136 THE WINNEBAGO TKIBE [bth. ann. 37 



All boys do not seem to have approached the ordeal of fasting with 

 the proper religious feeling. One instance in particular showed any- 

 thing but a reverent attitude; this is so amusing that it is here 

 given in the exact words of the Indian : 



When I was a young boy, my folks made me fast together with a boy named 

 Modudjeka. We were supposed to go to the hills and cry until the spirits blessed us. 

 However, whenever we looked at each other and at our charcoal-blackened faces we 

 could not refrain from bursting out laughing. Whenever we made up our minds to 

 cry, something or other would induce us to look at each other and the laughing would 

 begin all over again. WTien the time for our return to the house came, we didn't 

 present the slightest indication of ha\'ing cried, so we took some saliva and made long 

 streaks on our faces. 



Young girls and women are also encouraged to fast to obtain the 

 war honors. 



MenMrual lodges. — Fasting at puberty by girls was inseparably con- 

 nected with their retirement to menstrual lodges. Sometimes there 

 was only one girl in each menstrual lodge, sometimes there were as 

 many as three. From the time of her first menstrual flow to her 

 climacteric a woman retired to a menstrual lodge every month for 

 a few days. An excellent account of Winnebago customs in this 

 respect was obtained in a text from a male informant, and, although 

 somewhat discursive, it is given in full here: 



As soon as a woman begins to have her menstrual flow she has to retire to a menstrual 

 lodge and to be careful never to come in contact with any sacred objects. If she did, 

 these objects would all lose their power. Everything that is holy would immediately 

 lose its power if a menstruating woman came near it. A holy woman or a holy man 

 or even a holy child would be affected by the proximity of a menstruating woman. 

 Their holy condition would immediately disappear. In a similar way, if food were 

 served to a sick person from the same dish used for a menstruating woman the sick 

 person would become far more sick. 



The food for a menstruating person is always cooked separately. Special dishes 

 are used and special fireplaces are made. 



If a person possessed any medicines, they would lose all their power if a men- 

 struating woman came in contact with them. If any person should enter a men- 

 strual lodge, in after life, whenever he fasted, he would not be blessed by any spirit. 

 However, there is one thing that a menstruating woman is afraid of, and that is tHe 

 war bundle. These war bundles are kept in cedar [leaves?] mixed with medicine to 

 prevent danger from just such a source. If a menstruating woman comes near a war 

 bundle, her flow would increase and never cease, and after a while she would die,^ 

 and only if the owner of the war bundle personally attends to her can she be cured. 

 For that reason whenever a war-bundle feast is being given a woman is ^•ery careful, 

 and even if it is a few days before her menstrual flow she will not go. 



' This explains wliat puzzled the author for some time — namely, t he fact that although contact with a 

 menstruating woman destroyed the efficacy of everything holy, in the case of the war bundle the reverse 

 was true and the woman was destroyed. Many of the Indians who spolie of this matter also seemed to 

 believe it was the war bundle that killed the woman. From this account, however, it is perfectly clear 

 that it is not the war bundle at all that killed the woman, but the poison in which the war bundle was 

 wrapped. The war bundle is therefore no exception to the general rule, and it is only on account of the 

 serious consequences that would accrue to so many people from any impairment of its powers, and the 

 care taken to prevent this by surrounding it with special medicines, that it offers externally an exception 

 to the fatal effects of contact with a menstruating woman. 



