BADiN] RELIGION 281 



as desirous of bemg killed and eaten by man is, however, but another 

 way of saying that the food animals were killed and eaten, and were 

 secondarily and weakly brought uito the general religious life, 

 because everything was seen through a religious vista. It is by no 

 means certain that this was always the case, and there seem to be 

 innumerable indications m the myths that there was a time when 

 the securmg of the food animals was not connected with religion as 

 such. 



Just as the securing of food animals is to-day connected with cer- 

 tain spirits, so are the various activities of man during his life. But 

 characteristically it is not a generalized conception of life, but life 

 as consisting of a prescribed number of years, with so many war 

 honors, so much wealth, so much food consvuned, so many children, 

 etc. The spirits are exhorted to give to every man his allotted nmn- 

 ber of years, food, etc. These are apparently his by right, and if he 

 dies before his time the ghost of the deceased is asked to beg the 

 spirits to distribute among his relatives the "unused" years, food, 

 etc. So here, too, we have a clear example of the explanation of 

 purely materialistic conception of life in terms of religion. 



It will be best to discuss the main features of Winnebago religion 

 under the following heads : 



I. The religious concepts: 



1. The concept of supernatural power. 



2. The concept and nature of the spirits. 



3. The power and localization of the spirits. 



II : 1 . The twofold interpretation of therelation of the spirits to man. 



2. The guardian spirits. 



3. Personal religious experiences. 



III. Methods of bringing the spirits into relation with man : 



1. Fasting. 



2. Mental concentration. 



4. Offerings and sacrifices. 



5. Prayers. 



IV. The f olkloristic concepts : 



1. The concept of evil. 



2. The concept of disease. 



3. The concepts of death, after-life, and reincarnation. 



4. The concept of the soul. 



V. The cosmological ideas. 



The Concept of Slternatueal Power * 



The Winnebago have no such belief in a "magic power" as Mr. 

 J. N. B. Hewitt and Mr. W. Jones would have us believe exists among 



* For a general discussion of this concept in North America cf. my paper on the "Religion of the North 

 American Indians," Journal of .\merican FoUilore, vol. 27, no. 106, pp. 344-351. 



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