Together with the magic specifically associated with the shell, the members exercised individual magic; as, for example, killing a horse because its owner had offended him, or killing another member by magically having a snake hidden near the place where the other was accustomed to work. These instances of the exercise of magic must not, however, be considered as specific of the society.
In addition to the association of the Shell Society with magic in its more general aspect, and also in its application to some specific object, we find it associated with general shamanistic practices, with conceptions relating to life after death, and with a magical ceremony for punishing offenders. The shamanistic practices have been dwelt on before. All that can be said about the connection of the society with ceremonies performed upon the death of a member is, that the deceased is carried to a tent in which the regular ceremonial is gone through.[25] Whether this ceremony has any definite connection with ideas relating to the journey of the soul to the future world, is not known.
By far the most interesting ceremony associated with the Shell Society is that for punishing offenders.[26] The main purpose seems to be the punishment of an individual “in order to keep the people in order and check crime, such as molesting wives or daughters and destroying property and so causing mischief in the tribe.” This was effected through a sacred figure supposed to represent the society.... “The arms contained poisons for punishment, and the leg the magic shells which made it possible to administer this punishment.... When a man committed an offence that seemed to demand punishment, the society met at night, and if it had determined to punish the man, then this figure was brought out.”[27] Now, it must be borne in mind that there is here no suggestion of any legal procedure, but merely, as we shall see, an application of the magical powers of the society to a very specific social purpose. Punishment consisted in causing the offender to become sick through the application of poison to a figure supposed to symbolize him, which is drawn on the earth. This figure was subsequently shot at. When the ceremony was over, the leaders waited until they had been informed that the offender had become sick, when they assembled in a tent and sang until the man died.
In this ceremony we have again a shamanistic practice which was probably exercised by many members of the tribe, associated in one of the societies with a definite and specific function. But this specific function, plus the other traits that have been enumerated as characteristic of the society, go to make up a complex that is looked upon as a definite unit.
4. Pebble Society.—The remarks made on the purpose of the Shell Society are, generally speaking, applicable to the Pebble Society. Instead of being attached to a shell, the magical powers are here attached to a translucent pebble. The possibility for a greater variability in the nature of the powers obtained was given by the fact that all those who had had a vision of water, or its representative, the pebble or the water-spirit, could become members. The water-spirit was always associated with the granting of knowledge relating to medicinal herbs and the power of healing sickness generally; and we find in the society, consequently, a large preponderance of individuals with such powers. The association between these powers and some definite object, in this case the pebble, is not as intimate as that found to exist between corresponding powers and a similar object in the Shell Society; in other words, the shaman, as an individual, is more prominent.
The most important association of the society is that connected with the curing of disease. It would be erroneous to consider this function as a secondary association, as it is conditioned by the fact that the visions from the water-spirit would necessarily be connected with “the powers” relating to medicinal herbs and their healing virtues.
5. Medicine Dance.—The Medicine Dance, looked upon in its entirety, is composed of a long course of preparation (now discontinued), the Four Nights’ Preparation, the sweat-bath ceremony, the night and the day divisions of the general ceremony, and the secret brush ceremony. These ceremonies have all become amalgamated into a more or less firm unit, whose individual characteristics we have touched upon before.
The society is known in Winnebago as Mañkan′ni, the word mañkan′, meaning “medicine” in its medicinal aspect, as opposed to wasê′, meaning “medicine” in its magical aspect. As far as can be seen from a detailed study of the rituals, no prominence seems, however, to be given to the therapeutic or herbalist aspect. There are, it is true, medicines for general therapeutic practice and for hunting, fishing, love, and especially for “bad” purposes. But in the ceremony as given to-day, and as described by those well versed in the ritual of the society, these medicines find no place.
There is, however, a very persistent exoteric interpretation of the Medicine Dance, according to which the members are regarded primarily as powerful shamans concerned preferably with the practice of “bad” magic. In this practice they are greatly aided by the fact that their membership in the society increases their magical powers, especially that connected with the ability to transform themselves into all kinds of animate and inanimate objects for the furtherance of their evil designs. The most feared shamans—those who are distinguished from all others by the possession of the iron moccasins (manzua′gudjê)—belonged to this society. This exoteric interpretation does not, however, seem to tally with the designation mankan′ni. Personally I think this term is a popular one, and has no real significance as a characterization of the functions of the society, at least to-day. This exoteric interpretation is in all probability true to a certain extent. It would, however, be essential to determine whether these shamanistic powers are characteristic of members as individuals, and only secondarily connected with them as members of the society, before we can properly understand their significance. That membership was connected in any way with an increase of shamanistic powers, is certainly improbable. These powers are unquestionably identical with the general shamanistic and magical practices mentioned previously in the Shell and Pebble Societies.
In other words, the general shamanistic and magical beliefs of the tribe are found present in this society, as they are found in other societies.