1635.1 THE DREAM FEAST. 61 



moving as if alive. " Truly/' writes Brebeuf, " here 

 is nonsense enough : but I greatly fear there is 

 something more dark and mysterious in it." 



But all these ceremonies were outdone by the 

 grand festival of the Ononhara, or Dream Feast, 

 — esteemed the most powerful remedy in cases of 

 sickness, or when a village was infested with evil 

 spu'its. The time and manner of holding it were 

 determined at a solemn council. This scene of 

 madness began at night. Men, women, and chil- 

 dren, all pretending to have lost their senses, 

 rushed shrieking and howling from house to house, 

 upsetting everything in their way, throwing fire- 

 brands, beating those they met or drenching them 

 with water, and availing themselves of this time 

 of license to take a safe revenge on any who had 

 ever offended them. This scene of frenzy continued 

 till daybreak. No corner of the village was secure 

 from the maniac crew. In the morning there 

 was a change. They ran from house to house, 

 accosting the inmates by name, and demanding of 

 each the satisfaction of some secret want, revealed 

 to the pretended madman in a dream, but of the 

 nature of which he gave no hint whatever. The 

 person addressed thereupon threw to him at ran- 

 dom any article at hand, as a hatchet, a kettle, or a 

 pipe ; and the applicant continued his rounds till 

 the desired gift was hit upon, when he gave an 



certaines pierres et de nerfs de Chien ; c'est h, rendre du sang par la 

 bouche et par les narines, ou plustost d'vne poudre rouge qu'ils prennent 

 subtilement, estans tombez sons le sort, et blessez; et dix mille autres 

 sottises que ie laisse volontiers." — Bre'beuf, Relation des Hurons, 1636, 

 117. 



