The Medicine-Men of the Apache. (1892 N 09 / 1887-1888 (pages 443-604))

Farther to the south, in the Mexican state of Sonora, I was shown, some twenty years ago, a piece of buckskin, upon which certain Opata or Yaqui Indians – I forget exactly which tribe, but it matters very little, as they are both industrious and honest – had kept account of the days of their labor. There was a horizontal datum line, as before, with complete circles to indicate full days and half circles to indicate half days, a long heavy black line for Sundays and holidays, and a crescent moon for each new month. These accounts had to be drawn up by the overseer or superintendent of the rancho at which the Indians were employed before the latter left for home each night.

THE SACRED CORDS OF THE PARSIS AND BRAHMANS

I have already apologized for my own ignorance in regard to the origin and symbolical signification of the izze-kloth of the Apache, and I have now to do the same thing for the writers who have referred to the use by the religious of India of the sacred cords with which, under various names, the young man of the Parsis or Brahmans is invested upon attaining the requisite age. No two accounts seem to agree and, as I have never been in India and cannot presume to decide where so many differ, it is best that I should lay before my readers the exact language of the authorities which seem to be entitled to greatest consideration.

"A sacred thread girdle (kûstîk), should it be made of silk, is not proper; the hair of a hairy goat and a hairy camel is proper, and from other hairy creatures it is proper among the lowly."598

Every Parsi wears "a triple coil" of a "white cotton girdle," which serves to remind him of the "three precepts of his morality – 'good thoughts,' 'good words,' 'good deeds.'"599

Williams describes the sacred girdle of the Pārsīs as made "of seventy-two interwoven woollen threads, to denote the seventy-two chapters of the Yasna, but has the appearance of a long flat cord of pure white wool, which is wound round the body in three coils." The Pārsī must take off this kustī five times daily and replace it with appropriate prayers. It must be wound round the body three times and tied in two peculiar knots, the secret of which is known only to the Pārsīs.600

According to Picart, the "sudra," or sacred cord of the Pārsīs, has four knots, each of which represents a precept.601

Marco Polo, in speaking of the Brahmans of India, says: "They are known by a cotton thread, which they wear over the shoulders, tied under the arm, crossing the breast."602

Picart described the sacred cord of the Brahmans, which he calls the Dsandhem, as made in three colors, each color of nine threads of cotton, which only the Brahmans have the right to make. It is to be worn after the manner of a scarf from the left shoulder to the right side. It must be worn through life, and, as it will wear out, new ones are provided at a feast during the month of August.603 The Brahman "about the age of seven or nine … is invested with 'the triple cord,' and a badge which hangs from his left shoulder."604

The Upavita or sacred cord, wound round the shoulders of the Brahmans, is mentioned in the Hibbert Lectures on the Origin and Growth of Religion. "Primarily, the sacred cord was the distinguishing mark of caste among the Aryan inhabitants. It consisted for the Brahmans of three cotton threads; for the Kshatriyas or warriors of three hempen threads; and for the Vaisyas or artisans and tradesmen of woollen threads."605

"All coiling roots and fantastic shrubs represent the serpent and are recognized as such all over India. In Bengal we find at the present day the fantastically growing Euphorbia antiquorum regularly worshipped, as the representative of the serpent god. The sacred thread, worn alike by Hindoo and Zoroastrian, is the symbol of that old faith; the Brahman twines it round his body and occasionally around the neck of the sacred bull, the Lingam, and its altar… With the orthodox, the serpent thread should reach down to its closely allied faith, although this Ophite thread idea is now no more known to Hindoos than the origin of arks, altars, candles, spires, and our church fleur-de-lis to Jews and Christians."606

General Forlong alludes to the thigh as the symbol of phallic worship. "The serpent on head denoted Holiness, Wisdom, and Power, as it does when placed on gods and great ones of the East still; but the Hindoo and Zoroastrian very early adopted a symbolic thread instead of the ophite deity, and the throwing of this over the head is also a very sacred rite, which consecrates the man-child to his God; this I should perhaps have earlier described, and will do so now. The adoption of the Poita or sacred thread, called also the Zenar, and from the most ancient pre-historic times by these two great Bactro-Aryan families, points to a period when both had the same faith, and that faith the Serpent. The Investiture is the Confirmation or second birth of the Hindoo boy; until which he can not, of course, be married. After the worship of the heavenly stone – the Sāligrāma, the youth or child takes a branch of the Vilwa tree in his right hand, and a mystic cloth-bag in the left, when a Poita is formed of three fibres of the Sooroo tree (for the first cord must always be made of the genuine living fibres of an orthodox tree), and this is hung to the boy's left shoulder; he then raises the Vilwa branch over his right shoulder, and so stands for some time, a complete figure of the old faiths in Tree and Serpent, until the priest offers up various prayers and incantations to Soorya, Savitri or Sot, the Eternal God. The Sooroo-Poita is then removed as not durable enough, and the permanent thread is put over the neck. It also is formed of three threads, each 96 cubits or 48 yards long, folded and twisted together until only so long that, when thrown over the left shoulder, it extends half-way down the right thigh, or a little less; for the object appears to be to unite the Caput, Sol, or Seat of intellect with that of passion, and so form a perfect man."607

All Parsis wear the sacred thread of serpent and phallic extraction, and the investiture of this is a solemn and essential rite with both sects [i.e., the Hindus and Parsis], showing their joint Aryan origin in high Asia, for the thread is of the very highest antiquity. The Parsi does not, however, wear his thread across the shoulder, and knows nothing of the all-but-forgotten origin of its required length. He wears it next to his skin, tied carefully round the waist, and used to tie it round his right arm, as is still the custom with some classes of Brahmins who have lost purity of caste by intermarriage with lower classes.608

At the baptism or investiture of the thread, which takes the place of the Christian confirmation ceremony, but between the ages of 7 and 9, Fire and Water are the great sanctifying elements, and are the essentials. The fire is kindled from the droppings of the sacred cow, then sprinkled over with holy water and blessed; and when so consecrated by the priest it is called "Holy Fire."609

"The Brahmans, the Rajas, and the Merchants, distinguish themselves from the various casts of Sudras by a narrow belt of thread, which they always wear suspended from the left shoulder to the opposite haunch like a sash."610 But, as Dubois speaks of the division of all the tribes into "Right-hand and Left-hand," a distinction which Coleman611 explains as consisting in doing exactly contrariwise of each other, it is not a very violent assumption to imagine that both the present and a former method of wearing the izze-kloth, akin to that now followed by the Apache, may once have obtained in India. The sectaries of the two Hands are bitterly antagonistic and often indulge in fierce quarrels, ending in bloodshed.612

"All the Brahmans wear a Cord over the shoulder, consisting of three black twists of cotton, each of them formed of several smaller threads… The three threads are not twisted together, but separate from one another, and hang from the left shoulder to the right haunch. When a Brahman marries, he mounts nine threads instead of three." Children were invested with these sacred cords at the age of from 7 to 9. The cords had to be made and put on with much ceremony, and only Brahmans could make them. According to Dubois, the material was cotton; he does not allude to buckskin.613

Coleman614 gives a detailed description of the manner in which the sacred thread of the Brahmans is made:

The sacred thread must be made by a Brahman. It consists of three strings, each ninety-six hands (forty-eight yards), which are twisted together: it is then folded into three and again twisted; these are a second time folded into the same number and tied at each end in knots. It is worn over the left shoulder (next the skin, extending half way down the right thigh), by the Brahmans, Ketries and Vaisya castes. The first are usually invested with it at eight years of age, the second at eleven, and the Vaisya at twelve… The Hindus of the Sutra caste do not receive the poita.

The ceremony of investiture comprehends prayer, sacrifice, fasting, etc., and the wearing of a preliminary poita "of three threads, made of the fibers of the suru, to which a piece of deer's skin is fastened."615 This piece of buckskin was added no doubt in order to let the neophyte know that once buckskin formed an important part of the garment. The Brahmans use three cords, while the Apache employ four; on this subject we shall have more to learn when we take up the subject of numbers.

Maurice says that the "sacred cord of India," which he calls the zennar, is "a cord of three threads in memory and honor of the three great deities of Hindostan."616 It "can be woven by no profane hand; the Brahmin alone can twine the hallowed threads that compose it and it is done by him with the utmost solemnity, and with the addition of many mystic rites."617 It corresponds closely to the izze-kloth; the Apache do not want people to touch these cords. The zennar "being put upon the left shoulder passes to the right side and hangs down as low as the fingers can reach."618 The izze-kloth of the Apache, when possible, is made of twisted antelope skin; they have no cord of hemp; but when the zennar is "put on for the first time, it is accompanied with a piece of the skin of an antelope, three fingers in breadth, but shorter than the zennar."619

On p. 128 of Vining's An Inglorious Columbus, there is a figure of worshipers offering gifts to Buddha; from Buddha's left shoulder to his right hip there passes what appears to be a cord, much like the izze-kloth of the Apache.

Examples of the use of such cords are to be found elsewhere.

In the conjuration of one of the shamans, "They took a small line made of deers' skins of four fathoms long, and with a small knot the priest made it fast about his neck and under his left arm, and gave it unto two men standing on both sides of him, which held the ends together."620 It is difficult to say whether this was a cord used on the present occasion only or worn constantly by the shaman. In either case the cord was "medicine."

Hagennaar relates that he "saw men wearing ropes with knots in them, flung over their shoulders, whose eyes turned round in their heads, and who were called Jammaboos, signifying as much as conjurors or exorcists."621

The Mahometans believe that at the day of judgment Jesus Christ and Mahomet are to meet outside of Jerusalem holding a tightly-stretched cord between them upon which all souls must walk. This may or may not preserve a trace of a former use of such a cord in their "medicine," but it is well to refer to it.622

The sacred thread and garment which were worn by all the perfect among the Cathari, and the use of which by both Zends and Brahmans shows that its origin is to be traced back to a pre-historic period.623

"No religious rite can be performed by a (child) before he has been girt with the sacred girdle, since he is on a level with a Sûdra before his (new) birth from the Veda."624

In explaining the rules of external purification – that is, purification in which water is the medium – Baudhâyana says:625

The sacrificial thread (shall be made) of Kusa grass, or cotton, (and consist) of thrice three strings.

(It shall hang down) to the navel.

(In putting it on) he shall raise the right arm, lower the left, and lower the head.

The contrary (is done at sacrifices) to the manes.

(If the thread is) suspended around the neck (it is called) nivita.

(If it is) suspended below (the navel, it is called) adhopavita.

A former use of sacred cords would seem to be suggested in the constant appearance of the belief in the mystical properties and the power for good or evil of the knots which constitute the characteristic appendage of these cords. This belief has been confined to no race or people; it springs up in the literature of the whole world and survives with a pertinacity which is remarkable among the peasantry of Europe and among many in both America and Europe who would not hesitate to express resentment were they to be included among the illiterate.

The powers of these knots were recognized especially in strengthening or defeating love, as aiding women in labor, and in other ways which prove them to be cousins-german to the magic knots with which the medicine-men of the Lapps and other nations along the shores of the Baltic were supposed to be able to raise or allay the tempest. "One of the torments with which witchcraft worried men was the Knot by which a man was withheld so that he could not work his will with a woman. It was called in the Latin of the times Nodus and Obligamentum, and appears in the glossaries, translated by the Saxons into lyb, drug." "To make a 'ligatura' is pronounced 'detestable' by Theodoras, Archbishop of Canterbury, in 668. The knot is still known in France, and Nouer l'aiguillette is a resort of ill-will." Then is given the adventure of Hrut, prince of Iceland, and his bride Gunnhilld, princess of Norway, by whom a "knot" was duly tied to preserve his fidelity during his absence.626 "Traces of this philosophy are to be found elsewhere," (references are given from Pliny and Galens in regard to "nod").627 "A knot among the ancient northern nations seems to have been the symbol of love, faith, and friendship, pointing out the indissoluble tie of affection and duty. Thus the ancient Runic inscriptions, as we gather from Hickes's Thesaurus, are in the form of a knot. Hence, among the northern English and Scots, who still retain, in a great measure, the language and manners of the ancient Danes, that curious kind of a knot, a mutual present between the lover and his mistress, which, being considered as the emblem of plighted fidelity, is therefore called a true-love knot: a name which is not derived, as one would naturally suppose it to be, from the words 'true' and 'love,' but formed from the Danish verb Trulofa, fidem do, I plight my troth, or faith… Hence, evidently, the bride favors or the top-knots at marriages, which have been considered as emblems of the ties of duty and affection between the bride and her spouse, have been derived."628

Sir Thomas Browne, in his Vulgar Errors,629 says "the true-lover's knot is much magnified, and still retained in presents of love among us; which, though in all points it doth not make out, had, perhaps, its original from Nodus Herculanus, or that which was called Hercules, his knot resembling the snaky complications in the caduceus or rod of Hermes and in which form the zone or woolen girdle of the bride was fastened, as Turnebus observes in his Adversaria." Brand shows630 that the true-lover's knot had to be tied three times. Another species of knot divination is given in the Connoisseur, No. 56: "Whenever I go to lye in a strange bed, I always tye my garter nine times round the bed-post, and knit nine knots in it, and say to myself: 'this knot I knit, this knot I tye, to see my love as he goes by,' etc. There was also a suggestion of color symbolism in the true-lover's knot, blue being generally accepted as the most appropriate tint. I find among the illiterate Mexican population of the lower Rio Grande a firm belief in the power possessed by a lock of hair tied into knots to retain a maiden's affections.

"I find it stated that headache may be alleviated by tying a woman's fillet round the head.631 To arrest incontinence of urine, the extremities of the generative organs should be tied with a thread of linen or papyrus, and a binding passed round the middle of the thigh.632 It is quite surprising how much more speedily wounds will heal if they are bound up and tied with a Hercules' knot; indeed, it is said that if the girdle which we wear every day is tied with a knot of this description, it will be productive of certain beneficial effects, Hercules having been the first to discover the fact."633 "Healing girdles were already known to Marcellus."634

"In our times 'tis a common thing, saith Erastus in his book de Lamiis, for witches to take upon them the making of these philters, to force men and women to love and hate whom they will; to cause tempests, diseases, &c., by charms, spels, characters, knots."635

Burton636 alludes to the "inchanted girdle of Venus, in which, saith Natales Comes, … all witchcraft to enforce love was contained."

The first general council of Milan, in 1565, prohibited the use of what were called phylacteries, ligatures, and reliquaries (of heathen origin) which people all over Europe were in the habit of wearing at neck or on arms or knees.637

"King James638 enumerates thus: 'Such kinde of charmes as … staying married folkes to have naturally adoe with each other, by knitting so many knots upon a point at the time of their marriage.'"639

"Tying the point was another fascination, illustrations of which may be found in Reginald Scott's Discourse Concerning Devils and Spirits, p. 71; in the Fifteen Comforts of Marriage, p. 225; and in the British Apollo, vol. 2, No. 35, 1709. In the old play of The Witch of Edmonton, 1658, Young Banks says, 'Ungirt, unbless'd, says the proverb.'"640

Frommann speaks of the frequent appearance of knots in witchcraft, but, beyond alluding to the "Nodus Cassioticus" of a certain people near Pelusia, who seem, like the Laplanders, to have made a business of fabricating and selling magic knots, he adds nothing to our stock of information on the subject. He seems to regard the knot of Hercules and the Gordian knot as magical knots.641

Bogle mentions the adoration of the Grand Lama (Teshu Lama). The Lama's servants "put a bit of silk with a knot upon it, tied, or supposed to be tied, with the Lama's own hands, about the necks of the votaries."642

A girdle of Venus, "possessing qualities not to be described," was enumerated among the articles exhibited at a rustic wedding in England.643

In 1519, Torralva, the Spanish magician, was given by his guardian spirit, Zequiel, a "stick full of knots," with the injunction, "shut your eyes and fear nothing; take this in your hand, and no harm will happen to you."644 Here the idea evidently was that the power resided in the knots.

"Immediately before the celebration of the marriage ceremony [in Perthshire, Scotland] every knot about the bride and bridegroom (garters, shoe-strings, strings of petticoats, &c.), is carefully loosened."645

"The precaution of loosening every knot about the new-joined pair is strictly observed [in Scotland], for fear of the penalty denounced in the former volumes. It must be remarked that the custom, is observed even in France, nouer l'aiguillette being a common phrase for disappointments of this nature."646

In some parts of Germany "a bride will tie a string of flax around her left leg, in the belief that she will thereby enjoy the full blessing of the married state."647

"There was formerly a custom in the north of England, which will be thought to have bordered very closely upon indecency … for the young men present at a wedding to strive, immediately after the ceremony, who could first pluck off the bride's garters from her legs. This was done before the very altar … I have sometimes thought this a fragment of the ancient ceremony of loosening the virgin zone, or girdle, a custom that needs no explanation." "It is the custom in Normandy for the bride to bestow her garter on some young man as a favour, or sometimes it is taken from her … I am of opinion that the origin of the Order of the Garter is to be traced to this nuptial custom, anciently common to both court and country."648

Grimm quotes from Hincmar of Rheims to show the antiquity of the use for both good and bad purposes of "ligatures," "cum filulis colorum multiplicium."649

To undo the effects of a "ligature," the following was in high repute: "Si quem voles per noctem cum fœmina coire non posse, pistillum coronatum sub lecto illius pone."650 But a pestle crowned with flowers could be nothing more or less than a phallus, and, therefore, an offering to the god Priapus.

"Owing to a supposed connection which the witches knew between the relations of husband and wife and the mysterious knots, the bridegroom, formerly in Scotland and to the present day in Ireland, presents himself occasionally, and in rural districts, before the clergyman, with all knots and fastenings on his dress loosened, and the bride, immediately after the ceremony is performed, retires to be undressed, and so rid of her knots."651

USE OF CORDS AND KNOTS AND GIRDLES IN PARTURITION

Folk medicine in all regions is still relying upon the potency of mystical cords and girdles to facilitate labor. The following are a few of the many examples which might be presented:

Delivery was facilitated if the man by whom the woman has conceived unties his girdle, and, after tying it round her, unties it, saying: "I have tied it and I will untie it," and then takes his departure.652

"Henry, in his History of Britain, vol. 1, p. 459, tells us that 'amongst the ancient Britons, when a birth was attended with any difficulty, they put certain girdles made for that purpose about the women in labour which they imagined gave immediate and effectual relief. Such girdles were kept with care till very lately in many families in the Highlands of Scotland. They were impressed with several mystical figures; and the ceremony of binding them about the woman's waist was accompanied with words and gestures, which showed the custom to have been of great antiquity, and to have come originally from the Druids.'"653

"But my girdle shall serve as a riding knit, and a fig for all the witches in Christendom."654 The use of girdles in labor must be ancient.

"Ut mulier concipiat, homo vir si solvat semicinctum suum et eam præcingat."655 "Certum est quod partum mirabiliter facilirent, siveinstar cinguli circumdentur corpori." These girdles were believed to aid labor and cure dropsy and urinary troubles.656

"The following customs of childbirth are noticed in the Traité des Superstitions of M. Thiers, vol. 1, p. 320: 'Lors qu'une femme est preste d'accoucher, prendre sa ceinture, aller à l'Eglise, lier la cloche avec cette ceinture et la faire sonner trois coups afin que cette femme accouche heureusement. Martin de Arles, Archidiacre de Pampelonne (Tract. de Superstition) asseure que cette superstition est fort en usage dans tout son pays.'"657

In the next two examples there is to be found corroboration of the views advanced by Forlong that these cords (granting that the principle upon which they all rest is the same) had originally some relation to ophic rites. Brand adds from Levinus Lemnius: "Let the woman that travels with her child (is in her labour) be girded with the skin that a serpent or a snake casts off, and then she will quickly be delivered."658 A serpent's skin was tied as a belt about a woman in childbirth. "Inde puerperæ circa collum aut corporem apposito, victoriam in puerperii conflictu habuerunt, citissimeque liberatæ fuerunt."659

The following examples, illustrative of the foregoing, are taken from Flemming: The skins of human corpses were drawn off, preferably by cobblers, tanned, and made into girdles, called "Cingula" or Chirothecæ, which were bound on the left thigh of a woman in labor to expedite delivery. The efficacy of these was highly extolled, although some writers recommended a recourse to tiger's skin for the purposes indicated. This "caro humano" was euphemistically styled "mummy" or "mumia" by Von Helmont and others of the early pharmacists, when treating of it as an internal medicament.