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The James T. Callow Folklore Archive
Your search for INDIAN returned 43 results.
Ethnic: Native American
To Smoke the Pipe:
If the Pipe is smoked it is done at the conclusion of the prayers. The idea is the same as the new liturgical emphasis in the social aspect of Holy Communion. It is done for fostering the sense of community and to express the unity there is between all the people present as well as with all mankind and all creation. The Pipe is lit by the leader, smoked and passed clockwise. Women can kiss th Pipe in stead of smoking it. After one kisses or smokes the Pipe, he says "For the sake of our relatives." Relatives primarily include men but animals as well. As far as Holy Communion is concerned this is probably the closest the Plains Indian symbol there is. The point can be made that the Plains INdians were striving for the same religious values as Catholics do when they receive Holy Communion with a sense of community in mind. When the Pipe has been passed around, it is handed back to the leader who smokes it again, empties the ashes and the ceremony is completed. Although the smoking of the Pipe would be done in restricted circumstances, there are times when it could be most powerful.
Data entry tech comment:
Motifs added by TRD
Where learned: CANADA ; Tekakwitha Conference ; WINNIPEG ; MANITOBA
Keyword(s): AMERICAN INDIAN ; BELIEF ; CUSTOM ; ETHNIC ; Native American ; Pipe ; PRAYER ; RELIGION ; RELIGIOUS
| Subject headings: | BELIEF -- Prayer |
Ethnic: Native American
The Pipe:
The place to start in liturgical adaptation is to use the Sacred Pipe as a prayer instrument. This will probably in time lead to the Pipe as an official sacramental like holy water. The Pipe is a wonderful symbol of Christ because it is the instrument of the mediator in the Sioux Religion just as the Sacred Humanity is the instrument of Christ the Mediator in our Christian Religion. Christ fulfills the Pipe rather than destroys it since He does in a more perfect way what the person praying with the Pipe does in an imperfect way. The Pipe, then, is the great Sioux foreshadowing of Christ in HIs Priestly Office. A person who understands and appreciates the Sacred Pipe will be disposed and not hindered from accepting Christ. I have found this true from experience. The Pipe must be purified, even exorcised if necessary like Holy Water and "baptized." When this is done, it is no longer the same Pipe which the early missionaries condemned. Once a person, whether Indian or non-Indian had this vision, he can no longer pray with the Pipe in exactly the same way as before. This is most important to remember: we are no longer talking about the same exact Pipe as the early missionaries because they did not see it in this way.
The Sacred Pipe is the religious symbol which is at the center of every traditional religious ceremony which all Indians of the Plains performed. It would be well to read one book, The Sacred Pipe, by Joseph E. Brown, Oklahoma Press (republished this year). In this account of Nicholas Black Elk, one of the great Catholic catechists on the Pine Ridge Reservation, we see all that the Pipe might stand for. If we want to grasp and summarize all the true cultural religious values of the Sioux Religion, then we must make our approach to adaptation beginning with the Sacred Pipe. If someone would build a Gothic Church, sing (a) Gregorian chant and wear Roman vestaments and at the same time reject the Sacred Humanity of Christ, this would be faulty acceptance of the Catholic Religion. The same is literally true of adapting the externals of the Sioux Religion such as language, music, beadwork, etc. without the Pipe. Whatever is said of the Sioux Religion is true of all the Plains Indians.
By adapting the Pipe we are getting at the natural starting point in their own minds. When you have taken the Pipe into the Catholic Church, you have taken in the essential good of their religion. Does this mean that we need to take in all their religious values without careful examination? No, some of these must be purified or even rejected. The advantage of starting with the Pipe as a prayer instrument (which it always was in their tradition) is that it creates a frequent occasion for dialog with the Indian people and for becoming involved in conversations which were closed to one before. It is most important to talk to the Indian people in an atmosphere of sympathetic acceptance to learn what the Pipe really means to them.
There will be good Catholic Indians who will not want to accept the Pipe because it has been condemned by some Fathers. It is important here to give time for new ideas to seep in. It took three or four months for one of my good Catholic full bloods to accept the use of the Pipe by the priest because of past condemnation. But when the idea finally got across that we are "baptizing" the Pipe, he said with great joy that he "wanted to be the godfather." It wasn't that he did not love the Pipe, but rather he rejected whatever the Fathers told him was bad regardless of how dear it was to him. A person could have taken his first reaction to the Pipe during those first several months as an argument against using the Pipe. But as it turned out, just the opposite is true. In fact, the injustice on our part for denying him the use of his own religious culture which he valued becomes evident. That is why the only way we can continue to discuss liturgical adaptation of Indians culture and make decisions concerning it, is to actually use the Pipe, begin a dialog and give sufficient time for honest reactions to become known.
One great advantage to using the Pipe for many communities is that it does not necessarily involve the Lakota language or Indian language of any Plains Tribe. If a community is almost entirely Indian speaking, using the language is good. But if the community is split, then the Indian language drives the full blood and the mixed bloods into the disunity of the ghettos. I don't think it is advisable to have a Mass just for Indian speaking people and one for non-Indian speaking people. This will never create the Christian Community. On the other hand, the Pipe is a symbol and a symbol can mean different people. [sic] To many full bloods it still has a very literal appeal because they are still living in some way in the traditional world. These people have often been leading double lives. There are probably more Indians going through the sweat lodge and making a fast or vision quest on top of the hill than most people realize.
However, to the non-Indian speaking mixed blood the Pipe should be a symbol of his Indian identity and help enable him to accept his Indian identity with pride. Fr. Bryde's thesis is that there is a social pathology involved in today's Indian Culture and the place to start for everyone, full and mixed blood alike, is to build a pride in their Indian identity. This is what the use of the Pipe in the liturgy can do as well as to unite a fragmented community. In comparison to the above approach, the singing of a white man's son[g]s translated to the Indian was a useful but very weak approach to adaptation. It served its purpose in its own time.
In conclusion, the starting point is to use the Pipe as a prayer instrument and be prepared for open dialog with the Indian People. This use is in complete conformity with our Catholic Faith and should requite [sic] the permission of a local superior only. Eventually, it may become an official sacramental requiring the permission of the Bishop. Thus we are putting the Pipe in a very precise place that we can easily defend and explain so that we can have confidence that we know what we are doing. This is a small beginning since we can hardly do less. If we never go any further than this, we still have enriched the Catholic Church with a wonderful cultural gift and we have allowed the Indian people to accept their Indian identity at least to some extent when they become Catholic. However, when this step is taken, other developments will appear. I use the Pipe as a prayer instrument because I pray with more meaning and greater sincerity. The prayers and rituals will follow.
Data entry tech comment:
Motifs added by TRD
Where learned: CANADA ; Tekakwitha Conference ; WINNIPEG ; MANITOBA
Keyword(s): AMERICAN INDIAN ; BELIEF ; CATHOLICISM ; Colonialism ; Essay ; ETHNIC ; Native American ; RELIGION ; RELIGIOUS ; SYMBOL
| Subject headings: | BELIEF -- Prayer |
Ethnic: Native American
Lakota Burial Custom:
The Lakota Indians place the deceased bodies of their tribe not in the ground but upon poles until the corpses are either disintegrated or eaten.
Submitter comment:
The informant supposes that the practice places the body close to the Great Spirit, prevents other tribes from taking over Lakota Territory, and expresses the belief that the Lakotas - if they wandered away - would eventually return to this special area.
Data entry tech comment:
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Where learned: MICHIGAN ; UNIVERSITY OF DETROIT ; DETROIT
Keyword(s): AMERICAN INDIAN ; BURIAL ; CUSTOM ; DEATH ; ETHNIC ; Funeral ; Lakota ; Native American
| Subject headings: | CUSTOM FESTIVAL -- Death Funeral Burial |
Ethnic: Native American
Indian Burial Custom:
Informant noted a ritualistic use of pipe smoking in Indian Burial practices which - he bleived - is a co-mixture of Indian and Catholic beliefs.
Data entry tech comment:
Motifs added by TRD
Where learned: MICHIGAN ; UNIVERSITY OF DETROIT ; DETROIT
Keyword(s): AMERICAN INDIAN ; BURIAL ; CATHOLICISM ; CUSTOMS ; DEATH ; ETHNIC ; Funeral ; Native American ; RELIGION ; RELIGIOUS
| Subject headings: | CUSTOM FESTIVAL -- Death Funeral Burial |
Ethnic: Native American
Indian Death Belief:
Among the Lakota Indians, the Informant believes that the death customs among these particular Indians shows a consciousness of ancestry but not ancestor worship.
Data entry tech comment:
Motifs added by TRD
Where learned: MICHIGAN ; UNIVERSITY OF DETROIT ; DETROIT
Keyword(s): AMERICAN INDIAN ; ANCESTRY ; BURIAL ; CUSTOM ; DEATH ; ETHNIC ; Funeral ; Native American
| Subject headings: | BELIEF -- Death Funeral Burial |
Toast
Indian Toast:
"Aap ki bhalai ke liye!"
For your happiness and prosperity.
Data entry tech comment:
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Keyword(s): DRINKING ; ETHNIC ; INDIAN ; Social ; TOAST
| Subject headings: | Ballad Song Dance Game Music Verse -- Speech Speech SPEECH -- Formula |
Proverb
Too many chiefs and not enough Indians.
Data entry tech comment:
Motifs added by TRD
Where learned: MICHIGAN ; DETROIT
Keyword(s): Aphorism ; Apothegm ; Chief ; INDIAN ; Leader ; METAPHOR ; Native American ; PROVERB ; VERSE
| Subject headings: | PROVERB -- Proverbial Metaphor |
Belief
The pishtace are nocturnal murderers of Indians. The pishtaco murder Indians in order to obtain human fat to be sold as lubricants for machinery and to be used in pharmacuticals.
The legend derives from 16th and 17th centurey Spanish practices of using human body fats as treatment for wounds and diseases. the people who tell this tale are poor Indians and the pishtaco are usually wealthy industrial men in the area. The tale helps draw lines of social class.
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Where learned: Journal of American Folklore ; The Pishtaco: Institutionalized Fear in Highland Peru
Keyword(s): BODY ; Cultural ; Culture ; Fat ; FEAR ; HORROR ; INDIAN ; INDUSTRY ; Kill ; Lubrication ; Machinery ; MEDICINE ; MURDER ; Native American ; Peru ; Peruvian ; Pharmaceutical ; Pishtaco ; Poor ; Social Class ; Wealthy
| Subject headings: | BELIEF -- Product or activity of man or animal |
Poem
Feeling that the Indians had been seriously mistreated Longfellow wrote in 1854, that he had found a plan for a poem on the American Indians that was fitting to their beautiful traditions. The poem did not totally portray the indians totally accurately.
Data entry tech comment:
Motifs Added By TRD
Where learned: New York Folklore Quarterly ; The Making of Hiawatha
Keyword(s): AMERICAN INDIAN ; INDIAN ; Language ; LONGFELLOW ; poem ; Traditions
| Subject headings: | PROSE NARRATIVE -- Legend |
Legend
Legend of Davey Crockett:
The West was a rich source of tall tales of a man such as Davey Crockett, the country boy/indian fighter elected to Congress. In washington, he told tall tales about his Western days"...killed himself a bear when he was only three."
Tales such as these have become legends.
Data entry tech comment:
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Where learned: TENNESSEE ; NASHVILLE
Keyword(s): Bear ; Congress ; Davey Crockett ; INDIAN ; Legend ; TALL TALE ; Wild West
| Subject headings: | PROSE NARRATIVE -- Legend |
LEGEND OF MONTE SANO
THE NAME OF A MOUNTAIN NEAR HUNTSVILLE, ALABAMA IS DERIVED
FROM A TRGIC LOVE STORY. A WHITE SETTLER FELL IN LOVE WITH
A BEAUTIFUL INDIAN MAIDEN NAMED MONTE. HER (MONTE'S)
FATHER SAID SHE COULD NOT MARRy THE WHITE MAN, BUT MUST
MARRY THE INDIAN PRINCE. THE WHITE MAN DIED OF A BROKEN
HEART SAYING, "MONTE SAY NO TO THE PRINCE."
Data entry tech comment:
Updated by TRD
Where learned: TENNESSEE ; NASHVILLE
Keyword(s): Alabama ; INDIAN ; Legend ; Marry ; Native American ; Settler
| Subject headings: | PROSE NARRATIVE -- Explanation of a name |
Date learned: 04-00-1972
LAKE BELIEF
ACCORDING TO LOCAL INDIAN BELIEF IN SYRACUSE NEW YORK, THE LAKE HAS
NO END AND JUST SINKS ENDLESSLY IN THE EARTH.
Where learned: MICHIGAN ; UNIVERSITY OF DETROIT ; DETROIT
Keyword(s): American Indians ; ETYMOLOGY ; GEOGRAPHY ; INDIANS ; Lake ; Legend ; Lore ; NEW YORK ; River ; Syracuse ; WATER
| Subject headings: | BELIEF -- Still water Small body. |
Date learned: 10-14-1970
FINGER LAKES BELIEF
THE IROQUOIS BELIEVED THAT THE FINGER LAKES OF UPPER NEW
YORK STATE WERE FORMED BY THE HAND OF GOD, DESCENDING IN BLESSING
UPON THE LAND.
Submitter comment:
MR. WYATT LEARNED OF THE LEGEND WHILE LIVING IN GENEVA, NEW YORK
HIS HOME. GENEVA IS ONE OF THE FINGER LAKES.
Data entry tech comment:
Updated by TRD
Where learned: MICHIGAN ; DETROIT
Keyword(s): AMERICAN INDIAN ; BELIEF ; BLESSING ; ETYMOLOGY ; Finger ; Finger Lakes ; Hand of God ; INDIAN ; Iroquois ; Lakes ; Lakes ; Legend ; NEW YORK ; Origin ; WATER
| Subject headings: | BELIEF -- Still water Small body. |
Date learned: 10-22-1965
LAKES BELIEF
SOME PEOPLE HOLD THAT THERE IS A SUBTERRANEAN CONNECTION BETWEEN
LAKE HURON AND HIGGINS LAKE. THIS BELIEF IS EXEMPLIFIED BY AN
INDIAN TALE OF AN INDIAN WHO WAS DROWNED DURING A STORM ON HIGGINS
LAKE, BUT WHOSE CANOE WAS FOUND ADRIFT ON LAKE HURON.
Data entry tech comment:
Updated by TRD
Where learned: MICHIGAN ; DEARBORN
Keyword(s): AMERICAN INDIAN ; Higgins Lake ; INDIAN ; Lake ; Lake Huron ; Lakes ; Legend ; Subterranean
| Subject headings: | BELIEF -- Still water Small body. |
Date learned: 02-00-1968
FORMING MICHIGAN
ONE DAY THE INDIAN GOD WAS DRAWING THE VARIOUS LANDS ON THE GLOBE.
AND AS HE WAS TRACING ALONG, HE HAD TO LEAN ON THE LAND WITH HIS
OTHER HAND FOR SUPPORT. WELL, WHEN HE GOT DONE DRAWING AND HE
STOOD BACK TO LOOK AT HIS WORK, HE FOUND THAT HE HAD MADE A BIG
HAND PRINT RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE LAND. WELL, THAT HAND PRINT
IS NOW THE STATE OF MICHIGAN.
Submitter comment:
THIS LEGEND WAS TOLD TO MY SISTER ONE DAY IN SCHOOL.
Data entry tech comment:
Updated by TRD
Where learned: MICHIGAN ; Lansing
Keyword(s): CREATION ; ETYMOLOGY ; GEOGRAPHY ; INDIAN ; Legend ; Lore ; MICHIGAN ; Native American ; Origin
| Subject headings: | PROSE NARRATIVE -- Creation and Order of Universe PROSE NARRATIVE -- Formation BELIEF -- Creator |
Date learned: 11-01-1968
FORMING MICHIGAN
ONE DAY THE INDIAN GOD WAS DRAWING THE VARIOUS LANDS ON THE GLOBE.
AND AS HE WAS TRACING ALONG, HE HAD TO LEAN ON THE LAND WITH HIS
OTHER HAND FOR SUPPORT. WELL, WHEN HE GOT DONE DRAWING AND HE
STOOD BACK TO LOOK AT HIS WORK, HE FOUND THAT HE HAD MADE A BIG
HAND PRINT RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE LAND. WELL, THAT HAND PRINT
IS NOW THE STATE OF MICHIGAN.
Submitter comment:
THIS LEGEND WAS TOLD TO MY SISTER ONE DAY IN SCHOOL.
Data entry tech comment:
Updated by TRD
Where learned: MICHIGAN ; Lansing
Keyword(s): CREATION ; ETYMOLOGY ; GEOGRAPHY ; INDIAN ; Legend ; Lore ; MICHIGAN ; Native American ; Origin
| Subject headings: | PROSE NARRATIVE -- Creation and Order of Universe PROSE NARRATIVE -- Formation BELIEF -- Creator |
Date learned: 11-01-1968
FORMING MICHIGAN
ONE DAY THE INDIAN GOD WAS DRAWING THE VARIOUS LANDS ON THE GLOBE.
AND AS HE WAS TRACING ALONG, HE HAD TO LEAN ON THE LAND WITH HIS
OTHER HAND FOR SUPPORT. WELL, WHEN HE GOT DONE DRAWING AND HE
STOOD BACK TO LOOK AT HIS WORK, HE FOUND THAT HE HAD MADE A BIG
HAND PRINT RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE LAND. WELL, THAT HAND PRINT
IS NOW THE STATE OF MICHIGAN.
Submitter comment:
THIS LEGEND WAS TOLD TO MY SISTER ONE DAY IN SCHOOL.
Data entry tech comment:
Updated by TRD
Where learned: MICHIGAN ; Lansing
Keyword(s): CREATION ; ETYMOLOGY ; GEOGRAPHY ; INDIAN ; Legend ; Lore ; MICHIGAN ; Native American ; Origin
| Subject headings: | PROSE NARRATIVE -- Creation and Order of Universe PROSE NARRATIVE -- Formation BELIEF -- Creator |
Date learned: 11-01-1968
STORY
IN THE 1820'S AT SPRING ARBOR, MICHIGAN, AN INDIAN CHIEF WAS
CAPTURED DURING THE WAR. AFTER THE WAR, THE ENGLISH ALLOWED
HIM TO RETURN TO HIS TRIBE. HE WAS SIX FEET TALL AND USED
CRUTCHES TO GET AROUND. IT IS SAID THAT HE WOULD CHALLENGE
ANY MAN TO RACE WITH HIM AND THAT HE ALWAYS WON. EVEN THOUGH
ONE-LEGGED, HE HAD DEVELOPED AN ENORMOUS SPRINT WITH THE AID
OF HIS CRUTCHES.
Data entry tech comment:
Updated by TRD
Where learned: MICHIGAN ; SPRING ARBOR
Keyword(s): INDIAN ; Legend ; Native American
| Subject headings: | ART CRAFT ARCHITECTURE -- Occupation War BELIEF -- Body part Senses Feet, toes, toenails |
STORY
IN THE 1820'S AT SPRING ARBOR, MICHIGAN, AN INDIAN CHIEF WAS
CAPTURED DURING THE WAR. AFTER THE WAR, THE ENGLISH ALLOWED
HIM TO RETURN TO HIS TRIBE. HE WAS SIX FEET TALL AND USED
CRUTCHES TO GET AROUND. IT IS SAID THAT HE WOULD CHALLENGE
ANY MAN TO RACE WITH HIM AND THAT HE ALWAYS WON. EVEN THOUGH
ONE-LEGGED, HE HAD DEVELOPED AN ENORMOUS SPRINT WITH THE AID
OF HIS CRUTCHES.
Data entry tech comment:
Updated by TRD
Where learned: MICHIGAN ; DETROIT ; SPRING ARBOR
Keyword(s): Chief ; INDIAN ; Legend ; Native American
| Subject headings: | ART CRAFT ARCHITECTURE -- Occupation War BELIEF -- Body part Senses Feet, toes, toenails |
Date learned: 03-19-1970
STORY
IN THE 1820'S AT SPRING ARBOR, MICHIGAN, AN INDIAN CHIEF WAS
CAPTURED DURING THE WAR. AFTER THE WAR, THE ENGLISH ALLOWED
HIM TO RETURN TO HIS TRIBE. HE WAS SIX FEET TALL AND USED
CRUTCHES TO GET AROUND. IT IS SAID THAT HE WOULD CHALLENGE
ANY MAN TO RACE WITH HIM AND THAT HE ALWAYS WON. EVEN THOUGH
ONE-LEGGED, HE HAD DEVELOPED AN ENORMOUS SPRINT WITH THE AID
OF HIS CRUTCHES.
Data entry tech comment:
Updated by TRD
Where learned: MICHIGAN ; DETROIT ; SPRING ARBOR
Keyword(s): INDIAN ; Legend ; Native American
| Subject headings: | ART CRAFT ARCHITECTURE -- Occupation War BELIEF -- Body part Senses Feet, toes, toenails |
Date learned: 03-19-1970