370 



RELIGION 



[B. A. E. 



spirits, or who may personally be en- 

 dowed with magic powers. It is their 

 duty to discover the material disease 

 which is located in the patient's body, 

 and which they extract by sucking or 

 pulling with the hands; or to go in pur- 

 suit of the absent soul, to recover it, and 

 to restore it to the patient. Both of these 

 forms of shamanism are found practically 

 all over the continent, but in some re- 

 gions — for instance, in California — the 

 idea of material bodies that cause sick- 

 ness is particularly strongly developed; 

 while in other regions the idea of the 

 absence of the soul seems to be more 

 marked. In treating the patient, the 

 shamans almost everywhere use various 

 means to work themselves into a state of 

 excitement, which is produced by sing- 

 ing, by the use of the drum and rattle, 

 and by dancing. The belief also widely 

 prevails that unpropitious i^onditions may 

 counteract the work of the shaman, and 

 that for this reason particular care must 

 be taken to remove all disturbing and 

 impure elements from the place where 

 the shamanistic performance is held. 

 When the shaman has to have inter- 

 course with the spirits, whom he visits in 

 their own domain, or when he has to pur- 

 sue the soul of the patient, we find fre- 

 quently sleight-of-hand employed, such 

 as the tying of the hands of the shaman, 

 who, when his soul leaves the body, is 

 believed to free himself with the help of 

 the spirits. ( See Magic, Medicine and Medi- 

 cine-men, Shamans and Priestf>.) 



The belief that certain individuals can 

 acquire control over the powers has also 

 led to the opinion that they may be used 

 to harm enemies. The possession of 

 such control is not always beneficial, but 

 may be used also for purposes of witch- 

 craft (q. v.). Hostile shamans may 

 throw disease into the bodies of their 

 enemies, or they may abduct their souls. 

 They may do harm by sympathetic 

 means, and control the will-power of 

 others by the help of the supernatural 

 means at their disposal. Witchcraft is 

 everywhere considered as a crime, and is 

 so yjunished. 



Besides those manifestations of reli- 

 gious belief that relate to the individual, 

 religion has become closely associated 

 with the social structure of the tribes; 

 so that the ritualistic side of religion can 

 be understood only in connection with 

 the social organization of the Indian 

 tribes. Even the fundamental traits of 

 their social organization possess a reli- 

 gious import. This is true particularly of 

 the clans (q. v. ), so far as they are char- 

 acterized by totems (q. v.). The totem 

 is almost always an object of more or less 

 religious reverence to the clan; and there 

 are many cases in which taboos relating 



to the totemic animal exist, like those 

 previously referred to among the Omaha. 

 Also in cases where the clans have defi- 

 nite political functions, like those of the 

 Omaha and the Iroquois, these functions 

 are closely associated with religious con- 

 cepts, partly in so far as their origin is 

 ascribed to myths, partly in so far as the 

 functions are associated with the per- 

 formance of religious rites. The position 

 of officials is also closely associated with 

 definite religious concepts. Thus, the 

 head of a clan at times is considered as 

 the representative of the mythological 

 ancestor of the clan, and as such is be- 

 lieved to be endowed with superior pow- 

 ers; or the position as officer in the tribe 

 or clan entails the performance of certain 

 definite religious functions. In this sense 

 many of the political functions among 

 Indian tribes are closely associated with 

 what may be termed ' ' priestly functions. ' ' 

 The religious significance of social insti- 

 tutions is most clearly marked in cases 

 where the tribe, or large parts of the 

 tribe, join in the performance of certain 

 ceremonies which are intended to serve 

 partly a political, partly a religious end. 

 Such acts are some of the intertribal ball- 

 games, the busk of the Creeks, the sun- 

 dance of the Plains Indians, perfor- 

 mances of the numerous w'arrior societies 

 of the Plains, which will be found 

 treated under these headings. Here also 

 belong the secret societies, which are 

 highly developed among the Pueblos, in 

 California, andontheNorth Pacific coast. 

 It is characteristic of rituals in many 

 parts of the w^orld that they tend to 

 develop into a more or less dramatic rep- 

 resentation of the myth from which the 

 ritual is derived. For this reason the use 

 of masks (q. v. ; seea\so Ceremony) is a com- 

 mon feature of these rituals, in which cer- 

 tain individuals impersonate supernatural 

 beings. In those tribes among which 

 very complex rituals have developed we 

 find the ceremonies frequently in charge 

 of certain officers, who are at the same 

 time the keepers of the sacred objects 

 belonging to the tribe or to the societies 

 (see Altar, Palladium ) ; and it would seem 

 that the whole system of religious beliefs 

 and practices has developed the more 

 systematically, the more strictly the reli- 

 gious practices have come to be in charge 

 of a body of priests. This tendency to 

 systematization of religious beliefs may 

 be observed particularly among the Pue- 

 blos and the Pawnee, but it also occurs in 

 isolated cases in other parts of the conti- 

 nent; for instance, among the Bellacoola 

 of British Columbia, and those Algonquian 

 tribes that have the Midewiwin ceremo- 

 nial fully developed. Inthesecaseswefind 

 that frequently an elaborate series of eso- 

 teric doctrines and practices exists, which 



