Historically I do not doubt that it really is such a transference. As the idea of the Midewiwin as a ceremonial unit developed more definitely, the individual transference of the individual mide power may have become associated with initiation into the Midewiwin itself. It is perfectly natural, when all the mide became members of the Midewiwin, that the transference of power should not have been thought of apart from the society to which the mide belonged. It thus followed that obtaining knowledge from a mide would be synonymous with joining the Midewiwin.
As the Midewiwin grew in popularity, and as all the mide and a majority of the other members of the tribe joined it, there came to be associated with it certain specific benefits, that had in themselves nothing at all to do with the mide, but which were generally characteristic of Central Algonkin culture. The association of these specific benefits played necessarily an important part in the history of the society, because it meant that an individual, in joining the society, obtained much more than certain mide powers. He obtained, in fact, all the mide powers, plus those specific benefits which membership in the Midewiwin now brought with it. Through the transference of the objects symbolical of the mide’s power,—“the migis” and the otter-skin bag,—shooting now initiated him not only into the status of a mide, but also into that of a member of a society with an esoteric ritual. The shooting itself no longer bore the impress of a general shamanistic practice, but stood as a symbol of initiation into a society. At the transference of individual shamanistic power, shooting did not occur. It must consequently have become associated with initiation when the loose union of the mide developed into a more or less definite society.
Summing up briefly, we may be justified in saying that the initiation ritual of the Ojibwa-Menominee Midewiwin is a transference of individual power as found among the individual mide, modified by the addition of another element, the shooting-incident. The initiation can in no way be regarded as necessarily associated with shooting, but this association will have to be regarded as simply a characteristic of the Central Algonkin Midewiwin. In other words, just as “shooting” may enter into an indefinite number of associations, conditioned by the cultural individuality of an area, so initiation may similarly enter into an indefinite number of combinations.
2. Shell Society.—In the Shell Society of the Omaha there is no specific initiation ceremony. According to the origin legend, an animal appears to a family consisting of father, mother, and four children, and helps them to obtain food. They, in order to show their gratitude, offer him their children. The children are subsequently shot and killed. As they lie on the shore of a lake, four tremendous waves sweep them away. They afterwards emerge from the midst of the lake, and assure their parents that, although they are dead, they are quite content, and they would advise them to put off their mourning, return to their own tribe, and form a society. They could obtain new members by selling to other people the powers they had obtained. The shooting that occurs in the ceremony proper, and which is interpreted by the Omaha as a dramatic representation of the shooting of the four children, has nothing to do with initiation into the society. Initiation consists entirely in the transference of certain knowledge and symbols by one of the owners of the society to any individual who is considered eligible, and who has paid the requisite price.
As a matter of fact, only members are shot. The shooting, whatever may have been its original significance, is here but one element in an intricate ritualistic complex similar to the basic ritual of the Winnebago Medicine Dance. Its purpose seems to be exclusively that of “strengthening” the powers of the members.
Anything approaching the dramatic initiation into the Midewiwin does not exist. Admission into the society is in no way connected with the shooting ritual, although the shooting ritual is actually found in the society.
3. Pebble Society.—The nature of initiation into the Pebble Society is not definitely known. As membership, however, depends upon supernatural communications from the same animal, it probably is the same as that found among other Omaha societies of the same kind. Initiation would thus consist in the obtaining of the supernatural communication itself. Every person who has had a supernatural communication with a spirit—in this particular case, the water spirit—is eligible for membership into the society. Shooting is found, but it is in no way connected with admission or initiation into the society. It has, it would seem, practically the same significance as in the Shell Society.
4. Medicine Dance.—In the Winnebago Medicine Dance, membership does not depend upon supernatural communication of any kind, but must be purchased from the leader of one of the five bands. A long preparation is necessary, lasting in olden times as long as four years. The individual is then initiated into certain of the teachings of the society. It makes no difference into which of the five bands he is initiated. The knowledge he obtains will, to all intents and purposes, be the same, excluding certain songs. This does not mean, of course, that there may not be information belonging to the member as an individual, which is taught to the novice; but it is understood that any powers belonging specifically to an individual, and which the novice wishes to purchase, have primarily no connection with the society. As every leader is likely to be a prominent shaman as well as a member of the Medicine Dance, it would be quite impossible to draw a hard and fast line between what belongs specifically to him as a shaman, and what belongs to him as a member of the Medicine Dance. However, it is generally understood that a leader is initiating an individual into those powers that are the special property of the society.
As among the Ojibwa-Menominee, initiation is accompanied by a formal transfer of a “shell” and of an otter-skin bag. Externally the general ceremony of the Medicine Dance might consequently be regarded as similar to the semi-public ceremony of the Midewiwin. There are two features, however, which stand out prominently in the general ceremony of the former, which must be explained before we can accept this external similarity as real. They are, first, the peculiar position of the initiation ritual of the general ceremony; and, secondly, the presence of another ritual, the basic ritual, and the importance it assumes.
Precisely the same ritual that we found among the Ojibwa-Menominee—the initiation-shooting complex; that is, initiation associated with shooting, the transference of the otter-skin bag and of a shell, plus a number of incidental elements—occurs in the general ceremony. This complex intervenes between the performance of the basic ritual by the North and West Bands. There is absolutely nothing in the basic ritual preceding or following the initiation that could possibly be interpreted as a preparation for the latter. As it is found there, the initiation seems quite out of place, and conveys forcibly the impression of being intrusive. The general ceremony is by no means terminated when initiation is over; but the West Band continues with its performance of the basic ritual as though there had been no interruption, even though the interval between North’s and West’s performance of the basic ritual generally lasts a number of hours. The initiation ritual is, on the whole, treated as an incidental feature. It can certainly not be the main or most important ritual of the general ceremony. As a matter of fact, it occurs only in the day ritual of that ceremony. In the night ritual it is absent. A ritual of which shooting is one of the essential features occurs in the latter, but, as we shall see later, this has nothing to do with the initiation.