1953] RITZENTHALER, CHIPPEWA HEALTH 203 



"He went into the house and brought out six blankets and a small pail of 

 wooden skewers. He said these blankets were used for the ji'zikan. He laid one 

 blanket on the floor inside on some hay that had been placed there. Then he wrapped 

 four of the blankets around the sides, one at a time. He fastened them to the frame- 

 work and to each other with the wooden skewers which were about 4 to 5 inches 

 long with one end pointed. The other blanket was thrown over the top and fastened 

 down to the others. There was no entrance left. 



"Charley worked in a very efficient and business-like way, as though he had 

 done it many times before. He knew just what to do and how to do it, and the 

 whole process only took about 15 minutes. When he had finished, he picked up the 

 can of wooden skewers and went into the house and told them it was ready. He 

 came out and laid out a blanket next to the ji'zikan and put a bowl of tobacco on 

 it and a pipe in that, and then he went over and sat down with the Chief Drum 

 he had brought. 



"Shortly after that John King came out followed by the three women who help 

 him on such occasions; his wife, Maggie Littlepipe, and her daughter, each of whom 

 carried a rattle made of a wooden stick about 2 feet long and 2 inches wide with 

 numerous tin cones nailed on which jingled when shaken. John pushed up the 

 blankets in one place and crawled into the ji'ziksn. The women filed around the 

 ji'zikan, grabbing it several times on the way and shaking it. Then they sat down 

 on a bench. 



"When everyone was seated, the wigwam began shaking very slowly. This 

 seemed to be a signal for Charley to start drumming rapidly on the Chief Drum and 

 women to begin shaking their rattles. Soon the ji'zikan began shaking rather violently, 

 and then slowed up again, and shook hard again. This went on for about five minutes 

 (this is when the spirits come into the ji'ziksn). Then a disguised voice was heard 

 and the drumming and rattling stopped. 



"The voice (supposedly the spirit bebo'kow^') said, 'atai'ya' (holy smoke, or 

 goodness gracious), what's been going on here. Look at my nosise (grandson, refer- 

 ring to John King, who had been drinking rather heavily). That's the work of 

 akiwe'si (Pat Kasabin). At this all the people watching started to laugh. Then the 

 spirit went on and said, 'What's that white man doing here?' and the people laughed 

 again. John Kasabin said that the white man was only there to watch and had paid 

 well for it (referring to the tobacco we had given). 



"Then the spirit asked, 'Why did you call me here?" Mrs. Butler answered 

 (after being prompted by Mrs. King) and said she had brought her boy here and 

 wanted him. the spirit, to find out what was wrong with him and if he had any 

 medicine he could tell her about. Then Charley filled the pipe on the blanket and 

 lighted it for Mrs. King and passed it to all the others. They each took a few puffs 

 and then he handed it in to John King. 



"The spirit said, 'All right, I'll try. I've helped a lot of Indians and I'll see 

 what I can do for this one.' The spirit spoke to Laurence and told him to come 

 closer. Laurence moved to a seat about 2 feet from the ji'zikan. The spirit asked 

 Laurence if he could understand Chippewa and Laurence was slightly confused. Mrs. 

 Butler told him to answer the spirit, so Laurence said that he could speak Chippewa 

 (all the talking was, of course, in Chippewa). 



"The spirit then said, 'If you believe in me, I will tell you the truth, but if you 

 don't, I will tell you lies. Come closer and I will look at you.' Laurence leaned a 

 little closer, and the spirit said, That isn't bad. That sickness will leave you.' Mrs. 

 King then told Mrs. Butler to ask the spirit to work on him, so Mrs. Butler spoke 

 to the spirit and said, 'I would like to have you doctor him and boda'nzik (blow on 

 him) and tell me if there is any medicine that you know will help him.' 



"The spirit said, 'Drum for me and I'll see what I can do.' So Charley started 

 drumming and the women shook the stick rattles, (these are used in the Chief Dance) 



