Waukesha High School - Megaphone Yearbook (Waukesha, WI)

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the places of their resort and the mountains and valleys alike their abode. To them the wind was the breath of some great person and the lightning the wink- ing of his eye. There is an amusing story told concerning this belief in the in- visible spirits. ln California a trader sent an lndian with four loaves of bread and a note to a nearby white man. On the way the lndian ate two loaves of the bread. He was promptly whipped by the white man when he only received two loaves of bread. Later this same lndian was again sent on the same errand with four loaves of bread and a note. But this time the lndian was wise. Before he ate the bread he hid the note behind a rock where the tattling spirit of the note couldn't watch him eat the bread. Theologians have a name for that type of religion which gives every object an individual spirit. They call it animism. To the American lndian religion was neither sublime nor exalted. lt was rather a pragmatic arrangement by means of which he could, if he used the proper methods, obtain success and long life for himself. One method of insuring spiritual aid was to find and adopt a personal supernatural helper. At the age of adolescence each youth had to seek his indi- vidual spirit. Before going into communion with all the spirits he purged his body of all uncleanliness by means of the vapor-bath Qcalled eneepee and cathar- ticsj. Then stripped to a beech-clout he went to some secluded spot in the wilder- ness. Here he fasted and prayed about three days until weakened by hunger and exposure he was in a fit condition to receive those hallucinations which he con- sidered the real and visible appearance of his guardian spirit. lf he dreamed of a turtle then he believed the spirit of the turtle was his divine protector and, be- cause as he reasoned, like affects like, this spirit would also aid and favor him. Usually the youth was given certain privileges and obligations. The favorite privilege was immunity from the arrows of the enemy in war. The obligations varied from such simple tasks as repeating certain orisons at each meal to the severe impost of completely abstaining from the flesh of some important food an- is fs .ig jig e, - , , , Chief Goes- 'fv ' ' H Ahead and his 1 3 27' N' ,il .-'Y' i ,f 55 Squaw sitting in with their tepee l 5 3 111- F home. Hanging P ' ' ' 14 above his head A 5 ' are his medicine- ' bag and War bonnet. Chief Y Goes-Ahead re- Nx C gig fused to let any- -LE'-! one examine S I such a personal Q thing as his BB X rl V medicine - b a g, fi ,. , fn ' . s nhiin' but it probably , .f . A -' ' V .. contains bits of wilt i' 1'..'nS-V hair and bone Q Zlf.-fegggtgfq I symbolizing his .aug K ma . guardian spirit. Page One Hundred Seventeen

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Generosity was a much esteemed virtue. There is a legend to illustrate this. In the Omaha tribe the highest military honor was awarded for getting near enough to the enemy to touch an enemy body with any object in hand. At this time the Omahas were at war with another tribe, and two valorous young men were about to obtain their honors by striking the body of a slain enemy with their lances. when one beheld a feeble old warrior of their tribe who had won many honors in his time. but was now too feeble to fight. The young man who saw the old warrior. Yellow-wood Bow, held back and said to his comrade, I-Iold! Yellow-wood Bow is coming! So the young men gave their opportunity of winning honors to this old man. that he might have one more chance to gain an honor. The generosity of these two young men is praised in the song, I-Iold! Yellow-wood Bow is Coming! To conceal his emotions. endure torture unflinchingly, and hold himself bravely upon all occasions were virtues the Indian was taught from childhood. Gambling was considered an excellent pastime because it gave him an oppor- tunity to display his fortitude. especially if he lost everything he possessed. In all. the Indian was a strong person. in body and in character, for he kept close to nature, and was naturally influenced by her wholesome, unspoiled charm and beauty. The basis of his virtue seemed to be his reverence and regard for nature. This Winnebago saying seems to sum it up very well: Reverence the Unseen Forces that are always near you and always trying to lead you right. VVV Indian Religion CLARENCE MOYLAN Only as much as a race has need for the consolation of hope, because of ad- verse circumstances, will it burden itself with an elaborate system of worship. For when the meek do not inherit the earth they can easily find comfort in the soothing illusion of poetry or the sustaining faith of religion, Typical examples of this are the imaginative Celts and poetic Jews. The American Indian. who was practical enough and sufliciently indepen- dent to be moderately successful and comfortable as a race had no great need for religion. I-Iis religion therefore was simple and not very strict. Unlike the Christians, he had no conception of an omnipresent, omniscient and omnipotent God, Creator of all things. In other words, the Great Spirit of the Indian, which has become familiar to all of us, is nothing but a false creation of some white man. The Indian never thought of a Great Spirit until the white man gave him one: instead he believed that everything in the world from the fish in the stream to the tree on the mountainside has an invisible spirit of its own. To quote the words of one writer, A'The skies were filled with the dieties they worshipped and the whole forest awakened with their whispers. The lakes and streams were Page One Hundred Sixteen

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Mrs. Grove Harkness and her friend Dr. XVm. A. Petzoldt. Baptist Mis- 6X sionarv, on the Crow In- dian Reservation going up the Big Horn Mountains on Xlrs. Harkncss's honey- moon. in 1016. Dr. Harkness is out of the picture because he holds the camera. Mrs. Hark- ness is chairman of the English Department, and xvell-known in Southern Nkisconsin for her work in English. imal, such as the deer or buffalo. It Wasn't enough though that an Indian would come back from his ordeal and say that he had found a divine spirit who had granted him success. I-Ie had to establish the potency of his vision by success- fully engaging in some dangerous enterprise such as stealing the horses of a neigh- boring tribe or administering the coup-de-grace to an enemy in battle. Several Indian religious practices suggest Christian practices. Whenever Christians want something very much, they appeal for aid by means of offertories and vows. These vows usually involve fasting, abstention from pleasure, and other forms of self-denial. In a similar manner, the Indian makes a vow only when in danger of death. Then he promises the Sun God to do the Sun Dance if the Sun God will avert destruction. If the Indian escapes he fulfills his vow by doing the Sun Dance the next summer. To show that he personally did not fear death but only asked for life for the sake of his loved one, he inilicts severe torture upon his body. He does this by passing tongs, hanging from a high pole, through slits cut in his chest and back and tying these in such a manner that he can get loose only by breaking the flesh. Then he dances around the pole for a day or two until he faints from exhaustion or manages to tear himself free from the tongs. The In- dian forgets to consider it as a dance of thanksgiving and uses it more as an op- portunity to display his fortitude before the assembled tribesmen. Page One Hundred Eighteen