1953} RITZENTHALER, CHIPPEWA HEALTH 211 



shaking-tent seance. Such objects receive special care and handhng, being 

 hung on the loop of the cradle-board of a child and commonly hung over 

 j the bed of an adult. The person must never part with the object, and if it 

 1 is accidentally destroyed, or worn out, it must be replaced with a counterpart. 

 These articles were commonly taken to religious ceremonies or might be 

 carried on a long journey, and upon the death of the person they were 

 buried with him. The only example I saw of an article definitely identified 

 as an aisiu'w/na'n was a lacrosse racquet with a braided strand of red and 

 green yarn al'tached. I obtained the following account of it. 



"J.M. cried too much when he was a kid, so his parents went to old man Batak 

 to find out what was wrong. The old man built a ji'zikan, and started it shaking, but 

 soon broke out in laughter. He had seen that the child wanted a lacrosse racquet, and 

 that was why he was crying. So his father made a tiny lacrosse racquet and his grand- 

 mother put the yarn braid on it, and they hung it on the loop of his cradleboard just 

 over his head where all toys are hung. J.M. stopped crying and the old man said he 

 should always have a lacrosse racquet with that braid on as long as he lived. When 

 he got bigger he got a big lacrosse racquet with braid on, and that is the one hanging 

 on the wall there." (J. M., Field Notes 1942.) 



Miscellaneous Protective Techniques 



A still common method of protection against property damage or physical 

 injury due to wind-storms is by making offerings of tobacco to the thunder- 

 birds. When a storm comes up an Indian will sometimes put a piece of cut 

 plug tobacco on a stump in his yard as an offering, or he may throw a pinch 

 of tobacco in the fire. In some cases he will talk to the thunder-birds asking 

 protection, but this is not necessary, as the offering itself is sufficient. One 

 informant told me with great delight of a time he was camped with a party 

 in Minnesota. A big cloud came up and the Indians knew the thunder-birds 

 were coming and they threw tobacco in the fire. The storm blew over many 

 houses, but none of the wigwams was harmed. Later some white people 

 asked why this was, but the informant only smiled. He confided to me that 

 white people don't know about thunder-birds; that only Indians could thus 

 protect themselves. 



An apparently modern protective device is to hang identification feathers. 

 I noticed some turkey and chicken-hawk feathers hanging from a nail over 

 the door of a house. My informant told me they really should be eagle 

 feathers, and that is their way of telling the thunder-birds that an Indian 

 lives there, so the birds will not harm them when they bring storms. J. S. 

 has a feather tied on his car for this purpose. 



