THE NEZ PERCES, PART 11
MEDICINE-SONG OF THE EAGLE
Haiyila, hiyi, hiyi, hiyi, haiyila;
*Onatuihnanis, hiyi, hiyi, hiyi, haiyila, Awiyihiyi, haiyila.
Tilting on wings, flapping, flapping, flapping, tilting on wings; Pursuing by means of song, flapping, flapping, flapping, tilting on wings, Soaring, tilting on wings.
"The sun is low, so that it strikes just the upper part of one side of the canon wall. In the bottom of the canon the Deer are browsing. When the little Deer sees Eagle soaring above, he starts to run, and Eagle begins to sing. When the fawn gets a little distance ahead, Eagle sings the word onaituihnanis, and the fawn stops to listen to the song. Eagle soars over him, circling about. The Deer looks up and is unable to move. Eagle swoops down on the fawn, and the smaller birds of prey flock to the feast."
MEDICINE-SONG OF THE MORNING STAR
Oyaihyawiya, aihyawiya *wihina. Oyaihyawiya, aihyawiya,
wihina, awihina. Oyaihyawiya, aihyawiya, aihyawiya wihina, awihina.
*Aniki *wah *akamakinikai *hiwihinatatum.
*Wiwiohnini wihina. Aihiyaya wiyana. Owiyaihyawiya, aihyawiya wihina.
Has been coming, has come moving. Has been coming, has come moving, moving.
Has been coming, has come, has come moving, moving. Yonder and up there
he is coming in this direction. Crippled he moves. What the Stars sing,
he has been saying. Has been coming, has come moving.
"The Morning Star rises, and as he goes, he seems to strike his foot
on something in his path, and light. flashes from his feet. From this
he becomes crippled. The little Stars hear of his coming and form on each
side of his path, shedding a bright light through which he passes."
MEDICINE-SONG OF THE BUFFALO
Aiyaiya! Owiyalaihyowiyai,
Owiyalaihyowiyai, owiyalaihyowiyai, owiyalaihyowiyai.
Aiyaiya! Owiyalaihyowiyai, owiyalaihyowiyai.
Aiyaiya! Owiyalaihyowiyai. Aiyaiya! Owiyalaihyowiyal.
*Wah *imattahinna *uwaihaneshnim *hiwaiakin, *annu.
*Wihina, yaya wah *holah?holah.
Aiyaiya! Owiyalaihyowiyai. Aiyaiyl! Owiyalaihyowiyai.
Aiyaiya! Travelling warily,
Travelling warily, travelling warily, travelling warily.
Aiyaiya! Travelling warily, travelling warily.
Aiyaiya! Travelling warily. Aiyaiya! Travelling warily.
And I have just discovered it is I the wolves seize and hurt.
Going, yaya! and gone (is my flesh).
Aiyaiya! Travelling warily. Aiyaiya! Travelling warily.
"Before starting out on his journey toward the north,
Buffalo blows his breath, which forms a fog that goes upward to the sky.
With his hoofs he throws his dry dung up, and it becomes a heavy wind
from the south, so that as he travels, the wind is behind him. The cloud
accompanies him and constantly hangs over him. As he travels, he looks
carefully from side to side, with lowered head. Little whirlwinds begin
to form here and there and create a heavier wind, and thick dust rises.
His own cloud still hangs over him. All at once, unexpectedly, the Wolves
begin to nip at his heels, and he sings, `I have just found it is I the
Wolves are after!' He begins to feel lame and sore. He continues singing
and goes on, sometimes stopping to throw up more dung whenever the Wolves
press him too closely. Thus he succeeds in passing them in the cloud.
In the north forms a long cloud just the color of his hair. He moves straight
to this cloud, as that is the only way he can escape, by going under it.
Some of his flesh has been torn off. While he sings, he shakes his body
from side to side, and blood runs from his wounds."
MEDICINE-SONG OF THE ELK
Awiyihiyi! Hilayihiyi wihina. Awiyihiyi! Hilayihiyi wihina.
*Pasotainaks! Hilayihiyi wihina.
Awiyihiyi! Hilayihiyi wihina. Awiyihiyi! Hilayihiyi wihina.
Awiyihiyi! Hilayihiyi wihina. Pitiwatainaks! Hilayihiyi wihina.
Elk! Eagle moving. Elk! Eagle moving.
Feet planted deep in the ground! Eagle moving.
Elk! Eagle moving. Elk! Eagle moving.
Elk! Eagle moving.
Tips of horns touching the ground! Eagle moving.
"Eagle, and all the other predatory creatures of the Waptipas,have
forced Elk into a corner. There he turns and makes this song. Right above
him is Eagle, with wings outspread, while the Wolves and the other animals
are pressing about Elk, trying to kill him. His legs are spread, his feet
deep in the ground, and his head is lowered so that his horns touch the
earth. He will not die without hurting somebody. Eagle holds himself motionless
in the air, watching and waiting for a chance to swoop down and take the
best part of the pre for himself. Elk stands with bloody legs, torn by
the Wolves. His back is against the cliff."
The most interesting feature of the songs of the Nez Perces is that they
are peculiarly related in groups, in that a man possessing a song derived
from a particular creature to a certain extent draws magical power from
all the other creatures belonging to that group, and its singing affects
every man having a song relating to one of the creatures so associated.
Thus those possessing medicine-power fall into several divisions according
to the kind of spirit from which that power is derived. One of the more
important of these is Wishihinikal a group of "wing travellers,"
including the duck, goose, crane, stork, pelican, swan, clouds, wind,
thunder (which belongs to all divisions), and also, for some unexplained
reason, the coyote. The pelican is the chief medicine-spirit of this group.
While trees appear to belong to all groups, the willow belongs to the
Wishihinikat, and is particularly associated with the pelican. This position
of the willow is no doubt due to its association with marsh and lake birds.
Sometimes, when the Wishihinikat are dancing together and singing in the
long-house, a medicine-man of greater power than theirs, in order to show
his supernatural strength, waves his hands before them, and they fall
unconscious. It is believed that the medicine-man, when he does this,
has a cloud or fog in his hands, which he throws into their path and makes
it impossible for the flying "wing travellers" to see their
way. Other medicine-men may perform similar acts over those whose power
is presumably inferior to their own. In this act there is nothing occult
or mysterious: it is simply hypnotism.
The songs of any medicine-man have an exciting effect on every other person
present whose supernatural power was learned from a spirit of the same
group, and causes any young man who has not yet declared his revelation
to rush out and attempt to sing, provided the spirit which appeared in
his vision is of that group.Waptipas is a group whose guardian spirits
have unusual ability as hunters. Wolf, mountainlion, and eagle belong
here; but so also do buffalo, deer, and elk, who are not hunters, but
the hunted, and the snow-birds and some other birds and animals which
eat meat. The animal of the greatest power in this group is the elk with
six prongs on each side of his antlers. Perhaps the basis of classification
here is participation in the eating of animal flesh, whether it be the
eating or the being eaten.
One informant stated: "Wolf, coyote, fox, raven, eagle, cougar, lynx,
all are connected because their songs all refer in a cryptic way to deer.
If a person having medicine of one of these animals hears a man singing
songs of any of the others, he says, ` Waptipas-timt' that is, ` He is
singing Waptipas.' He feels some sort of relation to that song."
It will be observed that all these animals feed on deer.
Hiyuwafsit is a group whose power is derived from the creatures which
have in common the attribute of ability to kill human beings with their
teeth. Those with the medicine of bear and rattlesnake belong here, so
also do those of the weasel.
One to whom thunder appeared would have control over the more powerful
animals, such as cougar, and would be related to all the animals through
thunder's invariable association with them.
The sun, the moon, and the stars constitute a group, the sun being the
chief. Those included within this classification are more powerful than
those of any other. It is asserted that it has no name. Possibly it does
possess a name, but owing to its extraordinary religious significance
no one would divulge it. This is improbable, however, as the principal
informant on this subject apparently did all in his power to make it clear.
People possessing such beliefs as are suggested in the songs above quoted
must have dwelt in a veritable wonderland. As a man passed through the
forest the moving trees whispered to him and his heart swelled with the
song of the swaying pine. He looked through the green branches and saw
white clouds drifting across the blue dome, and he felt the song of the
clouds. Each bird twittering in the branches, each water-fowl among the
reeds or on the surface of the lake, spoke its intelligible message to
his heart; and as he looked into the sky and saw the high-flying birds
of passage, he knew that their flight was made strong by the uplifted
voices of ten thousand birds of the meadow, forest, and lake, and his
heart, fairly in tune with all this, vibrated with the songs of its fulness.
Indians with a simple system in which the individual possessed only the
spirit of the bird or the beast revealed to him are indeed close to nature,
but the individual Nez Perce, with his interwoven devotional system, communed
with almost unlimited nature.
EDWARD S. CURTIS