124 new york state museum 



sha'^dotge^a, the eagle society 



The ritual of the Eagle Society consists of ten songs and a dance. 

 The song is called Gane'^gwae oa^'no'. Every member participat- 

 ing in the ceremony paints on each cheek a round red spot. No one 

 but members may engage in its ceremonies, even though these be 

 performed publicly. The Eagle Society's ceremony is regarded as 

 most sacred, in this respect next to the Great Feather Dance, 

 O^stowa'gowa. It is believed that the society holds in its songs the 

 most potent charms known. It is said that the dying, especially 

 those afflicted with wasting diseases, and old people, have been 

 completely restored by its ceremonies. This is because the Dew 

 Eagle, to which the society is dedicated, is the reviver of wilting 

 things.^ The membership Is divided Into two classes by phratry- 

 shlp. A person may become a member by dreaming such a thing 

 necessary, or by receiving the rites of the society In case of Illness. 

 Special costumes are .worn In the ceremonies. In the dance the 

 members divide and stand opposite each other according to phratry, 

 the animals opposite the birds. Two dancers from each phratry 

 are chosen, and one singer from each. The dancers assume a squat- 

 ting posture and Imitate the motions of birds. The physical exer- 

 tion is intense and requires constant Interruption. The dancers and 

 singers continue to dance and sing until completely exhausted, unless 

 someone strikes the signal pole and makes a speech. The dancers 

 then retire to their benches until the speech ends, when the singers 

 take up their song and the dance is continued. After his speech, 

 the speaker, who may be any member, presents the dancers for 

 whom he speaks with a gift of money, tobacco, or bread: but the 

 old custom was to give only such things as birds liked for food. 

 The speeches are usually in praise of one's own clan and In derision 

 of the opposite phratr3^ At the close, the speakers all apologize for 

 their clannish zeal, and say. as If ever\^one did not known It, that 

 their Jibes v/ere Intended only as Jests. The dancers each hold In 

 their left hands a calumet fan, made by suspending six heron or 

 four ea.ele feathers parallel and horizontally from a rod or reed. In 

 their right hands they hold small gourd rattles with wooden handles, 

 or small bark rattles made of a folded strip of hickory bark pat- 

 terned after the larger False-face bark rattles. The signal Dole and 

 the striking stick are spirally striped with red paint. After the 



iThe Dew Easrle refreshed the scalp of the Good Hunter by plucking a 

 feather from its breast and sprinklinsf the scalp with dew from the lake in 

 the hollow of its back. 



