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PRAYERS OF THE MEDICINE CULT 



795 



105 The power of the foolish one 

 You will make stand forth. 

 Then our child's spirit will become 



well, 

 His breath wiU become well. 

 Then that you may be the ones 

 whom his spirit will embrace, 



110 There at your house ^' 

 With your clear water 

 You will bind your child fast. 



In order that it may be thus 

 We give you our child. 



105 yu"yanam an sa'wanilfa 

 ton lu'wana kwai"iKanawa 

 ho"nan te'apEunan an tse"mak- 



wi-'Kokculj'ana 

 an ya'nhakunan i"'K3kcuEapa. 

 i'sEon tse"mak le'lakwi yam 



a''teatun'on aljii 

 110 hoi yam he'cotakwi 

 yam te'apkunane 

 yam Eacima Ea'kc a'ljii 

 lo' ya'tena ts'u'meEana'tun'on 



a($a 

 tom ho'n le'apkunan a'niktcia'u. 



The Society Father Summons the Novice for His Initiation 



If the patient has been given to the society he is expected to com- 

 plete his initiation as soon as economic obhgations permit. Should 

 he fail in this he is troubled with bad dreams as a warning of the fate 

 that will overtake him. Initiation is in no sense a propitiatory rite; 

 it is, rather, an access to power. The preliminary' ceremonies held 

 at his sick bed secured him a stay, but in order finally to triumph over 

 the disease, the patient must place hunself imder the protection of 

 the Beast Gods and receive from them a new heart. Should he not 

 do this, he will be troubled in spirit imtU he sickens and dies. Worry 

 is the most serious of all illnesses, it is the sickness of the spirit 

 caused by supernatural agencies. 



Frequently many years elapse before a man is in a position to meet 

 the expenses of intitation. Whenever he is ready his famUy notify 

 the society father, who is the man who received him as a patient. 

 At the first fall meeting of the society the date for the initiation is 

 set at the full moon of the month at which that society customarily 

 initiates. 



Four daj's before the full moon the ceremonial father goes after 

 simset to the house of the novice to notify him that the initiation 

 ceremonies are about to begin. Here the boy's faniily are assembled 

 and waiting for him. After fonnal greetings are exchanged, the man 

 sits down, removes his head band and moccasins and prays. ^^* 



" The house of the society. Had the man been offering the child for initiation into the society he would 

 say instead of "at your house," "in your spring." 



"• Dictated by a member of the Oreat Fire Society, a man who has initiated many children into his 

 society. 



