trookerj ETHNOGRAPHY OF THE HURON 79 



ECLIPSE 



One medicine man made a feast in order to turn aside the unlucki- 

 ness of a lunar eclipse. In another village, on the occasion of this 

 eclipse, the people all cried as loudly as they could and shouted 

 imprecations against their enemies saying, "May such and such a 

 nation perish" and shot several arrows at the sky to deliver it from 

 danger ( JE 10 : 59) .^'' The Huron believed that the eclipse of the sun 

 occurred when the great turtle who upheld the earth changed his 

 position and brought his shell before the sun (JR. 12:73).^^ In 

 Huron mythology, the earth was believed to have been pushed up out 

 of the water by a tortoise of prodigious size. This tortoise still 

 supports the earth, otherwise the earth would be submerged in the 

 water (JR 30: 61-63).^^ The Huron thought that the earth had a 

 hole in it and that the sun went into this hole when it set and remained 

 hidden there until the next morning when it came out at the other end 

 (S183). 



CEREMONY OF THE MARRIAGE OP TWO VIRGINS TO THE SEINE 



Only one calendric ceremony, to insure successful fishing, is 

 mentioned by the Jesuits. In the spring, two young, virgin girls (in 

 at least one case these were about 6 or 7 years old in order to insure 

 they were virgins) were married to the Seine. At this feast, the Seine 

 was placed between the two girls and told to catch many fish ( JR 10 : 

 167; 17: 197-199). In consideration for their marriage with the 

 Seine, the families of the girls were given part of the catch. This 



=' Similarly, the Iroquois shoot arrows, fire guns, urge their dogs to bark and howl, 

 shout, and beat drums and kettles when there is an eclipse (Hewitt 1890: 389; 1891). 



Shooting arrows at the sun is also part of the Sun Dance that used to be held among 

 some Seneeas, at least, in response to a dream (Converse 1908 ; 34 n. ; Parker 1910 a : 

 473; 1913: 103), but now seems to be a calendric ceremony on the Six Nations Reserve 

 (Shimony 1961 a: 157-158; Speck 1949: 36) and on the Cattaraugus Reservation 

 (William C. Sturtevant : personal communication). It is no longer given at Tonawanda 

 (Fenton 1941 c: 159). The ritual includes a tobacco invocation and concludes with the 

 Feather Dance. The ceremonial seems to have had war associations — participants 

 gave their war cries in it (Converse 1908 : 34 n. ; Parker 1910 a : 473 ; 1913 : 103) and at 

 Six Nations ends with the singing of individual addnwe' chants (Shimony 1961 a : 108 ; 

 Speck 1949: 36). Its war connotations perhaps are substantiated by Fen ton's (1942 b: 

 12) suggestion that the Feather Dance probably once was associated with war. (See 

 "Torture of Prisoners" for the importance of the sun in that ritual.) 



There is also a moon ceremony, the main ritual of which is a peach stone game (Converse 

 1908: 34 n. ; Parker 1913: 103-104; Shimony 1961 a: 157). 



Barbeau (1914: 305-306) reports that the Sun Dance is generally called the "War 

 Dance" by Oklahoma Iroquois and the "Blackberry Feast" is given in honor of the moon. 

 The latter is mainly a woman's dance. 



^ Iroquois explanations as to the cause of the eclipse are varied. At least some Iro- 

 quois believe that eclipses of the sun and moon are caused by a fire-dragon which 

 attempts to swallow it (Hewitt 1890: 389; 1891). One eclipse of the sun in' 1806 was 

 thought to be caused by a recently deceased chief (Seaver 1824: 187-188). 



The Wyandot thought that earthquakes were caused by the Turtle's shifting of his 

 weight when he got tired (Connelley 1899 b : 70). 



29 The idea that the earth is supported by a turtle is a familiar Iroquoian one and is 

 supported by the creation myth (see Appendix 2). 



