Midwinter Rites of the Cayuga Long House / / Frank G. Speck.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter University of Pennsylvania Press Package Archive 1898-1999
• VerfasserIn: Speck, Frank G.,
• Place / Publishing House: Philadelphia : : University of Pennsylvania Press, , [2017]; ©1950
• Year of Publication: 2017
• Edition: Reprint 2016
• Language: English
• Series: Anniversary Collection
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (216 p.) :; 16 illus.

During his last years ethnohistorian Frank G. Speck turned to the study of Iroquois ceremonialism. This 1950 book investigates the religious rites of the Cayuga tribe, one of six in the Iroquois confederation that occupied upstate New York until the American Revolution. In the 1930s and the 1940s Frank Speck observed the Midwinter Ceremony, the Cayuga thanksgiving for the blessings of life and health, performed in long houses on the Six Nations Reserve in Ontario. Collaborating with Alexander General (Deskáheh), the noted Cayuga chief, Speck describes vividly the rites and dances giving thanks to all spiritual entities. Of special interest are the medicine societies that not only prescribed herbs but used powerfully evocative masks in treating the underlying causes of sickness.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- CONTENTS -- LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS -- LIST OF PLATES -- LIST OF TABLES -- INTRODUCTION -- PHONETIC NOTE -- PART ONE. RELIGIOUS FRAMEWORK OF CAYUGA CULTURE -- I. THE SOUR SPRINGS LONG HOUSE -- II. COMPLEMENTARY DUAL FUNCTIONING OF THE MOIETIES AND SEX DIVISIONS IN CAYUGA CEREMONIAL-SOCIAL ORGANIZATION -- III CONTROLLING SPIRIT FORCES -- IV THE ANNUAL CEREMONIAL CYCLE -- V. CEREMONIAL OFFICIARIES, FOODS, INSTRUMENTS, AND COSTUMES -- PART TWO. THE MIDWINTER CEREMONY -- VI. TIMING AND PREPARATORY RITES OF THE MIDWINTER CEREMONY -- VII. THE MEDICINE SOCIETIES -- VIII. THE RESTRICTED MEDICINE SOCIETIES AND THEIR RITES -- IX. THE UNRESTRICTED SOCIETIES; CURING RITES AND DANCES -- X. THE FOUR SACRED CEREMONIAL RITES -- XI. WORSHIP RITES ADDRESSED TO FOOD SPIRITS -- XII. SOCIAL DANCES -- XIII. FAMILY CONDOLENCE RITE OF THE SOUR SPRINGS BAND -- FINAL THOUGHTS AND COMMENTS IN RETROSPECT -- APPENDIX I -- APPENDIX II -- BIBLIOGRAPHY -- INDEX -- PLATES