DRUM-PRESENTATION CEREMONY 



In October, 1910, the writer witnessed the ceremony accompany- 

 ing the presentation of two drums by the Lac du Flambeau Band 

 of Chippewa in Wisconsin to the Menominee Indians in the same 

 State. Part of this ceremony was enacted on the Lac du Flambeau 

 Reservation and part on the Menommee Reservation. It is called 

 by the Lac du Flambeau Chippewa Dewe'iglln omi'giwen' ("a. drum 

 is given away") or the Drum-presentation Ceremony and is described 

 by Barrett under the title of the Dream Dance.^ 



During four days before their departure the Chippewa danced on 

 their own reservation, the Menominee dancing the same length of 

 time before their arrival. There were also four days of dancing on 

 the Menominee Reservation when the drums were presented and four 

 days of dancing together after the ceremony. 



So great is the veneration in which the drum and its ceremonies 

 are held that there has sprung up what is called the "drum religion." 

 This does not supplant the Mide' (Grand Medicine), but introduces 

 a new element. The Mide' ^ has regard chiefly for the individual; its 

 aim is to secure health and long life for him, and its instructions con- 

 cern his own character. Its precepts regarding the relation of man to 

 his neighbor (so far as observed) are connected with the cure of illness 

 and general rectitude of conduct. The "religion of the drum" incul- 

 cates a developed and broadened sense of responsibihty and con- 

 cerns peace between peoples who have been at enmity. The cere- 

 monies of the Mide' are not marked by extreme ritual exactness and 

 some latitude is allowed the leaders in the choice of songs as well as 

 in the text of their discourses, but in the ceremonies connected with 

 the drum certain songs and no others must be sung, and dancmg 

 once begun must be continued the prescribed length of time regard- 

 less of conditions. The central idea of the " drum religion" is that of 

 peace, yet mingled with this idea is law, rigorous and inflexible. The 

 Chippewa say that the drum and its "religion" came to them from 

 the Sioux many years ago, but it came to them also through 

 development of character, as a step in the progress from the childhood 

 toward the manhood of a race. 



1 S. A. Barrett, Dream Dance of the Chippewa and Menommee Indians of Northern Wisconsin, in Bulletin 

 0/ the Public Museum of the City of Milwaukee, \-o\. 1, art. 4, 1911, pp. 251-371. Of. also section entitled 

 " The Dreamers," in The Menomini Indians, by Walter James Hoflman, M. D. {Fourteenth Ann. Rep. 

 Bur. Ethn., pt. 1, pp. 157-161. 



2 See Bulletin 45, p. 13. 



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