1953} RITZENTHALER, CHIPPEWA HEALTH 209 



class of shamans termed the Wabeno (Eastern men). According to Hoffman 

 (p. 156-7) a Wabeno also receives his power through his fasting experi- 

 ence and "evil manidos favor his desires, and apart from his general 

 routine of furnishing 'hunting medicine", 'love powders' etc., he pretends 

 also to practice medical magic." He too was an individual practitioner, and 

 his dramatic forte was pyrotechnical legerdemain such as the handling of 

 red-hot stones or burning brands with the bare hands without injury. This 

 took place during all-night ceremonies in conjunction with singing, dancing, 

 and feasting. Among several of Schoolcraft's (Vol. 1, p. 356) informants it 

 was believed to be of modern origin and a degraded form of the Midewiwin. 

 j Information concerning the Wabeno, however, is both scanty and nebulous, 

 and even Hoffman (p. 156), writing more than sixty years ago, states, 

 "Their profession is not thoroughly understood, and their number is so 

 extremely limited that but little information respecting them can be ob- 

 tained." 



PROTECTIVE AND PREVENTIVE METHODS 



Charms 



The Chippewa do not distinguish between medicine and charms. Their 

 term muski'ki which they translate as "medicine" includes both categories 

 In this paper, however, I am employing the term medicine to include only 

 those substances administered directly to a person for curative or malevolent 

 purposes, and charms to include those used to affect man or nature without 

 material contact. 



Charms, like medicine, were usually obtained by purchase from another 

 individual. They were used to bring good fortune in hunting, fishing, trap- 

 ping, gambling, war, and love; to protect the individual from disease or 

 bodily injur}'; and for malevolent purposes. The vast majority of charms 

 were concerned with the food quest, with hunting charms being especially 

 numerous. In most instances charms were carried in small buckskin packets 

 on the person, but love or malevolent charms were commonly worked in 

 the home by applying them to clothing, hair, or any personal article of the 

 person they wished to affect. "Songs were not used with the working of 

 . . . charms, the efficacy being secured ... by 'talking and praying.' " 

 (Densmore, 1928, p. 375.) Examples of protective or preventive charms 

 are: 



