite of religious belief which they believe the Great Spirit has granted to his red children to secure them long life on earth and life hereafter; and in the bosoms of these old men are locked up the original secrets of this their most ancient belief. ***

They fully believe, and it forms part of their religion, that the world has once been covered by a deluge, and that we are now living on what they term the “new earth.” This idea is fully accounted for by their vague traditions; and in their Me-da-we-win or religion, hieroglyphs are used to denote this second earth.

Furthermore,

They fully believe that the red man mortally angered the Great Spirit which caused the deluge, and at the commencement of the new earth it was only through the medium and intercession of a powerful being, whom they denominate Manab-o-sho, that they were allowed to exist, and means were given them whereby to subsist and support life; and a code of religion was more lately bestowed on them, whereby they could commune with the offended Great Spirit, and ward off the approach and ravages of death.

It may be appropriate in this connection to present the description given by Rev. Peter Jones of the Mide´ priests and priestesses. Mr. Jones was an educated Ojibwa Episcopal clergyman, and a member of the Missasauga—i.e., the Eagle totemic division of that tribe of Indians living in Canada. In his work11 he states:

Each tribe has its medicine men and women—an order of priesthood consulted and employed in all times of sickness. These powwows are persons who are believed to have performed extraordinary cures, either by the application of roots and herbs or by incantations. When an Indian wishes to be initiated into the order of a powwow, in the first place he pays a large fee to the faculty. He is then taken into the woods, where he is taught the names and virtues of the various useful plants; next he is instructed how to chant the medicine song, and how to pray, which prayer is a vain repetition offered up to the Master of Life, or to some munedoo whom the afflicted imagine they have offended.

The powwows are held in high veneration by their deluded brethren; not so much for their knowledge of medicine as for the magical power which they are supposed to possess. It is for their interest to lead these credulous people to believe that they can at pleasure hold intercourse with the munedoos, who are ever ready to give them whatever information they require.

The Ojibwa believe in a multiplicity of spirits, or man´idos, which inhabit all space and every conspicuous object in nature. These man´idos, in turn, are subservient to superior ones, either of a charitable and benevolent character or those which are malignant and aggressive. The chief or superior man´ido is termed Ki´tshi Man´ido—Great Spirit—approaching to a great extent the idea of the God of the Christian religion; the second in their estimation is Dzhe Man´ido, a benign being upon whom they look as the guardian spirit of the Mide´wiwin and through whose divine provision the sacred rites of the Mide´wiwin were granted to man. The Ani´miki or Thunder God is, if not the supreme, at least one of the greatest of the malignant man´idos, and it is from him that the Jes´sakkid´ are believed to obtain their powers of evil doing. There is one other, to whom special reference will be made, who abides in and rules the “place of shadows,” the hereafter; he is known as Dzhibai´ Man´ido—Shadow Spirit, or more commonly Ghost Spirit. The name of Ki´tshi Man´ido is never mentioned but with reverence, and thus only in connection with the rite of Mide´wiwin, or a sacred feast, and always after making an offering of tobacco.

The first important event in the life of an Ojibwa youth is his first fast. For this purpose he will leave his home for some secluded spot in the forest where he will continue to fast for an indefinite number of days; when reduced by abstinence from food he enters a hysterical or ecstatic state in which he may have visions and hallucinations. The spirits which the Ojibwa most desire to see in these dreams are those of mammals and birds, though any object, whether animate or inanimate, is considered a good omen. The object which first appears is adopted as the personal mystery, guardian spirit, or tutelary daimon of the entranced, and is never mentioned by him without first making a sacrifice. A small effigy of this man´ido is made, or its outline drawn upon a small piece of birch bark, which is carried suspended by a string around the neck, or if the wearer be a Mide´ he carries it in his “medicine bag” or pinji´gosÂn. The future course of life of the faster is governed by his dream; and it sometimes occurs that because of giving an imaginary importance to the occurrence, such as beholding, during the trance some powerful man´ido or other object held in great reverence by the members of the Mide´ Society, the faster first becomes impressed with the idea of becoming a Mide´. Thereupon he makes application to a prominent Mide´ priest, and seeks his advice as to the necessary course to be pursued to attain his desire. If the Mide´ priest considers with favor the application, he consults with his confrÈres and action is taken, and the questions of the requisite preliminary instructions, fees, and presents, etc., are formally discussed. If the Mide´ priests are in accord with the desires of the applicant an instructor or preceptor is designated, to whom he must present himself and make an agreement as to the amount of preparatory information to be acquired and the fees and other presents to be given in return. These fees have nothing whatever to do with the presents which must be presented to the Mide´ priests previous to his initiation as a member of the society, the latter being collected during the time that is devoted to preliminary instruction, which period usually extends over several years. Thus ample time is found for hunting, as skins and peltries, of which those not required as presents may be exchanged for blankets, tobacco, kettles, guns, etc., obtainable from the trader. Sometimes a number of years are spent in preparation for the first degree of the Mide´wiwin, and there are many who have impoverished themselves in the payment of fees and the preparation for the feast to which all visiting priests are also invited.

Should an Indian who is not prompted by a dream wish to join the society he expresses to the four chief officiating priests a desire to purchase a mi´gis, which is the sacred symbol of the society and consists of a small white shell, to which reference will be made further on. His application follows the same course as in the preceding instance, and the same course is pursued also when a Jes´sakkid´ or a WÂbeno´ wishes to become a Mide´.

MIDE´WIWIN.

The Mide´wiwin—Society of the Mide´ or Shamans—consists of an indefinite number of Mide´ of both sexes. The society is graded into four separate and distinct degrees, although there is a general impression prevailing even among certain members that any degree beyond the first is practically a mere repetition. The greater power attained by one in making advancement depends upon the fact of his having submitted to “being shot at with the medicine sacks” in the hands of the officiating priests. This may be the case at this late day in certain localities, but from personal experience it has been learned that there is considerable variation in the dramatization of the ritual. One circumstance presents itself forcibly to the careful observer, and that is that the greater number of repetitions of the phrases chanted by the Mide´ the greater is felt to be the amount of inspiration and power of the performance. This is true also of some of the lectures in which reiteration and prolongation in time of delivery aids very much in forcibly impressing the candidate and other observers with the importance and sacredness of the ceremony.

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