DELAWARE TRADITIONS FROM KANSAS, Nahkoman to Isaac McCoy Author(s): Jay Miller Reviewed work(s): Source: The Plains

Anthropologist, Vol. 34, No. 123 (February 1989), pp. 1-6 Published by: Plains Anthropological Society Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25668830 . Accessed: 01/06/2012 08:03
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Plains
Volume 34

Anthropologist
Society 123 February 1989 Number

Journal of thePlains Anthropological

DELAWARE FROM
Nahkoman

TRADITIONS KANSAS,
to Isaac McCoy by
JayMiller

ABSTRACT
Delaware traditions collected in 1834 are published for the first time. They are particularly informa At women and memories in ritual active role tive the for of technology and subsistence from the of for lantic shores of theirhomeland. Among themany peoples who moved into thePlains were theDelaware (Lenape), who left theAtlantic and moved west through Ohio, In diana, Missouri, Kansas (where this record was made), and finally settled inOklahoma over a century ago. This engaging account of their traditions occurs in the papers of the famous 1978, present generation (Miller and Dean Miller ms). Itwas last held in full form in 1924, and was revived briefly during World War II. Though best known from Speck's (1931) some

Baptist missionary, Isaac McCoy (McCoy Col Historical Kansas State lection, Society, Reel 8: It is important for several Frames 617-620).
reasons.

what flawed account, many aspects of itshistori cal form remain unknown. Thus, the summary account of the Kansas rite is the gem of this document. Last, the memories of precontact economy and technology, reported over a cen left the shores of theAt turyafter theDelaware

Beginning with a parable about the intro duction of alcohol, which so ravaged Native American the story specifically populations, mentions

the annual worship of thanksgiving {Gamwing or Big House Rite), which provided cultural cohesion for the Delaware until the

lantic and theirnamesake river, provide further testimony of the native love of place, particular ly a sanctified homeland. The reference to the feather blanket recalls the turkey-feather cloaks reported in the earliest historical accounts of the

Delaware.

JayMiller It was while in that holy land (ironically, near modern New York City) that theDelaware genesis was first recorded. The Creator placed lahoma in 1867, the traditionalists built two Big Houses in succession, each during the tenure of a different ceremonial leader, first Colonel Jackson and thenCharlie Elkhair. Since each townwas the abode of a clan seg ment, each ritewas also clan dependent. Fea tures of the ancestral clan-based rites that carried over into the revised rite included the Summoning, held at the meat pole where men formerlyhowled likewolves and later recited the prayer words ho and ha in exchange forwam pum; theGathering, when ushers squatted and tossed wampum beads into theirmouths while

the earth on the back of a turtle,a cedar grew at man and woman, the center and created the first

House, the oval floor represented theback of the Turtle and the center post theCedar. This saga was the basis for the annual ceremony, the ancestor of the modern Big House Rite. Certainly, such a building (a rotun da or town hall) had been a feature of Nor theastern communities since the Late Archaic (cf. Wapanucket # 6 at 4300 years ago, Ritchie

theparentsof all life(Miller1974). In the Big

1969: 32), as were fall harvest ceremonies. In origin, the gamwing was a community rite held in the fall after the harvest to express general thanksgiving and the reciprocal relationship of men and women. Such a ritewould have been celebrated when in the fallbecause was the season this harvest and hunt overlapped, allowing to contribute their both men and women economic staples. The timewas decided by the

their ancient coastal habitat where making beads were plentiful.)

Measuring, when turtle shell humming; and the rattles were matched with strings of wampum. They can be associated respectively with the Canine (Wolf), Fowl (Turkey), and Turtle clans. (The abundance of wampum was an index of

shells for

leaf-color change of deciduous trees. Early sources refer to the annual worship as Cantico and Gamwing. According to Brinton (1884:41), Cantico, a jollification, assimilated to Latin cantare, actually comes from theLenape term "gentkehn, to sing and dance at the same

Participation was based on personal contact with a supernatural (manitu), providing a text, song, and array of gestures evocative of that patron. The original recitations were, therefore, much more animated than the modern, more staid ones, probably after influence fromProtes
tantism.

probably signified "the Feast of feasts." Held in the home of a chief, the rite relied on a triple link of chief-clan-town. There are hints from different areas ofNative America for an equation between the cosmos, the settlement, its community house, and its leader. For in stance, among the Californian Yuki (Foster 1944:177-178), each new chiefwas confirmed in office by the building of a new rotunda whose central support was a tree carefully cut down

time." Zeisberger (1887: 72) lists "n'gamuin, to feast," and the Brinton-Anthony dictionary (1888: 95 #9) has "Ngamuin, to keep a feast in Indian style." As applied to the annual festival in theBig House, therefore, the termGamwing

left the homeland and theDelaware the rite took on added sig began amalgamating, nificance for unifying the newly-created settle ments. Even so, these towns seem to have been When founded by clans. The rite became more integrative in 1760s the Ohio through the efforts of Neolin, He made Delaware participation a Prophet.

while the new chief stood securely within its branches. The evidence that theDelaware may have also made this equation rests on the fact had moved to Ok that, once the Delaware 2

means forproclaiming Delaware identity. In the Delaware toward of process directing practices copying aboriginal ones, he introduced features as emetics and emphasizing purification, such the sweat lodge. Memory of these survived among Delaware through thenext two centuries. Also, itwas probably Neolin who introduced priority of the left into the rite. The modern rite can be traced to the efforts as Beata, of a woman, baptized by Moravians who faith and returned to her ancestral ac a renewed in of late 1805, April preached, of former traditions, particularly the ceptance

Delaware been has previously Nothing we from life of her what know about reported the Moravian records. Beata (Fliegel 1970:60, #616) was baptized Rev. Schmick onMay 8,1769, at Friedenshut by a day after her ten (also called Wyalusing),

Traditions

Gamwing.

Moses (same: mother Juliana (#615), thewife of On March 3.1770, she was grave 292-3, #221). ill. ly Among Moravians, children who die in in fancy are named Beatus/Beata, so it is significant that this girlwas near enough to death to receive thisname. The only other Beata in theFrieden shutten records both died within a year of birth. and familywere On February 6, 1773, Moses asked to leave the town (Fliegel 1970: 293), sub sequently Beata is called an ex-convert receiving
visions from "demons".

God (McCoy 1840: 64, 88). Since McCoy

believed

hostility toward native traditions. He gave paint and native-style apparel to his converts, feeling that fashions and dress were not mandated by

therefore, represents the synthesis of a par ticipant, if not leader, in the rite. McCoy (Schultz 1972), though a missionary, had little

that ancient ceremonies had little in were permitted until the fluence on morals, they natives themselves decided on their own to give them up, realizing that "Religion consisted of a rightdisposition of the heart, rightly influencing actions" (same: 88,505). McCoy had long been interested in a mission among the Delaware, one in 1818. the Before first proposing

ters ofMoravian

fully to establish a mission among theDelaware White River ofmodern Indiana (Gib along the son 1938). Descriptions of the ceremony itself were provided by Abraham Luckenbach (Gib son 1938: 611-12) and by two responses to the 1821 questionaire sponsored by Lewis Cass and collected by Charles Trowbridge fromCaptain Pipe and Agent John Johnston (Kinietz 1946: 93-97, # 41). Lewis Henry Morgan (1959: 57) Kansas, provided an account of the ceremony in from William Adams, a Delaware ordained as a Baptist minister and unsympathetic to the an

Her effortswere noted in the diary and let missionaries tryingunsuccess

to Kansas, Delaware moved from Missouri McCoy surveyed the new reserve. He, there fore, had a long and supportive association with the Delaware, whose leaders were willing to

share privileged informationwith McCoy. Nakoming became head chief inKansas in 1839, after the death ofWilliam Patterson. He was long an important leader, famous forhis ex tensive travels and war record. During the 1828 Battle of Blue River, avenging a "Pawnee" at tack on soldiers fromFort Towson, he received a poison arrow in the thigh,which gradually

Beata reworked ancestral features to in stitute a new Gamwing directed toward general thanksgiving and culture renewal. She gave women a stronger role, which subsequently

cient religion. Starting as a spring ceremony, the other season when men's and women's contributions overlap, Beata's rite soon moved back to the fall. She gave women a greater role, serving to define its limits,by performing at thebeginning and end of the services, and by sittingnear the doorways.

made him blind. A special 1833 act of Congress provided him with a pension (Foreman 1930: 274). Catlin painted his portrait before he was incapacitated by 1842, although he did not pass

the head chiefship to Captain Ketchum until 1849 (Ferguson 1972:170). I suspect his increasing handicap en more him to be reflective. couraged Certainly, his statement of the ritual, though brief, is bril liant, confirming my own analysis of the rite as based on the complimentarity of the sexes

eroded, and combined aspects of clan-spon sored rituals (Summoning, Gathering, Measur ing) to create a synthesis of more timely relevance for harried Delaware. It is important that this Kansas version came from Nakoming, an acknowledged chief, and,

(Miller 1972). Further, his account, unique among all of them, specifies that the women went first.The Oklahoma ceremony ended with recitations by women. Nakoming's report has particular appeal, however, because we know was a woman who instituted themodern that it form, although it progressively lost major fea tures until the 1924 finale. The significance of this 1834 account, ergo, is that it shows the tran 3

of the left (Miller1979,1980) and thepriority

JayMiller the 1805 Indiana revision by rite of and the recent male-dominated case It that Oklahoma. may well have been the sition between Beata the men mood. He told all respects restored... ina talkative the company that another people were coming. They were not coming out of the earthynor from were upon the above, nor out of thewater, but they
water.

had already assumed the beginning recitations at this time and Nakoming was giving his memory of Indiana and Missouri McCoy
practices.

My own additions to the textare placed be tween brackets [ ].

-Delaware Chief From Capt. Nahkoman Written down the day after conversation at McCoys Nov 22,1834, To be filled up with other matters when they can be obtained Delawares isLenappe which The name of the as English speak of name mankind the for [is] man in distinction from beasts. Other tribes are names as by particular distinguished Putawatomie, Miamis, &.

When the conjuror had scented itas thewind blew from the vessel to them, he said these were the people ofwhose coming he had foretold and when he saw the bottle that there was the article the drinking of which would produce such effectsas

When thewhites first landed almost the first which theyoffered the Indians was whiskey. thing

had witnessed inhim at the festival. That they they truthof all he the evidence have of might full some the article. drink he would of spoke, He accordingly precisely produced took three drams which the effect which he had

The same as white as people distinguish people of differentnations &. Dutch, French, The Indians claim to be grandfathers of the ?. The following tribesare, ad following tribes ?. dress each other by the appellation of Sister ?. uncle Delawares call the The following [Left blank in the original, Cf. Speck (1931:33) forap plication of kin terms to named tribes.] are called By other tribes the Delaware came because from the sun they Waupunahka rising [East]. Atlantic ocean. They formerly lived upon the none sure between them and are lived then They thegreat water, because theyhave no traditions

predicted. The Lenappe Indians not only esteem them selves entitled to thegeneral appellation of man. But they consider their religion a thing sacredly belonging to themselves. Nations of Indians with whom theywere most friendly, and with whom they mingled much, were never allowed tobecome acquainted with their religious ceremonies. The house of worship was a sacred place which others

were notpermitted to enter. the coming of the whites, their Since so far relaxed thata few whitemen have prejudices have sometimes been admitted to be present at theirannual worship. The annual festival or time for worship occurs in roasting ear time, or about the time the com begins to harden in the ear. The women bring to men bring twelvedeer. Of the place com, and the late years we have been much concerned lest the Deer should become so scarce that twelve could not be obtained. No domestic animals could be substituted for the deer. [During the last Ok lahoma rites, beef was served.] Fire used at thefestival must not be such as -made with common is flint and steel because theLenappe originally had no iron, consequently used fireprocured inanother way. "Wealways they procure fire for the occasion, as our forefathers did, by rubbing sticks together." This process of obtaining fire is not as difficult as might be sup

he Before the conclusion of the additional time, as fell into a verysingular and franticframe, such never before -first [he] became merry and loqua cious, then became cross and troublesome. They a got him offfrom the company about half mile let where, in reeling to and fro, he fell and they him lie and sleep. From his nap he arose and was in

coming from the east side of them. Previously to theappearance of whitemen, at one of their grand annual festivals, which is also a matter of worship, the principal man upon the a was occasion, who conjuror, exhorted them to continue the exercises longer thanwas customary.

Delaware [because the pump firedrill was quite ef fective]. If a whiteperson is allowed to attend worship he isplaced at thedoor, but not allowed to mingle with the worshippers within. All who enter the door of thehouse of worship are required to turn

Traditions

posed

It was put upon the parts because theywere left_ nearer theheart. When it is used at all, it must be even men to to white who everyone, may applied have been admitted as spectators. But as for the and even latter,ithas not been seen to take effect, some other Indians, after receiving it,would be come sleepy after this touching and would be car ried out of the company, and so would lose the

direction around to the left. The females alone, without any male min glingwith them, employ the firstnight and half the following day inworship. The principal of whom thendelivers a speech to the men, inwhich the lat are ter addressed by the title of our sons. They are told thatwe thewomen are of the earth, and you are bom of us. Therefore we have gone forward

immediately to the right,thenhe moves, he moves around to the leftand must inno case go back the way he came. Every movement must be in that

benefit of theworship. I [McCoy] told them that we could see in many places along the coast where theIndians ate oysters and I remarked that thenatives at that time probably obtained food from thewaters and the woods in abundance. They said it had not been long since old people among them could tellof theIndians col lectingoysters and such thingswhen the tidewas were {places} holes of low. In low tide also there with ease.

first in thisworship. We have our separate and distinct spheres inwhich severally to act, and it is right that each should faithfullyperform its rela tiveduties. It is ours tofurnish the com, it isyours to meat &&. provide the The men follow and perform similar ceremonies. Throughout both branches of theser vices, theyare reminded in exhortations that there is one God, and one only, who is the creator of all things,and who has control of all things. There is but one road to him. It is necessary that each should faithfully discharge theduties of life, that may find theirway to God. They are also they

water [tidepools]leftinwhich they caught fish

Still, their people, theyobserved, were sub to much inconvenience procuring subsis jected tence.They had no iron tools to make a hoe. They had to bum down a small treeand then bum itoff at a suitable length. Then to reduce [it] toa proper thickness and shape, fire was applied to the side of the stick and as it became charred, it was

apart and neither can [?] indulge thoughtsof tirely marriage during theircontinuance inworship. The smoke of their kettles of boiled flesh and com ascends towardGod. McCoy inquired respecting a sacred bundle which report said was kept by the principal priest, or principal cantor. They said therewas such a was merely a medicine prepared from thing but it a plant known only to thoseprincipal persons who

reminded by their exhorters that theGod will be much displeased in sins [?] committed by them during their worship. Evil thoughts must be banished from them. The sexes must be kept en

scraped with a rough handstone and so, with much labour, reduced to a bow. The arrowpoint was made offlint stone broke intoshape by theuse of other stones, and feathered with the oosing [oozing] which exuded from the For an ax theybrought [it] into suitable shape other stones and for a knife theyused a flint. by For a graining knife to take off thegrain of deer skins in scraping theyused the small bone of the foreleg of a deer. Game was abundant because they killed only what theyneeded for food and raiment. Since skins have become an article of traffic with the whites, game has rapidly diminished, because it is often killed merely for the sake of the skin, which is sold. Formerly, when a man desired a very fine pair he would kill a couple of otters and, ?f leggings* skinning themwhole, would draw one onto each
pine tree.

led[l] theworship. Its uses were to prevent drow siness in time of worship. When, on account of long continued exercises, some would become medicine to the sleepy, theyapplied some of this arm. leftside of the face and body, and on the left

Miller Jay ciedhimself fine.

legwith the tail hitched to his belt, and so he fan
Indian William Territory and Their Future Prospects. DC. Morrison, Washington,

Blankets were made by sewing any kind of which made a light and warm furred skins together blanket Some who were fond of curious blankets would construct one of feathers. This must have appeared singular enough. Were one to see a per son at this day in the woods and theywith a blanket on made of feathers, one would be at a loss to determine what kind of an animal itwas.

Miller, Jay 7 (4): 646-7. 1972 Priority of the Left. Man Is On The Back of A Turtle. 1974 Why theWorld Man 9 (2): 306-8. Side of Their Move 1975 Kwulakan: The Delaware ment West. Pennsylvania Archaeologist 45 (4): 45-6. A Strucon Model of Delaware Culture and the 1979 Eth of Mediators. American Positioning nologist 6 (4): 791-802. 1980 A House of the Delaware Big Analysis Publica University of Oklahoma tions inAnthropology 21 (2): 107-133. Rite. Structural

Acknowledgements
Society of for permission to publish, Susan Box of theBartles Topeka ville Area History Museum and Archives, Mrs. Argie Thanks are due the Kansas State Historical

ms

Of Cul Delaware Integrity: The Ritualization ture In The Gamwing (Big House Rite). Dean of theDelaware Archaeologist

Thomas

for her Baptist bounty, Blue Clark for haven, the Dunn family for support, and the Delaware elders who put and keep me on the right track.

Miller, Jay and Nora Thompson A Personal Account 1978 Rite. 43. Morgan, 1959 Pennsylvania

Big House 48 (1-2): 39

Lewis Henry Indian Journals. University

Edited

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American Indians and Pioneers, The Story of the U Press, New Southwest Before 1830. Yale Haven.

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Foster, George of A Summary of Yuki Culture. University 1944 Records 5 (3): 155 California, Anthropological 244. Gibson, 1938 Lawrence Henry on White River. Indian Mission The Moravian and Letters, May 5, 1799 toNovember Diaries In Indiana Historical Bureau, 2, 1806. dianapolis. Kinietz, Vernon Indiana His Cultural Chronology. Delaware 1946 torical Society, Prehistory Research Series 3 (1): 1-143. McCoy, 1840 Isaac The Former Aboriginal and Present Condition of the Tribes, Their Settlement Within the

The Newberry Library Street 60W.Walton IL 60610 Chicago,

May 1988