b). With growth of culture came growth of supernaturalism, and the mask came to be used in religious performances, as a part of the religious paraphernalia, like the shirts or girdles of the shamans. Ethn. Rep. 1896-97, I. 395:—“When worn in any ceremonial, ... the wearer is believed to become mysteriously and unconsciously imbued with the spirit of the being which his mask represents.”
c). Finally the element of humor enters in, and the mask is used for public amusements and games; by secret societies; as protection against recognition on festive occasions, etc., like the animal skins worn in dances.
[58] Notes [32], [34], [33], ante p. [11].
[60] Ethn. Rep. 1888-89, p. 503:—Account of “a cloak or mantle made from the skin of a deer, and covered with various mystic paintings. It was made and used by the Apaches as a mantle of invisibility, that is, a charmed covering for spies which would enable them to pass with impunity through the country, and even through the camp of their enemies. In this instance the fetichistic power depends upon the devices drawn.” The Apache have a similar fetich or charm. The symbols drawn were the raincloud, serpent lightning, raindrops and the cross of the winds of the four cardinal points. Ethn. Rep. 1889-90, p. 515:—Among the Hidatsa (Sioux) fetiches are especially the skins of the wolf. “When they go to war, they always wear the stripe off the back of a wolf skin, with the tail hanging down the shoulders. They make a slit in the skin through which the warrior puts his head, so that the skin of the wolf’s head hangs down upon his breast.” Finally the magic robes or shirts and girdles came to be a part of the regular paraphernalia of the shamans, or practisers of magic. In the folklore of all countries we find numerous notices of holy girdles.
Ethn. Rep. 1897-98, I. (Cherokee) 393: “Some warriors had medicine to change their shape as they pleased, so that they could escape from their enemies.” Page 501: Such stories might be paralleled in any tribe.
[61] See further development in note [64].
[63] As an example of the motive of vengeance, or pure brutality, we cite from Andree, p. 69:—People in the interior of Africa who understand magic, transform themselves into lions and go about killing people. See also below, note [65], where the wolf-man of Abyssinia kills his enemy and sucks his blood, and also kills other wolf-men it meets, the question being one of the survival of the fittest, that is the strongest. All this takes place at night, which reminds us of our Pawnee Indian starting out at night in his wolf’s robe, and trotting up to the hostile village to ascertain where his enemies’ horses are tied, so as to steal them when all are asleep (Grinnell’s Pawnee hero stories and folk-tales, p. 246, and pp. 70-73). Ethn. Rep. 1887-88, p. 461:—“To recover stolen or lost property, especially ponies, is one of the principal tasks imposed upon the so-called medicine-men” (shamans).
[64] As superstition waxed strong, no doubt the wolf robe was put on not merely to make the wearer look just like a common object of the landscape, but also because the wearer of the disguise was supposed to take on the characteristics of the animal he represented (swiftness, boldness, etc.), as in the case of masks (see note [57]), and finally the wearer of such a robe was believed to actually become transformed, like the wearers of the werewolf shirt, for example in Germany. Wolves were regarded as good hunters who never fail, Ethn. Rep. 1897-98, I. 280, also p. 264:—The wolf is revered by the Cherokee as hunter and watchdog of Kanáti; therefore we can understand how the wolf disguise, as conferring the quality of unerring huntsmanship, might be in especial favor amongst those who gained their food from the chase. Similarly the singing of songs imitating the cries of certain animals was supposed to confer a characteristic of the animal in question (see note [33]).