The Ojibwa interpretation of the Midewiwin is seen in all its details in the birch-bark records.[9] A mide of the second degree can look into futurity; can hear what is transpiring at a distance; can touch, for good or for evil, friends and enemies at a distance, however remote; and has the ability to traverse all space in the accomplishment of his desires or duties.[10] A bad mide of this degree has the power of assuming the form of any animal. In this guise he may destroy the life of his victim immediately, and then resume his human form and appear innocent of the crime. A “fourth-degree mide” is presumed to be in a position to accomplish the greatest feats in necromancy and magic. He is not only endowed with the power of reading the thoughts and intentions of others, but also of calling forth the shadow (soul) and of retaining it within his grasp at pleasure.
From the above it will be seen that the Midewiwin covered practically all the religious and the shamanistic ideas of the Ojibwa.
C. DESCRIPTION OF THE MENOMINEE MIDEWIWIN
Among the Menominee, initiation generally takes place as a substitution of one individual for one who has died, although any person who gives proof of eligibility is accepted. The former is by far the more common method. Generally a person makes the promise of procuring a substitute for some deceased member, and a favorite relative or dear friend of the deceased may be elected. There are four mide-priests who determine upon the candidacy and appoint an instructor. The instruction the candidate receives is confined to the knowledge of the remedies known to the instructor.[11] Each remedy must be paid for separately. The four mide-priests select two sets of assistants and two ushers, who all play a prominent part in the ceremonies proper.[12]
When a candidate is taking the place of a deceased member, the ceremonies begin at the grave of the latter,[13] and, after a service which lasts from dusk of one day to dawn of the next, all proceed to the Midewiwin lodge. But only the four highest officiating medicine-men enter. After a ritual which consists of chants and speeches of welcome, and the passing of the drum from the first to the other three mide, the other members who are to take an active part enter. A short ritual then takes place, after which the second set of mide enter and another ritual follows. Then the ordinary and visiting mide enter, the former taking seats according to the phratries to which they belong; and the candidate, his nearest relations, and he who had promised to give the feast, enter with them and take seats near the mide of the first group. Finally the third set of mide enter. The seating in the lodge is, candidate, friends, etc., near the eastern end; first four mide, next to them; second set, on northern side near western entrance; and third set of mide, at the middle of the southern side.
The ceremonies begin by calling the candidate forward to stand before the mide of the first group. His family and friends stand around him in a semicircle, dancing in time to the chanting and drumming. One of the mide begins a chant, at the end of which a pause occurs, and the candidate and friends resume their seats. The drum is passed in rotation to the second, third, and fourth mide. As they chant, the candidate, etc., stands before them. The last of the four then chants the origin myth of the Midewiwin. The drum is now passed to the mide who had chanted first. He continues the narration of the ritualistic myths. Drum and gourds are then passed from one mide to the other, and from the first set of mide to the third, until the circuit has been made.
These ceremonies are continued through the night, although only the three sets of mide remain in the lodge all that time. Shortly after sunrise, almost all leave the lodge. When they return, preparations are made for the initiation. The shooting of the candidate is performed by the second set of mide. The candidate, after recovering, makes the circuit of the lodge, shooting whomsoever he desires. The characteristics of this shooting ceremony are practically identical with those of the Winnebago.
D. THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE RITUAL
I. The Common Elements.—The common elements in the foregoing ritualistic complexes are both general and specific in nature. We have, as general, an initiation ritual; and as specific, a shooting ritual. There are in addition, in the Central Algonkin and Winnebago group, other resemblances, such as similarities in the ethical teaching, in the details of the shooting ritual itself, and in the presence of the secret brush ritual. To the above must be added the fact that the songs of the Winnebago ceremonies are to a large extent in some Central Algonkin dialect.
The meaning of these general similarities will be touched upon later. What I wish to insist upon here is, that if the ritualistic complexes are at all to be regarded as identical, this is so by reason of the presence in each of a shooting ritual. This identity is strengthened in each case by the association of this specific shooting ritual with the more general feature of initiation. The most dramatic phase in the main ceremony is this initiation and shooting complex; and it seems, therefore, quite intelligible why the number of similar details thus associated together should have been interpreted as the historically primary and basic elements.