Handbook of American Indians north of Mexico / edited by Frederick Webb Hodge.

Date:
1907-1910
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Handbook of American Indians north of Mexico / edited by Frederick Webb Hodge. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    989/1000 (page 971)
    wherein a wide difference in recognized between man and the animals, tlie i)ower.s and phenomena of nature are ])ersonihed, and the gods are anthrojtomorphic; and (4) psj/choiheiym, wherein mental attri- l)utes and moral and social characteristics with which are associated the powers of nature are personitied and deified, and there arise gods of war, of love, of rev- elry, plenty, and fortune. This last stage, by proces.ses of mental integration, passes into monotheism on the one hand and into pantheism on the other. It is found that these four stages are not thus succes- sive, hut that they niay and do overlap, and that it is best perhai>s to call them j)ha.ses rattuu- than stages of growth, in that they may exist side hy side. Lrinton learnedly calls attention to the distinctively native American character of the large body of myths and tales rehearsed among the American aborig- ines. His studies include also much etymological analysis of mythic and legendary names, which is unfortunately largely inaccurate, analysis being appar- ently made to accord with a preconceived idea of what it should disclo.se. This vitiates a large j>art of his otherwise excellent identifications of the objective realities of the agents found in the my- thology. 1 le also treats in his instructive style the various cults of the demiurge, or the culture-hero or hero-god; but it must be borne in mind that here the so-called hero-god is not solely or even chiefly such in character. In discussing the hero-myths of the n. w. Pacific coast tribes, P>oas i)oints out the fact that the culture-hero of that area was not always ])romi)ted by altruistic motives in “giv- ing the world its present sha])e and man his arts.” The hero is credited with failures as well as with successes, and in character is an “egotist pure and simple.” On the other hand, boas finds in the life and character of the Algon- (juian Nanabozho (q. v.) altruistic motives (lominant. This tendency to displace the egotistic motives of the primitive trans- former with preeminently altruistic ones is strongly marked in the character of the Iroquoian'Tharonhiawagon {(p v.), a jjar- allel if not a cognate conception with that of the Aloiuiuian Nanabozho. As show- ing a tran.«itional stage on the way to al- truism, Boas states tliat the transformer among the KwakiutI f)rings about the changes for the benefit of a friend and not forhimsi'lf. While there are some Algon- quian myths in which Nanabozho ai)pears as a trickster and teller of falsehoods, among the Iroquois the trickster and buf- foon has been developed alongside that of the demiurge, and is sometimes reputed to be the brother of Death. The mink. the wolverene, tne bluejay, the raven- and the coyote are represented as trick, sters in the Tiiyths of many of the tribes of tlie Pacific slope and the N. W. coast. Matthews, in “The Night Chant, a Ceremony of the Navaho” (Mem. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., v, 1902), introduces an interesting account of the striking sym- bolism and mythic philosophy of this remarkable people. ]\Iiss Fletcher, in her many excellent and instructive writings on the customs and symbolism of the Indians whom she has studied, has placed the study of my- thology on a scientific basis, in her ‘“Hako: A Pawnee Ceremony” (22d Bep. B. A. E., 1902), Miss Fletcher treats in masterful manner this interesting series of rites, which, with marked sym- pathy and the skill of ripe experience, she analyzes and interprets in such wise that the delicately veiled symbolism and mythic conceptions are clearly brought to view. In the Zufu record of the genesis of the worlds, as recorded by Cushing (13th Rep. B. A. E., 1890), .Vwonawilona, the Makerand (’ontainer of all, alone and nn- per])lexed awaiting fate, existed before the beginning of time in the darkness which knew no beginning. Then he conceived within himself, and projecting his think- ing into the void of night, around him evolved fogs of increase—mist« potent with growth. Then, in like manner, the All- container took upon himself the form and per.«onof the Bun, the Father of men, who thus came to be, and by whose light and brighteningthecloud mists became thick- ened into water, and thus was made the world-holding sea. Then from “his sub- stance of flesh outdrawn from the surface of his person,” he made the seed of two worlds, fecundating therewith the sea. By the heat of his rays there was formed thereon green scums, which increasing apace became “The Four-fold Containing Mother-earth” and the “ .Vll-covering Father-sky.” Then from the comforting together of these twain on the great world-waters, terrestrial life was gener- ated, and therefrom sprang all beings of earth—men and the creatures, fi-oni the “Four-fold womb of the World.” Then, the Earth-mother rejuilsed the Bky- father, and growing heavy sank into the embrace of the waters of the sea, and thus she separated from the Sky-fatlier, leaving him in the embrace of the waters above. Moreover, the Earth-mother and the Sky-lather, like all surpassing beings, were changeable, metainorjdiic, even like smoke in the wind, were “transmutable at thought, manifesting themselves in any form at will, as dancers may by mask-making.” Then