It therefore seems quite probable, taking into account the fact that three Siouan (one Winnebago and two Omaha) societies present a shooting feature in their basic rituals, that this ritualistic complex is a general characteristic of this area. To sum up, a shooting ritual has entered into a complex quite different from that existing among the Kwakiutl, Central Algonkin Midewiwin, and in one part of the day ceremony of the Winnebago Medicine Dance. We must therefore conclude that the association of shooting with initiation is merely one of many possible associations, and that the shooting found in the basic complex must be regarded as historically different from the shooting found in the initiation complex.
Returning to the question of shooting as associated with an initiation ritual, it must be granted that it is somewhat improbable that this particular association should have arisen independently among two tribes living in closely contiguous geographical areas. We may therefore assume that the Winnebago either borrowed from the Central Algonkin, or vice versa. All indications point to the former as having been the case.
The shooting, then, as found in the societies discussed, is merely one phase of sympathetic magic. A cultural element common to a very large area has become associated with a special significance and with special ceremonies. For the cultural areas discussed, this association seems to have developed into two types of complexes,—the shooting-initiation complex of the Central Algonkin, and the basic complex of the Omaha and Winnebago.
IV. The Initiation Ritual.—The elements common to the Central Algonkin Midewiwin and to the Winnebago Medicine Dance consist of two parts,—an initiation and a shooting. Of these, the shooting was shown to have been a more or less free element, capable among other tribes of entering into an indefinite number of associations; that, indeed, in the Medicine Dance itself, it had become associated with two different ritualistic complexes. We have already examined the shooting ritual; and we will therefore proceed to examine the initiation ritual, in order to understand its precise significance and its position in the general ceremony and in the complete ceremonial complex of the Medicine Dance.
1. Ojibwa-Menominee.—The simplicity of the organization of the Ojibwa-Menominee Midewiwin impresses one at a glance. Only a small number of individuals take active part. It is similarly impossible to discern any elaborate ritual. A few ritualistic myths are told, some songs sung, speeches delivered, and then preparations are made for the shooting of the novice. The ceremony practically ends as soon as the shooting terminates. In this semi-public performance there is practically only one ritualistic complex, that of the shooting-initiation. The only purpose of this complex seems likewise to be the initiation of an individual into the Midewiwin.
This initiation ritual, we know, is only the terminal element in a long course of instruction which the novice must go through. It is during this instruction that the specific teachings and practices of the Midewiwin are elucidated, and it is then that the symbolism used in the bark records is explained.
These teachings and practices, apart from some ethical teachings of the most general nature, vary with each mide. In each case the novice is taught the mide’s individual songs, his particular tricks and practices, his specific herbs, and the uses to which he puts them. The bond connecting the teaching of the mides is of the loosest nature.
When the instruction is over (and it is over as soon as the novice has exhausted the wealth he expects to spend in each particular case), the novice is ready for initiation. But into what is he really being initiated? It would seem purely into the powers purchased from a certain mide. If this particular mide did not chance to be a member of the Midewiwin, the same or an extremely similar method of transference of personal powers would be gone through. In other words, the novice is being initiated into the status of a mide. If one may speak of any formal initiation here, it consists in giving to the new mide some object which is generally regarded as a symbol of the preceptor’s power. It may be a medicine-pouch, or herbs, or anything, in fact. But is this not precisely what takes place at the initiation into the Midewiwin? There, a person is presented with the “migis” and otter-skin bag, which is symbolical of the powers of a certain type of shaman, the mide.
The Midewiwin, from this point of view, is hardly a society at all. It does, nevertheless, possess some of the essential characteristics of a society: a number of individuals form a rather definite unit, owing to their possessing in common a number of ritualistic myths, a symbol and common status, in the eyes of outsiders.
As a society, the Midewiwin presents no such unit as does the definite organization of the Winnebago Medicine Dance or the Omaha Shell and Pebble Societies. The bond of unity in the Midewiwin lies in the fact that all members are mide. An individual is a mide, however, not by reason of membership in the Midewiwin. The powers that make him a mide have nothing to do with the Midewiwin at all. They are purely personal. The Midewiwin is primarily, then, an association of mide; not of individuals who have become mide because they belong to that society. It is because of this fact that the individuality of the members is so potent a factor, and it is because of this fact that no strong ceremonial unit exists. It is for the same reason that initiation into the society presents, in all its essentials, the picture of a normal transference of individual mide power.