E. THE SOCIETY THAT GUARDS THE MYSTIC POTENCE.
Among the Seneca Indians for many years the most important ceremonial society has been and now is the organization called Neh Ho-noh-chi-noh-gah (Ne‘ Ho-non’tci‘non’´gä‘), commonly called the “Secret Medicine Society,” and as often the “Little Water Company.”
This society (hoĕnnidion’got) is instituted primarily to preserve the mystic potence or orenda (meaning magical power) supposed to be inherent in the medicine called the niga‘ni‘gă´ă‘ (meaning small dose), and to preserve the methods of administering it.
Of the several native societies that have survived among the Seneca, none remains more exclusive, more secret or so rigorously adheres to its ancient forms. No organization among the Seneca is so well knit together and not one is so united in its purpose. Its members and officers are among the most conservative and best respected men of their communities, and they preserve the rites of the order with great fidelity. Harmony prevails for discord of any kind would be at variance with the very fundamental teachings of the order. No organization among the Senecas today is so mysterious, nor does any other possess the means of enforcing so rigorously its laws. The Honohtcinohgah is without doubt a society of great antiquity; few Iroquois societies, perhaps, are more so. One authority has contended that it is a tribal branch of an organization found everywhere, among Indians throughout the continent and produced arguments to support the theory, but an examination of its traditions and ritual would lead to the opinion that it is purely Iroquoian.
In order to understand the organization it is first necessary to understand the legend of its origin when many otherwise obscure allusions will be made apparent. This is given in 69, under Traditions, page [386].
NEH NIGAHNIGAHAH.
The charm medicine is known as the niga‘ni‘gă´a‘ and each member possesses a certain amount of it. The secret of compounding the niga‘ni‘gă´a‘ rested with only one man in a tribe, who, according to the teachings of the society, would be apprised of approaching death and given time to transmit the knowledge to a successor whom he should choose. According to the traditions of the Honohtcinohgah the secret holder always foreknew the hour of his death and frequently referred to it in lodge meetings.
The “small dose” medicine is composed of the brains of various mammals, birds, fish and other animals and the pollen and roots of various plants, trees and vegetables. These ingredients are compounded and pulverized with certain other substances as squash seeds, corn roots, etc., and constitute the base of the niganigaah.
That this medicine actually possesses chemical properties that react on human tissue was proven by Dr. J. H. Salisbury, an eminent physician and a former State chemist, who according to Mrs. H. M. Converse analyzed and experimented with a small quantity that he had secured from a member of the society.
The medicine itself is of a yellowish hue and when opened in the dark sometimes appears luminous, probably from the organic phosphorus that it contains. The utmost caution is employed by the members of the Honohtcinohgäh to preserve the medicine from exposure to the air in unsafe places and from contaminating influences. It is held in a small skin bag[[95]] and wrapped in many coverings of cloth and skin and finally enclosed in a bark, wood or tin case to keep it free from moisture, disease and dirt.
Among the Seneca of modern times John Patterson was the last of the holders of the secret and the secret of the precise method of compounding the medicine died with him, he in some way having failed to instruct a successor. The members thus doubly guard their medicine and are loath to use it except in cases of extreme necessity for when it is exhausted not only will they be unable to secure more but by a legend when the medicine is gone the Senecas will forever lose their identity as Indians.
METHOD OF ADMINISTERING THE CHARMED MEDICINE.
A person who wishes to have the medicine given him for the cure of a wound, broken bone or specific disease, must purge himself and for three days must abstain from the use of salt or grease. His food must be the flesh of white birds or animals and only the white portions. The system of the patient is then ready to receive the medicine. The medicine man comes to his lodge and an assistant searches the house for anything that might destroy the “life” of the medicine such as household animals, vermin, decayed meat, blood, soiled garments, etc. These things removed from the house, the patient is screened off and the guard patrols the premises warning away all infected or obnoxious persons. An attendant who has previously been dispatched to a clear running stream enters with a bowl of water that has been dipped from the crest of the ripples as they “sang their way down the water-road.” Not to antagonize the forces in the water, it was dipped the way the current ran, down stream, and not upward against it.
Everything now being in readiness the medicine man takes a basket of tobacco and as he repeats the ancient formula he casts pinches of the tobacco into the flames that the sacred smoke may lift his words to the Great Spirit. The water is then poured out in a cup and the medicine packet opened. With a miniature ladle that holds as much of the powder as can be held on the tip of the blade of a small penknife, the medicine man dips three times from the medicine and drops the powder on the surface of the water in three spots, the points of a triangle. If the medicine floats the omen is good, if it clouds the water the results are considered doubtful and if it sinks death may be predicted with a degree of certainty and the medicine is thrown away. In the case of severe cuts or contusions and broken bones the medicated water is sprinkled upon the affected part and an amount is taken internally. A medicine song is then chanted by the “doctor” who accompanies himself with a gourd rattle. After the ceremony of healing, the people of the house partake of a feast of fruit, and the medicine man departs with his fee, a pinch of sacred tobacco. The following description of the lodge ceremony from the lips of a Seneca will not be out of place. The story is related exactly as it came from the tongue of the interpreter.
Jesse Hill speaking: “Mother scraped off basswood bark, soaked it in water and wrapped it around my leg. Next day we sent for the medicine man. He came at sun set and sent to the creek for fresh water to be dipped where the current was swift, with a pail not against the current. Poured some in a tea cup and pulled out the medicine bag. Opened it with a charmed shovel not much larger than a pin. Dipped three times. Cup of water. Floated. Go up or down. Understood it was good medicine. Took some in his mouth and sprayed it on my leg. Told mother to put a curtain around my bed so no one could see me. If anyone saw any part of my body, medicine would do no good. Soon came dark. All the animals were put out. Took tin pail and made fire. Put in center of room and all sat around in silence. Medicine man made prayer. Scattered tobacco mother had prepared over fire. Took rattle made of gourd and chanted medicine song loud and louder. Half hour pain had gone. Boiled different fruits together till soft. Put kettle where all could help out with little dipper. Left two doses of medicine. Eat nothing but white things. White of egg of chicken had white feathers and eat chicken if white. Five or six days spoke things. All certain took pain away.”
THE MEDICINE LODGE RITUAL.
The Honohtcinohgah “sits,” that is, holds lodge meetings, four times each year; in mid-winter, when the moon Nĭsha proclaims the new year, when the deer sheds its hair, when the strawberries are ripe and when corn is in the milk. At these ceremonies each member brings his or her medicine to be sung for and if unable to be present sends it by messenger.
Only members know the exact place and time of meeting. At the entrance of the medicine lodge, a private house of a member chosen for the ceremony, a guard is stationed who scrutinized each person who attempts to pass within. Across the door within is placed a heavy bench “manned” by several stalwart youths who, should a person not entitled to see the interior of the lodge appear, would throw their weight against the bench and force the door shut leaving the unfortunate intruder to the mercy of the outside guards and incoming members.
Each member entering the lodge has with him his medicine, a quantity of tobacco, a pipe and perhaps a rattle although most of the lodge rattles are in the keeping of Honondiont or officers. As the members enter the room they deposit their contribution of tobacco in a husk basket placed for the purpose on a table at one side and then put their medicine packets beside the basket of the sacred herb.
The ceremony proper commences about 11 P. M. in the summer and in winter an hour earlier and lasts until nearly daybreak. The feast makers enter the lodge several hours previous to the ceremony and cook the food for the feast and prepare the strawberry wine.
The seats in the lodge are arranged around the sides of the room leaving the center of the room open.
When all is in readiness a Honondiont takes a basket of sacred tobacco, oyĕñkwa oñweh, and, as he chants the opening ceremony he casts the sacred herb into the smouldering coals. The lights are all burning and the members are in their seats, the only exception being the feast makers whose duties require their attention at the fireplace.
From the manuscript notes of Mrs. Harriet Maxwell Converse, I find the following translation of the “Line Around the Fire Ceremony.”
THE LINE AROUND THE FIRE CEREMONY.
The Singer, (to the members): “This is the line around the fire ceremony. Now I have asked blessings and made prayer.”
The Singer sprinkles sacred tobacco on the fire.
(The Singer speaks to the invisible powers):
“Now I give you incense,
You, the Great Darkness!
You, our great grand parents, here to night,—
We offer you incense!
We assemble at certain times in the year
That this may be done.
(We trust that all believe in this medicine,
For all are invited to partake of this medicine.)
(Now one has resigned. We ask you to let him off in a friendly manner. Give him good luck and take care that his friends remain in faithful!)
Now we offer you this incense!
Some have had ill luck
Endeavoring to give a human being.
We hope you will take hold
And help your grandchildren,
Nor be discouraged in us!
Now we act as we offer you incense!
You love it the most of all offerings!
With it you will hear us better
And not tire of our talking,
But love us with all power
Beyond all treasures
Or spreading you words through the air!
All men traveling under the great heavens,
You have invited, your grandchildren and all nations!
Oh you that make the noise,
You the great Thunderer!
Your grandchildren wish to thank you!
All your grandchildren have asked me
To offer this incense upon the mountain to you!
ARRANGEMENT
OF THE
LITTLE WATER LODGE
This diagram shows the arrangement of the lodge room of the Little Water Company, sometimes also called the Medicine Society, the Guards of the Mystic Potence and the Night Song Company.
(Speaking to the Great Spirit, Sho-gwa-yah-dih-sah-oh):
Oh you the Manager of All Things!
We ask you to help us,
To help us make this medicine strong!
You are the Creator,
The Most High,
The Best Friend of men!
We ask you to help us!
We implore your favor!
I have spoken.[[96]]
After the tobacco throwing ceremony the keeper of the rattles gives each person in the circle a large gourd rattle and then the lights are extinguished leaving the assembly in total darkness. The watcher of the medicine uncovers the bundles exposing contents to the air and as he does so a faint glow like a luminous cloud, according to the elect, hovers over the table and disappears. The leader or holder of the song gives a signal with his rattle calling the assembly to order and then begins to beat his rattle. The people shake their rattles in regular beats until all are in unison when the holder of the song commences the song, which is taken up by the company. “And such a song it is! It is a composition of nature’s sounds and thrills the very fiber of those who hear it. It transports one from the lodge back into the dark mysterious stone-age forest and in its wierd wild cadences it tells of the origin of the society, of the hunter in the far south country and how when he was killed by the enemy the animals to whom he had always been a friend restored him to life. It tells of his pilgrimage over plain and mountain, over river and lake, ever following the call of the night bird and the beckoning of the winged light. It is an opera of nature’s people that is unsurpassed.”
The first song requires one hour for singing. Lights are then turned up and the feast maker passes the kettle of sweetened strawberry juice and afterward the calumet from which all draw a puff of the sacred incense. Then comes an interval of rest in which the members smoke sacred tobacco and discuss lodge matters. The medicine is covered before the lights are turned up.
With a chug of his resonant gourd rattle the leader calls the people together for the second song which is wilder and more savage in character. The whippoorwill’s call is heard at intervals and again the call of the crows who tell of a feast to come. The whippoorwill song is one that is most beautiful but it is played on the flute only at rare intervals and then it is so short that it excites an almost painful yearning to hear it again but there is art in this savage opera and its performers never tire of it because it is wonderful even to them. During the singing every person in the circle must sing and shake his rattle; to pause is considered an evil thing. It is no small physical effort to shake a long necked gourd a hundred and fifty times a minute for sixty minutes without cessation. This I soon discovered when as a novitiate of the society I was placed between a medicine woman and man and given an extra heavy rattle. Every now and then a hand from one or the other side would stretch forth from the inky blackness and touch my arm to see if I were faithful and sometimes a moist ear would press against my face to discover if I were singing and listening a moment to my attempts, would draw back. The song in parts is pitched very high and it is a marvel that male voices can reach it. At times the chief singers seem to employ ventriloquism for they throw their voices about the room in a manner that is startling to the novice. At the close of the song lights are turned up and the berry water and calumet are passed again and a longer period of rest is allowed. There are two other sections of the song-ritual with rest intervals that bring the close of the song close to daybreak. The feast makers pass the berry water and pipe again and then imitating the cries of the crow, the ho-non-di-ont pass the bear or boar’s head on a platter and members tear off a mouthful each with their teeth imitating the caw of a crow as they do so. After the head is eaten each member brings forth his pail and places it before the fireplace for the feast maker to fill with the alloted portion of o-no‘´-kwa or hulled corn soup. When the pails are filled one by one the company disperses into the gray light or dawn and the medicine ceremony is over. At the close of the last song each one takes his packet of medicine and secretes it about his person.
The medicine song according to the ritual of the society is necessary to preserve the virtue of the medicine. It is an appreciation of the founder of the order and a thanksgiving to the host of living things that have given their life-power that the medicine might be. The spirits of these creatures hover about the medicine which they will not desert as long as the holder remains faithful to the conditions that they saw fit to impose when it was given to the founder. The psychic influence of the animals and plants is the important part of the medicine and when the medicine is opened in the dark they are present in a shadowy form that is said to sometimes become faintly luminous and visible. Members are said frequently to see these spirit forms, and sometimes not individual members only but the entire company simultaneously,—but I am now trenching on a subject of which I am asked not to speak. There are marvels and mysteries connected with the ceremonies of the Honotcinohgah, suffice to say, that white men will never know, nor would believe if told. The Indian has some sacred mysteries that will die with him.
Some one has suggested that Indian songs are not stable but vary from time to time, but this idea is at once dispelled when we see a company of fifty young men and old chanting the same song without a discord from night till morning. The song is uniformly the same and probably has varied but slightly since it originated. It is still intact with none of its parts missing, although the words are archaic and some not understood.
The medicine men teach that if a charm packet is not sung for at least once in a year the spirits will become restless and finally angry and bring all manner of ill luck upon its possessor. The spirits of the animals and plants that gave their lives for the medicine will not tolerate neglect and will relentlessly punish the negligent holder and many instances are cited to prove that neglect brings misfortune. The medicine will bring about accidents that will cause sprains, severe bruises and broken bones and finally death. I know of several persons, myself, who becoming Christians, have neglected their medicine. Whether the belief is true or not, some have certainly met with repeated accidents. In every Seneca settlement the story is the same and individuals are pointed out who having neglected their medicine have become injured or maimed for life. Should some member of a family die leaving his medicine its orenda will compel the person who should take the dead one’s place to respect its desires. I will relate one instance. When John Patterson the last holder of the secret died he left his medicine in the loft of his house. His son, a well educated man of wide business experience, one of the shrewdest men of the Seneca and a person seemingly free of superstition, thought that he would allow the medicine of his father to remain idle. He wished to have nothing to do with the old fashioned heathenish customs of his father. Indeed he did not take interest enough in the medicine to look for it. Several medicine sittings passed by and the man began to suffer strange accidents. One evening as he sat with his family on the veranda of his home (a modern dwelling such as is found in any modern town), the members say that he heard the medicine song floating in the air above him. He was startled and each of the family was frightened. The singing continued until at length it grew faint and ceased. Upon several occasions the family and visitors heard the song issuing from the air. Mr. Patterson sent for the leader of the lower medicine lodge, William Nephew, who asked where the medicine was hidden. No one knew but after a search it was discovered. Mr. Nephew ordered that a feast should be made and the rites performed. Then was the modern educated Indian forced to join the lodge and take his father’s seat. This story, of which I have given but the bare outline, is commonly known among the Senecas, Mr. M. R. Harrington, of the American Indian Museum, being perfectly familiar with the facts of the case which he took pains to learn while staying at the Patterson home. Howsoever this may be explained it is nevertheless considered one of the mysteries of the medicine and the instance is not a solitary one.
Few white people have ever been allowed in a medicine lodge and when they have been they have not seen to witness the ceremony in full. I know of only four who ever become members, holding the medicine: Joseph Keppler, the publisher, and Mrs. Harriet Maxwell Converse, George K. Staples, and George L. Tucker, with all of whom I have sat in the medicine lodge.