CHAPTER XI 



RELIGION 

 Introduction 



We know that in all religions there are two factors to be con- 

 sidered — a specific feeling and certain beliefs, conceptions, customs, 

 and acts associated with that feeling ; that the behef most inextricably 

 connected with that rehgious feeling is the one in spirits more power- 

 ful than man and controlling everything in Ufe which he values. 



The beUefs themselves play an important part with all people, 

 but the importance of the specific feeling varies with each indi- 

 vidual. A perusal of the fasting experiences (see pp. 293-308) wLU 

 make tins quite clear. It is because we do not separate the actions 

 and testimony of the reUgious man from that of the intermittently 

 rehgious and the nonrehgious man that most presentations of the 

 subject are so confused and vague. It is, of couree, extremely diffi- 

 cult to obtain the real attitude of the intermittently rehgious and the 

 nonrehgious man, because it is the rehgious individual and leader who 

 gives form to the expressions which religion assumes in ceremony 

 and prayer. Yet we must recognize that there is a difference and that 

 it is often this difference that accounts for certam contradictions in 

 the information obtained. The one place where it is possible, at 

 least among the Winnebago, to obtain some idea of the emotional 

 make-up and attitude of the intermittently religious man, is the 

 fasting ordeal, and from a comparison of those experiences it is 

 quite clear that a sufficiently large number of people were not able 

 to obtain that thrill wliich they had been taught to expect. It is also 

 clear that the shamans and rehgious leaders recognized this fact 

 and provided for it by advising such people to buy the requisite 

 protection agamst the trials and misfortimes of life, or as they put 

 it, "the crises or narrow places of life." Such a pei-son would 

 certainly not be regarded as one of the leaders of the tribe. 



Tile ideal that the parent held before the eyes of liis children is 

 quite eloquently put in the system of instructions (see p. 166). 



My son, when you grow up, you should try to be of some benefit to your fellowmen. 

 There is only one way in which this can be done, and that is to fast ... If you thirst 

 to death, the spirits who are in control of wars will bless you . . . But, my son. if 

 you do not fast repeatedly it «-ill be all in vain that you inflict sufferings upon your- 



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