Chafe] SENECA THANKSGIVING RITUALS 13 



thanksgiving sequence in similar although not identical form. I shall 

 end this introduction with a few remarks based on a comparison of 

 all the versions of the thanksgiving rituals listed on pages 301-302. 

 The features compared mil be those of inventory and order, which, 

 being the easiest to observe, have been the features most satisfactorily 

 recorded in the past. 



As far as inventory is concerned, Sundown includes in his speeches 

 all the items that are widespread in other versions. Frequently, how- 

 ever, separate sections are devoted to the strawberry and the maple. 

 The only item of his which is of relatively infrequent occurrence is 

 the birds. Items not included by him which appear in one or more 

 of the other versions are grass, tobacco, the raspberry, the sunflower, 

 corn, bushes, fruit trees, nut trees, the hickory, fish, fire, clouds, 

 cold (chiefly a supplication that it not become excessive), and the 

 hortofsinohke? , a word that now refers to the holders of charms, but 

 according to Morgan (1901, vol. 1, p. 212) "included the whole 

 spiritual world." 



Possibly there is significance in the fact that the two items neces- 

 sarily associated with the Handsome Lake religion, the Four Beings 

 and Handsome Lake himself, do not occur in four out of five of the 

 earliest recorded versions: from 1900 and before, only in Cattaraugus 

 Reservation, 1896. They are present in all later versions. It is sug- 

 gestive although by no means conclusive evidence that the sequence 

 occurred first without the Handsome Lake items and continued thus 

 through most of the 19th century, and further that the inclusion of 

 these items spread from Cattaraugus, or perhaps from the longhouscs 

 of the Seneca Nation (Cattaraugus and Allegany). 



The order of the items is consistent in moving from things terrestrial 

 to things celestial. After the people, the earth is always mentioned 

 first, then come the plants, (bushes), and trees, consistently in that 

 order. The animals (and birds) come next. The water is found in 

 various positions between these first items. The wind, always, and 

 the Thunderers, usually, precede the sun, moon, and stars, but the 

 Thunderers and stars are sometimes juxtaposed (presumably because 

 of their water-bringing function). The position of Handsome Lake 

 and the Four Beings varies, but the Creator is consistently last 

 unless there is an added section for the singers of the Thanksgiving 

 Dance. 



The texts are presented with Seneca and English on facing pages. 

 The translation is a "free" one. So much has been said concerning 

 the problems of translators that I shall make no other apology than 

 to observe that Seneca and Enghsh are probably as unUke as two 

 languages can be. While no interlinear translation is given, a word 



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