Some readers may ask why I, an
English academic brought up in the 1960’s in the home counties would have any
right to provide any commentary on a subject such as the one covered by this
post..
And yet I do so quite proudly!
Let me explain.. As a child I was encouraged to read and was bought books from
an early age. If, while we out shopping, I came across something I found
interesting, more often than not my mother would buy it for me.
One such book was Cottie Burland’s
‘Native American Indian Mythology’ (1). I cannot explain how profound the
effect of viewing its contents was on me.
The images presented and the
accompanying text gave me a sense of the depth of human endeavour that had gone
into making these exquisite objects.
That these people.. these unknown and perhaps, now, unknowable people
obviously had a mental landscape which although completely alien to my young
mind both fascinated me and disturbed me.
I have since, often tried to
analyse my reactions to these objects but have been unable to pin down the
exact feelings that they engender. Upon lengthy reflection I believe, that I am
actually incapable of feeling what the makers of these objects felt, that I
lack the mental reference points to understand the meaning of what I see.
And yet.. yet I as I view them I feel
a door opens mentally for me, something stirs deeply within me, the memory of
the child still within me. Yes my childish attempt to rationalise away the fear
and disquiet that being faced with the unknown or otherness of these objects is perhaps the best feeling I ever had
about them.. it is perhaps an echo of the way these objects embodied the
concepts that their makers had of their stone age world and perhaps was their
way of managing the crushing unknowables of their existence and thus of
bringing a measure of control into their world.
For each object or group of
objects I give a little commentary form Burland’s book. However, I must point
out that Burland was a bit of an enigma himself. Working in the Department of
Ethnography at the British Museum from 1925 to 1965 he published many books of
academic interest such as the subject of this post. These included Art and the
Life in Ancient Mexico (1948), The Art of Primitive Peoples (1953), North
American Indian Mythology (1965), The Gods of Mexico (1967), Peru Under the
Incas (1967), The Exotic White Man: An Alien in Asian and African Art (1969), Montezuma:
Lord of the Aztecs (1973), Eskimo Art (1973), Myths of Life and Death (1974),
People of the Sun: The Civilizations of Pre-Columbian America (1976).
However he also published on
subjects problematic to his employers: Magic Books from Mexico, published in
1953 which explored occult practices as well as animism, astrology, and
witchcraft. Other books authored by him on the subject of magic and alchemy
included The Magical Arts: A Short History (1966), The Arts of the Alchemists
(1967), Secrets of the Occult (1972), and Beyond Science: A Journey into the
Supernatural (1973). Whether he left his post at the British Museum under a
cloud is unknown, however Britain in the mid-sixties was still a rather
conservative place, in academic circles and hence some of his more
unconventional views may have a hand in his leaving at the relatively early age
of 60.
Lastly Burland provides no direct
references for the information he includes in his book, only a ‘Further Reading
List’ which contains only 13 items and a section of acknowledgements for
picture credits. Therefore how accurate the accompanying texts are is unknown but
should be taken with a pinch of salt as no academic references are given.
The woman in the sun. Stone cut
by Kenojuak, Inuit of Cape Dorset.
The people in the sky
..the sun is a beautiful girl who carries her torch through the sky as
she is chased by her brother the moon, whose name is Aningan. The moon has a
house in which he rests with his demon cousin Irdlirvirisissong, who is a kind
of female clown who sometimes comes out into the sky and dances to make people
laugh. But if anyone such as a visiting angakok is nearby, they had best look
sideways for if they laugh she will dry them up and eat their intestines. The
moon is a great hunter, always in front of his igloo. His sledge is piled high
with seal skins. He has a sledge team of spotted dogs which sometimes leave the
sky and shoot down to Earth like shooting stars. The mother of the sun is the
planet Jupiter, and she is dangerous to magicians. They have to be wary lest
she should eat their livers.
Source given: Eskimo of Smith Sound north-west
Greenland.
Burland: "Vancouver Island
Sea-Monster mask. Used in spring ceremonies when its ferocious appearance was
intended to drive the salmon towards the shore."
Original image source Museum of
the American Indian
Burland "Haida carving of the Thunderbird
from the North West coast."
Original image British Museum.
This mythical creature was
believed to have an extra head on its abdomen, its wing-beats sounded like
thunder claps and lightning shot from its beak and was powerful enough to carry
off wales in its talons.
One story tells of two hunters who travelled up a river until they came
to a lake high in the mountains. They made their camp and wrapped themselves in
ferns and leaves for warmth. In the middle of the night they heard a tremendous
noise coming from the lake. They looked into the water and there they saw an
enormous bird. As it rose, a flash of lightning came from its beak and two
children stood beside it. The monster bird spread its wings and the sound of
them was a roaring of thunder, and lightning flashed again from its beak as it
rose. Then it slowly sank back into the lake and when only the beak was visible
it released another tremendous flash and a roar. The local people who had
witnessed the scene, and feared for the men who were so close to the terrible
bird. Their joy was great when they met the hunters unharmed.
Burland: “Carved wooden figure from Vancouver Island showing the shaman in his
trance and his vision of the wolf-spirit above.
Original Image: British Museum.
In the main body of his text
Burland explores his theme more fully: “The
mythology of the Indians of the Northwest Coast is slightly more advanced than
that of the Eskimo, but we find no clear traces of deities, apart from a Sky
Being, Sun, Moon and the trickster-creator known as the Raven.
Many of the characters in the stories are totem creatures not entirely
animal and not entirely human. They are in many ways archetypal forms, but are
projected in a special way so that they are not immediately recognisable as
mythological deities. ..The individual were seen in visions by the shamans but
were never formally worshipped. There were neither regular ceremonies, nor
temples, in the whole of the region; civilisation had not yet taken the vital
step of organising the myths into a truly religious tradition.”
The information is rather
inadequate. In the time it was written there was adequate information available
for Burland to give a more in depth treatment of the tribes still living in the
region. The tribes still living in the region number 15, 13 of whom (see ref
17) formed the Nuu-Chah-Nulth
confederation. More information on their traditions and ceremonies can be found
at the American Museum of Natural History website (16).
Masks
Often worn as part of various
ceremonies by many different tribes. These images were the ones I found most
disturbing as a child. As many were used only on special occasions the children
in the tribes, may, initially, have felt similar emotions to mine.
Antlered mask, carved in one piece
from Spiro Mound Oklahoma. Dated approximately 1200-1600 A.D. it was probably
worn at the Deer Ceremony to promote good hunting.
The horned man/deity motif is a
common one with numerous examples from all continents which include:
- the Iron Age Celtic god Cernunnus as seen on the Gundestrup cauldron - ca. 75BC (2).
- the Indus Valley gods sometimes referred to as Pashupati with finds showing the deity from Mohenjo-daro, Harappa, Ganeriwala and Kalibangan all in Pakistan - 2300-2200BC (3)
- It is interesting to note that the ‘horns’ are sometimes branches of leaves and thus there is a very suggestive link with:
- Mesopotamian Green Man of Hatra in Iraq - ca. 200BC (4)
For more on
the Spiro mounds see Texas Beyond History (5). For other examples of a horned
masks see Micah Ewers website (6).
Burland "Iroquois braided cornhusk mask.
The Eastern Woodlands Indians had a wide knowledge of agriculture at the time
of discovery including the growing of corn Zea
maize which had been slowly introduced via the American south west, from
the Mexican plateau.
Agricultural festivals were held
as many as six times a year by the tribes of the Five Nations: the Delaware,
Huron, Iroquois, Lenape and Wyandot."
Original Image: New York State
Museum
I must admit that this and the
False Face Masks featured later caused the most fear to me. Here is some more
detail from the Native American Technology and Art website:
“About Cornhusk Masks
... and why there are No Images of these masks
The masks are often woven by women, but are worn only by men during
curing ceremonies. During ceremonies or dances, tobacco bags are often
sacrificed or tobacco is burned for the husk faces. Corn husk masks frequently
appear in conjunction with the wooden False Face masks. Husk face dancers do
not carry a rattle or staff like the False Faces, but they do dance with a mush
stirring paddle or digging stick, with which they can beat out a rhythm. Corn
husk mask dancers can deliver messages about the harvest, or prepare the people
for the [arrival of the]
‘grandfathers’ the False Faces.
Different sized corn husk masks are made for different reasons. The
full sized masks are worn by dancers during rites of the Midwinter Ceremony in
January, and also for the Green Corn Ceremonies in the spring. The full sized
masks can be made to represent male or female spirits, the female often having
corn husk and tobacco bags or ‘medicine drops’ hanging from the nose, cheeks or
lips. Some masks have braided noses, while others use a stuffed nose. Some
masks have puffed cheeks or protruding and drooping features, denoting great
age. Slightly smaller, medium sized masks are used for calling spirits and
asking them for favours.
Miniature corn husk masks are used to pacify spirits tormenting a
person’s dreams or visions. Dreams of this sort are generally associated with
the Mask Image Spirits. The person who has the dream of the spirit borrows or
makes a small corn husk mask in the form of the spirit and gives it a feast
including sacrifices of tobacco. After the festivities this mask is put away
and kept to deter any further imposition by the spirit.
Miniature masks are also used in the formal Dream Guessing Rite. This
rite occurs during the Midwinter Ceremonies and is performed by the chief and
his company for a person tormented by recurring dreams of evil or trouble. The
content of the dream would have to be ‘guessed’ with the afflicted answering
only yes or no to questions about the dream. The person who guesses the dream
correctly then makes a small mask and gives it, along with wishes of good
fortune, to the dreamer. As the mask is the ‘medicine’ it is kept at home to
prevent recurrence of the dreams.
Unfortunately today, Cornhusk masks are often provided less religious
veneration than their wooden relatives the False Faces, yet they are both still
used in sacred curing rites and in the Husk Face Society dances. Presently some
corn husk masks are made without ritual blessing for museums and tourists, but
all these masks deserve respect as a religious object in their cultural
context.”
Iroquois wooden False Face mask.
Original Image New York State Museum.
Burland states “These grotesque masks were worn in Iroquois ceremonies in the ritual intended to counteract the influence of the malignant false face spirits. Although usually horrific in appearance, so as to drive away evil spirits, some of the masks have a more humorous aspect.”
Burland states “These grotesque masks were worn in Iroquois ceremonies in the ritual intended to counteract the influence of the malignant false face spirits. Although usually horrific in appearance, so as to drive away evil spirits, some of the masks have a more humorous aspect.”
Having read Burland’s book cover
to cover, very little extra information is given. I found this so frustrating
that I researched the subject further. In contrast to Burland, Blau (9) writing
only a year later gives vastly more detail. He begins by explaining the False
Face narratives by dividing them into three categories. These are origin
stories, personal adventures with supernaturals and False Face dreams.
In the Iroquois creation story,
the Creator encounters another powerful being just after he has completed the
creation of the Earth. Initially this being is whole, one version of how the
original False Face became so disfigured runs thus:
“The Evil-One had traversed the Earth infecting all places with his
power. When he met Sogweadisai, the Creator, he challenged him to a test of
power, seeing which of them could cause a mountain to move. The Creator
commanded the mountain to move after the Evil-One had failed. The mountain
moved up so close behind the Evil-One that in turning around he scraped his
face against the rocky surface. That is why he has a twisted face. The Creator
having proved his power exacted a promise from the great being to aid mankind
cure disease. The Evil-One agreed to help the people if they would burn tobacco
in his honour, address him as “grandfather”, and wear masks of his likeness as
they drove out disease. Now the people carve masks after dreams or vision and regard
themselves as his grandchildren.”
On types of mask the best
authority seems to be Fenton (10) He discovered that the mouth, which as the
most variable feature is a likely base for distinguishing formal types, is the
criterion most frequently used by the Seneca who divide their masks into the
following groups: crooked-mouth, hanging-mouth, straight-lipped, spoon-lipped,
tongue-protruding, smiling, whistling or blowing, divided (red and black), and
blind.
On the seldom seen Blind Masks
Hendry (11) says: “Blind masks are an
enigma to ethnographers. They have no eyeholes and were formerly used in the
rites of the Idos medicine society, where the wearer demonstrated his ability
to find and identify hidden objects. Today they never appear in public and the
Indians are unwilling to talk about them, a secretiveness Fenton attributes to
lack of knowledge, for blind masks have been ceremonially obsolete for over a
century.”
Blau (9) gives some examples of
the rites in which the False Face society members dance, these are:
In people’s homes, upon request:
The Initiation Ceremony: Wahũwadičastéyseh - ‘they are given
power’
Purpose: To initiate new masks or
persons into membership in the False Face society, to give them the power to
cure.
The curative rite: Undwenugǫ́wthaʔ - ‘it has been
prescribed for you’
Purpose: To cure an ill person
During the Mid-Winter Festival:
Traditional rite: Hadijistagáyaʔ - ‘they handle coals’
Purpose: To satisfy the
supernaturals with tobacco
Details of the rite: The False
Faces are preceded by a Husk Face person who is their traditional forerunner.
After a dramatic entrance the False Faces attempt to break through the guards
to the stoves at either end of the Longhouse. If successful, they may “juggle”
live coals in their bare hands and scatter ashes on the congregants. After much
excitement and an occasional skirmish the masked supernaturals are pacified
with tobacco. They greedily stuff their pockets with the tobacco collected from
the congregation prior to the rite. The supernaturals are requested to abstain
from upsetting stoves or harming anyone. The False faces dance, displaying
their joy.
The Dream Guessing rite: Hodinowhayáa Okisot - ‘guessing the
dreams of the grandfathers’
Purpose: To guess the desires of
the False Face Society
The Feeding Rite: Sunwadikwanondę́he Onkisǫ́wdaʔ - ‘they
are feeding the grandfathers’
Purpose: To satisfy the
supernaturals by feeding them
The Travelling rite: Deshunadada:xsíʔ - ‘they travel around’
Purpose: To cleanse the homes of disease and
malevolence and to bless the homes for another year
Burland states: "A False Face mask, known as a ‘Speaker
Mask’. It was worn at the ceremonies held to drive away False Face spirits from
the tribes. Seneca." Thus from the above information we see just how
inaccurate Burland can be!
The Onondaga Chief Tadodaho issued a statement online in 1995 about the
Haudenosaunee policies regarding masks. These policies prohibit the sale,
exhibition or representation in pictures of the masks to the public. They also
condemn the general distribution of information regarding the medicine
societies, as well as denying non-Indians any right to examine, interpret, or
present the beliefs, functions, or duties of these societies.
Perhaps the best explanation of
this comes from Danford (13): “..we have
stumbled upon the reasoning behind the insistence by the Iroquois today that
the masks not be taken out of context. Their sacredness is in their aliveness,
an aliveness which cannot tell its tale through frozen speech, [the masks
taken out of the ceremony for instance in a museum or a photograph] but which must be re-enacted in a live
performance of the False Face ceremony or an oral recitation of the legend. Or
as Fenton (14) writes: "...I can say that the distance
between a collection of masks in a museum and the False Face society in action
is of the order of a transport into another world"
Burland: “When the myths were recounted to the tribe, masked actors impersonated
the main characters. This wooden mask with deep set orbits and fur eyebrows,
was known as a ‘Whistling Grandmother’ and symbolised the malevolent spirits
who breathe out illness and cause children to die”
Original Image: British Museum
A highly questionable caption! A
search of ‘Whistling Grandmother mask’ tellingly yields no results. Perhaps
should be a Grandfather mask i.e. a False Face mask of the Blowing or Whistling
type.
Original Image: Museum of the
American Indian, Heye Foundation.
Another questionable piece of
commentary. In style perhaps Haida or Tlingit. As Emmons (15) states: “The mask was always painted, sometimes in a
solid colour, but often in geometrical figures or in ceremonial designs in red,
black and blue-green, all native mineral colours. While the colouring of the
features varied somewhat ..the lips tongue nostrils and ears were red; ..and the
general flesh colour was indicated by native blue-green mineral paint. ..In
addition to painting, masks were ornamented with copper for lips, nostrils,
eyes and eyebrows ..human hair in tufts or locks was pegged in over the
forehead.”
Basketry and woven cloth
Basketry and the weaving of
fabrics reached an extremely high level quite early in the Paleoindian period
in the northern, eastern and south-western regions of the United States. Finds
at of Basketry at Meadowcroft Rockshelter dated ca. 19,000 years old (Ref. 18
but also see my earlier post Here)
and very early woven fibres constituting nets an bags from Pendejo Cave (19)
dated 5,500 BP indicate the ancient roots of these techniques.
Burland: “Bird cults were found all around the Pacific coast from Asia to
America, and birds were a common feature of their design. This woven hat comes
from the south-west region of North America where basket-work reached an
exceptionally high standard, and depicts an owl.”
Original Image: Glasgow Art
Gallery.
Source and tribe unknown.
Burland: “A woven hat featuring a sea-monster. The need for man to behave well
towards animals is emphasised in many North American myths, from the Northwest
Coast story of the Wolf Clan and the salmon to the Southwest story of Coyote
and the children of the sea-monster Tieholtsodi.”
Original Image: Glasgow Art
Gallery.
Top: Burland: “A basket-work tray from the Pima Indians of Arizona. The figure at the
top is Siuhu and figures in several Pima legends. He is surrounded by a maze
because he was believed to live far in the mountains where the trails became so
confused no-one could follow him. The tray is woven so tightly it could be used
to hold water”
Original image: Bildarchiv Foto,
Marburg.
Bottom: Burland: “The Southwest Indians excelled in basket work and often decorated
them with human and animal figures.”
I assume this to be Pima and that
the image source is the same, as they appear adjacent in the text.
Burland: “A Chilkat blanket with a represented killer whale design. This type of
design is known as ‘hocker’ motif and its distinctive feature is the figure
with limbs outstretched in frog fashion. In the northwest coast region the
joints of the limbs were often marked with faces and eyes, and the usual colours
were black white blue and yellow. Wood cedar fibres and fur. Nineteenth century.”
Original Image: Cincinnati Art Museum.
A good colour image of an
extremely similar blanket from Kenny Mencher’s website (19)
Original caption: Chilkat
blanket, 19th century mountain goat wool, cedar bark and sinew thread 51 x 64 (129.5 x 162.6 cm) inches
The yellow dye used is from “wolf
lichen" (Letharia vulpine) for
more information see the Lichens and People website (20).
Burland: “A man’s shirt made of mountain goat hair trimmed with a fur design
representing a bear, one of the totem animals of the Northwest Coast”
Original Image: Museum of the American Indian,
Heye Foundation.
Almost certainly Chilkat from the
design.
Burland: “A ceremonial blanket of a Haida chief from Prince of Wales Island,
showing a bear outline made of shells. This picture emphasises the horrific
aspect, but the Indians generally felt a sympathetic, if respectful
relationship to the bears”
Original Image: Radio Times
Hulton Pic. Lib.
Same blanket. Picture Credit: Canadian Museum of History (22)
Original caption reads:
A trade wool blanket decorated
with a human figure outlined by dentalium shells, pieces of abalone shell and
trade buttons. Probably acquired at Kasaan village in Alaska circa 1900 by
George T. Emmons for the Lord Bossom collection.
The real origin of these pieces
is well explained by the same source: “The
button blanket, which came into use after contact, has now become the most
popular piece of contemporary feast attire. At first, crest designs decorated
with dentalium shells were sewn onto wool blankets acquired from maritime fur
traders and later the Hudson's Bay Company. By the middle of the last century,
the favoured blanket was made of blue duffle, with the designs appliquéd in red
stroud. Squares of abalone shell were sewn to the eyes and joints of the crest
figures to reflect bits of light as the wearer danced around a fire. When pearl
buttons obtained from fur traders came into use, they proliferated onto the
formlines. Today, buttons are sometimes used to fill entire zones of the design
elements and even the whole field of the background.”
The caption accompanying the same
object by Burland is therefore quite inadequate.
Burland: “A buckskin Ghost dance shirt with a design of Thunderbirds and stars.
The design was revealed to the owner in a vision. Arapaho Oklahoma.”
Original Image: Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation.
The Ghost Dance ceremony was only
invented in 1890, in response to the devastation inflicted on Plains Indians by
European settlers. For more information see the Arapaho Project website (23).
Burland conveniently leaves out
how recently this particular cultural practice entered the lives of Native
Americans. The only mythological connection is the representation of
Thunderbirds and the way in which the design was inspired: a personal vision,
harking back to the most ancient of all Native American beliefs.
Decorated hunting implements
These items are often richly and
one could say lovingly decorated. The special care taken and the mythological
connections of the decorations perhaps reflect how their users perceived them:
as the ‘tools’ to feed their extended families. Therefore this decoration was
not just for ascetic purposes but perhaps imbued the item with additional power
to aid in the hunt through the intercession of the totem animal or spirit
represented.
Original Image: Art Institute Chicago
Conclusions:
1. Burland is a somewhat unreliable source in terms of his descriptions
and accreditations to specific tribes
2. Burland’s book also suffers from the sin of omission: facts that he
must have known about the recent origin of many of the objects is not
mentioned, this leaves us no opportunity to understand the cultural continuity
of people and objects he presents
3. Almost all images are left undiscussed in Burland’s text, instead we
are given unsubstantiated ‘fairy stories’/myths whose origin is unreferenced
4. Burland’s book is a product of its time in terms of its roots in the
1960’s world of academia: it simply presents us with a view of Native American Mythological
Art that somehow leaves the people out of the picture and therefore diminishes
their cultural heritage
5. My childish visceral reaction to these pictures of objects was
perhaps the most honest feeling I have had about them, perhaps having
researched my favourite objects I feel I should understand them better.. in
fact I believe I 'understand' them less the more I ‘know’.
References
1. Burland, C.A. 1965. North
American Indian Mythology. Paul Hamlyn, London.
3. The Horned Deity - Asia (Wikipedia). Retrieved from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horned_deity#Asia
4. Eric Edwards Collected Works. The Green Man Phenomenon
and Foliate Heads: Retrieved from: https://ericwedwards.wordpress.com/2014/02/22/the-green-man/
8. Native American Technology and Art website retrieved
from:
9. Blau, H. 1966. Function and the False Faces: A
Classification of Onondaga Masked Rituals and Themes. The Journal of American
Folklore Vol. 79, No. 314 (Oct. - Dec.,
1966), pp. 564-580
10. Fenton, W. N. 1941. Masked medicine societies of the
Iroquois. Ann. Rep. Smithsonian Inst, for 1940, pp. 397-439.
11. Hendry, J 1964. Iroquois Masks and Maskmaking at
Onondaga. Smithsonian Institution, Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 191
Anthropological Papers, No. 74
13. Dandford, J. 1989. Will the
‘Real’ False Face please stand up? The Canadian Journal of Native Studies IX, 2
(1989):253-272.
14. Fenton, William N. 1987. The
False Faces of the Iroquois. Norman and London: University of Oklahoma Press.
15. Emmons, G. T. 1991. The
Tlingit Indians Frederica De Laguna ed. University of Washington Press.
16. American Museum of Natural
History
17. Tribes of the Nuu-Chah-Nulth.
Retrieved from:
18. J. M. Adovasio, J. Donahue
and R. Stuckenrath. The Meadowcroft Rockshelter Radiocarbon Chronology
1975-1990. American Antiquity Vol. 55, No. 2 (Apr., 1990), pp. 348-354
19. MacNeish, R.S. and J.G.
Libby. 2003. Pendejo Cave University of New Mexico Press.
20. Kenny Mencher at http://www.kenney-mencher.com/pic_old/nontechnological_cultures/lesson_NW_Coast.htm
22. Canadian Museum of History. Retrieved from: http://www.historymuseum.ca/cmc/exhibitions/aborig/haida/haacp06e.shtml
23. The Arapaho Project. Retrieved
from:
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