Myths

YES. And that Spirit Adoption Ceremony piece was great. Lynella.

Hey Cindy , well I don’t know which Sioux that this srticle is refereing to, but the only folks that we know of that did go there are our Tutelo cousins, so maybe !

These sun ceremonies are really interesting because they point back to the Mound Builder times, the old “Southeastern Ceremonial Complex”. The firing of arrows 3 times towards the sun is really interesting because our ancestors and relatives today use this 3 arrow pattern. So perhaps this maybe from our Tutelo relatives.

I have never found the spirit Adoption ceremony on line , I once had an old Crafts and Culture magazine that did have this article by Parker; if I can locate a journal with it in I’ll post this reference to you.

The thunder cerewmonies out wst here are found in conjuction with the opening of sacred medicine bundles, often the sound of the first thunders indicate thier opening.

We usually find that the first sounds are heard in early spring, one year though they were heard in Febuary really quite early and caused some real concerns for the coming seasons.

Cindy & Tom,

O.k. here it is, It’s in The Encyclopedia of Native American Religions, Arlene Hirschfelder and Paulette Molin, MJF Books, New York,1992, ISBN 1-56731-101-6. I’m just going to put it word for word the way they have it here. I wish there were photographs, but there’s not. It’s on page 276.

SPIRIT ADOPTION CEREMONY (Fourth Night Feast). Tutelo

(Six Nations Reserve, Canada). A complex ceremony to

carry on the living identity of a deceased Tutelo. The

ceremony is held in the winter season while vegetation is

dormant (on the ninth night after death or within a year

after death). The spirit of the deceased is recalled for the

night of the ceremony and his/her qualities, name and tribal

membership are adopted, or reincarnated, in a living

substitute. That individual is bound to observe all Tutelo

cultural traditions and upon death, his or her Tutelo nationality

is transferred to another person. The individual may be

Iriquois, but the ceremony bestows genuine nationality,

regardless of birth and sustains the Tutelo people (whose

nation was adopted by the Iriquois League in 1753). The

ceremony, sponsored by the family of the deceased, is

performed in private homes or one of the longhouses. The

family provides a new outfit of clothing for the adopted

person worn throughout the ceremony, and a chain of

Tutelo wampum. The mourners choose the person to be

reclothed and adopted in the name of the deceased who

must be the same gender. Active participants in the ritual

include a caretaker who has the responsibility to be

custodian of the adopted person and supervise him or her

in each movement of the ritual; a cook who prepares food

and drink for the feast; a fire keeper who maintains the

fire in two stoves in the longhouses; a drummer, rattler

and singers who perform during the ten-hour ritual; and a

speaker who converses in the Tutelo language to the

adopted person during the ritual. The ceremony is

preceded by four days of preliminary observances in which

the entire ritual is rehearsed to insure its correct

performance on the actual ceremonial night, called the

fourth night feast. People maintain this ritual that is

pleasing to the dead and believe its discontinuation could

cause harm.

Please see next posting: Lynella.

During the ceremony, a strand of purplr wampum is hung on the north wall and white waumpum on the south wall!

After the ceremony there is a starnd of shell beads that are broken up and given to the participants.

Somewhere I remember a person having a small strand of these “payment ” beads. Anyay , when time allows I’ll write more., I’m still preoccupied with that “full time job” thing.

Techteach,

In part 2 of the field notes on the 2nd link you supplied at the very top of your post here, there are some interesting stories. All though they are Seneca, they are still very interesting. Thank you again! Love & Light, Lynella.