« k*t] SHAKER CEREMONIAL SYMBOLISM 7G1 



the Yakima, from the fact that on meeting a stranger, instead of at 

 onee shaking hands with him in the usual manner, they first wave the 

 hand gently in front of his face like a fan, and blow on him, in order 

 to "blow away the badness"' from him. They first appeared among the 

 Yakima and other eastern tribes about six years ago, and are gradu- 

 ally gaining adherents, although as yet they have no regular time 

 or place of assembly. They are much addicted to making the sign of 

 the cross — the cross, it is hardly necessary to state, being as much 

 an Indian as a Christian symbol — and are held in great repute as 

 doctors, their treatment consisting chiefly of hypnotic performances 

 over the patient, resulting in the spasmodic shaking already described. 

 In doctoring a patient the "blowers" usually gather around him in 

 a circle to the number of about twelve, dressed in a very attractive 

 ceremonial costume, and each wearing on his head a sort of crown of 

 woven cedar bark, in which are fixed two lighted candles, while in his 

 right hand he carries a small cloth, and in the left another lighted 

 candle. By fastening screens of colored cloth over the candles the light 

 is made to appear yellow, white, or blue. The candle upon the fore- 

 head is yellow, symbolic of the celestial glory; that at the back of the 

 head is white, typical of the terrestrial light, while the third is blue, 

 the color of the sky. 



Frequently also they carry in their hands or wear on their heads gar- 

 lands of roses and other flowers of various colors, yellow, white, and 

 blue being the favorite, which they say represent the colors of objects 

 in the celestial world. While the leader is going through his hypnotic 

 performance over the patient the others are waving the cloths and 

 swinging in circles the candles held in their hands. In all this it is 

 easy to see the influence of the Catholic ritual, with its censers, tapers, 

 and flowers, with which these tribes have been more or less familiar 

 for the last fifty years. 



A single instance will suffice to show the. methods of the blower doc- 

 tors. The story is told from the Indian point of view, as related by the 

 half-blood interpreter, who believed it all. About six years ago two 

 of these doctors from the north, while visiting near Woodland on the 

 Columbia, were called to the assistance of a woman who was seriously 

 ill, and had received no benefit from the treatment of the native doctors. 

 They came and almost immediately on seeing the patient announced to 

 the relatives that the sickness had been put into her by the evil magic 

 of a neighboring medicineman, whom they then summoned into their 

 presence. When the messenger arrived for him, the medicine-man 

 refused to go, saying that the doctors were liars and that he had not 

 made the woman ill. By their clairaudieut power — or possibly by a 

 shrewd anticipation of probabilities — the doctors in the other house 

 knew of his refusal and sent another messenger to tell him that conceal- 

 ment or denial would not avail him, and that if he refused to come they 

 would proceed to blow the sickness into his own body. Without further 



