127. The Origin of the Bear Songs and Dances
Concerning the origin of the Bear songs and dances the following legend is told by our ancestors, said a Seneca shaman. This is what took place when these songs and dances became manifest on their human side, or rather, became manifest in their relation to human beings in their quest of happiness.
In the past, it is said, a boy was kidnaped from a temporary camp of some hunters. It happened in this manner. A woman of the hunting party was left alone at the camp while the hunters were out in the forest for the day; it was her duty to keep the fire and to have food cooked when the hunters returned in the evening. The woman had a child, a boy, who was then nearly 2 years of age. The little fellow played outside of the lodge while his mother was busy around the fire or with her other duties inside of the lodge, feeling that her child could take care of himself in the meantime.
One day, when the men had gone on their usual hunting trips in the forest, the woman fell asleep while the child was outside of the lodge playing by himself. Suddenly he was surprised to see a strange man coming toward him. This man, whom the child did not know, came directly to the place where he was at play. When he reached the child he said: “My child, I have come for you. You shall go with me to our lodge. My children desire that you should visit us, and you and they shall play together regularly. The reason for this is that you are entirely alone, and they will amuse you so that your mind will be contented.” Then they two started away. They arrived at the lodge of the strange man, where they found two small boys of the same size who lived there. On entering the lodge the father said: “I have now brought here the person whom you two for a long time have desired me to bring to you, so now your wish has been fulfilled. You two must love and be kind to him; you must never hurt him; you two must not annoy or vex him; let there be peace and pleasantness during the time that he shall be on a visit to us. So, whatever happens, be kind to him.”
The three children went around from place to place and played together. The visiting boy observed carefully all that he saw in and about the lodge. He saw what these people were accustomed to eat; that they lived on various kinds of nuts, on honey, and on huckleberries, mulberries, and various other kinds of berries. All these things he understood. He saw, too, that they had plenty of corn, on which they lived, as well as on the berries and honey and nuts.
The visiting boy had been there for some time when it became the custom for him to accompany the other two children around from place to place; he would accompany them when they went out to [[659]]seek for nuts. He learned that they prized the chestnut above all other kinds of nuts; that next to these they highly prized honey; and next to this they prized huckleberries and mulberries. It was the custom of these people in gathering these things to work independently to get for themselves as much of these articles of food as was possible when they were in season.
After the lapse of many days spent thus the headman of this lodge, who had brought the child there, said to his little guest: “Now I am about to tell you something. You must tell the human beings when you have returned to your home what I will now reveal to you as our wishes. You shall tell them that we have strong desires that there might be found a way by which we could be enabled to give aid to mankind whenever they may be forced into a critical situation by means of sickness, which is wont to befall mankind. You shall know that we have observed in the past that disease travels about from place to place; and it comes to pass, as we have observed, that when it has selected its victim this person at once realizes that he has pains in a certain part of the body. It is well known that if they would remember to call on us we certainly have the power to cause this evil thing to turn aside so that it shall pass on one side or the other of the person, in such manner that the person will not become very ill and he will soon recover his usual health.
“Now look at what belongs to us and which it is our custom to use. Examine this carefully. It is this that we use when it so happens that a man while out hunting takes a course directly toward the place in which we abide. This object is held up before us, and the hunter is turned away from us.”
The young child, on looking at the object, saw a forked wooden rod in the hands of the strange man. Thereupon the man said to the child: “This is the way in which I regularly use this thing.” So saying, he held the forked rod up before himself, and continued: “The support of the forks must point toward the hunter, and as he follows the direction of the rod he is bound to pass on one or the other side of the place in which we abide. As he passes I guide the rod around past my side toward the rear of our position. Thus we ward off the hunter from finding and injuring us.
“It is this thing we shall use in giving aid to mankind in their necessities if they will only appeal to us to aid them, and this is the way in which we shall proceed to do so. In the first place, when the people desire to make their appeal to us they shall prepare a drink composed of huckleberries and of mulberries, into which they shall put maple sugar. When they have prepared this drink they shall collect native tobacco, which they shall cast upon the fire, at the same time saying: ‘Oh, you Bears! do you now partake of this native tobacco—tobacco which our Creator has provided for us, and with [[660]]which He intended that mankind should support their prayers to Him, no matter to what object of His creation they wished to direct their appeals.’ So, now, you Bears, who move from place to place in the forest, and all with whom you are united in bonds of mutual aid, we ask you to assist in bringing about such conditions that we shall think in peace, and that those who are being called away by death may recover health and contentment of mind.
“Now the drink of berry juices has been prepared and sweetened with maple sugar—the drink which you Bears so highly prize; and now mankind are about to assume your bodily forms, and they will then touch you in making their appeals to you. Then one shall cast native tobacco on the fire, at the same time saying, ‘Now, be it known that there shall begin the ceremony which is of you, Bears.’ Then the people shall be exsufflated[451] by the masters of ceremony; and the people shall take a drink of the berry beverage, and in taking it each person shall say, ‘I give thanks unto you severally, you Bears.’ This is all that is necessary to be done. Then, verily, the duty devolves upon us to give aid to mankind. But when we are engaged in giving the aid we shall not be seen by mankind. Moreover, this shall be done. You must take back with you the songs which we are accustomed to use when we wish to enjoy ourselves in our dances.”
Thereupon, the strange man began to sing the songs, and these songs the child learned and brought back with him to his own lodge. In the songs the singer employs these words: “No matter what a human being may desire to do this shall accomplish his desire.” “I know all the virtues of the things that grow on plants on the earth.” These are the words of the songs which the child heard the strange man sing to him.
This is what took place in the lodge from which the child was stolen when the mother of the child awoke from her sleep. Finding that the boy was missing, she hunted for him everywhere. When the men returned from hunting they at once joined the mother in searching for the lost boy, but they failed to find him. They sought for him even to the banks of a river which flowed at some distance from the lodge; they even sought for the tracks of the boy on both sides of the river. Then, boarding canoes, they went up and down the river to learn if possible whether the child had been drowned or not, but they were unable to find any trace of him in the water. Next they turned their attention to the neighboring forest, which they thoroughly searched, but they did not find him.
By this time they were much troubled in mind because of the child who was lost, indeed. Then the father of the child went out to hunt, and when he returned he said to his wife: “It is, perhaps, the proper thing for us to prepare a ‘reunion’ feast; for it seems true that our child has perished.” Thereupon the mother set to work [[661]]preparing the food. When it was ready she placed it on the ground in the customary place for eating, and they two sat down to eat. Taking a portion of the food they were eating and setting it aside, the mother said: “As respects this food thy and my child does now become its owner and disposer.” Thus they finished their feast of “reunion of the living.”
After the lapse of some time the mother said to her husband: “Perhaps we two should now leave for our home, going back to our own people, because it is true that I am not at peace in my mind on account of what has happened to us.” The husband consented to her proposition, and they packed their meat and their small belongings and, boarding a canoe, started for their home. After their arrival at home the news of what happened to them spread among their people. After some days the mother of the lost child said to her husband: “Is it not perhaps a good thing for us to go back to the place in which our child was lost? It is now nearing the anniversary of the disappearance of our dear child, and it seems good that we two should be there when that time shall come again, so that we may prepare food there again just as we did when he was still with us.” Her husband replied: “Let it be done as you desire. I am willing to go.”
After making their usual preparations they again started for their hunting grounds. They went most of the way by canoe. At last they reached the place where they had encamped when their child was lost, and they kindled their fire in the same place again. Then the father went out to hunt as usual.
One day the mother said: “The day has now come which is the anniversary of the loss of our child. We two shall now have a feast of the ‘reunion of the living,’ and we shall set aside a portion for our lost child; and it shall come to pass just as if he were present with us.” So, as soon as the food was ready, she set it on the ground in the usual place and they two began to eat. She also took a portion of the food and, setting it aside, said: “This food which I have set aside I give to my child.” When they had finished this meal they gave thanks for life and for the food which nature supplied to them.
Then the mother of the lost child said: “Now, there is nothing for us to do but to start for our home. We will go back to the place where dwell our own people. We will do this because this place is so unpleasant, for indeed I can do nothing but think about the misfortune which befell us two in the days which have past.” Her husband, agreeing with her, said: “I see no reason why that, too, may not be done, for I, too, am in the same frame of mind as you are. My thoughts are not at all pleasant, so we will not remain here any longer.” [[662]]
At that time they left the hunting camp and started for home, where they soon arrived by canoe and a short land journey. On their way the woman took her seat in the bow of the canoe, while the husband sat in the stern and paddled. The woman wistfully viewed the banks of the river as they moved along rapidly. When they had gone quite a distance the woman noticed a mountain which stood on one side of the river, and which was covered with a dense growth of small shrubs and undergrowth. As she watched this mountain top she was surprised and agitated to see her lost child walking there at the edge of the dense undergrowth. At once recognizing him, she sprang up in the canoe, frantically exclaiming, “Oh! I see my and thy child again. Look, there he is walking along.” The father, too, recognized their son whom they mourned as dead and hastened to bring the canoe to the river bank at the point nearest to the place where the child had been seen. As soon as the canoe reached the land they both alighted. The father then went directly toward the child, who apparently awaited them; the mother was following at her husband’s heels. But as they approached him the child fled away into the shrubbery, and they pursued him. The father had some difficulty in overtaking him. When the father had caught him the mother came up to them. Then the delighted parents began to ask the child questions, but he did not give any answer. He did not seem to be able to make a reply, and they saw that the child was too much frightened to be able to understand them. So the father lifted him in his arms and carried him back to the canoe. They saw that his face and hands and feet were all still natural in appearance, but that the other parts of his body were covered with fine fur; in this respect he was just like a bear. Again boarding the canoe and hastening home, they soon arrived among their people.
After they had reached their home lodge the children of their neighbors came to visit the newcomer, and they began to play together. At first it was quite impossible for the recovered child to converse with the other children; it was a long time before he was again able to talk even a little. Gradually, however, he became able to carry on an extended conversation with them.
There soon came a time when he voluntarily began to relate to his father and mother the circumstances under which he had been lost to them. He told them that a strange man had carried him away to his home. The child carefully told what things he had seen that were strange to him, what he had seen when he had traveled around with the strange people, and what these people used for food. He said that the strange man who had taken him away had instructed him to carry back a message which he should relate in detail to his [[663]]people. This gave all that was necessary to enable them to perform the ceremony of the Bears, and he also taught the people all the songs of the Bears, which he had been taught by the Bear people expressly to be taught in turn to the people of the stolen child.
The child told the people that he had lived with the Bear people during the time he had been in captivity. He told the people the correct use of the forked rod of wood in turning away from the people the course of disease, by means of which the Bear people were able usually to cause the hunter to pass by the hiding place of bears, for which he might be on the hunt.
It was in this manner that the Bear ceremony was revealed to mankind, so that it is possible for them to perform it. Such is the legend of the origin of the Bear ceremony, as it is called.