The Indians say that a cub bear, kept as a pet by a Lenape family long ago, became a great playmate of one of the little sons of the family, but finally grew so large that the child’s parents decided to get rid of it; so they tied a little bag of tobacco around its neck and told it to go away. This it did, but the little boy, its playmate, soon fell ill, and his parents searched in vain for a cure. After a long while one of the Indian doctors told his parents that if they would hold a ceremony of this kind and repeat it every two years, the child would recover and would keep his health. This was done; the boy recovered, and his family, who belong to the Wolf phratry, have continued to practise the rites ever since, believing that it preserves their health.
Preparations.
This ceremony required a special house, which was made new for it every two years, so the first thing the family did, when the time approached, was to find a number of men, each of whom was paid a yard of wampum to cut forks and poles and erect the building. This was made by setting up a frame of poles in the form of a Big House, but smaller, only seven paces wide and fifteen paces long, then covering the top with brush and piling brush at the sides. Then to the east of the house a pole was erected, upon which to hang the meat for the feast, which, in old times, had to be a bear; but when bears became scarce a black hog was substituted, and of late a hog of any color has been used. The building finished, the hog was killed, and, having been hung on the pole over night, was taken into the house the next day, quartered, singed on a fire that had been built inside, then carried out again, cut up, and cooked, all except the loose fat, which was kept for a special purpose, as will appear later. When done, the meat was kept in large baskets, with the exception of the head, which, having been cooked whole, was placed in a large bowl with two of the animal’s ribs in its mouth.
The Rites
When night came, the leader entered the brush house, taking with him a turtle rattle similar to that used in the Annual Ceremony, followed by the men who were to participate (no women being allowed), and then made a speech, telling of the men who had “brought in” this meeting, and explaining its origin, but making no prayers to the Great Spirit or to any of the manĭʹtowŭk, his helpers. He then threw half of the hog-fat upon the fire, and placed a string of wampum around his own neck. At this juncture the cook brought him the hog’s head in its bowl, and then, first announcing, “I am now going to carry the head around,” the leader began to chant and to walk about the house, making false motions to everyone as if to give him the head, then withdrawing it and proceeding to the next. The burden of the chant, the Indians say, was “what his dream helper told him,” very much as in the Big House, but here the people kept time to his chant orally, saying “Hu-hu-hu!” until he stopped. The informant does not know who, if any one, shook the rattle. Probably it was employed by the singers after the burning of the head. After making the circuit twice, the leader hung his string of wampum upon some old man of the Turkey phratry who had a “vision of power,” who took the head and made his rounds in the same way. He finally cut off the ears of the head, pulled the ribs from its mouth, and threw it into the fire, bowl and all. The meat was then distributed to everyone, whereupon the floor was open to any man who wished to sing an account of his vision. A bucket of prepared drink was placed at each end of the house for the refreshment of such singers, but the head, of course, was gone. When the songs were finished, the remainder of the fat, and finally the broth in which the meat had been cooked, were thrown upon the fire, and in conclusion, six women were called in and instructed to go out and give six times the prayer cry, “Ho-o-o!”
Perhaps the following ceremony noted by Zeisberger[57] may have been of this kind:
“A fourth kind of feast is held in honor of a certain voracious spirit, who, according to their opinions, is never satisfied. The guests are, therefore, obliged to eat all the bear’s flesh and drink the melted fat. Though indigestion and vomiting may result they must continue and not leave anything.”
OTTER CEREMONY
Similar to the Bear ceremony in many ways, both in traditional origin and in rites, was the observance called A‛ʹtcigamuʹLtiⁿ, said to mean “compulsory hog-eating,” held to propitiate the Otter spirit, a cult whose paraphernalia the writer was fortunate enough to collect for the Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation.