Observations On The Thunder Dance Of The Bear Gens Of The Fox Indians

Author : Truman Michelson
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9781332235612
Total Pages : 84 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (356 download)

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Download or read book Observations on the Thunder Dance of the Bear Gens, of the Fox Indians (Classic Reprint) written by Truman Michelson and published by . This book was released on 2015-08-05 with total page 84 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Excerpt from Observations on the Thunder Dance of the Bear Gens, of the Fox Indians The two accounts of the Thunder dance of the Bear gens of the Fox Indians which I now present were written by two native informants in the current syllabary and were subsequently restored according to the phonetics of Harry Lincoln in the main, though a few pages of the second account were restored according to those of Thomas Scott. The songs, however, are given in the Fox syllabic style, using roman type for the script. The English translation of the first account is based upon an English paraphrase by Horace Poweshiek, corrected and supplemented by a grammatical analysis of the Indian text by myself. This last task was materially lightened by the intelligent help given by Harry Lincoln when answering linguistic queries based on the text. The English translation of the second account is almost entirely by myself, though I had the benefit of a paraphrase dictated by Harry Lincoln; and I was further assisted by the grammatical notes (based on the text) which I obtained from him. The first account is by Jim Peters, who died in 1917. The reason for the delay in its appearance is twofold - first, his request that this be deferred until after his death so that he might not suffer socially or politically, as he assuredly would have had it been disclosed during his lifetime that he had imparted the information; secondly, it was clear that additional data were needed. The second account in a measure covers the second desideratum. Hence both accounts are now published, even if the total information in certain respects is not as complete as desirable. The literary style of the account by Jim Peters is slightly inferior to some other writings by him on ceremonial and religious subjects (as yet unpublished), and decidedly unequal to the excellency attained by him in writing ordinary myths and tales. First we have a brief ritualistic origin myth; then a description of a specific ceremony follows; then follow some songs used any time the Thunder dance of the Bear gens is held; information on this dance follows, and indirect discourse should be noted; then a speech such as occurs in the ceremony comes; then follow some general comments and moralizing, such as occur elsewhere in gens festivals. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.