to which each responds hau´, ēn. The word hau´ is a term of approbation, ēn signifying yes, or affirmation, the two thus used together serving to intensify the expression. Those of the Midē´ present who are of the second, or even some higher degree, then indulge in the ceremony of passing around to the eastern part of the inclosure, where they feign coughing and gagging, so as to produce from the mouth the mī´gis shell, as already narrated in connection with the first degree, p. 192.
This manner of thanking the officiating Midē´ for their services in initiating the candidate into a higher degree is extended also to those members of the Midē´wiwin who are of the first degree only, in acknowledgment of the favor of their presence at the ceremony, they being eligible to attend ceremonial rites of any degree higher than the class to which they belong, because such men are neither benefited nor influenced in any way by merely witnessing such initiation, but they must themselves take the principal part in it to receive the favor of a renewed life and to become possessed of higher power and increased magic influence.
Various members of the society indulge in short harangues, recounting personal exploits in the performance of magic and exorcism, to which the auditors respond in terms of gratification and exclamations of approval. During these recitals the ushers, appointed for the purpose, leave the inclosure by the western door to return in a short time with kettles of food prepared for the midē´ feast. The ushers make four circuits of the interior, giving to each person present a quantity of the contents of the several vessels, so that all receive sufficient to gratify their desires. When the last of the food has been consumed, or removed, the midē´ drum is heard, and soon a song is started, in which all who desire join. After the first two or three verses of the song are recited, a short interval of
rest is taken, but when it is resumed dancing begins and is continued to the end. In this manner they indulge in singing and dancing, interspersed with short speeches, until the approach of sunset, when the members retire to their own wig´iwams, leaving the Midē´-wigân by the western egress.
The ushers, assisted by the chief Midē´, then remove the sacred post from the inclosure and arrange the interior for new initiations, either of a lower or higher class, if candidates have prepared and presented themselves. In case there is no further need of meeting again at once, the members of the society and visitors return upon the following day to their respective homes.
[ DESCRIPTIVE NOTES.]
The mī´gis shell employed in the second degree initiation is of the same species as those before mentioned. At White Earth, however, some of the priests claim an additional shell as characteristic of this advanced degree, and insist that this should be as nearly round as possible, having a perforation through it by which it may be secured with a strand or sinew. In the absence of a rounded white shell a bead may be used as a substitute. On [Pl. XI], No. 4, is presented an illustration of the bead (the second-degree mī´gis) presented to me on the occasion of my initiation.
With reference to the style of facial decoration resorted to in this degree nearly all of the members now paint the face according to their own individual tastes, though a few old men still adhere to the traditional method previously described (pp. 180, 181). The candidate usually adopts the style practiced by his preceptor, to which he is officially entitled; but if the preceptor employed in the preparatory instruction for the second degree be not the same individual whose services were retained for the first time, then the candidate has the privilege of painting his face according to the style of the preceding degree. If he follow his last preceptor it is regarded as an exceptional token of respect, and the student is not expected to follow the method in his further advancement.
A Midē´ of the second degree is also governed by his tutelary daimon; e.g., if during the first fast and vision he saw a bear, he now prepares a necklace of bear-claws, which is worn about the neck and crosses the middle of the breast. He now has the power of changing his form into that of a bear; and during that term of his disguise he wreaks vengeance upon his detractors and upon victims for whose destruction he has been liberally rewarded. Immediately upon the accomplishment of such an act he resumes his human form and thus escapes identification and detection. Such persons are termed by many “bad medicine men,” and the practice of thus debasing the sacred teachings of the Midē´wiwin is discountenanced by members of the society generally. Such pretensions are firmly believed in
and acknowledged by the credulous and are practiced by that class of Shamans here designated as the Wâbĕnō´.