278 THE WINNEBAGO TRIBE [eth. ann. 37 



self. Blessings are not obtained except by making the proper offerings to the spirits 

 and by putting yourself, time and again, in the proper mental condition ... If you 

 do not obtain a spirit to strengthen you, you will amount to nothing in the estimation 

 of your fellowmen, and they will show you little respect . . . My son, as you travel 

 along life's path, you will find many narrow passages (i. e., crises'), and you can never 

 tell when you will come to them. Try to anticipate them, so that you will be en- 

 dowed mth sufficient strength (by obtaining powers from the spirits) to pass safely 

 through these narrow passages. 



Among the Winnebago religion is definitely comiected with the 

 preservatioii of life values. It is not a phenomenon cUstinct from 

 mundane life, but one of the most important means of maintaining 

 social ideals. What these are can be gleaned from practically every 

 prayer; they are success, happiness, and long life. The vast majority 

 of investigators are often surprised at the intense religious life which, 

 among the North American Indians, exists side by side with an 

 intense reaUsm and with a clear understanding and appreciation of 

 the materiahstic basis of life. The explanation, to judge from the 

 Winnebago data, is simple enough. The Indian does not interpret 

 Ufe in terms of religion, but reUgion in terms of life. In other words, 

 he exalts the world aroimd him and the mvdtifarious desires and 

 necessities of the day, so that they appear to lum bathed in a re- 

 Ugious thrill. At least that is what the devoutly religious man 

 does and most of the rehgious data presented in this volume emanates 

 from him. StiU we are convinced that for the vast majority of 

 Winnebago, in other words, for the intermittently rehgious, there 

 are many moments in life and many actions wliich are seen through 

 this pleasurable religious thrill. 



Every Wiimebago will admit that to perform the wana:"tce're cere- 

 mony (p. Ill) and, on the followmg day, to agree to start at a certain 

 hour, would not necessarily result in killing a bear. The bear tracks 

 are to be followed and a person is to persevere imtil the bear is 

 captured, in spite of the fact that the waruiHce're ceremony is sup- 

 posed to insure the capture of the animal. 



Or again let us take the following example. No man can hope to 

 go on a warpath and kiU an enemy unless he is authorized to do so 

 by a defuiite blessing received dm-ing fasting. If we were to accept 

 tiiis statement as such, we might be led to beUeve that the Wume- 

 bago were willing to risk their yoimg men on so dangerous an under- 

 taking as a warpath, on the sole strength of a fasting experience. 

 It does not stand to reason that they woidd, and a careful inquhy 

 into the subject has shown that they never tUd. What actually 

 happened was that the prospective war leader translated into re- 

 hgious terms the exact concUtions and recjuirements of every par- 

 ticular war party. That is why the chief of the tribe and the shamans 

 insisted that only such a person who had been blessed with the most 

 specific kind of knowledge, such as the number of men he must take 



