DANCE OF THE MOWITIHAGI 58

Account A.

— A

small buffalo is kept in a medicine bag. It looks exactly like a real buffalo. It is like stone as if

made

of earth. Its existence

came

about in this manner.

A

certain

man,

one ofthe Blacks [a

TVkan], went

out to fast.

He

fasted 4 days,

and on

the fourth

day

he

had

a dream. In the

dream

appearedthe vision ofthe buffalo.

When

the

dream was

all over, the

first thing he

saw was

this animal. It

may have

been

wounded and

so

was

^left in his way, foroneofits hind legs

was

broken

up

near the joint in the hip.

The

Black tooktheanimal

home. He wrapped

itinthemedicinebag,

and

thereithasbeentothisday. All ofthis

happened

longago.

Now

the strangest part ofit all is that the crippled hip is

now

all healed.

How

it

came

sono one knows, fora

manitou

broughtaboutthehealing.

The

buffalo isbrought out

now

at the dance. Itisplaced

between two

fires, halfwaybetween them.

Account B.

— A

distinguishing feature of this dance is the presence of a red-stone buffalo bull. It is small, being probably about 8 or 10 inches long

and

6 or 7 inches high. It has horns, tail, legs, tes- ticles

—

^inevery

^way

^the

^image

^{ofabuffalobull. Itissaid to bealive,}

and

to beamanitou. Itiskeptin amedicine

bag and

isthe property oftheMowitihagi. Inthedancetobaccoisoffered toit.

58"DirtyLittleAni." Otherwiseknownas"Those

Who

WorshiptheSpotted Buffalo Calf"(KatAginenu'so *Ani

Mamatoma

^dtcig^k"). Thisistheirnameforthe domesticcattle.

Many

butbynomeansallofthemembersofthissocietybelong to the Thunder gens. Analysis of the membership list

A

given by Michelson (FortiethAnn. Rept. Bur.Amer.Ethn.,p.505)producesthe followingresult:

Gensnotknown 4

Thunder 12

Bear 4

Wolf 3

War

Chief 2

Fish 1

Total _ 26

Thisisan importantsociety, anditrankswiththe gentesinsomeofthe buffalo ceremonies, at least. (See specifically Bull. 87, Bur. Amer. Ethn., pp. 29, 53;

Bull. 95,Bur.Amer.Ethn., pp.3, 19.)

Skinner mentions a buffalo dance (Bull. Pub. Mus. Milwaukee, 5, pp. 48-49, 1923) from which itwouldappear thatasimilarsociety occursamongthe Sauk.

Asamatterof fact, theownershipofthesacredpackbelongingto thissocietycan betracedbackinthe Petersfamily(whoareofSaukdescent) to atimebeforethoy joined forces with the Foxes. Other indications of Sauk origin can be found:

oneofthe gentes givenaplaceofhonor^ispresumablySauk andnotFox;andsome ofthesongs are identicalwiththose occurring amongthe SaukofOklahoma ina differentceremony. (SeeNotes ontheFoxSociety

Known

asThose

Who

Worship

Jones]

ETHNOGRAPHY

OF

FOX INDIANS 103

It is said that once its neck

was

broken.⁶⁹

The two

pieces were put together

and

the thing placed

back

into a medicine bag.

When

this

bag was

again

opened

therewere

no

signs of

where

the break

had

been.

The image was

asifwhole

and

unbroken. Itisfor thisreason held to be very manitou.

It isbrought out _{twice a}yearin the sacred feast ofthe

MowitihagL

North

104 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY

^{[Bull. 125}

Other Ceremonies

the midewiwin

⁶⁰

Account A.

— We no

longer practice the midewiwin.

We

do notlike itbecauseit isnotreal.

Take

forinstance

when

oneshoots

magic

into another.

The

one

who

isshotfalls

and

acts asifheis

made

powerless.

Itis all a

sham

; there ^isnothing init,

and

the

man who

is shotwith

magic

simply feigns.

Among

us are three or four old people

who

are

members

of the society. All the others are dead.

Account B.

— ^Long

^ago

^when

^{the Foxes used to dance the Mita,}

many

people

would

die.

Those who would

die so fast were the big- gest

men

inthetribe,⁶¹

and

onlythe

unworthy would

live.

The

Foxes

knew

then that

Manetowa was

notpleasedwiththisMita,so theygot

allthe

Mitawog

togetherone timein their lodge,

and men

wereplaced about the house so that

none

could get away.

The

Foxes told these

Mitawog

thatthis dance

must

notgo

on any more

because

Manetowa was

not pleased with it,

and

that every time they danced, not only

B0 Forsyth has this to say about the Midewiwin as celebrated in 1826: "The medicine danceorMit-tee-wee, allthosewhobelong tothatfraternity,aremade acquaintedbysomeoftheheadpersons, thaton acertainday, the wholewillas- sembleataparticular place;on thedayappointed theymakea6hade,both males and femalesmake theirbest appearance, they have two drums on the occasion, the business isopened with a prayer from oneof themembers, after whichthe drummerssingadolefulditty,beatingatsametime on theirdrums, each person maleandfemaleareprovided witha sac orpouchofthewholeskinofsomeanimal astheraccoon,mink, marten,fisher,andotter,butgenerallyofthelastmentioned;

one ofthe eldersgets up and commences dancinground the inside ofthe lodge, anotherfollows,andso onuntiltheyareallin motion,asthey passbyeachother, they point the noseofthe sacs orpouchesateach other blowing a whiff at the sametime,the personsopointedat, will fall down on theground apparently in pain,andimmediatelygetupagainandtouchsomeotheroneinturn, whowilldo thesameinsuccession,etc.*' (in Blair,IndianTribes,II,pp.230-231).

Forsythalsomentions anothersocietyofGreatMedicinemen, about whichhe couldfindoutpractically nothing, exceptthat therewere four roadsor degrees, that "itrequires todo somethingto gainthe firstroad, andsoon to thesecond, third,fourthroadsor degrees. Itcostsan Indianfrom40to50dollarsingoods, or otherarticles to beinitiated oradmitted into this society, and

am

toldthere are but fewofthemwho can gaintheend ofthe fourthroad." Togain admit- tancean Indian hada friend whowas amembervouch for him. Ifthe society decidedtoadmithim,thisfriendwasdirected topreparehim "but whattheprepa- ration,etc., is, Inever could find out, but no Indian can be admitted untilthe expirationof1year, afterapplicationismade" (ibid.,pp.223-225).

81 Michelsonwasalsotold that theFoxes gaveupthe Midewiwinbecause they foundthat their ablest

men

were dyingoff. Oneof hisinformantswentintomore

detailandexplainedthattheGiantMosquitohadpresentedthemoriginally with this dance, ostensibly as a blessing, but actually to supply himself with blood.

The culture hero finally opened their eyes to what was happening, and they abandoned themidewiwin. This account brings to mindthe "great musquito"

.ofIroquois tradition. (SeeforexampleBeauchamp, JAFL,2,p. 284, 1889.)

Jones]

ETHNOGRAPHY OF FOX INDIANS 105

one,but

two and

threeverybig

men

oftheFoxesdied.

The Mitawog

were told to go free but they

must

dance

no

more.

Ever

sincethat

day

to this, the

Mita

dance has not been danced

by

the Foxes.

When

the

Kickapoos saw

that the Foxes got along so well,

and how

pleased

Manetowa was

with the Foxes, they

went

to

work and

stopped the

Mita

dance

among them

in the

same way

that theFoxesdid.

AccountC.

— The

Foxes

have

not dancedtheMitawini for 50years.

Members

of the society yet living keep their gourd rattles

and

their bags.

They

believe

them

to

have

yet themysterious

power

that they

had

at the time

when

the dance

was

kept up.

WITCH

SOCIETY

Wa'katcihagi,⁶² witches,

from

o'katci, foot. This

was an

organ- ization of witches, both

men and women, when

the Indians were east of the Mississippi River,

and

probably for a while after they

moved

to the western side.

These

witches held their

ceremony

like the mitawagi, the difference being in the throwing of charcoal at one another instead of shooting each other with the otterskin pouches.

The

charcoal

was thrown

with the hand.

A newly

elected

member

when

shot

would

fall

more

readily than

an

old

member.