148 



ORESTACO ORIENTATION 



[b. a. b. 



earlier time were all the bodies and be- 

 ings of nature in any manner affecting 

 the weal or woe of man. So primitive 

 man interpreted the activities of nature 

 to l)e due to the struggle of one orenda 

 against another, put forth by the beings 

 or boilies of his environment, the former 

 possessing orenda and the latter life, 

 min<l, and orenda only by virtue of his 

 own imputation of these things to lifeless 

 objects. In the stress of life, coming into 

 contact or more or less close relation with 

 certain bodies of his environment, more 

 frequently and in a more decided manner 

 than with the other environing bodies, 

 and learning to feel from these relations 

 that these bodies through "the exercise 

 of their orenda controlled the conditions 

 of his welfare and in like manner shaped 

 his ill fare," man gradually came to re- 

 gard these bodies as the masters, the 

 arbiters, the gods, of the conditions of 

 his environment, whose aid, goodwill, 

 and even existence were absolutely nec- 

 essary to his well-being and to the pres- 

 ervation of his life. In the cosmogouic ' 

 legends, the sum of the opei'ations of this 

 hypothetic magic power constitutes the 

 story of the phenomena of nature and the 

 biography of the gods, in all the planes 

 of human culture. Fnjm the least to the 

 greatest, there are incomparable differ- 

 ences in strength, function, and scope of 

 action among the orendas, or magic pow- 

 ers, exercised by any group of such 

 fictitious beings. Therefore it is not re- 

 markal)le to find in many legends that 

 for specific purposes man may sometimes 

 possess weapons whose orenda is superior 

 to that possessed by some of the primal 

 beings of his cosmology. It is likewise 

 found that the number of purposes for 

 which a given orenda may be efficient 

 varies widely. 



TheAlgonquianma«ito, theShoshonean 

 pokunt, the Siouan mahopd, p'Ae or rather 

 Jiojxtdi, correspond approximately, if not 

 exactly, ^with this Iroquois term orenda 

 in "use and signification. Those who in- 

 terpret these terms as denotive simply of 

 what is expressed by the English words 

 'mystery,' 'immortal,' 'magic,' 'sor- 

 cery,' or.' wonderful,' fail to appreciate 

 the true nature and functions of the as- 

 sumed power denoted by these terms as 

 conceived by the Indians who devised 

 these terms. 



The following are compound terms oc- 

 curring in the Jesuit Relations, in which 

 orenda is the noun element: Arendio- 

 wane, ArendioSane, Arendioguanne, 

 Arendioauanne, Arendiouane, Arendi- 

 wane, Arendaonatia. See Mi/thologij, Ot- 

 Jcon, Oi/aron, Religion. 



Consult Powell, introd. to Cushing's 

 Zuni Folk Tales, 1901; Hewitt in Am. 

 Anthrop., iv, 33-46, 1902. (j. n. b. ii.) 



Orestaco. A former village, probably 

 Costanoan, situated to the e. of San Juan 

 Bautista mission, Cal. — Bancroft, Hist. 

 Cal., I, 559, 1886. 



Orientation. The entrance way of In- 

 dian dwellings in the open country gen- 

 erally faced the e. When a tribal cere- 

 mony was to take place, the Indians of the 

 plains camped in a circle and the line of 

 tents was broken on the e. side so as to 

 leave an open space. If, within this circle, 

 a smaller one was constructed of boughs 

 and for the special rites, this also had its 

 opening to the e. Articles used for sacred 

 purposes in ceremonies were arranged so 

 as to conform to the idea of orientation, 

 and their ornamentation was made to serve 

 that thought. For instance, the colored 

 band on the basket drum used in the 

 Night Chant of the Navaho was "not 

 continuous but intersected at one point 

 by a narrow line of uncolored wood" in 

 order "to assist in the orientation of the 

 basket at night in the medicine lodge" 

 when the light was dim. The placing 

 of prayer-sticks and other symbolic de- 

 vices, as well as their colors, referred 

 to the points of the compass (see Color 

 symbolism). Even the drumstick used 

 in the Navaho Night Chant ceremony 

 must be made of four yucca leaves, which, 

 while on the plant, pointed to the four 

 quarters; that which was toward the e. 

 must first be plucked, and with that from 

 the w. forms the core of the drumstick. 

 Again, during the initial acts of a religious 

 ceremony the priest and his assistants 

 must face the e. In the busk ceremony 

 of the Creeks the four logs with which 

 the new fire was kindled were laid 

 crosswise with reference to the cardinal 

 points. Tents and dwellings, except on 

 the seacoast, generally face the e. 

 Among the Pueblos the communal dwell- 

 ings usually face the sun, and additions 

 are rarely made toward the n. ; in the 

 older pueblos the kivas (q. v.) also were 

 oriented. In burials orientation was not 

 universally observed, although it was 

 common among some of the tribes. 

 Among the Tlingit of Alaska it was re- 

 garded as of importance, for it was be- 

 Heved that if the dead were not placed 

 with their heads to the e. they could not 

 be "reborn." In myths, legends, and 

 rituals the e. was spoken of as "the place 

 where dwelt the dawn and the sun." 

 These two, the dawn and the sun, were 

 regarded as distinct and unrelated. The 

 dawn was the child of "mother dark- 

 ness," or night, and the animating power 

 which pervades all things; it was born 

 anew each day, while the sun came into 

 existence once for all in the ancient days, 

 and was one of the lesser and visible gods. 

 He was always the same, and was ap- 

 pointed to make his daily journey through 



