As everywhere else, the practice of shamanism in California centers about disease and death. It is probably more narrowly limited to this phase than in most other portions of North America. Being an essentially unwarlike even though a revengeful people, it is natural that the supernatural power personally acquired by the California Indian should not often be directed toward success in battle. Success in love is also less often the result of such personal power than for instance on the Plains, perhaps because in the latter region the custom which made virtually every young man seek shamanistic power, resulted in a condition where those whose proclivities were not toward medicine or war, desired and received their powers in this direction. Influence over game and over nature's yield of vegetable products was sometimes attributed to shamans in California, but on the whole their powers in this respect were not very much insisted upon except in Southern California, favorable or adverse conditions of this kind being attributed rather to the tribal ceremonies, and in the Northwest connected with the all-important formulae. The causing and prevention of disease and death were therefore even more largely the predominant functions of the person who had acquired personal supernatural power in California than elsewhere in America.
That the medicine-men who could cure diseases were also the ones who must cause it, unless it were the direct consequence of an infraction of some religious observance or prohibition, was the almost universal belief, which was probably adhered to with greater definiteness than in most portions of North America. The killing of medicine-men was therefore of frequent occurrence. Among some tribes, as the Yokuts, the medicine-man who had lost several patients was held responsible for their death by their relatives. Among the Mohave also murder seems to have been the normal end of the medicine-man. In the Northwestern region the shaman who failed to cure was forced to return the fee received in advance. If he refused to attend a patient when summoned, he was compelled to pay, in the event of the latter's death, an amount of property equal that proffered him for his services. So completely was the shaman regarded as the cause of disease and death, as well as of their prevention, that one hears very little among the California Indians of witchcraft, that is to say, of malevolent practices performed by persons, often very old or very young people, who are not believed to be endowed with the shaman's power of curing.
Disease, as among most primitive peoples the world over, was usually held to be caused by small material objects which had in a supernatural way been caused to enter the body. The determination and extraction of these was the principal office of the medicine-man and, also as elsewhere, was most frequently accomplished by sucking. In certain regions, especially the South, the tubular pipe was brought into requisition for this purpose, the disease-object being supposed to be sucked into the doctor's mouth through it. Among such tribes the pipe was also smoked by the medicine-man as part of his ritual. In other cases the sucking was performed directly with the mouth, but, just as the disease-causing object had by supernatural means entered the body without causing or leaving an opening, so it was extracted by the medicine-man without an incision or a trace of its passage. This object might be a bit of hair, a stick, an insect or small reptile, a piece of bone, deer sinew, or almost any other material. In the greater part of northern California, including the Northwestern region, it was not an ordinary physical object working mischief by its mere presence in the body or by the supernatural properties with which the shaman or his spirits had endowed it, but an object itself supernatural and called a "pain." These pains are variously described, frequently as being sharp at both ends and clear as ice. They possessed the power of moving even after extracted, and were able to fly through the air to the intended victim at the command of the person who had sent them. The medicine-man after extracting the disease-object or pain almost always exhibited it. It was then either destroyed by him or kept by him for his own use. In Northwestern California he sometimes swallowed it, the degree of his power being thought to be dependent upon the number of pains he kept in his body, both those which he received upon his becoming a shaman, when they were "cooked" before a great fire in the doctor-initiation dance, and those which he subsequently secured in doctoring his patients. The rattlesnake's bite was regarded as being dangerous on account of its injection into the victim's body of a material animate object, which the rattlesnake shaman must extract if death was not to ensue. Among the Yuki this object was a small snake; among the Yokuts a rodent's tooth or other object supposed to have formed part of the animals upon which the snake subsisted. In some cases two classes of medicine-men were distinguished, one diagnosing, the other treating the patient. Among the Wiyot or Wishosk the former by dancing before the patient saw in a vision the nature and location of the disease-object and determined what had caused it to enter the body. Somewhat similar though varying distinctions between shamans whose power consists of knowledge, and those who have practical capacity as well, occurred among other tribes. Sucking is not always resorted to. The Mohave principally blow or spit over their patients and stroke or rub or knead their bodies, which actions are supposed by them to drive out the disease. Medicines and drugs are but little used, or if so, in a manner that gives no opportunity for their physiological efficacy. Four or five drops—the number varying according to the ceremonial number of the tribe—of a weak decoction may be given to the patient or even only applied to him externally. It is natural that where the magic effect of the drug as used in a certain ritual is believed in, the quantity so used is not an essential consideration. It is the supernatural qualities connected with the plant that bring about the desired result, and these are as inherent in a drop placed upon the forehead as in a basketful taken internally. Perhaps the most-used medicinal plant throughout the state is the angelica root, probably principally on account of its fragrance. Tobacco is considerably employed by shamans, but is of equal importance in other aspects of religion.
PUBLIC CEREMONIES.
After the exclusion of such public observances as the shaman initiation, menstrual dance, and victory celebration, which, while generally participated in, are performed primarily for the benefit of individuals, the ceremonies of the California Indians which are of a really public or communal purpose and character fall into three classes: (1) mourning ceremonies; (2) initiation ceremonies connected with a secret society; and (3) a more varied group of dances and other observances which all, however, have in common the benefit either of the community or of the world at large, in that they cause a good crop of acorns and natural products, make the avoidance of rattlesnake bites possible, or prevent the occurrence of disease, earthquake, flood, and other calamities.
Of these three classes of ceremonies the mourning ceremonies are at least as important as the others and by far the most distinctive of the state as an ethnographic province, although neither they nor the secret society are found in the specialized Northwestern area. The mourning ceremonies further do not occur among the Athabascan, Yuki, and Pomo tribes to the south of the Northwestern tribes as far as the bay of San Francisco; but outside of this strip in the northern coast region they are universal in the state. Among the Maidu they are usually known as "burning," among the Miwok as "cry." Among the Yokuts they have been called "dance of the dead," and among the Mohave and Yuma "annual." These ceremonies are usually participated in by a number of visiting communities or villages. They last for one or more nights, during which crying and wailing, sometimes accompanied by singing and exhortation, are indulged in, and find their climax in a great destruction of property. While those who have recently lost relatives naturally take a prominent part, the ceremony as a whole is not a personal but a tribal one. Among the Yokuts and probably other groups it is immediately followed by a dance of a festive nature, and usually there is a definitely expressed idea that this general ceremony puts an end to all individual mourning among the participants. A typical form of the mourning ceremony is found among the Maidu, who call it östu. Each village or political unit possesses its burning ground. Participation in the ceremony is effected by receipt of a membership-string or necklace, both the receipt and return of which are marked by payments or presents. The ceremony is held in autumn in a circular brush enclosure. Property to be destroyed is tied to poles which are erected on the ground. After an opening exhortation by the chief or shaman in charge of the ceremony, the wailing begins, to continue throughout the night, many exclamations to the dead being uttered. Toward morning the numerous articles displayed on the poles are taken down and burned. When everything has been destroyed the assembly breaks up for gambling and feasting. The purpose of the ceremony is to supply the ghosts of the dead with clothing, property, and food. Although its general tenor is communal, each family offers only to its own relatives. In some cases elaborate images of stuffed skins ornamented with dancing apparel are made to represent important people who have died. These are burned with the property offered to the dead.
Initiation ceremonies which result in something analogous to a secret society are found in the whole state except in the Northwestern region and among the agricultural tribes at the extreme southeast in the Colorado valley. They are apparently as well developed among the Yuki and Pomo, who do not practice tribal mourning ceremonies, as among their neighbors who do. In a strict sense there is no secret society, even though the precepts taught boys at initiation are not made public. There are usually no paraphernalia or insignia of a society, no degrees or ranks, no membership or other organization, nor is there a definite purpose for the society. The great majority of the males of the tribes are made to undergo the initiation, and in many cases there is a distinct desire to force it upon every man, whether he be willing or unwilling. In so far as a society may therefore be said to exist at all, its principal purpose and public function are the initiation of new members. There is however often a special name for those who have been initiated, such as yeponi among the Maidu and pumal among the Luiseño, and to a certain extent the initiates are regarded as a class or council having a more or less indefinite decision over religious matters affecting the community. The precepts imparted to the initiates, other than the ritualistic knowledge relating to the initiation ceremony itself, seems to be of the most general kind and pertains principally to daily life and the most obvious maxims of native morality. In some ways this initiation is a puberty ceremony for boys corresponding to the first-menstruation-ceremony of girls. The initiates are however not limited as to age, men being sometimes included. Among at least the Yokuts in Central California and the Mission Indians of Southern California the initiation was accompanied by the drinking of toloache or jimson-weed, datura meteloides, the stupor and visions produced by which were regarded as supernatural. In Southern California the idea of an ordeal and instruction was specially developed. Boys were made to undergo severe tests of pain and endurance and were given numerous injunctions regarding their adult life. Among the Maidu of the Sacramento valley instruction both in the myths of the tribe and in the more important ceremonies was imparted. Among certain of the Maidu the secret society, in so far as it comprises the more adult men, is difficult to distinguish from an association of shamans.
The public ceremonies other than mourning and initiation observances, in other words the tribal dances of California, differ thoroughly in the three culture regions, which must therefore be considered separately.
In Central California these dances, like the initiation ceremonies, have disappeared to a much greater extent than the mourning ceremonies, and where they survive have often been more or less influenced by modern ideas. As a rule they were held in the large assembly or ceremonial chamber, more often at night than during the day, and either lasted for a number of nights or consisted of a series of successive dances extending over a considerable period. Some of the dances, though a minority, were named after animals, and in such there was usually some imitation of the actions of animals. Sometimes rude paraphernalia were used to represent the animal itself, but this was not very common and masks were never employed. At least in the Sacramento valley and northern Coast Range region there was some impersonation of mythical characters, as of Taikomol, creator among the Yuki, and of the mythical being Kuksu among the Pomo and Maidu. Such impersonators usually wore either the "big head," an enormous head-dress of feathers attached to radiating sticks, or a large cape of feathers fastened to a network, which concealed both body and face, or both pieces of apparel. There seems to have been nothing corresponding to an altar. The dancers were painted but crudely, and such symbolism as was denoted by the painting was of the simplest. One or more of the posts that supported the roof of the assembly chamber were usually of ceremonial importance. The dancers frequently entered and left the house by a hole above instead of the door at the ground. A rude drum consisting of a hollow slab placed on the ground and stamped with the feet was often used. An important character in most ceremonies was the clown or buffoon, part of whose duties was to caricature the more serious performance. In some cases shamanistic exhibitions of magic were included in the ceremony. At times an exchange or compulsory giving of property formed part of the ceremony. The participants were rarely if ever called upon to undergo severe trials of endurance, pain, or courage, as among so many other Indians. The whole ritual was comparatively simple.
The exact nature and relation of the various dances are very little known among most of the tribes of the Central region. Probably a typical example of these dances is furnished by the Maidu of the Sacramento valley, who declare that their ceremonies were obtained from their neighbors, the Wintun. This statement is borne out by indirect evidence. Among the Maidu the ceremonies were performed in winter and constituted a series of fifteen or more distinct dances, coming for the most part in a definite order. So far as known they were the following: Hesi, Luyi, Loli, Salalu-ngkasi, Duck, Bear, Coyote, Creeper, Turtle, Aloli-ngkasi, Yokola-ngkasi, Moloko-ngkasi, Deer, Aki, Hesi. The majority of these dances were performed by men, but some by women only. There is no evidence that participation in these dances was dependent upon anything like membership in an association. Each had its characteristic paraphernalia or combinations of paraphernalia. In several there are participants with special apparel and with a distinctive name. At least some of these seem to represent mythical characters. In several instances these performers enact ceremonial operations, largely in the nature of complex approaches and departures which take place outside the assembly chamber. The names of several of these ceremonies occur also among neighboring Indians speaking entirely different languages, and thus give proof of the transmission of the ceremonies from one locality to another. The Hesi, the most important of the Maidu series, is danced also by the Wintun. The Loli is an important ceremony among the Maidu, Miwok, and Pomo. The performer called Kuksu, who refers to important myths, is found among the Maidu, Wintun, Pomo, and either the Miwok or Costanoan Indians formerly at Mission San José. There is every reason to believe that a fuller acquaintance with the tribes whose ceremonies are as yet least known will reveal other instances of ceremonies held in common and known under the same name. Farther to the south, among the Yokuts of the Tulare basin, these ceremonies do not seem to have penetrated. Here the majority of the public ceremonies, like the rattlesnake ceremony that has been mentioned, were of the nature of shamanistic performances. Throughout the Central region the dances, while they might be held only in structures of certain kinds, were never rigorously attached to a specific locality.