Chapter XIII: Conclusion: Of Ceremony

Next morning the men resume the ceremony and continue until the sun is high. Two men are then appointed to close the meeting, for which each receives one yard of wampum. Their duty is to sing twelve times while the people dance about the central post, the women in a circle next to the post, the men in another circle outside that of the women. These two singers stop dancing in front of where the chief is sitting, and announce, “We will now pray twelve times.” They go back to their seats and cry “_Ho-o-o!_” twelve times. Then the attendants serve the last feast. Two women then go around with wampum in a wooden bowl, giving everyone two or three beads.

PAYMENT OF ATTENDANTS

Then the attendants, three men and three women, stand in a row and receive six yards of wampum on one string, which they hold in their hands, the first in the row holding the end of the string, which stretches along from one to the other. Then the chief says: “We thank you attendants of this meeting for your kindness in sweeping our Temple for these twelve nights, and the attention and care you have given. We have heard our old parents say that, if you sweep this Meeting House twelve different times, you will sweep up to where our great Father is, as he is up in the twelfth Heaven above the earth.”

The attendants then circle about the fires and go out to the cooking fireplace, where they divide the wampum, taking a yard apiece. At last, when the shadow of a person is nearly under him, that is, about noon, the speaker or chief arises, and says, “All of us kinfolk must now go out and end our meeting, which has been going on for twelve days and nights.” Thereupon they all file out—men, women, and children—and form a row extending north and south, facing east, just east of the Big House, the hunters taking with them the skins of the deer they killed.

FINALE

Here they all pray, or rather cry the prayer word “_Ho-o-o!_” six times standing, holding up one hand, and six times kneeling, holding up the other hand. The meeting is then ended. This is shown in the frontispiece. The deerskins are given to poor old people, who need them to make moccasins.

One informant stated that instead of crying “_Ho-o-o_” twelve times in closing the meeting, it was customary to use this word only ten times, and then cry “_Ha-a-a_” twice, completing the sacred number twelve; but such discrepancies are probably due to the variation of ritual among the three phratries before mentioned, the Turkey, the Turtle, and the Wolf. This kind of prayer was noticed by Zeisberger[45] as early as 1779, for he writes:

“At a third kind of feast ten or more tanned deerskins are
given to as many old men or women, who wrap themselves in them
and stand before the house with their faces turned toward
the east, praying God with a loud voice to reward their
benefactors. They turn toward the east because they believe
that God dwells beyond the rising of the sun. At the same time
much wampum is given away. This is thrown on the ground and the
young people scramble for it. Afterward it is ascertained who
secured the most. This feast is called _’ngammuin_, the meaning
of which they themselves are unable to give.”

The suspicion that Zeisberger mistook the conclusion of the Annual Ceremony for a separate rite is strengthened by the fact that he gives its name as “’_ngammuin_,” which seems to be a form of _Gaʹmuing_, the modern Lenape name for their Annual Ceremony.

PAYMENT OF OFFICERS

All the officers of the meeting receive pay in wampum for their services, except, of course, the leader—the man who has caused the meeting to be held. The speaker receives a yard for every night of the meeting; the drummers get a yard between them each night; there are also the payments to the attendants, hunters, and others, already mentioned. The attendants have other sources of profit, too, for they serve meals three times a day in the Big House to the leader of the meeting and all his near relatives, also to the speaker and the drummers.

When they have finished feasting, the leader calls the attendants to come and get their dishes and pans. Each has a cup in which he brings coffee, and the leader puts twenty-five wampum beads in each cup for every meal. Moreover, when any one in the outside camps is hungry, he may go to an _aʹckas_ and obtain a meal for twenty-five wampum beads. The attendants have a table near the tent of one of the woman _aʹckas_, and here they eat.

VALUATION OF WAMPUM

For ceremonial purposes the wampum (white) is held at one cent a bead, one hundred to the dollar. Before the meeting the people give a yard or so apiece, if they are able, to show their appreciation and to be prayed for, or subscribe money for its purchase and for the other things needed at the meeting. The wampum is afterward redeemed at the same rate and is kept to use again.

INDIAN COMMENTS ON THE CEREMONY

Some explanations and remarks concerning the annual ceremony, as furnished by the Indians themselves, may prove of interest here.

Julius Fouts (or Fox), the interpreter, remarks:

“When the Delawares complete this meeting, then they claim they have worshiped everything on this earth. God gave the Powers Above authority to go around and give all the tribes some way to worship. They say these things were as if carried in a bundle, and when they come to the Delawares, last of all, there was a lot left in the bundle and they got it all—that is why the Delawares have so many different things to do in their meetings.”

In explanation of the prayer word _Ho-o-o_, he said, “Did you ever hear that noise out in the woods, in the fall of the year? ‘_Ho-o-o_,’ it says. What is it? It is the noise of the wind blowing in the trees. When the Delawares pray in the Big House, they raise their voices and cry ‘_Ho-o-o_’ to God, and the Mĭsiʹngʷ‛ hears it and understands, for he is of the same nature as a tree, and there are twelve Mĭsiʹngʷ‛ carved in the Big House who will carry the prayers to the twelfth Heaven. The Indians call the Mĭsiʹngʷ‛ ‘Grandfather,’ because the trees were here before the Indians. The Big House is going out of use now, because only the old people have had gifts or visions of power to sing about. The children of today are not _piʹlsŭⁿ_, or pure; they are reared like the whites, and the Powers Above do not speak to them any more.”

Chief Charley Elkhair, or Elkire, who frequently served as speaker in the Big House, said:

“The Delaware meeting helps everybody in the world, for they pray for good crops and everything good, even wild fruits. About ten years ago the people thought they would give up holding these meetings, and the following year they had high winds and big rains, and everyone was frightened. Then grasshoppers came in swarms, but they came in the fall a little too late to get all the crops. So the people held a council and talked about the Big House again. They finally decided to resume it, before any more bad luck came; so they began the ceremonies again in the fall.

“Then it seemed as if all the trouble stopped. Of late there has been talk of again giving up the meeting, but if we do give it up we are likely to have a tornado or maybe dry weather to ruin the crops.

“Once the Delawares owned a great deal of land, but that is nearly all gone now, and the people seem to have no power to do anything. When God looks down from Heaven, he sees but very few Delaware people, and the reason for this is that they cannot follow the Meeting House ceremonies now. When I was a little boy, I heard my people say that this thing would happen just as it is happening now. You see, the young people raised during the last thirty years do not believe in the old ways. We are having good times yet, but we don’t know when we shall catch it. If anything happens to us, and once really begins, we can not stop it—it will be too late. Even if they take up the meeting again—they can not do right, even when the ceremonies are going on.

“They can not accomplish anything in the Big House; they can not raise it up, because there are a lot of young folks who do not even try to do what the speaker tells them, for they do not believe in it.

“The people could get along fine, if they followed the rules of the meeting—not only the Delawares, but the other people round about. For when the Delaware prays, he prays for things that will benefit everybody; he prays for the children as well as for himself; he prays for future time. But if anything comes to destroy the world, it will be too late to think of starting the Big House then.”

_Penn’s Account._—William Penn seems to have been the first to attempt a description of Lenape rites, for he wrote in 1683, in the same letter we have quoted before:

“Their Worship consists of two parts, sacrifice and Cantico.
Their sacrifice is their first fruits.... The other part
of their worship is by Cantico, performed by round dances,
sometimes words, sometimes songs, then shouts, two being in
the middle that begin, and by singing and drumming on a board
direct the chorus.... They are said to lay their altar on
twelve stones.”

In this brief account should be noted the presence of _two_ drummers; the fact that they did not use a drum, but a “board” which was probably, if Penn had taken the trouble to look more closely, a dried hide; the word _cantico_ which resembles the modern Lenape words for “dance”—_kĭʹnĭkä_ among the Unami and _kĭʹntika_ among the Minsi; and finally the use of the sacred number twelve.

_Zeisberger’s Account._—The earliest detailed account, however, of the great Lenape ceremonies is given by Zeisberger,[46] who, writing about 1779, says:

“Worship and sacrifices have obtained among them from the
earliest times, being usages handed down from their ancestors.
Though in the detail of ceremony there has been change, as the
Indians are more divided now than at that time, worship and
sacrifice have continued as practiced in the early days, for
the Indians believe that they would draw all manner of disease
and misfortune upon themselves if they omitted to observe the
ancestral rites.

“In the matter of sacrifice, relationship, even though distant,
is of significance, legitimate or illegitimate relationship
being regarded without distinction. A sacrifice is offered by
a family, with its entire relationship, once in two years.
Others, even the inhabitants of other towns, are invited. Such
sacrifices are commonly held in autumn, rarely in winter. As
their connections are large, each Indian will have opportunity
to attend more than one family sacrifice a year. The head of
the family knows the time and he must provide for everything.
When the head of such a family is converted, he gets into
difficulty because his friends will not give him peace until he
has designated some one to take his place in the arrangement of
sacrificial feasts.

“Preparations for such a sacrificial feast extend through
several days. The requisite number of deer and bears is
calculated and the young people are sent into the woods to
procure them together with the leader whose care it is to see
that everything needful is provided. These hunters do not
return until they have secured the amount of booty counted
upon. On their return they fire a volley when near the town,
march in in solemn procession and deposit the flesh in the
house of sacrifice. Meantime the house has been cleared and
prepared. The women have prepared firewood and brought in long
dry reed grass, which has been strewn the entire length of the
house, on both sides, for the guests to sit upon. Such a feast
may continue for three or four nights, the separate sessions
beginning in the afternoon and lasting until the next morning.
Great kettles full of meat are boiled and bread is baked. These
are served to the guests by four servants especially appointed
for this service. The rule is that whatever is thus brought
as a sacrifice must be eaten altogether and nothing left. A
small quantity of melted fat only is poured into the fire.
The bones are burnt, so that the dogs may not get any of them.
After the meal the men and women dance, every rule of decency
being observed. It is not a dance for pleasure or exercise, as
is the ordinary dance engaged in by the Indians. One singer
only performs during the dance, walking up and down, rattling
a small tortoise shell filled with pebbles. He sings of the
dreams the Indians have had, naming all the animals, elements
and plants they hold to be spirits. None of the spirits of
things that are useful to the Indians may be omitted. By
worshipping all the spirits named they consider themselves
to be worshipping God, who has revealed his will to them in
dreams. When the first singer has finished he is followed by
another. Between dances the guests may stop to eat again. There
are four or five kinds of feasts, the ceremonies of which
differ much from one another.

“At these feasts there are never less than four servants, to
each of whom a fathom of wampum is given that they may care
for all necessary things. During the three or four days they
have enough to do by day and by night. They have leave, also,
to secure the best of provisions, such as sugar, bilberries,
molasses, eggs, butter and to sell these things at a profit to
guests and spectators.”

_Adams’ Account._—The best and, in fact, the only late account previous to his own first article[47] the writer has seen of the Annual Ceremony among the Lenape in Oklahoma, is that written by Adams,[48] which reads as follows:

“The peculiar steps which they use in this dance have caused
the name ‘stomp’ or ‘stamp’ to be applied to it.

“In regard to the stomp dances of our people, we have several
kinds of dances; the most important one is the ‘worship dance’
which is carried on in a large building called a temple, which
is rectangular and ranges from 60 to 80 feet long, from 30 to
40 feet wide, and is about 10 feet high. It is built of wood
with 2 doors. The main entrance is at the eastern door, and it
has only a dirt floor.

“On each post is carved a human face. On the center post or
one in the center of the building four faces are carved; each
face is painted one-half red and one-half black. All the people
enter at the east and go out the same way. When they come in
they pass to the right of the fire, and each of the three
clans of the Delawares take seats next to the wall, the Turtle
clan on the south, the Turkey on the west, and the Wolf on the
north. In no case can any one pass between the center post and
east door, but must go around the center post, even to go to
the north side of the temple.

“This dance is held once each year, in the fall, and generally
in October, in the full moon, and lasts not less than 12 days
for each part. The tribe is divided into three clans, and each
clan has to go through the same part, so the dance is sometimes
36 days long, but sometimes the second and third clans do not
dance more than 6 days each.

“The Turtle clan usually lead or begin the dance. A tortoise
shell, dried and beautifully polished and containing several
small pebbles, is placed in the southeast corner near the door
in front of the first person. If he has anything to say he
takes the shell and rattles it, and an answer comes from the
south side of the temple from the singers, who strike on a
dried deer’s hide: then the party who has the tortoise shell
makes an address or talk to the people, and thanks the Great
Spirit for blessings, and then proceeds to dance, going to the
right and around the fire, followed by all who wish to take
part, and finally coming to the center post he stops there;
then all the dancers shake hands and return to their seats.
Then the shell is passed to the next person, who dances or
passes it on, as he chooses.

“On the third day of the dance all men, both married and
single, are required to keep out of the company of women for
3 days at least. They have a doorkeeper, a leader, and 2 or 3
parties who sweep the ground floor with turkey wings, and who
also serve as deacons. The ashes from the fire are always
taken out at the west door, and the dirt is always swept in the
fire. In front of the east door outside is a high pole on which
venison hangs. It is a feast dance and the deacons distribute
food among the people. The officers and waiters are paid in
wampum for their services.

“In no case is a dog allowed to enter the temple, and no one is
allowed to laugh inside it, or in any way be rude. Each person
is allowed to speak and tell his dream or dreams or to give
advice. It is believed by the Delawares that every one has a
guardian spirit which comes in the form of some bird, animal,
or other thing, at times in dreams, and tells them what to do
and what will happen. The guardian spirit is sent from the
Great Spirit.

“Traditions say that 10 years before white men came to this
country (America) a young man told his dream in the temple.
This was on the Atlantic coast. He saw coming across the great
waters a large canoe with pinions (wings) and containing
strange people, and that in 10 years they would in fact come.
He told this dream and predicted the arrival of the white men
each year until they came and were seen by his people. Many of
our people still keep up this dance, but the temple is not so
large as it used to be, and the attendance now is not more than
100 persons. Any Indian of any tribe can also take part in the
dance, but no white man can.

“When the dance is over all the people go out and stand in a
single line from east to west with their faces to the south.
Then they kneel down and pray, and then go home. We do not know
the origin of the worship dance, but the old Indians claim that
the Great Spirit came many years ago and instructed it and also
gave them the wampum.”

In spite of several inaccuracies, such as the statement that the people face _south_ (instead of east) while praying after the ceremony, this account is valuable on account of the additional data it furnishes on several points of interest, especially the tradition concerning the prophecy of the coming of the whites.

ANOTHER FORM OF THE ANNUAL CEREMONY

It appears that in former years there was, in addition to the rite just described, another form of the Annual Ceremony practised by the Lenape, before their removal to what is now Oklahoma from Kansas, where the last man to “bring in” such a meeting was John Sarcoxie, now dead.

The ceremony, which was called _MuxhatoLʹzing_, seems, from the accounts given the writer by his informants, to have taken place in a similar building, and to have been similar in ritual to that just described, except that it was held for only eight days instead of twelve, and that, after the return of the hunters the skin of one of the deer they had brought in was stuffed with grass and stood up by the central post of the Big House, antlers and all, while about its neck hung a string of wampum—perhaps as a propitiatory offering.

Moreover on the morning of the last day of the ceremony a large sweathouse was built and stones heated; then about noon the men who had been reciting their visions went into it, each taking one of the hot stones with him. This privilege was not confined to the actual celebrants however, for every one blessed by a guardian spirit even if they had not sung their visions in the meeting, was entitled to carry in a stone and join them.

The entrance was then closed and water poured upon the stones; and while the steam rose and the sweathouse grew hotter and hotter the perspiring occupants prayed to their guardian spirits and recited their visions. These finished, with a shout of “There go our prayers to Those Above,” the cover was suddenly snatched from the sweathouse so that the steam it had contained rose in a puff. If the steam cloud went straight up into the air it was thought that the prayers would be heard and answered, and that all was well, but if it broke and spread out the people felt that something had gone wrong, and that their prayers were of no avail.

In endeavoring to explain the presence of such variations of the Annual Ceremony, it should be remembered that the Lenape now in Oklahoma whom the writer has called for convenience “Unami,” are not really pure descendants of this tribe, but probably have a large proportion of the blood of the Unala‛ʹtko or Unalachtigo, whose dialect, according to Heckewelder, was very similar, and a smaller proportion of Minsi and even Nanticoke blood. Perhaps then the first form of Annual Ceremony described may have originally been purely Unami, and the second Unalachtigo, or Minsi, or vice versa; but later, when the remnants of these tribes became amalgamated their mixed descendants inherited both forms.

The second form seems to be a variant of the rite mentioned by Zeisberger[49] who describes it as follows:

“A fifth kind of festival is held in honor of fire which
the Indians regard as being their grandfather, and call
_Machtuzin_, meaning ‘to perspire.’ A sweating-oven is built
in the midst of the house of sacrifice, consisting of twelve
poles each of a different species of wood. These twelve poles
represent twelve _Manittos_, some of these being creatures,
others plants. These they run into the ground, tie together
at the top, bending them toward each other; these are covered
entirely with blankets, joined closely together, each person
being very ready to lend his blanket, so that the whole
appears like a baker’s oven, high enough nearly to admit a man
standing upright. After the meal of sacrifice, fire is made at
the entrance of the oven and twelve large stones, about the
size of human heads, are heated and placed in the oven. Then
twelve Indians creep into it and remain there as long as they
can bear the heat. While they are inside twelve pipes full of
tobacco are thrown, one after another, upon the hot stones,
which occasions a smoke almost powerful enough to suffocate
those confined inside. Some one may also walk around the
stones singing and offering tobacco, for tobacco is offered to
fire. Usually, when the twelve men emerge from the oven, they
fall down in a swoon. During this feast a whole buckskin with
the head and antlers is raised upon a pole, head and antlers
resting on the pole, before which the Indians sing and pray.
They deny that they pay any adoration to the buck, declaring
that God alone is worshipped through this medium and is so
worshipped at his will.”

That this is really the same ceremony is shown not only by the details as related but by the native name of the rite, the _Machtuzin_ of Zeisberger corresponding with the _MuxhatoLʹzing_ of the present writer.