In the same way, the connection of the buffalo with the magical renewal of the food-supply will probably have to be looked upon as such an ultimate unit.
Our first object, therefore, when we find certain elements associated, is to determine whether there is any reason for believing that we are dealing with some such ultimate complex or unit.
On the other hand, when we find a magical ceremony for punishing offenders (viewed from its social aspect) associated with the Shell Society, or mortuary ceremonies associated with the Menominee Midewiwin, these associations cannot be considered as being ultimately connected with any particular aspect of the society’s function, as the complexes which they form exhibit an extreme variability. Their presence in various societies must be interpreted as secondary associations of some kind. As secondary associations, however, they may have been conditioned either by their specific nature or by the specific development of the society. As such we might, for instance, view either certain aspects of the shamanistic practices of the Ojibwa Midewiwin, or the mortuary ceremonies connected with the Menominee Midewiwin, or the punishment of offenders in the Shell Society.
When, however, we find cultural phenomena, which are generally possessed by a tribe, associated in varying degrees with this or that ceremonial, this association must be looked upon as due to the influence of the cultural environment. This influence may be conceived as setting in at any time during the historical development of the ceremony, while the ceremony itself remains passive; as, for instance, if the journey to the spirit land is connected with the Medicine Dance, or with the wake, with the telling of truth, or with membership in a clan. Here it is obviously the cultural environment that has been active. If, however, the mide, united in an organization, develop certainphases of this general cultural environment, such as magic and shamanistic practices, in a specific way, we have a right to credit this development as due to the activity of the society, and we have consequently a real secondary association of definite practices with an historically older organization. Of course, a good deal in this particular case would be caused by the fact that the members are mide; but after this historically preliminary stage, the Midewiwin became an active unit as a society; and in this sense, if it then specifically utilizes certain beliefs in a special manner, it can be said to be secondarily associating them.
It is thus seen that the mechanism of the association is both psychologically and historically highly complex. One thing, however, seems to be quite demonstrable; namely, that there is always one constant element,—the specific cultural background or type of each tribe.
Bearing this in mind, the similarities in the association of the Midewiwin of the Ojibwa-Menominee, the Medicine Dance of the Winnebago, and the Shell and Pebble Societies of the Omaha, do not necessarily indicate an historical relationship, but would most likely tend to show that a number of ideas and customs were common to a large cultural area. This does not of course interfere in the least with the possibility of an historical connection, but this historical connection must in each case be demonstrated. However, even if it were proved, an historical connection alone cannot possibly explain the entire phenomenon; for the cultural environment, if it is the same, will condition general similarities and resemblances in ceremonies that historically are quite unrelated, so that the convergent evolution thus resulting will completely obscure at times the individual history of a ceremony. It is, for instance, possible that historically the journey to the spirit land was connected with the wake among the Winnebago. The general prevalence of the same idea among so many social and ceremonial groups to-day, however, makes it unjustifiable to assume such a connection in the absence of any direct historical data; so that, although there is to my mind little doubt that these associations are all historically different, owing to the influence of certain general cultural ideas, they present to-day the same picture.
It is quite safe to assume that, just as we have shown that the shooting ceremony in the Medicine Dance is the borrowed initiation ritual of the Midewiwin, so it would be possible to demonstrate, were we in the possession of fuller historical data, that other elements have been borrowed. However, when we have demonstrated the borrowing of a certain element, we have only partially, and often only inadequately, explained it. Its further explanation is possible only in terms of thespecific type of ceremony, and of the general cultural environment with which it has been associated. Both of these may change. It does not follow that because, among the Winnebago to-day, all the societies are practically associations of individuals who have obtained supernatural communication from this or that spirit, this was therefore always the basis of the societies. To-day the Medicine Dance and the Night Spirit or Sore-Eye Dance have a different type of organization. Originally the latter had the former type, and the Medicine Dance may have had it. It is, for instance, barely possible that we may in this case be dealing with the beginning of a change of type of organization, and that, similarly, types of organization preceded that, whose essence to-day lies in the possession of common visions.
We have now finished the examination of a number of definite ceremonies. Our object in analyzing them was to determine in what the significance of the common elements lay, and what general historical and psychological tendencies were operative in their growth. We may now examine the results of our study in the light of Schurtz’s theory, and examine the data upon which Schurtz based his theory in the light of the leading points of view emphasized above.
VII.Résumé and Conclusion.—The main thesis Schurtz sought to establish was the demonstration of the parallel historical development of society as determined by certain psychological tendencies of the race. It is of prime importance to remember that he claimed to have found certain survivals by means of which he was able to reconstruct the stages in the history of society. Initiation degrees, the exclusion of women, etc., he considered “symptomatic” of these stages. His main object was to prove the existence of these symptoms. Wherever he found them, he was satisfied that he was dealing with vestiges of the stages through which society had passed. All these symptoms, according to Schurtz, had definite and specific connotations, and were associated with definite and specific stages in the development of society.
We have seen, in the analysis of the ceremonies of a limited area, that the common elements which were supposed to be symptomatic of historical relationship had no such value, and that they entered into a number of cultural complexes historically distinct one from another. In the same way we will now examine the more fundamental symptoms—initiation, degrees, and the exclusion of women—to see whether any specific significance attaches to them, and whether they, too, have not become associated with a number of cultural complexes historically distinct. If they have thus become associated, then their value as criteria for definite stages of social evolution isnil.
1.Initiation.—It was our main purpose, in analyzing the above ceremonies, to examine them quite apart from any theoretical presuppositions. In so proceeding, we obtained as a resultant the fact that initiation connoted psychologically and historically a number of different things, and that this difference seemed dependent upon the historical and psychological individuality of each tribe. To Schurtz, however, initiation meant primarily an initiation into puberty, and into that social status with which puberty has been so long and closely associated,—an association that seemed, historically speaking, almost an ultimate complex; namely, initiation into the tribe. He assumes that if it is found to mean anything else, then this new meaning is either a secondary association, or, preferably, an historical development from the first conception. Carried out logically, we should therefore have to consider initiation into a masonic order or into a college fraternity as a transformation of an original tribal initiation. To this, I think, Schurtz would have taken serious exception, on the ground that we are here dealing with a purely rational and artificial social group. But are we not to a certain extent dealing with the same phenomenon in the primitive societies discussed?
In examining a phenomenon such as initiation, we must not forget that it is, in a general way, absolutely conditioned by the specific individuality of one man as opposed to that of another. The desire of one man for participation in the possessions of another, or in those of some differentiated group, is an ultimate fact for which we need give no explanation. What is essential for our discussion is the realization that the methods of this participation are infinite, depending entirely upon the influence of cultural factors in the development of specific areas, and of institutions within them. Thus initiation into the Midewiwin is the transfer of certain mide powers; into the Pebble and other Omaha Societies, a common vision; into the Medicine Dance, the transfer of certain knowledge. This transfer or initiation is in no way different from that which takes place between two individuals, except that in the former case we are dealing with phenomena between an individual on the one hand, and a group of individuals on the other. This conception of initiation has become associated everywhere with social and ceremonial groups. One may, for instance, be initiated into a clan, into a name, into a family, etc.
To Schurtz, however, the concept of initiation is primarily associated with puberty. His argument is that puberty is a physiological stage through which every one must pass. The change to sexual maturity is so important a fact, that it cannot possibly have escaped any tribe. It follows that this physiological change must have been correlated with a change in the position of the individual in the tribe. He will, for instance, among other things, be less subjected to the influence of his mother, and more to that of his father, etc.
All these general propositions are true; and it is also unquestionably true that there has been a marked tendency for ceremonies to cluster around that period of physiological change which we call puberty. Similarly, in some cultural areas there has been a secondary, or, if you wish, a constant association of puberty rites with a formal adoption into the tribe. In Australia, for instance, the individual does not become of active social importance until he has passed through certain rites at the age of puberty.
The essential point, however, is whether he does not always become of active social importance at about that age. He unquestionably does. We cannot, therefore, assume offhand that it is the fact of puberty that is being emphasized by the initiatory rites. This would be the case only if we could prove that puberty is invariably associated with some form of initiation. If it is not, then we must regard the clustering of the concept of initiation around the age of puberty, among the Australians and other tribes, as a cultural peculiarity of these peoples.[28]
In other words, the beginning of the social importance of an individual may be associated with puberty initiation rites. Initiation may, however, be associated with any period of development. For instance, among the Christians and Semites, it is found associated with birth in the forms of baptism and circumcision; and just as with any age, so it may become associated with any social or ceremonial unit. It can thus become associated with entrance into a society; and we may consequently say that a society is only one of the numerous cultural elements with which initiation has become associated.
It is, however, a truism to state that initiation is essential for group differentiation; excluding, of course, the case where membership in a group is not synonymous with birth. When Schurtz, therefore, reconstructs the evolution of initiation, and connects the initiation into a society with that at puberty, he must have been guided by some more fundamental facts than that of the presence of initiation. The postulation of a genetic relationship between the two initiations layreally in the fact that he detected in the form of initiation into the society certain “symptoms” which he regarded as being primarily associated with puberty initiation. These symptoms were the presence of “tests” as essential for admission into a society; and group-initiation or the initiation of a number of youths at the same time. That he was thinking of tests in the most general way, can be seen by the following statement. “Das Austeilen von Schlägen ... im Duk-Duk hängt wohl mit den Mutproben der Knabenweihe zusammen.”[29]It is hardly necessary to insist that the test concept used in this generalized manner is found associated with the ordinary forms of eligibility; so that, wherever the idea of eligibility is associated with a social or ceremonial group, there it will be natural to find tests. There is no need of giving any examples: they must occur to every one. The test feature must consequently be considered so general a cultural possession that its association with diverse cultural phenomena is quite natural, and its significance will in each case depend upon specific conditions. We cannot, therefore, predicate any general significance for the association of the test feature in specific cultural complexes.
Schurtz’s second symptom comes out strongly in his discussion of the Ruk-Ruk Society of Northern Bougainville.[30]We have here, he says, a remarkable connecting link between simple men’s associations (Männerbünde), firmly established by puberty rites and secret societies. He arrives at this conclusion, because he finds it customary there to have a group of youths initiated into the society at the same time. Here both the youth of the novices and the group initiation are emphasized as being symptomatic of a development from former men’s associations (Männerbünde).
It must, however, be remembered, as we have said before, that a man becomes socially active at about the age of puberty, and that his social activity will naturally take those channels customary in a given tribe. The fact that a youth enters a society like the Ruk-Ruk, to which most members of the tribe belong, should not excite wonder. As a matter of fact, we should find it necessary to explain why he did not join. His failure to become a member would most certainly be associated, in such a case, with a low social status. What is to be emphasized here is not the youth of the novices, but the intellectual development occurring at that age. This comes out clearly in the case of the Duk-Duk, where the parents generally purchase membership for their children immediately after birth. Young children behave like regularly initiated members, but they only become active members at the age of sixteen. Similarly in the Winnebago Medicine Dance individuals may be initiated in early childhood, but it is at amuch later period that they possess the powers of adult members. As a matter of fact, admission depends upon so large a number of factors in different societies, that it would be possible to draw up a table that would include all ages from birth to old age.
In the same way the initiation of a group of individuals at one time depends upon too large a number of factors to permit any single interpretation. The burden of proof rests with Schurtz to show that the presence of a specific test connects the Ruk-Ruk Society with puberty rites, and that the presence of a group initiation in the Duk-Duk connects that society with the men’s associations.
Perhaps a few examples might bring out more clearly the different kinds of initiation.
In the Ruk-Ruk Society the novices retire to the woods, work for their sponsors, lay out their plantations, etc. They are also supposed to converse with spirits.[31]Similar conditions are found in the Matambala Society of the Island of Florida.[32]This retirement to the woods and to a holy precinct, and consequent re-appearance, are characteristic of a large number of initiations. The work the novice performs for his sponsor must also be regarded as a characteristic of this area. The tests of the novice have been spoken of before. They are, as might be expected, of the most diverse kind. In Fiji, for instance, a ceremonial attack upon the novices occurs, which is said to symbolize their death.[33]
In Africa we find many of the characteristics noted above. In the Purrah the novices retire to a holy precinct, and are said to endure extreme hardship. Only warriors thirty years of age can be initiated.[34]In the Mumbo-Djumbo only youths older than sixteen are admitted.[35]The other conditions are similar to those of the Purrah. In the Simo organization novices were circumcized and lived seven years in the woods.[36]In the Mwetyi Society, in addition to probations, the youths adopt a taboo of certain foods or drinks, to which they remain faithful ever after.[37]In the Ndembo Society novices are shot by a rattle, and fall down as if dead. They are then carried away to some holy precinct, where often as many as from twenty to fifty individuals remain at the same time. At this place they stay sometimes as long as three years. Their bodies are supposed to disintegrate during this time. When they are supposed to return, the shaman gathers their bones and restores them to life. On the return to their villages, they behave like unknown children, fail to recognize their relatives, to understand their own language, etc.[38]In the Nkimba similar conditions are found.[39]
The variability of the method and concept of initiation is thus seen to be enormous. It might be interesting in this connection to point out how certain ideas will cluster around initiation in one large geographical area, and how the same ideas will cluster around a different cultural complex in another large geographical area. For instance, in the South Seas and in Africa, initiation is found generally associated with tests or probations; whereas in North America tests are not associated with initiation into the society, but with the obtaining of visions at the age of puberty.
2.Degrees.—To Schurtz, degrees are symptomatic of age classes. Wherever he finds them in societies, and wherever they seem to be correlated with certain ages, he concludes that they are vestiges of former age groups. However, he seems to have overlooked one fact,—that the same social and individual forces that would tend toward the formation of societies would necessarily tend toward the development of distinctions within them. It will depend entirely upon the nature of the people and the individual history of the organization, in what manner these distinctions will be emphasized. One of the possible methods of emphasizing them is marking off those with common possessions in some definite manner. Here, again, much will depend upon the kind of group into which the individual is initiated. If, when he enters the society, he is initiated into all that pertains to it, gradations will not be likely to arise. Generally, however, there is certainly a marked tendency for some sort of gradation, be it due to length of membership, insistence upon separate payments, unwillingness of the older members to impart all to a new member who may withal be quite young, a desire to impart piecemeal in order to enhance the value of the teachings, etc. Whether these possible lines of cleavage will associate themselves with definite markings or rites, is a question of individual cultural development. They may or they may not. In Melanesia, for instance, they did not.
In the Ruku-Ruku[40]of the Fiji Islanders we find three gradations,—those of uninitiated youths, grown-up men, and old men. In the Purrah[41]there were two gradations, consisting respectively of those over thirty and of those over fifty years. In the Egbo[42]Society there are eleven degrees, into which membership may be purchased one after the other in an ascending scale. In Old Calabar[43]there are five classes.
In the Purrah we are dealing with an exceedingly intricate complex, in which military and judicial functions are quite prominent. The age factor seems secondary and artificial. In the Egbo there is no age factor at all. In the Ruku-Ruku an age factor exists. Owingto the social value of the Ruku-Ruku, all individuals seem to be potential members at birth. At the same time, the oldest members always have specific functions to perform. In this way two groups are formed. Those who do not belong to these two groups belong to the third group. All that can be said here is, that a society has utilized a rough age factor for specific purposes. That in reality the entire tribe is divided into three divisions, is due to the fact that all the members of the tribe are members of the society. This is therefore not a phenomenon that has any general significance in the evolution of society, but is purely and simply a phenomenon of certain secret societies. The threefold division is not due to a persistence of a former threefold division of the tribe, but grew out of the needs of a specific society. The same remarks hold for the twofold division of members in the Purrah. Similarly the four and eight degrees found among the Ojibwa Midewiwin are due to a development within the society. To-day practically all the members of the tribe belong to the Midewiwin, and the tribe may be said to be divided into four divisions. (However, in this case the main element, that of the association of a certain age with a certain degree, does not exist, because there is no fixed age at which a man buys admission into the higher degrees.)
It will consequently be necessary to determine the significance of degrees in each particular case before any general significance can be attached to them.
3.Exclusion of Women.—The admission of women into a society is, according to Schurtz, a secondary feature. This followed directly from his negative position with regard to women’sGeselligkeitstrieb, and from his assumption that societies were merely transformed men’s associations, which in turn were transformed age groups. The question of theGeselligkeitstriebof women hardly lends itself to any accurate discussion, as, generally speaking, women have not been surrounded by those conditions which played an important part in developing that trait among men. In our own civilization, where men and women are to a certain extent subjected to the same conditions, a large number of women societies has developed, and large numbers of women have been admitted into men’s societies. Among us, this admission of women is due to the fact that they are now in the same industries that men are. However, there are manifold factors which can and do bring about the admission of women into men’s societies or their exclusion therefrom. The nature of some societies may exclude men, just as it may exclude women. A soldiers’ society will exclude women, because women are not soldiers. Similarly a sewing society will probably exclude men. The exclusion of women will therefore depend upon the specific functions of a society; but the right ofwomen to participate in certain activities will again depend upon the manner in which each specific culture area separated the spheres of action of men and women.
The possibility of infinite variation must force upon us the conclusion that we can only begin to investigate the reasons for the exclusion or admittance of women when we have a clear understanding of the ideas each tribe possesses with regard to the specific functions of the men and women. This determination is in a large number of cases utterly impossible, because we are in no position to know whether the reasons now given are historically the true ones. If, for instance, in a men’s college fraternity women are debarred on the ground that the fraternity is interested in fencing, card-playing, etc., which are occupations of men, historically this is not the true reason. Originally fraternities were merely social gatherings of individuals who attended a college. There were no women students to admit. To-day, when women attend the colleges, wherever new fraternities arise, women are admitted. It is thus apparent, that, in the absence of historical evidence, we must be extremely careful in interpreting the reason for this exclusion.
In Melanesia, for example, women are entirely excluded from the societies. However, in Melanesia, societies are associated with a multitude of religious and social functions in which women are not permitted to participate. In other words, the Melanesians draw the line of demarcation between the activities of men and women along these lines. If, for instance, in the New Hebrides, women have nothing to do with the funeral and mortuary rites, and a secret society is intimately connected with such rites, then we ought not to be surprised that women are not admitted into the society. It seems to me, therefore, that we should make much better progress in our study of this phenomenon in Melanesia and in Polynesia, if we were first to examine whether either the conceptions of the tribe, or the nature of the specific society, or the cultural elements with which it was associated, debarred women from membership.
A few examples from Africa will emphasize this point even more forcibly, and at the same time indicate along what lines the respective spheres of men’s and women’s actions are drawn there. In the Purrah Society, women are excluded. The society has general war and judicial functions which do not come within the domain of women, according to the ideas of the tribe. In the Attonga Society[44]of Senegambia, only women are admitted, and the society is associated with mortuary rites. In the Dschengu we have another women society connected here with the cult of some water deity.[45]In the region around themouth of the Ogowe there are a number of powerful women societies associated with various elements.[46]
If we now proceed to Schurtz’s contention, that women societies are merely imitations of men’s societies, we shall see that, as a general statement, this is as unjustified as is his interpretation that the admission of women into societies is a secondary feature. That it is true in a number of cases, is unquestioned. However, when, as in Africa, we see a very strong tendency for the formation of societies, and see at the same time a very large number of women societies, it seems far more justifiable to assume that the women societies are formed in response to the same tendencies as those of men. To judge from parallels in other parts of the world, it is extremely likely that women will form societies wherever men show a strong tendency to do so. A number of factors may, however, interfere with a development of such societies. For instance, it is quite plausible that where, as among the Melanesians, a strong society-forming tendency existed, and women did not participate in it, some strong reason existed which might perhaps be ascribed to the fact that women do not there participate in those rites that are almost universally associated with societies.
In North America there are numerous examples of women belonging to men’s societies. A cursory examination will bring out what were the possible factors at work there. In the Objibwa-Menominee Midewiwin, women are admitted. Now, in the Ojibwa-Menominee culture, women may become shamans as well as men, and the society based on shamans will naturally include both sexes. If there are fewer women than men, this is because fewer women become shamans. In the Winnebago Medicine Dance, wealth and certain requirements possessed by both men and women are the only essentials for admission; and both sexes can accordingly become members. In the present Sore-Eye Dance, women are admitted. Formerly the same society, known as the Night Dance, excluded women. The reason is very simple. Formerly, supernatural communication with the night spirits was essential for membership, and owing to the specific associations attached to these night spirits, women never obtained visions from them. When subsequently it was no more essential to have had a vision, and membership could be purchased by any one, women were admitted. Among the Blackfoot, women are part members of the religious society, because, according to Blackfoot ideas of property, the former have a part in the medicine-bundle of the man. The possession of the medicine-bundle is necessary for admission into the society.[47]It is thus apparent that the explanation for the exclusion of women from a society must lie in a large number offactors, not the least important of which is the nature of the specific ideas of property and the respective spheres of activity of men and women.
4.Functions of the Society.—Our analysis of the five ceremonies has clearly established the differences in the functions of the societies. To Schurtz these differences were due to developments from one historically primary function. His line of argument is a direct consequence of his assumption that secret societies have developed from the men’s associations.
If we glance at the West African, the Melanesian, the Polynesian, North American, and our own societies, we see that their functions are legion. Now, it can be demonstrated that where the whole or a large part of the tribe is included in a society, that society will possess many of the functions of the tribe, because individuals are primarily carriers of their culture, and secondarily members of a society; or, it might be better said that these two functions of an individual are so inextricably connected that they cannot be thought of apart. It can also be demonstrated that specific societies have associated with them a variety of functions. In each case we are dealing with the same phenomenon. The number of possible combinations is practically infinite. It is, however, a suggestive fact that certain functions of a society are distributed over large areas. In Melanesia, for instance, the most constant functions of societies seem to be those connected with mortuary rites and ancestor worship. In Africa, again, they are primarily judicial and administrative. In the case of our five North American ceremonies, they are religious and magical. For the latter our explanation lay in assuming that we were dealing there with a common cultural background. The same explanation holds true for Melanesia and Africa. In other words, societies, like all other social units in which an individual takes part, must necessarily associate themselves with the cultural background in which they are set.
5.Conclusion.—The study we have undertaken can only indirectly be considered an examination of Schurtz’s theories. What we have attempted is the analysis of a number of ceremonies, in order to discover what tendencies were operative in their growth. These examples, combined with others taken from the South Seas and Africa, have demonstrated clearly that there exist in the world certain general ideas that may associate themselves with any type of social and ceremonial organization. Ceremonies in origin historically distinct may thus come to possess general and often specific resemblances. It is consequently of extreme importance, in any scheme of social reconstruction, to determine first whether the common elements in the ethnological data compared are not due to such a convergent evolution.
FOOTNOTES:
[1]The description of the ritual is based on material collected by me, and now in the possession of the Bureau of American Ethnology. The full description will appear as a memoir of the Bureau.
[2]X’okê′ means literally “root” or “ancestor.” “Ancestor-host” will be used as its equivalent.
[3]This word means literally “he who puts himself in the place to benefit his relatives.” The reference is to the Rabbit, who, at the first performance of the ceremony, acted as host and initiated his relatives; i. e., the human beings.
[4]The speeches are not actually rehearsals of speeches to be delivered during the ceremony proper, but they refer to the purpose of the Medicine Dance much in the same way as do some of the speeches in the ceremony proper. A large number of miscellaneous myths are likewise related.
[5]This has been contradicted by some of my informants, who claim that only the East and North Bands have representatives at the brush ceremony.
[6]Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology, vol. vii, p. 188, diagram.
[7]Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology, vol. vii, pp. 245, 255–274.
[8]Ibid., p. 257.
[9]Ibid., pp. 167–181.
[10]Ibid., p. 168.
[11]Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology, vol. xiv, p. 69.
[12]Compare diagram,ibid., p. 75.
[13]Ibid., p. 75.
[14]Heinrich Schurtz,Altersklassen und Männerbünde, 1902; cf. especially pp. 1–82.
[15]Wherever the phrase “instinct for association” is used, it is an attempt to render the GermanGeselligkeitstrieb.
[16]S. R. Riggs, Dakota Grammar and Texts.
[17]Hoffman, inAnnual Report of Bureau of American Ethnology, vol. vii.
[18]Ibid., vol. xiv.
[19]Boas, The Social Organization and the Secret Societies of the Kwakiutl Indians (Annual Report of the U. S. National Museum for 1895, p. 485).
[20]Migis is the Ojibwa term for the shell used in the Midewiwin. It is employed here as a convenient term to designate the objects used by the Winnebago and Omaha in shooting.
[21]Alanson Skinner (MS.).
[22]Frances Densmore, “Chippewa Music” (Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin 45). Washington, Government, 1910.
[23]Annual Archaeological Report, 1905(Report of Minister of Education, Ontario), p. 146.
[24]Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology(1905–06), vol. xxvii.
[25]Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology(1905–06), vol. xxvii.
[26]In the Cheyenne Medicine Arrow Society a similar association occurs.
[27]Miss Fletcher, inAnnual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology, vol. xxvii.
[28]Van Gennep, in a very interesting chapter on “Initiatory Rites” (Chapter VI of hisLes Rites de Passage), has divided puberty into two divisions,—puberté physiqueandpuberté sociale,—and has shown that the age variations of both are considerable. He insists that many writers have considerably obscured the points at issue by confusing the two. Van Gennep believes that thepuberté physiqueandpuberté socialerarely fall together. It seems to me that this is not entirely borne out by the facts of the case; for it must be remembered that, accompanying the physiological changes at puberty, there are mental changes which in many cases permit an individual to become of active social importance; and while I think that it is this social activity that is emphasized by the initiatory rites, nevertheless the fact must not be overlooked that this social activity often coincides with the physiological puberty. We must, of course, not identify physiological puberty with any too definite a time, but allow for considerable fluctuations.
[29]Schurtz, Altersklassen und Männerbünde, p. 376.
[30]Ibid., p. 379.
[31]Schurtz, Altersklassen und Männerbünde, pp. 378 ff.
[32]Ibid., p. 379.
[33]Ibid., pp. 386 ff.
[34]Ibid., pp. 410–413.
[35]Ibid., pp. 413–415.