The Doll Being, called by the Unami O‛ʹdas and by the Minsi Naniʹtĭs, has been already mentioned as a minor Lenape deity, and it now remains only to relate the ceremonies and beliefs connected with it, beginning with the myth accounting for its origin.
Myth of Origin
Long ago, the Lenape say, some children, playing with sticks, decided to cut faces upon them, and were then very much surprised to notice that the little dolls which they had thus made seemed to have life. Their parents made them throw the dolls away when they discovered this, and most of the children soon forgot what had happened. One little girl, however, grieved for her doll; it bothered her all the time, and finally she began to dream of it every night. Then she told her parents of her trouble, and they realized that they should not have compelled her to throw the doll away. One night the doll appeared to the child and spoke to her, saying, “Find me and keep me always, and you and your family will ever enjoy good health. You must give me new clothing and hold a dance for me every spring,” and then told her exactly what to do. The girl reported this to her parents, who immediately looked for the doll and found it, then dressed it, made some hominy, killed a deer, and held a dance in its honor as they were instructed, and this rite has been continued to the present day.
Preparations for the Ceremony
When the family owning a doll of this kind is ready to conduct the Doll Dance (O‛ʹdas-kĭʹnĭkä), they select two men to gather firewood and to clean up the dance-ground used every year, and to engage a speaker and two singers, paying each of them with a yard of wampum. The dance-ground is square, similar to that used for the Mĭsiʹngʷ‛ dance, with logs ranged about for seats, in some pleasant place out in the woods. A hunter is then selected, who calls on several to help him get a deer, which, when brought in, is hung on poles prepared for it at the dance-ground, where it remains over night. The next morning they cook the deer and a kettle of hominy, and are then ready for the ceremony.
The Doll Dance
About the middle of the afternoon the speaker rises and addresses the people, telling them the story of the doll’s origin and explaining its function; then he addresses the doll, which has now been fastened on a pole, calling it “grandmother” and notifying it that they are about to hold a dance in its honor, at the same time asking it to insure good health to the family of its owner. When he finishes, the dance leader, who should be a relative of the family owning it, takes the doll on its pole, and then, as the drummers sitting in the center of the dance-ground begin to strike the dry hide stuffed with grass that serves as a drum, and to sing the song of the Doll dance, he commences to dance, circling round the drummers, still carrying the doll, the people falling in behind him, forming two circles, the men inside, next to the drummers, and the women outside. When the leader finishes his “set,” he passes the doll pole to the man behind him, who repeats the process, and so on until the men dancers have carried it six times, when it is transferred to the women, who, in their turn, dance six sets, making twelve in all, the Lenape sacred number.
The twelve sets, or “changes,” lengthen the ceremony far into the night, and this necessitates a large fire to give light. This is built near the center of the dance-ground. Sometimes, if the crowd in attendance is large, two such fires are built. Between the changes the doll pole is stuck into the ground near the fire. When the twelfth set is finished, the speaker announces, “The Doll Dance is over,” and the feast of hominy and venison is served to everyone. Then the speaker says: “If you want to dance the rest of the night, you may do so, for many of you have come a long way from home and should have a chance for more enjoyment. We will hold another Doll Dance next year.” Then they put the doll away and amuse themselves with various social dances until morning.