When a bear has been killed, the families in the neighbourhood assemble at a camp conveniently near. The hunter who has killed the bear becomes the host of the occasion, which is called mα′gwαce·‵ “feast.” Slabs of birch bark are spread upon a clear space of ground to serve as a sort of table. The carcass is then butchered, the head being cut off, including the first vertebra, the long piece of breast fat is also cut off with the head, so that the two remain together. The head with this mass of breast fat is then put into a separate cooking vessel. Then the birch bark slabs, often 12 feet long, forming the cover of some wigwam, are covered with the cut up portions of the meat. Birch bark dishes are placed for each participant on the bark, with extra dishes for the gravy. The grease from the cooking vessels is [[26]]then collected and put into a separate vessel to cool, so that it will be thick enough to drink. When the meat has been boiled properly, all the guests are seated at their places around the bark spread. Often they have a dance around it at this time. Before they begin to eat, the chief goes around to each guest and with a big wooden spoon, holding about a cupful and a half, gives each a spoonful of grease. Then they begin to eat.
When the feast is about half through, the chief gets up and decorates the bear’s head with bright coloured ribbons about six inches long attached to little cedar sticks about four inches long, with their ends split to hold the ribbons. These ribbon streamers are stuck into the fat and about the head. Then the head itself is impaled on a stick and, carrying this in his hand, the chief dances twice around the company, singing a tune to a burden of syllables. After this performance the chief plants the stick with the head upon it in the middle of the spread before all the guests, where it is left. Then they finish eating.
After the feast the oldest and most venerable man in the camp is presented with the head and the attached breast fat, which he may either take home or distribute over again to the company. After the feast is over the chief must go around and consume what grease is left. This is to demonstrate his capacity as a man and hearty eater. After all is over, the lower jaw bone is tied to the skull in its proper position and black stripes are painted on the skull. This is then put on the stub end of a branch of a tree facing from some prominent point toward the river or lake, near the water’s edge. Here it can be seen by passers by as a reminder of the place and occasion of the bear feast.
The Indians themselves can give little comment on the meaning or reason of this ceremony, except that it is done from respect to the bear and satisfaction in securing a bountiful supply of meat. It belongs to the variously expressed series of bear rites widespread among the northern tribes.
(16) Legend of Iroquois Falls.
Once long ago a war party of Iroquois came north into this country to fight the Indians at Abitibi. On the way they captured an old woman and took her with them to guide them. [[27]]When they were on Abitibi river they drew near the big falls there without knowing it. The old woman was made to stay in the first canoe. When she knew they were nearing the falls she slowed up so that the flotilla of canoes became bunched. The approach to the falls is very much concealed. All of a sudden they found themselves upon the brink of the falls, and before they could help themselves they all went over. The old woman was lost with the rest in saving her people from being massacred by the Iroquois.[9] [[28]]
[1] This band is known locally as Ki·we·′gomani‵cəna‵bi “Turn back lake Indians.” Their rendezvous was at Fort William. Their range extended around Lake Dumoine and down Dumoine river to the Ottawa river. [↑]
[2] Cf. A. B. Skinner, Notes on the Eastern Cree and Northern Saulteaux, Anth. Papers of Amer. Mus. of Nat. Hist., N.Y., vol. IX, pt. i, 1911. [↑]
[3] Ciŋgəbis is the grebe, a well known character in Ojibwa mythology, sharing the trickster exploits of Wiske·djak. He appears again as the quasi-hero of a subsequent story in this cycle. [↑]