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 Fig. 6.—
Central post
of
Ceremonial
House,
showing
carved face.
 Fig. 7.—Side posts of Ceremonial House, showing carved faces.

OFFICERS
The messenger sent to assemble the people is one of three male
attendants chosen by the leader, and these three men appoint three
women to serve also. To these six attendants, known as aʹckas, falls
all the laborious work of the meeting. Although the duties are
menial, it is considered quite an honor to be selected as aʹckas. The
attendants camp on the north and south sides of the little open
square just east of the Big House (pl. vii), an area where no one is
allowed to pitch a tent.
Other officers selected for the meeting are a speaker (usually at
the time of the writer’s visit, Chief Charley Elkhair), two singers,
called Taleʹgunŭk, “Cranes,” whose duty it is to beat the dry deerskin
drum and sing the necessary songs, and a chief hunter who is
supposed to provide venison for the feast.
 PREPARATIONS

Fig. 8.—Ceremonial fire-drill used at the Annual Ceremony. (Length of shaft, 29.5
in.)

Arrived at the Big House, the attendants begin at once to prepare

the building for use after its year of idleness. The first act of the men
is to make mortar of mud, in the old style, and stop the cracks
between the logs of the house. Then they cut two forked saplings,
and set them in the ground about ten feet apart, some distance in
front of the Big House (see pl. vii); upon these is laid a pole, running
east and west, to support the twenty-gallon kettle used in preparing
hominy for the feast. After this they gather about a cord of wood for
the fires inside the Big House and the cooking fire outside. Then the
first night, a fire pure and undefined by the white man and his
matches, is made with a fire-drill (fig. 8). This is operated on the
principal of a pump-drill, like the ceremonial fire-drills of the
Iroquois. This fire, and this only, may be used in the temple, and no
one is permitted to take it outside for any purpose.

PL. VI

LENAPE ANNUAL CEREMONY IN PROGRESS

Native Painting by Earnest Spybuck, a Shawnee

CEREMONY COMMENCED
Two of the attendants, a man and a woman, then build the two
fires in the temple, so that there may be plenty of light, and sweep
the floor with turkey-wings for brushes. The men attendants take
turns so that one of them, at least, is always on guard outside the
building. When the temple is clean, the fires are burning bright, and
the aʹckas have called the people in and all are assembled, the chief
arises and delivers a speech.

CHIEF’S SPEECH
First he states the rules of the meeting, then he speaks along
some such line as the following, which was dictated by Chief Elkhair,
who frequently made these speeches:
“We are thankful that so many of us are alive to meet together
here once more, and that we are ready to hold our ceremonies in
good faith. Now we shall meet here twelve nights in succession to
pray to Gicelĕmû'ʹkaong, who has directed us to worship in this way.
And these twelve Mĭsiʹngʷ' faces [carved on the posts of the house]
are here to watch and to carry our prayers to Gicelĕmû'ʹkaong in the
highest heaven. The reason why we dance at this time is to raise our
prayers to him. Our attendants here, three women and three men,
have the task of keeping everything about our Temple in good order,
and of trying to keep peace, if there is trouble. They must haul wood
and build fires, cook and sweep out the Big House.
“When they sweep, they must sweep both sides of the fire twelve
times, which sweeps a road to Heaven, just as they say that it takes
twelve years to reach it. Women in their menses must not enter this
house.
“When we come into this house of ours we are glad, and thankful
that we are well, and for everything that makes us feel good which
the Creator has placed here for our use. We come here to pray Him
to have mercy on us for the year to come and to give us everything
to make us happy; may we have good crops, and no dangerous
storms, floods nor earthquakes. We all realize what He has put
before us all through life, and that He has given us a way to pray to
Him and thank Him. We are thankful to the East because everyone
feels good in the morning when they awake, and see the bright light
coming from the East, and when the Sun goes down in the West we
feel good and glad we are well; then we are thankful to the West.
And we are thankful to the North, because when the cold winds
come we are glad to have lived to see the leaves fall again; and to
the South, for when the south wind blows and everything is coming
up in the spring, we are glad to live to see the grass growing and
everything green again. We thank the Thunders, for they are the
manĭʹtowŭk that bring the rain, which the Creator has given them
power to rule over. And we thank our mother, the Earth, whom we
claim as mother because the Earth carries us and everything we
need. When we eat and drink and look around, we know it is
Gicelĕmû'ʹkaong that makes us feel good that way. He gives us the
purest thoughts that can be had. We should pray to Him every
morning.
“Man has a spirit, and the body seems to be a coat for that spirit.
That is why people should take care of their spirits, so as to reach
Heaven and be admitted to the Creator’s dwelling. We are given
some length of time to live on earth, and then our spirits must go.
When anyone’s time comes to leave this earth, he should go to
Gicelĕmû'ʹkaong, feeling good on the way. We all ought to pray to
Him, to prepare ourselves for days to come so that we can be with
Him after leaving the earth.
“We must all put our thoughts to this meeting, so that
Gicelĕmû'ʹkaong will look upon us and grant what we ask. You all
come here to pray; you have a way to reach Him all through life. Do
not think of evil; strive always to think of the good which He has
given us.
“When we reach that place, we shall not have to do anything or
worry about anything, only live a happy life. We know there are
many of our fathers who have left this earth and are now in this
happy place in the Land of Spirits. When we arrive we shall see our
fathers, mothers, children, and sisters there. And when we have
prepared ourselves so that we can go to where our parents and
children are, we feel happy.
“Everything looks more beautiful there than here, everything looks
new, and the waters and fruits and everything are lovely.
 “No sun shines there, but a light much brighter than the sun, the
Creator makes it brighter by his power. All people who die here,
young or old, will be of the same age there; and those who are
injured, crippled, or made blind will look as good as the rest of
them. It is nothing but the flesh that is injured: the spirit is as good
as ever. That is the reason that people are told to help always the
cripples or the blind. Whatever you do for them will surely bring its
reward. Whatever you do for anybody will bring you credit hereafter.
Whenever we think the thoughts that Gicelĕmû'ʹkaong has given us,
it will do us good.
“This is all I can think of to say along this line. Now we will pass
the Turtle around, and all that feel like worshiping may take it and
perform their ceremonies.”
Some nights the speaker says more, sometimes less, just as he
feels, but he always tries to tell it as he heard it from the old people
who came before him.

RECITAL OF VISIONS
Now, as was stated, these meetings are “brought in” by
individuals; that is a certain person, usually a man, undertakes to
arrange for the meeting and to lead the ceremonies. This person
must be one of those gifted by a vision or dream of power in their
youth, and hence, according to Lenape belief, one in communication
with the supernatural world.
Fig. 9.—Rattle of land-tortoise shell, used by celebrants at the Annual Ceremony.
(Length, 4.2 in.)

When the people file into the Big House, the few that still have
them dressed in their best Indian costumes carefully preserved for
such occasions (pl. i), the members of this leader’s clan always take
their seats on the north side, the other two clans in the west end
and the south side. Men and women, however, do not mingle, but sit
separately in the space allotted to their common clan. The diagram
(pl. vii) shows the seating of the clans when the ceremony is
“brought in” by a member of the Wolf division.
 Fig. 10.—Drum made of dried
deerskin used at the Annual
Ceremony. (Length 38.2 in.)

After the chief’s speech, the leader arises from his place just north
of the central post, and, rapidly shaking a rattle (taxoʹxi cowŭniʹgŭn)
made of a box-tortoise shell (fig. 9), recites his vision in a high
monotone, word by word. After he utters each word, he pauses an
instant to give the singers sitting at the rolled dry deerskin called
powŭniʹgŭn which serves as a drum (fig. 10), ample time to repeat
the same word in the same tone, which produces an extraordinary
effect. When he finishes, the drummers beat rapidly on the dry hide,
repeating “Ho-o-o!” a number of times.

PL. VII

PLAN OF LENAPE CEREMONIAL HOUSE AND GROUNDS NEAR DEWEY, OKLAHOMA

Then the celebrant repeats a verse of his song in the same way,
and the drummers, having learned the words, sing them to a dance
tune, beating the drum in slower time. After dancing awhile, the
celebrator whoops, and they stop; then another similar verse, if not
the same, is recited and then sung.
When the leader dances, he circles about the two fires contra-
clockwise, and those who wish may join in the dance and follow him
(pl. vi).
His dance finished, the leader passes the turtleshell to the next
man who has been blessed with a vision. This one has the privilege
of singing his vision if he wishes; if not, it is handed to the next
“dreamer.” After a celebrant has taken his seat, it is customary for
those who desire it to smoke until the next man is ready to
commence. At this time also it is considered proper for the people to
enter or leave the Big House, which is not permitted while the actual
ceremony is in progress. When the turtle rattle has thus made the
round of the building and gets back to its starting point, the meeting
is brought to a close. This is usually along toward morning, the exact
time of course being dependent on the number who have sung their
visions, and on the length of the intermissions.

CONCLUSION OF RITES
Now, when the man who started the ceremonies begins to dance,
that is a signal for two of the women aʹckas, or attendants, to go
out and pound corn for hominy or meal, and two of their men
colleagues cook it in the kettle hanging on the pole, so that it is
ready when the turtle has made its rounds and the meeting is about
to close. Then the repast of hominy or corn mush called säʹpan is
distributed, and the speaker says, “We will now pray twelve times,”
so twelve times they cry “Ho-o-o!” as a prayer. Then they feast,
using musselshells from the river as spoons, and finally the speaker
dismisses them with the words, “This is all for tonight; tomorrow
night we will meet again.”

DEPARTURE OF THE HUNTERS

When the next night arrives, approximately the same performance
is repeated; and the same the next, with little of interest occurring
during the day; but on the fourth morning, the leader who has
selected a man for chief hunter, gives him a yard of wampum as pay.
This master of the hunt then selects as many assistants as he wants,
and he and his crew all gather in the Big House, where they are
served about noon with a feast prepared for the occasion by the
women of the camp, and the attendants tie sacks of the food to the
hunters’ saddles.
When they have finished eating, they arrange themselves in a
row, each hunter standing on his left foot and barely touching the
ground with the toes of his right, an action whose meaning I have
not yet been able to determine.
Then the speaker rises and talks to them, and the Mĭsiʹngʷ' who
has been seen about the camp from time to time, is in the Big House
listening to his words. “When you hunt,” says the speaker, “think of
nothing but luck to kill deer.” As he speaks he goes to the west fire
and throws into it, six times, an offering of native tobacco; then to
the east fire, where he sacrifices six more pinches of the sacred herb
—twelve in all. While sacrificing tobacco, he prays to the Mĭsiʹngʷ' to
drive the deer up, so that the hunters can kill them. As he drops the
last tobacco into the flames, he says, “If you kill a deer right away,
bring it in tonight; if not, bring in all you kill day after tomorrow.”
What tobacco is left is given to the chief hunter with the words,
“When you camp tonight, burn this and ask Mĭsinghâliʹkŭn to let you
kill deer.” The reader will remember that Mĭsinghâliʹkŭn, in whose
image the Mĭsiʹngʷ' is carved, is supposed to have control over the
deer, and in fact over all wild animals.
All the hunters that are in the habit of chewing tobacco are now
given some for this purpose. When they file out and mount their
horses, the Mĭsiʹngʷ' follows them and sees them off.
After the hunters have disappeared, the people call the Mĭsiʹngʷ'
back into the Big House and coax him to dance, while two men
volunteer to sing for him.

PRAYER FOR THE HUNTERS

The following evening six men are appointed and given a yard of
wampum to divide among them, to go out close to the forked game-
pole east of the Big House, intended for the carcasses of the deer,
and “pray” there twelve times. The meaning of this, of course, is
that they sound the prayer word “Ho-o-o!” which is evidently to help
the hunters. This night also a yard of wampum is unstrung and
scattered on the ground just west of the east fire, and this the
attendants must pick up, crying “Ho-o-o!” as they do so. For doing
this, which is called “picking berries,” they are supposed to keep
what wampum they pick up.

RETURN OF THE HUNTERS

If the hunters are lucky and kill a deer the first day, they send one
man back with it. As he approaches he fires a gun as a signal of his
coming, at which the singers run into the Big House and begin to
sing and beat the drum. Then everyone is happy.
In any case the hunters all return on the third day. If they have
killed deer, they shoot their guns; if not, they come in very quietly.
When the shots are heard, the singers hasten to their places, and,
beating the drum, sing a song that is used only on such occasions.
Then when the hunters arrive, they feast, and their leader
announces the names of those lucky enough to kill a deer. The
carcasses are skinned and hung on the deer pole (shown in
frontispiece), east of the Big House, and are used in the feasts at
the close of every night’s meeting until the gathering disbands.

NEW FIRE
Every night the usual program is repeated until the ninth. On this
night a new fire is kindled with the sacred pump-drill called tuⁿdaʹi
wäheⁿʹji manĭʹtowŭk or “Fire maker of the Manĭʹtos” (fig. 8), and the
ashes of the old are carried out through the west door of the Big
House, which is used only for this purpose (among the Unami), and
is usually kept closed. The new fire seems to symbolize a fresh start
in all the affairs of life.

USE OF CARVED DRUMSTICKS

Also on the ninth night, before the singing begins, they bring out
the two ancient drumsticks (pa kŭⁿdiʹgŭn) carved with tiny human
heads, one male and one female (fig. 11), to use in place of the
cruder sticks used before, which are marked only with a rude cross
(fig. 12, a). At this time, also, twelve prayersticks (ma'tehiʹgun) are
distributed—six plain and six striped ones (fig. 12, b)—by two of the
male attendants, each with six, one man starting from each end of
the Big House and proceeding in a trot to distribute the sticks while
the drum is beaten, and the people, holding up their hands, cry the
prayer word “Ho-o-o!”
Fig. 11.—Sacred drumsticks, used at the Annual Ceremony in Oklahoma.
(Length of a, 18.6 in.)

Fig. 12.—a, Plain drumstick used at the Annual Ceremony; b, Prayerstick.

(Length of b, 18.9 in.)
 Both drumsticks and prayersticks are used every night from this
time on. If it so happens that the plain sticks do not fall opposite
each other (or on opposite sides of the house), they must all be
picked up again and redistributed. After this, those who have
received a stick raise that instead of their hand, when they repeat
the prayer word “Ho-o-o!” and carry it when they dance.

TURTLE RATTLES
At this time, too, all who own turtle rattles such as are used in
singing the visions (fig. 9), are requested to bring them in to the
meeting, when they are placed in a row on the north side, in front of
the man who, as the Indians phrase it, “brought on the meeting.”
The backs of the turtleshells are all measured with strings of
wampum, which are cut off in lengths corresponding with the
lengths of the backs.
Then the owners are called to get their turtles and wampum,
which is supposed to be their pay for bringing them to the meeting.
As each takes up his turtle, he shakes it, and if it does not sound
well, then the people laugh, and the owner, abashed, takes his
property out of sight as soon as possible.

PHRATRY PRAYERS
Then they call up six men, two from each of the three phratries—
Turtle, Turkey, and Wolf. Each goes outside and cries the prayer
word “Ho-o-o!” twelve times, holding up his left hand. When the first
one returns, he is given one yard of wampum, and divides it with the
other five. This is done each night until the end.

WOMEN’S NIGHT
 Fig. 13.—Paint-dish of bark, used at the Annual Ceremony. (Length, 2.2 in.)

The twelfth night is reserved for the women to relate their visions;
but before they begin, the speaker orders the attendants to burn
cedar-leaves in the two fires, and the people are supposed to inhale
the smoke and purify themselves. Then two women are ordered to
take, one a little bark dish (aⁿsiptaʹgŭn) of red paint (fig. 13), the
other a similar vessel of grease, and the two start from the door on
the north side of the Temple and go to each person present. One
dips her fingers in the paint and touches the color to the person’s
left cheek, while her companion similarly annoints the person’s head
with a little of the grease. This done, two men attendants take the
bark vessels and paint and grease in the same way the twelve
Mĭsiʹngʷ' faces carved upon the posts of the building, also the
drumsticks, the prayersticks, the deerskin drum, and the turtles. A
variant has it that both bark vessels contain paint, the customs
differing according to phratry.
Each woman who takes part on this night receives a share of the
venison, if there is any,—the biggest and fattest buck the hunters
kill,—and the attendants cook it for them at the fire outside.

CONCLUSION OF CEREMONY
Next morning the men resume the ceremony and continue until
the sun is high. Two men are then appointed to close the meeting,
for which each receives one yard of wampum. Their duty is to sing
twelve times while the people dance about the central post, the
women in a circle next to the post, the men in another circle outside
that of the women. These two singers stop dancing in front of where
the chief is sitting, and announce, “We will now pray twelve times.”
They go back to their seats and cry “Ho-o-o!” twelve times. Then the
attendants serve the last feast. Two women then go around with
wampum in a wooden bowl, giving everyone two or three beads.

PAYMENT OF ATTENDANTS
Then the attendants, three men and three women, stand in a row
and receive six yards of wampum on one string, which they hold in
their hands, the first in the row holding the end of the string, which
stretches along from one to the other. Then the chief says: “We
thank you attendants of this meeting for your kindness in sweeping
our Temple for these twelve nights, and the attention and care you
have given. We have heard our old parents say that, if you sweep
this Meeting House twelve different times, you will sweep up to
where our great Father is, as he is up in the twelfth Heaven above
the earth.”
The attendants then circle about the fires and go out to the
cooking fireplace, where they divide the wampum, taking a yard
apiece. At last, when the shadow of a person is nearly under him,
that is, about noon, the speaker or chief arises, and says, “All of us
kinfolk must now go out and end our meeting, which has been going
on for twelve days and nights.” Thereupon they all file out—men,
women, and children—and form a row extending north and south,
facing east, just east of the Big House, the hunters taking with them
the skins of the deer they killed.

FINALE
Here they all pray, or rather cry the prayer word “Ho-o-o!” six
times standing, holding up one hand, and six times kneeling, holding
up the other hand. The meeting is then ended. This is shown in the
frontispiece. The deerskins are given to poor old people, who need
them to make moccasins.
One informant stated that instead of crying “Ho-o-o” twelve times
in closing the meeting, it was customary to use this word only ten
times, and then cry “Ha-a-a” twice, completing the sacred number
twelve; but such discrepancies are probably due to the variation of
ritual among the three phratries before mentioned, the Turkey, the
Turtle, and the Wolf. This kind of prayer was noticed by
Zeisberger[45] as early as 1779, for he writes:

“At a third kind of feast ten or more tanned deerskins are

given to as many old men or women, who wrap themselves in
them and stand before the house with their faces turned
toward the east, praying God with a loud voice to reward
their benefactors. They turn toward the east because they
believe that God dwells beyond the rising of the sun. At the
same time much wampum is given away. This is thrown on
the ground and the young people scramble for it. Afterward it
is ascertained who secured the most. This feast is called
’ngammuin, the meaning of which they themselves are unable
to give.”

The suspicion that Zeisberger mistook the conclusion of the

Annual Ceremony for a separate rite is strengthened by the fact that
he gives its name as “’ngammuin,” which seems to be a form of
Gaʹmuing, the modern Lenape name for their Annual Ceremony.

PAYMENT OF OFFICERS
All the officers of the meeting receive pay in wampum for their
services, except, of course, the leader—the man who has caused the
meeting to be held. The speaker receives a yard for every night of
the meeting; the drummers get a yard between them each night;
there are also the payments to the attendants, hunters, and others,
already mentioned. The attendants have other sources of profit, too,
for they serve meals three times a day in the Big House to the leader
of the meeting and all his near relatives, also to the speaker and the
drummers.
When they have finished feasting, the leader calls the attendants
to come and get their dishes and pans. Each has a cup in which he
brings coffee, and the leader puts twenty-five wampum beads in
each cup for every meal. Moreover, when any one in the outside
camps is hungry, he may go to an aʹckas and obtain a meal for
twenty-five wampum beads. The attendants have a table near the
tent of one of the woman aʹckas, and here they eat.

VALUATION OF WAMPUM
For ceremonial purposes the wampum (white) is held at one cent
a bead, one hundred to the dollar. Before the meeting the people
give a yard or so apiece, if they are able, to show their appreciation
and to be prayed for, or subscribe money for its purchase and for the
other things needed at the meeting. The wampum is afterward
redeemed at the same rate and is kept to use again.

INDIAN COMMENTS ON THE CEREMONY

Some explanations and remarks concerning the annual ceremony,
as furnished by the Indians themselves, may prove of interest here.
Julius Fouts (or Fox), the interpreter, remarks:
“When the Delawares complete this meeting, then they claim they
have worshiped everything on this earth. God gave the Powers
Above authority to go around and give all the tribes some way to
worship. They say these things were as if carried in a bundle, and
when they come to the Delawares, last of all, there was a lot left in
the bundle and they got it all—that is why the Delawares have so
many different things to do in their meetings.”
 In explanation of the prayer word Ho-o-o, he said, “Did you ever
hear that noise out in the woods, in the fall of the year? ‘Ho-o-o,’ it
says. What is it? It is the noise of the wind blowing in the trees.
When the Delawares pray in the Big House, they raise their voices
and cry ‘Ho-o-o’ to God, and the Mĭsiʹngʷ' hears it and understands,
for he is of the same nature as a tree, and there are twelve Mĭsiʹngʷ'
carved in the Big House who will carry the prayers to the twelfth
Heaven. The Indians call the Mĭsiʹngʷ' ‘Grandfather,’ because the
trees were here before the Indians. The Big House is going out of
use now, because only the old people have had gifts or visions of
power to sing about. The children of today are not piʹlsŭⁿ, or pure;
they are reared like the whites, and the Powers Above do not speak
to them any more.”
Chief Charley Elkhair, or Elkire, who frequently served as speaker
in the Big House, said:
“The Delaware meeting helps everybody in the world, for they
pray for good crops and everything good, even wild fruits. About ten
years ago the people thought they would give up holding these
meetings, and the following year they had high winds and big rains,
and everyone was frightened. Then grasshoppers came in swarms,
but they came in the fall a little too late to get all the crops. So the
people held a council and talked about the Big House again. They
finally decided to resume it, before any more bad luck came; so they
began the ceremonies again in the fall.
“Then it seemed as if all the trouble stopped. Of late there has
been talk of again giving up the meeting, but if we do give it up we
are likely to have a tornado or maybe dry weather to ruin the crops.
“Once the Delawares owned a great deal of land, but that is nearly
all gone now, and the people seem to have no power to do anything.
When God looks down from Heaven, he sees but very few Delaware
people, and the reason for this is that they cannot follow the
Meeting House ceremonies now. When I was a little boy, I heard my
people say that this thing would happen just as it is happening now.
You see, the young people raised during the last thirty years do not
believe in the old ways. We are having good times yet, but we don’t
know when we shall catch it. If anything happens to us, and once
really begins, we can not stop it—it will be too late. Even if they take
up the meeting again—they can not do right, even when the
ceremonies are going on.
“They can not accomplish anything in the Big House; they can not
raise it up, because there are a lot of young folks who do not even
try to do what the speaker tells them, for they do not believe in it.
“The people could get along fine, if they followed the rules of the
meeting—not only the Delawares, but the other people round about.
For when the Delaware prays, he prays for things that will benefit
everybody; he prays for the children as well as for himself; he prays
for future time. But if anything comes to destroy the world, it will be
too late to think of starting the Big House then.”
Penn’s Account.—William Penn seems to have been the first to
attempt a description of Lenape rites, for he wrote in 1683, in the
same letter we have quoted before:

“Their Worship consists of two parts, sacrifice and Cantico.

Their sacrifice is their first fruits.... The other part of their
worship is by Cantico, performed by round dances, sometimes
words, sometimes songs, then shouts, two being in the
middle that begin, and by singing and drumming on a board
direct the chorus.... They are said to lay their altar on twelve
stones.”

In this brief account should be noted the presence of two

drummers; the fact that they did not use a drum, but a “board”
which was probably, if Penn had taken the trouble to look more
closely, a dried hide; the word cantico which resembles the modern
Lenape words for “dance”—kĭʹnĭkä among the Unami and kĭʹntika
among the Minsi; and finally the use of the sacred number twelve.
 Zeisberger’s Account.—The earliest detailed account, however, of
the great Lenape ceremonies is given by Zeisberger,[46] who, writing
about 1779, says:

“Worship and sacrifices have obtained among them from

the earliest times, being usages handed down from their
ancestors. Though in the detail of ceremony there has been
change, as the Indians are more divided now than at that
time, worship and sacrifice have continued as practiced in the
early days, for the Indians believe that they would draw all
manner of disease and misfortune upon themselves if they
omitted to observe the ancestral rites.
“In the matter of sacrifice, relationship, even though
distant, is of significance, legitimate or illegitimate
relationship being regarded without distinction. A sacrifice is
offered by a family, with its entire relationship, once in two
years. Others, even the inhabitants of other towns, are
invited. Such sacrifices are commonly held in autumn, rarely
in winter. As their connections are large, each Indian will have
opportunity to attend more than one family sacrifice a year.
The head of the family knows the time and he must provide
for everything. When the head of such a family is converted,
he gets into difficulty because his friends will not give him
peace until he has designated some one to take his place in
the arrangement of sacrificial feasts.
“Preparations for such a sacrificial feast extend through
several days. The requisite number of deer and bears is
calculated and the young people are sent into the woods to
procure them together with the leader whose care it is to see
that everything needful is provided. These hunters do not
return until they have secured the amount of booty counted
upon. On their return they fire a volley when near the town,
march in in solemn procession and deposit the flesh in the
house of sacrifice. Meantime the house has been cleared and
 prepared. The women have prepared firewood and brought in
long dry reed grass, which has been strewn the entire length
of the house, on both sides, for the guests to sit upon. Such a
feast may continue for three or four nights, the separate
sessions beginning in the afternoon and lasting until the next
morning. Great kettles full of meat are boiled and bread is
baked. These are served to the guests by four servants
especially appointed for this service. The rule is that whatever
is thus brought as a sacrifice must be eaten altogether and
nothing left. A small quantity of melted fat only is poured into
the fire. The bones are burnt, so that the dogs may not get
any of them. After the meal the men and women dance,
every rule of decency being observed. It is not a dance for
pleasure or exercise, as is the ordinary dance engaged in by
the Indians. One singer only performs during the dance,
walking up and down, rattling a small tortoise shell filled with
pebbles. He sings of the dreams the Indians have had,
naming all the animals, elements and plants they hold to be
spirits. None of the spirits of things that are useful to the
Indians may be omitted. By worshipping all the spirits named
they consider themselves to be worshipping God, who has
revealed his will to them in dreams. When the first singer has
finished he is followed by another. Between dances the guests
may stop to eat again. There are four or five kinds of feasts,
the ceremonies of which differ much from one another.
“At these feasts there are never less than four servants, to
each of whom a fathom of wampum is given that they may
care for all necessary things. During the three or four days
they have enough to do by day and by night. They have
leave, also, to secure the best of provisions, such as sugar,
bilberries, molasses, eggs, butter and to sell these things at a
profit to guests and spectators.”

Adams’ Account.—The best and, in fact, the only late account

previous to his own first article[47] the writer has seen of the Annual
Ceremony among the Lenape in Oklahoma, is that written by Adams,
[48] which reads as follows:

“The peculiar steps which they use in this dance have

caused the name ‘stomp’ or ‘stamp’ to be applied to it.
“In regard to the stomp dances of our people, we have
several kinds of dances; the most important one is the
‘worship dance’ which is carried on in a large building called a
temple, which is rectangular and ranges from 60 to 80 feet
long, from 30 to 40 feet wide, and is about 10 feet high. It is
built of wood with 2 doors. The main entrance is at the
eastern door, and it has only a dirt floor.
“On each post is carved a human face. On the center post
or one in the center of the building four faces are carved;
each face is painted one-half red and one-half black. All the
people enter at the east and go out the same way. When they
come in they pass to the right of the fire, and each of the
three clans of the Delawares take seats next to the wall, the
Turtle clan on the south, the Turkey on the west, and the
Wolf on the north. In no case can any one pass between the
center post and east door, but must go around the center
post, even to go to the north side of the temple.
“This dance is held once each year, in the fall, and generally
in October, in the full moon, and lasts not less than 12 days
for each part. The tribe is divided into three clans, and each
clan has to go through the same part, so the dance is
sometimes 36 days long, but sometimes the second and third
clans do not dance more than 6 days each.
“The Turtle clan usually lead or begin the dance. A tortoise
shell, dried and beautifully polished and containing several
small pebbles, is placed in the southeast corner near the door
in front of the first person. If he has anything to say he takes
the shell and rattles it, and an answer comes from the south
side of the temple from the singers, who strike on a dried
deer’s hide: then the party who has the tortoise shell makes
an address or talk to the people, and thanks the Great Spirit
for blessings, and then proceeds to dance, going to the right
and around the fire, followed by all who wish to take part,
and finally coming to the center post he stops there; then all
the dancers shake hands and return to their seats. Then the
shell is passed to the next person, who dances or passes it
on, as he chooses.
“On the third day of the dance all men, both married and
single, are required to keep out of the company of women for
3 days at least. They have a doorkeeper, a leader, and 2 or 3
parties who sweep the ground floor with turkey wings, and
who also serve as deacons. The ashes from the fire are
always taken out at the west door, and the dirt is always
swept in the fire. In front of the east door outside is a high
pole on which venison hangs. It is a feast dance and the
deacons distribute food among the people. The officers and
waiters are paid in wampum for their services.
“In no case is a dog allowed to enter the temple, and no
one is allowed to laugh inside it, or in any way be rude. Each
person is allowed to speak and tell his dream or dreams or to
give advice. It is believed by the Delawares that every one
has a guardian spirit which comes in the form of some bird,
animal, or other thing, at times in dreams, and tells them
what to do and what will happen. The guardian spirit is sent
from the Great Spirit.
“Traditions say that 10 years before white men came to this
country (America) a young man told his dream in the temple.
This was on the Atlantic coast. He saw coming across the
great waters a large canoe with pinions (wings) and
containing strange people, and that in 10 years they would in
fact come. He told this dream and predicted the arrival of the
white men each year until they came and were seen by his
 people. Many of our people still keep up this dance, but the
temple is not so large as it used to be, and the attendance
now is not more than 100 persons. Any Indian of any tribe
can also take part in the dance, but no white man can.
“When the dance is over all the people go out and stand in
a single line from east to west with their faces to the south.
Then they kneel down and pray, and then go home. We do
not know the origin of the worship dance, but the old Indians
claim that the Great Spirit came many years ago and
instructed it and also gave them the wampum.”

In spite of several inaccuracies, such as the statement that the

people face south (instead of east) while praying after the ceremony,
this account is valuable on account of the additional data it furnishes
on several points of interest, especially the tradition concerning the
prophecy of the coming of the whites.

Another Form of the Annual Ceremony

It appears that in former years there was, in addition to the rite
just described, another form of the Annual Ceremony practised by
the Lenape, before their removal to what is now Oklahoma from
Kansas, where the last man to “bring in” such a meeting was John
Sarcoxie, now dead.
The ceremony, which was called Muxhatolʹzing, seems, from the
accounts given the writer by his informants, to have taken place in a
similar building, and to have been similar in ritual to that just
described, except that it was held for only eight days instead of
twelve, and that, after the return of the hunters the skin of one of
the deer they had brought in was stuffed with grass and stood up by
the central post of the Big House, antlers and all, while about its
neck hung a string of wampum—perhaps as a propitiatory offering.
Moreover on the morning of the last day of the ceremony a large
sweathouse was built and stones heated; then about noon the men
who had been reciting their visions went into it, each taking one of
the hot stones with him. This privilege was not confined to the
actual celebrants however, for every one blessed by a guardian spirit
even if they had not sung their visions in the meeting, was entitled
to carry in a stone and join them.
The entrance was then closed and water poured upon the stones;
and while the steam rose and the sweathouse grew hotter and
hotter the perspiring occupants prayed to their guardian spirits and
recited their visions. These finished, with a shout of “There go our
prayers to Those Above,” the cover was suddenly snatched from the
sweathouse so that the steam it had contained rose in a puff. If the
steam cloud went straight up into the air it was thought that the
prayers would be heard and answered, and that all was well, but if it
broke and spread out the people felt that something had gone
wrong, and that their prayers were of no avail.
In endeavoring to explain the presence of such variations of the
Annual Ceremony, it should be remembered that the Lenape now in
Oklahoma whom the writer has called for convenience “Unami,” are
not really pure descendants of this tribe, but probably have a large
proportion of the blood of the Unala'ʹtko or Unalachtigo, whose
dialect, according to Heckewelder, was very similar, and a smaller
proportion of Minsi and even Nanticoke blood. Perhaps then the first
form of Annual Ceremony described may have originally been purely
Unami, and the second Unalachtigo, or Minsi, or vice versa; but later,
when the remnants of these tribes became amalgamated their mixed
descendants inherited both forms.
The second form seems to be a variant of the rite mentioned by
Zeisberger[49] who describes it as follows:

“A fifth kind of festival is held in honor of fire which the

Indians regard as being their grandfather, and call Machtuzin,
meaning ‘to perspire.’ A sweating-oven is built in the midst of
the house of sacrifice, consisting of twelve poles each of a
different species of wood. These twelve poles represent
 twelve Manittos, some of these being creatures, others
plants. These they run into the ground, tie together at the
top, bending them toward each other; these are covered
entirely with blankets, joined closely together, each person
being very ready to lend his blanket, so that the whole
appears like a baker’s oven, high enough nearly to admit a
man standing upright. After the meal of sacrifice, fire is made
at the entrance of the oven and twelve large stones, about
the size of human heads, are heated and placed in the oven.
Then twelve Indians creep into it and remain there as long as
they can bear the heat. While they are inside twelve pipes full
of tobacco are thrown, one after another, upon the hot
stones, which occasions a smoke almost powerful enough to
suffocate those confined inside. Some one may also walk
around the stones singing and offering tobacco, for tobacco is
offered to fire. Usually, when the twelve men emerge from
the oven, they fall down in a swoon. During this feast a whole
buckskin with the head and antlers is raised upon a pole,
head and antlers resting on the pole, before which the
Indians sing and pray. They deny that they pay any adoration
to the buck, declaring that God alone is worshipped through
this medium and is so worshipped at his will.”

That this is really the same ceremony is shown not only by the
details as related but by the native name of the rite, the Machtuzin
of Zeisberger corresponding with the Muxhatolʹzing of the present
writer.
 CHAPTER VI
Minsi Big House Ceremonies
The following account of the great ceremonies of the Minsi, which
correspond to the annual ceremony of the Unami, was obtained
from Chief James Wolf, now deceased, and his nephew, Chief Nellis
Timothy.

MYTH OF ORIGIN
At first, it appears, the Indians did not know how to worship, so
Kĕ'tanĭtoʹwĕt, the Great Manĭʹto or God, now called Pa'ʹtŭmawas,
came down and told them what to do. After following his
instructions, they watched him when he ascended. He carried twelve
sumach sticks in his hand, and they could see them shine far up in
the air. Every now and then he dropped one, and when he dropped
the twelfth he disappeared, while they heard the heavens crack like
thunder behind him as he went in. After this the Lenape began to
hold these meetings according to the instructions he had given
them.

NUMBER OF CEREMONIES
There were two of these ceremonies every year, both held in the
Minsi Big House (W'aʹtekan), which was quite similar to that of the
Unami. One of these, performed about June when the wild
strawberries were ripe, lasted only a single night; the other, early in
winter, covered twelve days and nights. This latter corresponds to
the Annual Ceremony of the Unami.