184 BULLETIN, PUBLIC MUSEUM, MILWAUKEE [Vol. 19 



The priests decide when and where the initiation ceremony will take place 

 and assemble the candidates with invitational tobacco. Each candidate is 

 given secret preliminary instructions as to the ritual and conduct he will have 

 to observe during the ceremony, and is taught songs, meanings, and secrets 

 of the Society depending upon which degree he is taking. On the first day 

 of the ceremony the blankets and pails of the candidates are hung on the 

 ridge-pole of the lodge which has been built (or repaired if they are using 

 an old one) on the previous day. The candidates are led into the lodge 

 from the east and seated at individual stakes in the center. The members 

 assemble with tobacco, food, and their medicine-bags, and march around 

 the lodge led by a priest who sings the entrance song. The people leave 

 tobacco on a rock outside the east entrance, march inside, and take scats 

 along the sides. The ceremony is directed by the priests who do the speak- 

 ing and singing, and direct the dancing, feasting, and ritualistic maneuvers. 

 The important and dramatic feature of the initiation is the magical shooting 

 of the shells into the body of the candidate by the sponsors with the aid ot 

 their medicine-bags to drive out sickness and "renew life." The shell is 

 actually dropped in front of the candidate. During this procedure the candi- 

 date is given a medicine-bag as follows: 



First degree . . . mink, otter, muskrat, or beaver 



Second degree . . . owl or hawk 



Third degree . . . snake and fox, or wildcat claw 



Fourth degree . . . bear paw, or cub bear 



After the shooting, the candidate distributes his blankets and pails to the 

 Mide priest, runners, and sponsors. When all the candidates have been 

 initiated, the members march around the lodge holding their medicine-bags 

 and shooting one another in a general melee, and finally exit by the west 

 doorway. The initiates leave last taking with them their medicine-bags and 

 the decorated stakes at which they had been seated. 



The Midewiwin is now so dominated by the curative aspect that sick- 

 ness is actually a pre-requisite for membership. When I would discover 

 someone wearing the mi'g/'s, the shell indicating that he was to be initiated 

 at the next meeting, my question as to what was wrong with the person was 

 accepted as an appropriate one, and details would be supplied. In only one 

 instance among the twenty or so candidates I observed at four different 

 ceremonies was sickness not a reason for the person "going through." In 

 this case a young fellow was being put through by proxy, i.e., he was taking 



