■WHITE] CEREMONIES AND CEREMONIALISM 111 



All of the doctors save two go behind the altar, sit down, and begin 

 to sing. The two remaining in front dance in front of the altar and 

 about the patient. They hold an eagle wing feather in each hand. 

 They move these about the patient with cuttmg and slashing mo- 

 tions (away from the patient); they are "whipping the disease away." 

 Then they lay their eagle feathers by the altar. They go to the sick 

 person and massage him here and there. If they succeed in finding 

 some foreign object m his body they suck it out. They go over to 

 the refuse bowl and spit it out in the bowl ("you can see it when it 

 comes out of their mouth, and hear it when it falls in the bowl").* 

 They gargle their throats, wash their hands, and go back of the altar. 

 Two other doctors come out and repeat the process. All of the 

 medicine men cure in this way; the headman is last. The women 

 doctors (if there are any) merely sing; they never perfonn any cures. 



When the ciu"mg is finished the headman gives the patient medicine 

 from the medicine bowl.' It is administered externally or internally 

 or both. The remaining medicine is given to the members of the 

 patient's household, who drink it. 



This concludes the ceremony. The doctors go home, leaving two 

 of their number to watch the patient. The altar, with its attendant 

 paraphernalia, remains in place for four days, after which it is removed 

 to the society house. The patient is attended by the doctors in turn 

 imtU he recovers — or dies. The attending doctors praj' and sing a 

 great deal. If the patient recovers he will be pledged to the society 

 effecting the cure, although he may not be initiated for a year or 

 two thereafter. The society will receive no compensation upon the 

 recovery of the patient, but wUl receive a considerable quantity of 

 corn meal, flour, bread, etc., when he is formally initiated. 



During the four daj's of cm-ing the doctors may not eat salt or 

 meat. Also, during this period, and for four days thereafter, they 

 may not sleep with their wives, nor bathe nor wash then- heads.'" 



Securing new meinbers. — As we have just seen, a person may join 

 a medicine society after having been ciu-ed by it. This is the most 

 approved M'ay of becoming a medicine man. Theoretically, a person 

 may become a member of a curing society without havmg been Ul; 

 he could request to be initiated, and if accepted, he would be made 

 a medicine man. Tliis method, however, is almost unheard of. Then 

 there is a third way of recruiting new members, viz, by "trapping" 

 persons and compelling them to join against their will. 



s They spit out stones, thorns, rags, yam, and sometimes a snake, a live one. 



' The medicine bowls have four terraced sides. They are black and while. Bears, snakes, lions, light- 

 ning, and cloud symbols are painted on the bowls. 



10 Compare with Stevenson's accounts of curing ceremonies; e. g., the ceremony of the Giant Society, 

 pp. 97-101, The Sia. 



