Team Coaching Toolkit 55 Tools and

Techniques for Building Brilliant Teams

The Tony Llewellyn
Go to download the full and correct content document:
https://ebookgrade.com/product/team-coaching-toolkit-55-tools-and-techniques-for-bu
ilding-brilliant-teams-the-tony-llewellyn/
More products digital (pdf, epub, mobi) instant
download maybe you interests ...

Cybersecurity Blue Team Toolkit 1119552931

https://ebookgrade.com/product/cybersecurity-blue-team-
toolkit-1119552931/

ebookgrade.com

Exploring BeagleBone Tools and Techniques for Building

with Embedded Linux 2nd Edition 1119533163

https://ebookgrade.com/product/exploring-beaglebone-tools-and-
techniques-for-building-with-embedded-linux-2nd-edition-1119533163/

ebookgrade.com

Building the Team Organization Wei Zhi

https://ebookgrade.com/product/building-the-team-organization-wei-zhi/

ebookgrade.com

Managing the Unmanageable Rules Tools and Insights for

Managing Software People and Teams

https://ebookgrade.com/product/managing-the-unmanageable-rules-tools-
and-insights-for-managing-software-people-and-teams/

ebookgrade.com
Leadership Team Coaching in Practice Case Studies on
Developing High Performing Teams 2nd by Peter Hawkins Wei
Zhi
https://ebookgrade.com/product/leadership-team-coaching-in-practice-
case-studies-on-developing-high-performing-teams-2nd-by-peter-hawkins-
wei-zhi/
ebookgrade.com

Quantitative Risk Management Concepts Techniques and Tools

Concepts Techniques and Tools

https://ebookgrade.com/product/quantitative-risk-management-concepts-
techniques-and-tools-concepts-techniques-and-tools/

ebookgrade.com

Coaching Across Cultures New Tools for Leveraging National

Corporate and Professional Differences

https://ebookgrade.com/product/coaching-across-cultures-new-tools-for-
leveraging-national-corporate-and-professional-differences/

ebookgrade.com

Team Sports Training 10 (Routledge Research in Sports

Coaching)

https://ebookgrade.com/product/team-sports-training-10-routledge-
research-in-sports-coaching/

ebookgrade.com
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
 At the June ceremony fresh strawberries were made into a drink
for the people, which reminds one of the Iroquois Strawberry Dance,
or Dance of First Fruits, as it is sometimes called. Strawberries were
dried at this time to make a drink for the Winter Ceremony.

ARRANGEMENT OF THE BIG HOUSE

Fig. 14.—Drum of dried deerskin, Minsi type. E. T. Tefft collection,

American Museum of Natural History. (Length 16.7 in.)
 Fig. 15.—a,
Drumstick, Minsi
type; b, Prayerstick.
E. T. Tefft collection,
American Museum of
Natural History.
(Length of a, 19 in.)
 Like the Unami Big House, that of the Minsi had a large central
post bearing carved faces; but, unlike that of the Unami, there was a
second short post, near the central one, upon which was hung, for
each ceremony, a raw fresh deerskin with the head and horns at the
top. This feature, however, corresponds with the second form of the
Annual Ceremony noted among the Lenape in Oklahoma and also
recorded by Zeisberger in Pennsylvania. Near this central post the
singers sat, and beat with four carved sticks upon a dry deerhide
folded into a square, in lieu of a drum (fig. 14), differing from the
Unami form, which is a rolled dry deerskin upon which are tied
several slats of wood (fig. 8). The drumsticks are flat, resembling
those of the Unami, as each bears a face carved upon one side, but
differ from them in the form of the forked end, and in width. Some,
it is said, represented women, the breasts being indicated as among
the Unami, but this feature does not appear in the set collected by
the writer at Grand River reserve (fig. 15, a), which the Indians said
were representative of the Minsi type.
There were two poles laid along on each side from end to end of
the Big House to divide the dancing place in the center from the
sitting places on the side, which were covered with a special kind of
leaves. Along these poles twelve little sumach sticks (fig. 15, b),
peeled and painted, were laid for twelve people to hold in their
hands, and tap on the poles in time to the music. There were also
provided a turtle rattle, which was placed at the foot of the central
pole; a fire-drill which Nellis Timothy thinks was worked on the
“pump-drill” principle, like that of the Unami, and a lot of entirely
new and unused bowls and spoons of bark. Unlike the Unami
custom, both doors of the Big House were used, the people always
going in at the east door and coming out at the west, and here also
(like the Unami) the ashes were carried out. “The Sun and
everything else goes toward the west,” say the Minsi, in explanation,
“even the dead when they die.”

PRELIMINARIES
 The first act remembered by the informants preparatory to holding
a meeting was to send to each man in the tribe who had been
blessed by a “vision of power,” a little stick which represented an
invitation to the ceremony, the time of which the messenger gave
out, before which date the people leaving their scattered homes
gathered and camped about the Big House. Meanwhile hunters were
sent out, appointed before, not during the meeting as among the
Unami, to bring in for the Winter Ceremony, if possible, exactly
twelve deer, which were cooked by four young men who served as
attendants in a small separate house, built for the purpose.
Fire.—The fire was made with a fire-drill by a group of old men for
use in the Big House, but, as among the Unami, none of it could be
taken outside during the ceremony.
Purification.—When the two fires had been built, but before the
crowd had gathered, the house was purified by the smoke of
hemlock boughs thrown on the flames, and by sweeping the floor
with turkey-wing fans, which cleared away both dirt and evil
influences.

OPENING OF THE CEREMONY

Chief’s Speech.—The next step was for the attendants to call in all
the people from their camps except the women in their menses who
were not allowed to enter. When all were seated, the speaker rose
and addressed those assembled in terms like the following:
“We are now gathered here, our house is purified and clean, and
Pa'ʹtŭmawas is with us, ready to hear our worship. We must thank
Him for all the things that we enjoy, for He made them every one.”
Then he proceeded to tell the people not to drink liquor, nor to do
anything wrong in the Big House or in the camp about it, and
advised them to be always honest and kind and hospitable. He held
virtue as something to be followed, at the same time condemning
evil, every vice that he could think of being mentioned.
 The chief then gave thanks for everything he could remember,
from the heavenly bodies to the animals, trees, and herbs of the
earth, not forgetting corn, beans, and squashes; and prayer for
successful hunting and good health for all the people. At the
summer meeting he prayed for good crops also. When he had
finished, bear’s fat was thrown on the two fires, and the smoke rose
and filled the place with its odor.

CEREMONIAL DRINK
At this point it was customary to pass around a vessel of drink
made of crushed wild strawberries, from which each person present
swallowed about a spoonful, a drink made at the Summer Ceremony
of fresh fruit, but in winter necessarily of berries dried for the
purpose.

RECITAL OF VISIONS
The first man to relate his vision (my informant did not remember
whether he was the one who “brought in” the meeting or not) took
up the turtle rattle from its place at the foot of the post and began
to shake it rapidly, while the singers struck the drum of dry hide. He
then recited the story of his vision of power, still keeping the rattle
shaking, following this with his dance song, at the same time
dancing and rattling the turtleshell.
Any one who wished to dance was supposed to give wampum to
the vision-teller for the privilege. Some who were well off would give
him an entire string, others merely a few beads. These the vision-
teller would take, when he had quite a handful, to two officers who
sat in a corner of the building, whose duty it was to count the
wampum, after which it was kept by the chief or leader. Sometimes
if a poor person who had no wampum wished to dance, they would
give him some to pay the vision-teller.
 A translated example of a Minsi vision chant and dance song has
already been given. When the dream-teller finished the first verse of
his dance song, he exclaimed, “E-ye-he-ye-ĕ!” whereupon the
singers took up the strain and sang the verse several times, for the
benefit of those who wished to dance, omitting, however, the final
exclamation, but those who had bought the privilege rose and
danced where they stood, instead of circling around, as among the
Unami. Each “set” ended with a whoop, “kwi!”.
When the vision-teller finished dancing, he went around the house
and shook hands with everyone; then the turtle rattle was passed to
another man who had been blessed with a vision, and so on, until all
those qualified, who wished to recite their visions, had done so.

OTHER FEATURES
The Prayer Cry.—From time to time during the night the prayer cry
“Ho-o-o!” was repeated twelve times, and the twelfth cry, they say,
was heard by the Great Manĭʹto.
Feast.—The people were accustomed to eat a light supper before
going into the meeting; then about midnight the four attendants
carried around baskets with boiled meat and corn bread, and in the
morning, before leaving the Big House, a regular feast of venison
was served in new bark bowls and eaten with new bark spoons
especially made for the purpose.
Final Address.—Before the meeting closed, the speaker again
addressed the people, telling them to do right, and prayed that the
hunters about to leave for the winter hunt might be successful, and
that all might live to meet again.

CONCLUSION OF RITES
In the morning after the ceremonies in the Big House were
finished, the people filed out through the west door, circled about
the building, and lined up, facing eastward, to the east of it. Then
they raised their hands and cried “Ho-o-o!” twelve times, and the
twelfth time, it is said, their cry reached Heaven.
In comparing this form of the Annual Ceremony with that of the
Oklahoma Lenape the most noticeable difference is that here no
masked impersonator of Mĭsinghâliʹkŭn was seen in or about the Big
House, the Masks among the Minsi, as with the Iroquois,
constituting a society with its own separate rites.

GRAND RIVER VERSION

Such was the version of the great ceremonies given the writer by
the Minsi of Munceytown, Ontario, which is similar to, but more
detailed in parts than, the account previously obtained from the
Delawares of Grand River reserve, published by the writer in the
American Anthropologist[50] which we will reproduce here. It will be
noticed that this description gives fuller information in some places
where the first is deficient; so that between this and the preceding
account, a good general idea of the Minsi form of the ceremony can
be reconstructed. It reads:
“In the old religious ceremonies of the Delawares at Grand River a
very peculiar drum was used, a dry skin folded in rectangular form
and beaten with four sticks, each bearing a tiny human head carved
in relief (fig. 15, a). I secured the set of four original sticks from
Michael Anthony (Na'nkŭmaʹoxa), and employed him to make me a
reproduction of the drum (fig. 14) as the original had been
destroyed. This he did, and in addition made six painted sticks (fig.
15, b) also used in the ceremony. The description of how these
articles were used, pieced together from several Indian accounts,
may prove of interest here.
“It appears that the Delawares of Six Nations Reserve formerly
held what was known as a ‘General Thanksgiving’ ceremony called in
Lenape Gitctlaʹkan, twice a year, once in the spring and again in the
fall. At these times it was customary to meet in the Cayuga long-
house, borrowed for the occasion. At a certain point in the
proceedings (I shall not attempt a consecutive description from
hearsay testimony) a man stood up and recited, in a rythmical sing-
song tone, his dream—the vision of power seen by him in his youth.
Na'nkŭmaʹoxa remembered how one old man was accustomed to tell
about a duck, half black and half white, which had appeared to him.
Between the verses of the dream four musicians kneeling at the
drum (pw'awaheʹgŭn) began a plaintive song, beating time with the
carved sticks (pw'awaheʹgŭnŭk). As they sang, the reciter swayed
his body to and fro, while a group of dancers gathered on the floor
behind him danced with a sidewise step. Before the ceremony, poles
were laid lengthwise along both sides of the council house, and
against these, at intervals, three on a side, the painted sticks, called
mkäähiʹgŭn, were laid. If anyone in the crowd felt ‘especially happy’
he was privileged to strike with one of these sticks upon one of the
poles in time to the music. The carved heads on the drumsticks
meant that human beings were giving thanks; the lengthwise
painting of the sticks, half black and half red, implied that men and
women were together in thanksgiving, the black representing the
warriors, the red the women. The fork at the striking end of the
sticks was to give a sharper sound. The dyes for producing the
colors were made by boiling bark, the black being soft maple
(sexiʹkiminsi), and the red, red alder bark (witoʹ'pi).
“In another part of the same ceremony wampum was used in the
form of strings and bunches, both of which were represented in my
collection from the Delawares. At least thirteen of the strings were
used, each one made different by different combinations of the
white and purple beads. These thirteen, it is said, represented
respectively (1) Earth; (2) Plants; (3) Streams and Waters; (4) Corn,
Beans, and Vegetables; (5) Wild Birds and Beasts; (6) Winds; (7)
Sun; (8) Moon; (9) Sky; (10) Stars; (11) Thunder and Rain; (12)
Spirits; and (13) Great Spirit. At the ceremony these strings were
laid upon a bench before a speaker, who picked them up one by one
as he made his address, each string reminding him of one part of his
speech. He began, my informant told me, by explaining that the
Great Spirit had made all things—the earth, plants, streams, and
waters—everything. Having thus enumerated all the things
represented by the wampum, he proceeded to speak to each of the
remaining twelve directly, holding the appropriate string in his hand.
Thus he gave thanks to the Earth for the benefits it gives to man,
and prayed that its blessings might continue; then thanked in the
same way the Plants, the Streams and Waters, the Winds; the Corn,
Beans, and Vegetables—each one in turn. As he finished each string
he handed it to an attendant, who laid it aside. When his long
speech or prayer was finished, he announced, ‘We will now enjoy
ourselves,’ and selected a man to distribute little bunches of
wampum, three beads in each, which served as invitations to join in
the dancing that followed. These bunches were delivered only to a
certain number of those known to be ‘sober and honest’ among the
crowd in the long-house. If any person wishing to dance failed to get
invitation wampum, it was his privilege to ask for one of the
bunches, which was given him if he was considered qualified. The
first man receiving wampum arose first; then the others, until the
dancers were all on the floor. It is said that this dance, which
sometimes lasted all night, did not circle around like most of the
Iroquois dances, but each performer remained in about the same
spot.
“I was told that in this dance a small rattle without a handle and
made of turtleshell was used, probably like the box-turtle rattle still
used in the annual Planting Dance by the Seneca and Cayuga.”

WAUBUNO’S VERSION
The only extended account in print, known to the writer, of the
great ceremonies of the Minsi, beside his own, quoted above, is that
furnished by John Wampum, known as Chief Waubuno,[51] which
reads as follows:
 “They kept annual feasts:—... a feast of first fruits which
they do not permit themselves to taste until they have made
an offering of them to the manitu-oo-al, or gods; ... There is
one of the greatest sacrifice offerings of our forefathers every
six months for cleansing themselves from sin; they will have
twelve deers to be consumed in one day and night. At the
great feast of the offerings of the first fruits of the earth,
which feast the Delawares or Munceys hold annually, they
brought a little of all that they raised, such as Indian corn, or
hweisk-queem, potatoes, beans, pumpkins, squashes,
together with the deer. The Indian women were busily
engaged in cooking their provisions, previous to the
commencement of their exercises. They invited all strangers
into a long pagan temple prepared for such purposes, there is
a door at each end—one opening to the east, and one
opening to the west. On entering, they with all the Indians
were seated on the ground around two fires; in the center of
the temple was a large post, around which was suspended a
number of deer skins, and wampum is kept buried at the foot
of this post. Near the post sat two Indian singers, each with a
large bundle of undressed deer skins which served as drums.
There were two young men appointed to watch the doors and
keep the fires burning, the doors being closed. Each of the
young men brought an armful of hemlock boughs, which
being thrown on the fires smothered them and caused a
great smoke. In order that the smoke might fill every corner
of the temple, each man waved his blanket over the fire; this
was done with the idea of purifying the temple and driving
out the evil spirits. After the smoke had subsided, the master
of ceremonies, an old chief, rose and began to rattle a turtle
shell he had in his hand. He delivered a speech to the people
telling them the object of the meeting was to thank the great
spirit for the growth and ripening of the corn. When he
finished his speech he began to dance, sing and rattle the
shell, the two singers joining in, beating on their skins. When
he took his seat he handed the shell to the next person, who
performed in the same way, thus it went from one to the
other all night. The purport of their speeches was to recount
the mercies of the Great Spirit to them during the past year,
and telling any remarkable dreams that they had had. In the
course of the night a number of them went out the west door,
making a wailing noise to the moon, and came in again the
east door. In the morning the meat and soup were divided
amongst the people.
“These feasts often lasted twelve days and twelve nights,
and the Indians call it nee-shaw-neechk-togho-quanoo-maun,
or ween-da-much-teen. No drinking or improper conduct is
allowed. The utmost solemnity prevails.”
 CHAPTER VII
The Mĭsiʹngʷ' or Mask
The Minsi version of the myth explaining the origin of their great
ceremonies has been already related, but not that of the Unami, for
the latter, which concerns itself with the origin of the Unami rites as
now practised, is so intimately interwoven with the story of the
Mĭsiʹngʷ', or mask (fig. 1), that it was thought best to place it in the
chapter devoted to that curious being, with whose position in the
Lenape pantheon, recorded history, and activities in the Annual
Ceremony, we have already become acquainted.
The myth is therefore presented herewith, as related by Chief
Charley Elkhair, the Lenape master of ceremonies, with only such
additions as later questioning brought forth.

ORIGIN OF THE MASK, AND OF THE BIG

HOUSE
This is the way the Lenape found out that there is a living
Mĭsinghâliʹkŭn above us. Many years ago, when the Delawares lived
in the East, there were three boys who were not treated very well.
Their relatives did not take care of them, and it seemed as if it made
no difference whether the children died or not. These boys were out
in the woods thinking about their troubles, when they saw the
Mĭsinghâliʹkŭn or Living Solid Face. He came and spoke to them, and
gave them strength so that nothing could hurt them again. To one of
these boys he said, “You come along with me and I will show you
the country I come from.” So he took the boy up in the air to the
place whence he came, which is rocky mountains above us, reaching
out from the north and extending toward the south. It is not the
place where people go when they die, for it is not very far from this
earth. A long time ago people could see this country of
Mĭsinghâliʹkŭn, but none can see it now.
While he was showing the boy his country, the Mĭsinghâliʹkŭn
promised him that he would become stout and strong, and would
have the power to get anything he wished. Then he brought the boy
back.
Afterward, when the boy grew up and went hunting, he used to
see the Mĭsinghâliʹkŭn riding a buck around among the other deer,
herding them together. Thus it happened that there were three men
in the tribe, who knew that there is a Mĭsinghâliʹkŭn, because they
had seen him with their own eyes.
The Delawares had always kept a Big House (xiʹngwikan) to
worship in, but in those days it was built entirely of bark and had no
faces of the Mĭsiʹngʷ' carved upon the posts as it has now. Here they
used to sing about their dreams (visions of power); but some time
after the three boys talked with the Mĭsinghâliʹkŭn, the people gave
up this worship, and for ten years had none. Then there came a
great earthquake, which lasted twelve months and gave great
trouble to the Lenape. It came because they had abandoned the
worship their fathers had taught them. In those times the tribe lived
in towns, not scattered about the country as they are now, and in
one of these towns a chief had a big bark house, and here the
people met to worship, hoping to stop the earthquake, while they
were building a new Big House. When it was finished, they began to
worship there, and sang and prayed all winter for relief. After spring
came, they were holding a meeting one night when they heard the
Mĭsinghâliʹkŭn making a noise, “Hoⁿ-hoⁿ-hoⁿ,” right east of the Big
House. The chief, who did not know what was making the noise,
called for somebody to go and see what it was. Then these three
men offered to go, because, as they said, they knew what was
making the noise and could find out what he wanted. So they went
out and found Mĭsinghâliʹkŭn, and asked him what he wanted. He
answered:
 “Go back and tell the others to stop holding meetings and attend
to their crops. Do not meet again until fall, when I will come and live
with you, and help in the Big House. You must take wood and carve
a face (Mĭsiʹngʷ') just like mine, painted half black and half red, as
mine is, and I will put my power in it, so that it will do what you ask.
When the man who takes my part puts the face on, I will be there,
and this is how I will live among you. This man must carry a turtle
rattle and a stick, just as I do now.” Then he told them how to fix
the twelve carved faces on the posts of the Big House, and the faces
on the drumsticks, and taught them how to hold the ceremony.
Then he said:
“You must also give me hominy every year in the spring. I take
care of the deer and other game, that is what I am for. Wherever
you build the Big House, I will keep the deer close by, so that you
can get them when you need them.
“Never give up the Big House. If you do, there will be another
earthquake, or something else just as bad.
“The earthquake stopped that time; that is why the Delawares
have kept the Mĭsiʹngʷ' and the Big House ever since. The Mask is
left in charge of some family who will take good care of it, and burn
Indian tobacco for it from time to time.”
It will be seen that, according to the above tradition, the Mĭsiʹngʷ'
was, first of all, a personal helper, or guardian Spirit, that afterward
became more or less of a tribal deity, and that his cult became
engrafted on the Annual Ceremony among the Unami, the rites of
which were already ancient among them. That this engrafting really
took place seems possible from the fact that among the Minsi there
were no masked performers at the Big House ceremonies, and that,
while the central post of the temple was provided with carved faces,
the masks had an entirely different function among this people. The
innovation, if it took place at all, must have been before
Brainerd’s[52] time, however, for, as related in our first chapter, he
found the Mĭsiʹngʷ' and Big House in use, as among the Unami
today, as early as May, 1745, while traveling among the Delawares
living at that time on Susquehanna river.

MĬSIʹNGʷ' DANCE
Besides the part taken by the Mĭsiʹngʷ' in the Annual Ceremony,
he has certain rites peculiar to himself which were held every spring.
As the Indians put it:
“When spring comes, the Delawares are glad, and they are
thankful that their helper, the Mĭsiʹngʷ' is still among them. For this
reason they give a feast and dance to make him happy too.”
Notification.—So at the time of the full moon (about May), the
keeper of the mask gives another Indian a yard of wampum to ride
around to all the Delaware houses, wearing the mask and bearskin
costume (pl. ii) to let the people know that the time for the Mĭsiʹngʷ'
dance (Mĭsingkĭʹnĭkä) is at hand. The Mĭsiʹngʷ' rides horseback, and
another man, also mounted, follows him to see that he comes to no
harm. At each house the impersonator dismounts and enters,
making known his errand by signs, but saying only “Hoⁿ-hoⁿ-hoⁿ,”
and everywhere they give him tobacco, which he puts in his sack. At
this time the people frighten disobedient children with the threat
that, unless they behave, the Mĭsiʹngʷ' will carry them away in a
sack full of snakes.
Preparations.—The dance-ground customarily used for this
purpose has meanwhile been put in order, a cleared place in the
woods selected for good shade and pleasant surroundings, and the
logs which serve as seats arranged to form the rectangle within
which the dance takes place. A great pot of hominy is also prepared;
this constitutes the main dish of the feast.
The Ceremony.—When the people have gathered on the night
appointed, and the impersonator has returned from the bushes
where he retired to dress, wearing the mask and bearskin suit (pl.
ii), the speaker addresses the people and relates the origin of the
dance, then addressing the Mĭsiʹngʷ', says, “Take care of us while we
are dancing, so that everything goes smoothly.” Then they have a
dance in which the Mĭsiʹngʷ' joins, but he dances around the outside
of the circle of people, not with them. When they have finished, he
dances twelve changes alone, which occupies the time until
morning. When daylight appears, the hominy is brought out and
everyone eats, including the Mĭsiʹngʷ', after which the speaker says,
“Now we have eaten with our Mĭsiʹngʷ'. We will have this dance
again next spring.” The people then disperse to their homes, the
Mĭsiʹngʷ' is put away and the impersonator paid a yard of wampum
for his dancing. At this dance the singers keep time by striking with
sticks on a dry deerhide rolled over and stuffed with dried grass,
very similar to the “drum” used in the Big House.
Adams’ Account.—The only account the writer has seen of this
ceremony is that of Adams’,[53] the chief inaccuracy of which is the
statement that the dance is “only for amusement.” It furnishes,
however, several additions to our knowledge of the “Solid Face.” It is
as follows:

“Messingq or Solid Face Dance or Devil Dance.—The

principal leader in this dance is the Messingq, an Indian, who
is dressed in a bearskin robe with a wooden face, one-half
red and one-half black. He has a large bearskin pouch and
carries a stick in one hand and a tortoise shell rattle in the
other. He is a very active person. The dance is only for
amusement, and men and women join in it. A large place is
cleared in the woods, and the ground is swept clean and a
fire built in the center. Across the fire and inside of the ring is
a long hickory pole supported at each end by wooden forks
set in the ground. On the east of this pole the singers stand;
on the west end is a venison or deer, which is roasted. About
daylight, when the dance is nearly over, all the dancers eat of
the venison. They have a dried deer hide stretched over some
hickory poles, and standing around it beat on the hide and
sing. The dancers proceed around the fire to the right, the
 women on the inside next to the fire. After the dance is under
headway the Messingq comes from the darkness, jumps over
the dancers, and dances between the other dancers and the
fire. He makes some funny and queer gestures, kicks the fire,
and then departs. The Messingq is never allowed to talk, but
frequently he visits the people at their homes. He is a terror
to little children, and when he comes to a house or tent the
man of the house usually gives him a piece of tobacco, which
the Messingq smells and puts in his big pouch, after which he
turns around and kicks back toward the giver which means
‘thank you,’ and departs. He never thinks of climbing a fence,
but jumps over it every time that one is in his way. The Devil
dance is what the white men call it, but the Delawares call it
the Messingq, or ‘solid face’ dance. The Messingq does not
represent an evil spirit, but is always considered a
peacemaker. I suppose that it is from his hideous appearance
that white men call him the devil.”

OTHER FUNCTIONS OF MĬSIʹNGʷ'

The Mĭsiʹngʷ' the Indians claim, “takes care of the children,” as
well as of the deer, for as before related if any Delaware has a child
who is weak, sickly, or disobedient, he sends for the Mĭsiʹngʷ' and
asks him to “attend to” his child. On his arrival it does not take the
impersonator long to frighten the weakness, sickness, or laziness out
of such children, so that “afterward they are well and strong, and
whenever they are told to do a thing, they lose no time in obeying.”
This is the only trace of the doctoring function of the mask found
among the Unami.
When the keeper of the Mĭsiʹngʷ' burns tobacco for him and asks
for good luck in hunting, “it turns out that way every time;” and the
Lenape say moreover that if anyone loses horses or cattle, either
strayed away or stolen, he can go to the keeper of the Mĭsiʹngʷ' with
some tobacco as a gift and get them back. He explains his errand to
the keeper, who in turn informs the Mĭsiʹngʷ' that they want him to
look for the horses or cattle. The loser then goes back home, and
after a few days the missing animals return, driven back by the
Mĭsiʹngʷ', who if they had been tied or hobbled by the thieves,
frightened them until they broke away and came home. When the
Big House meeting is held in the fall, the Mĭsiʹngʷ', as before related,
is seen going around among the tents of the Delawares assembled,
and in and out of the Big House, always coming from the woods,
where the impersonator has a place to change his clothes. The
Indians say:
“He helps the people with their hunting, and also helps in the Big
House while the ceremonies are in progress. If he finds anyone
there who has not done right, he informs the three guards of the
meeting, who take that person and put him out. In all these ways
the Mĭsiʹngʷ' helps the Delawares.”

MASKS OF THE MINSI

The Minsi Miziʹnk (cognate with the Unami Mĭsiʹngʷ') was a mask
made of wood with copper or brass eyes and a crooked nose,
according to my informants at Munceytown; and judging by Peter
Jones’ drawings (pl. iii) they were provided also with hair, tufts of
feathers, and jingling copper cones or deer-hoofs. The Mizink at
Grand river was of Minsi type, judging by the specimen obtained by
the writer (fig. 4).
Such masks were made to represent Mizinkhâliʹkŭn, who was
“something like a person, but different from the Indians, and was
powerful. They saw him first among the rocks on a hill, and he
spoke to them and told them what to do to get his power. When a
man put on a Mizink he received the power of this person or spirit;
he could even see behind him, and could cure diseases.”
The Mask Society.—The men who owned these masks formed a
kind of society which Nellis Timothy says originally had twelve
members, but which, before it disbanded, dwindled to about five.
Sometimes only two appeared in costume.
The society had a meeting-house of its own where its dances,
Mizinkĭʹntĭka, were held, for, unlike the Unami custom, no Mizink
ever appeared in the Big House. The members appeared wearing
their masks and clad in rough bearskin and deerskin costumes, while
some, at least, were provided with a turtleshell rattle which they
would rub on a long pole, crying “Oⁿ-oⁿ-oⁿ!” the while.
Ceremonies.—While no consecutive account of their ceremonies is
now remembered, it was said that they sometimes put down their
rattles, heaped up the ashes from the two fires, then threw the
ashes all over the house to prevent the people assembled from
having disease.
Should any sick person appear, he or she would be especially
treated with ashes. Sometimes the performers would pick up live
coals and throw them about, frightening the people. At other times
the whole company of them would go around to the different houses
begging for tobacco, and would dance in any house where someone
was willing to sing for them.
Nothing was said among the Minsi about the Mizink bringing back
stray stock or driving deer, characteristic attributes of the Mask Being
of the Unami. The writer obtained but one mask among the
Canadian Lenape, and this was from the Grand River band (fig. 4); it
has been described by him[54] in the following words:

“But one mask (mizink) was obtained. It differed from

those of the Iroquois chiefly in being cruder, and also in
decoration, the lines being burnt into the wood instead of
being painted or carved. The original use of the mask had to
do, in part at least, with healing the sick, but Isaac Montour
(Kaʹpyŭ'hŭm), from whom I bought it, failed to make himself
clear as to the details.”
 It will be seen that the Minsi beliefs and practices noted above
resemble those of the False Face Company of the Iroquois tribes
much more than they do the customs connected with Mĭsiʹngʷ'
among the Unami.
In fact, a vague tradition exists to the effect that the False Face
Company of the Cayuga once put a stop to an epidemic of cholera
among the Minsi. While this was not given to account for the origin
of the society among the Minsi, it at least shows that they were
familiar with the Iroquois practices in this line.
 CHAPTER VIII
Minor Ceremonies
THE DOLL BEING
The Doll Being, called by the Unami O'ʹdas and by the Minsi Naniʹtĭs,
has been already mentioned as a minor Lenape deity, and it now
remains only to relate the ceremonies and beliefs connected with it,
beginning with the myth accounting for its origin.

Myth of Origin

Long ago, the Lenape say, some children, playing with sticks,
decided to cut faces upon them, and were then very much surprised
to notice that the little dolls which they had thus made seemed to
have life. Their parents made them throw the dolls away when they
discovered this, and most of the children soon forgot what had
happened. One little girl, however, grieved for her doll; it bothered
her all the time, and finally she began to dream of it every night.
Then she told her parents of her trouble, and they realized that they
should not have compelled her to throw the doll away. One night the
doll appeared to the child and spoke to her, saying, “Find me and
keep me always, and you and your family will ever enjoy good
health. You must give me new clothing and hold a dance for me
every spring,” and then told her exactly what to do. The girl reported
this to her parents, who immediately looked for the doll and found it,
then dressed it, made some hominy, killed a deer, and held a dance
in its honor as they were instructed, and this rite has been continued
to the present day.

Preparations for the Ceremony

 When the family owning a doll of this kind is ready to conduct the
Doll Dance (O'ʹdas-kĭʹnĭkä), they select two men to gather firewood
and to clean up the dance-ground used every year, and to engage a
speaker and two singers, paying each of them with a yard of
wampum. The dance-ground is square, similar to that used for the
Mĭsiʹngʷ' dance, with logs ranged about for seats, in some pleasant
place out in the woods. A hunter is then selected, who calls on
several to help him get a deer, which, when brought in, is hung on
poles prepared for it at the dance-ground, where it remains over
night. The next morning they cook the deer and a kettle of hominy,
and are then ready for the ceremony.

The Doll Dance

About the middle of the afternoon the speaker rises and addresses
the people, telling them the story of the doll’s origin and explaining
its function; then he addresses the doll, which has now been
fastened on a pole, calling it “grandmother” and notifying it that they
are about to hold a dance in its honor, at the same time asking it to
insure good health to the family of its owner. When he finishes, the
dance leader, who should be a relative of the family owning it, takes
the doll on its pole, and then, as the drummers sitting in the center
of the dance-ground begin to strike the dry hide stuffed with grass
that serves as a drum, and to sing the song of the Doll dance, he
commences to dance, circling round the drummers, still carrying the
doll, the people falling in behind him, forming two circles, the men
inside, next to the drummers, and the women outside. When the
leader finishes his “set,” he passes the doll pole to the man behind
him, who repeats the process, and so on until the men dancers have
carried it six times, when it is transferred to the women, who, in
their turn, dance six sets, making twelve in all, the Lenape sacred
number.
The twelve sets, or “changes,” lengthen the ceremony far into the
night, and this necessitates a large fire to give light. This is built
near the center of the dance-ground. Sometimes, if the crowd in
attendance is large, two such fires are built. Between the changes
the doll pole is stuck into the ground near the fire. When the twelfth
set is finished, the speaker announces, “The Doll Dance is over,” and
the feast of hominy and venison is served to everyone. Then the
speaker says: “If you want to dance the rest of the night, you may
do so, for many of you have come a long way from home and should
have a chance for more enjoyment. We will hold another Doll Dance
next year.” Then they put the doll away and amuse themselves with
various social dances until morning.

Minsi Doll Ceremony

Among the Minsi the beliefs concerning the Doll Being were
similar, but differed in detail. As to origin, Wolf told the writer that
one time a man lay ill, likely to die, and his family called in a
medicine-man, or “witch-doctor.” The shaman finally announced that
the family must make one of these dolls and care for it, and that the
sick man would then get well. This was done, and the doctor’s
prediction being realized, the Minsi have ever since made and used
these dolls, called in their dialect naniʹtĭs, which were transmitted
from parents to children. Wolf’s own mother had one, carved out of
wood in the form of a person, with a woman’s dress and moccasins
(for as a rule they represent women); and she always cared for it
religiously, in the belief that if well treated it would protect the family
and give them good health, but if neglected, someone would surely
die. Every year, in the fall, when the deer are in their best condition,
Wolf’s mother held a dance for it, called “Feeding the Naniʹtĭs;” but
she did more than feed it: she put new clothes on it, three sets, and
new moccasins every year. She believed that the image sometimes
went about of its own accord, although she kept it carefully in a box,
for the old dresses always seemed worn at the bottom and soiled,
and she found burrs clinging to them when she went to put new
clothes on “Naniʹtĭs.”
She hired a man especially to hunt a yearling doe for the
ceremony, which took place in her own dwelling. The details are lost,
but it is remembered that a man beat a little drum and sang while
she, as owner, danced around, carrying the doll in her hands,
followed by such of the other women present as wished to
participate. Said Wolf, “The Naniʹtĭs helped the Indians, that’s why
they fed it.”

PL. VIII
 “NAHNEETIS THE GUARDIAN OF HEALTH”

(E. T. Tefft Collection, American Museum of Natural History)

An Old Minsi “Doll.”—The writer was able to obtain but one old
specimen of this type (pl. viii), which was procured at the Grand
River reserve, Ontario, for the E. T. Tefft collection, now in the
American Museum of Natural History, and was described in the
writer’s article,[55] before cited, as follows:

“Perhaps the most interesting Delaware specimen of all is

the little wooden image, about eight inches high, bought of
Dr. Jones, which his father, Rev. Peter Jones, described and
illustrated in his book under the name ‘Nahneetis, the
Guardian of Health.’ He says:
“‘I have in my possession two family gods. One is called
Pabookowaih—the god that crushes or breaks down diseases.
The other is a goddess named Nahneetis, the guardian of
health. This goddess was delivered up to me by Eunice Hank,
a Muncey Indian woman, who with her friends used to
worship it in their sacred dances, making a feast to it every
year, when a fat doe was sacrificed as an offering, and many
presents were given by the friends assembled. She told me
she was now restored to worship the Christian’s God, and
therefore had no further use for it.’
“There can be no doubt in this case concerning the identity
of this specimen with the one illustrated in the book quoted.
It will be noticed however by those who are familiar with
Peter Jones’ illustration that Nahneetis, like many humans,
has lost her hair in her old age. An interesting feature of the
specimen is the primitive skirt, which is made apparently by
belting a blanket-like bit of cloth, bound at the edges, around
Nahneetis’ waist. A vestige of this method of making a skirt
survives, I think, in the form of the beaded strip running up
 one of the vertical seams of the more modern Indian skirt,
among both the Delawares and the Iroquois.”

The writer afterward found such skirts still in use among the
Lenape in Oklahoma (pl. i, b).
An Early Account of Naniʹtĭs.—Another early account of the
Naniʹtĭs among the Minsi may be found in the Wisconsin Historical
Collections, among the documents relating to the Stockbridge
Mission, written by the Rev. Cutting Marsh.[56] It reads as follows:

“Nov. 6th [1839]. A Munsee Indian who came to this place

over a year previous from Canada called upon me with an
interpreter in order to give up a family idol. This man whose
name is Big-Deer is upwards of 50 years of age, and since
removing to this place, thro’ the influence of this family above
mentioned has attended meetings constantly and gives some
evidence of a change of heart.
“The history of this idol was very interesting. He said that
his mother gave it to him before her death which occurred
about 29 years ago, and that he had worshipped it until
within a few years when he heard about Jesus Christ, but had
never given it up before. ‘Now he says I wish to give it up and
follow the Lord Jesus Christ, and I give this idol to you and
you may do what you are a mind to with it.’ It was indeed not
only a ‘shameful thing,’ but a horribly looking object about the
size of a common doll; fantastically arrayed in Indian costume
and nearly covered with silver broaches and trinkets; and
whilst retained as an object of worship was kept wrapped up
in some 20 envelopments of broad-cloth trimmed with scarlet
ribbon. They called it their ‘Mother,’ it is more than a hundred
years old, and its late possessor was the fourth generation
which had worshipped it. The season for worshipping it was
in the fall after a hunt when they made a feast to it and
danced around it. ‘If they did not do this every fall they said,
 that is, make the feast &c. it would be angry and destroy
them by some dreadful sickness.’ It was therefore an object
of fear or dread with them, but not one of love and
compassion.”

BEAR CEREMONY
We will now consider two ceremonies of the Unami which are
based on animal cults which show a considerable similarity not only
in their traditional origin, but also in their ritual.
The more important seems to be the one called Papasokwit'ʹlŭn,
which, although no part of a bear appears in its rites as practised
within recent years, was evidently a Bear ceremony in the days
when these animals were abundant. It also exhibits some features
suggesting the Annual Ceremony before described, but there is no
Mĭsiʹngʷ' and there are many other important differences.

Traditional Origin

The Indians say that a cub bear, kept as a pet by a Lenape family
long ago, became a great playmate of one of the little sons of the
family, but finally grew so large that the child’s parents decided to
get rid of it; so they tied a little bag of tobacco around its neck and
told it to go away. This it did, but the little boy, its playmate, soon
fell ill, and his parents searched in vain for a cure. After a long while
one of the Indian doctors told his parents that if they would hold a
ceremony of this kind and repeat it every two years, the child would
recover and would keep his health. This was done; the boy
recovered, and his family, who belong to the Wolf phratry, have
continued to practise the rites ever since, believing that it preserves
their health.

Preparations.
 This ceremony required a special house, which was made new for
it every two years, so the first thing the family did, when the time
approached, was to find a number of men, each of whom was paid a
yard of wampum to cut forks and poles and erect the building. This
was made by setting up a frame of poles in the form of a Big House,
but smaller, only seven paces wide and fifteen paces long, then
covering the top with brush and piling brush at the sides. Then to
the east of the house a pole was erected, upon which to hang the
meat for the feast, which, in old times, had to be a bear; but when
bears became scarce a black hog was substituted, and of late a hog
of any color has been used. The building finished, the hog was
killed, and, having been hung on the pole over night, was taken into
the house the next day, quartered, singed on a fire that had been
built inside, then carried out again, cut up, and cooked, all except
the loose fat, which was kept for a special purpose, as will appear
later. When done, the meat was kept in large baskets, with the
exception of the head, which, having been cooked whole, was
placed in a large bowl with two of the animal’s ribs in its mouth.

The Rites

When night came, the leader entered the brush house, taking with
him a turtle rattle similar to that used in the Annual Ceremony,
followed by the men who were to participate (no women being
allowed), and then made a speech, telling of the men who had
“brought in” this meeting, and explaining its origin, but making no
prayers to the Great Spirit or to any of the manĭʹtowŭk, his helpers.
He then threw half of the hog-fat upon the fire, and placed a string
of wampum around his own neck. At this juncture the cook brought
him the hog’s head in its bowl, and then, first announcing, “I am
now going to carry the head around,” the leader began to chant and
to walk about the house, making false motions to everyone as if to
give him the head, then withdrawing it and proceeding to the next.
The burden of the chant, the Indians say, was “what his dream
helper told him,” very much as in the Big House, but here the people
kept time to his chant orally, saying “Hu-hu-hu!” until he stopped.
The informant does not know who, if any one, shook the rattle.
Probably it was employed by the singers after the burning of the
head. After making the circuit twice, the leader hung his string of
wampum upon some old man of the Turkey phratry who had a
“vision of power,” who took the head and made his rounds in the
same way. He finally cut off the ears of the head, pulled the ribs
from its mouth, and threw it into the fire, bowl and all. The meat
was then distributed to everyone, whereupon the floor was open to
any man who wished to sing an account of his vision. A bucket of
prepared drink was placed at each end of the house for the
refreshment of such singers, but the head, of course, was gone.
When the songs were finished, the remainder of the fat, and finally
the broth in which the meat had been cooked, were thrown upon
the fire, and in conclusion, six women were called in and instructed
to go out and give six times the prayer cry, “Ho-o-o!”
Perhaps the following ceremony noted by Zeisberger[57] may have
been of this kind:

“A fourth kind of feast is held in honor of a certain

voracious spirit, who, according to their opinions, is never
satisfied. The guests are, therefore, obliged to eat all the
bear’s flesh and drink the melted fat. Though indigestion and
vomiting may result they must continue and not leave
anything.”

OTTER CEREMONY
Similar to the Bear ceremony in many ways, both in traditional
origin and in rites, was the observance called A'ʹtcigamuʹltiⁿ, said to
mean “compulsory hog-eating,” held to propitiate the Otter spirit, a
cult whose paraphernalia the writer was fortunate enough to collect
for the Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation.
 Myth of Origin

Many years ago, so runs the story, a little girl about ten years of
age was given a young otter for a pet, and this she kept and cared
for until it was well grown. About this time she began to feel that
she should keep him no longer, for she had come to realize that he
was piʹlsŭⁿ, meaning “pure” or “sacred,” and, like all wild things,
belonged to the Powers Above. The old people told her what she
must do, so she took her otter down to the creek, and, first tying a
little bag of tobacco on his neck, said to him: “Now I shall set you
free. I have raised you and cared for you until now you are full
grown. Go, then, and follow the ways of your kind.”
The otter disappeared into the waters, and the little girl returned
to her home, feeling that she had done well. But before a year had
passed, a sickness came upon her, which the Indian doctors told her
was caused by her pet otter, which wanted something to eat. The
only way for the child to get well, they said, was for her to have a
hog killed and cooked, and then to invite a number of men to eat it
all, in the name of the otter. This was done, and when the men
finished eating the hog and the soup, they said that the girl would
recover, and so she did. For this ceremony they took an otter-skin
(fig. 16, a) to represent the girl’s pet, which was used every two
years, and when the owner died was passed to the oldest survivor of
the family which owned it, and kept in the belief that it would
benefit the health of all of them. It was the only one of its kind in
the tribe, and is called “Kunuⁿʹxäs.”