Post by Okwes on Apr 14, 2008 12:23:18 GMT -5
Ghosts Hunt For A Big Animal In The Ocean - Miwok
The Mokalumne say:
After a person dies and is buried the heart-spirit comes out and shakes
itself to shake off the earth, and then sails away in the air and
disappears--going northwest to the ocean. This may happen on the fourth
night, or at any time between the first and fourth.
The Ghost goes to the ocean and enters the water and finds a large animal
[probably a whale] whose breast it immediately lays hold of and sucks. If it
does not take the breast of this animal it can not live in the ocean with
the other Ghosts, but in from two to four days returns and reënters the body
from which it came, and comes back to life again. It then tells the old
people of the beautiful things it saw in the ocean--flowers and fishes and
animals.
For a long time the people did not know where the Ul'-le or Ghosts went.
After a while the Napa Indians told our people that they sometimes heard
strange noises in the air overhead, usually in the evening or very early
morning, sometimes at night, and more rarely in the daytime. The sounds were
sometimes like singing, sometimes like crying, sometimes like calling or
scolding--always high up. For a long time they did not know what these
noises were, but finally some wise Indians found out that they were the
Ghosts of people from the interior passing over on their way to the ocean.
One of our people was a 'Half Doctor'; he knew much medicine and was a good
dancer. Once, when some one died, the 'Half Doctor' made up his mind that he
would find out about the Ghost. So after dark he went to the place and hid
close to the grave and watched. In the night he saw something like a person
get up out of the ground and shake his head to shake the earth off, and then
fly away quickly, disappearing at once. Nothing more was seen.
The Dawn of the World; Myths and Weird Tales Told by the Mewan [Miwok]
Indians of California; Collected and Edited by C. Hart Merriam; Cleveland:
Arthur H. Clarke Co., [1910] ] and is now in the public domain
The Mokalumne say:
After a person dies and is buried the heart-spirit comes out and shakes
itself to shake off the earth, and then sails away in the air and
disappears--going northwest to the ocean. This may happen on the fourth
night, or at any time between the first and fourth.
The Ghost goes to the ocean and enters the water and finds a large animal
[probably a whale] whose breast it immediately lays hold of and sucks. If it
does not take the breast of this animal it can not live in the ocean with
the other Ghosts, but in from two to four days returns and reënters the body
from which it came, and comes back to life again. It then tells the old
people of the beautiful things it saw in the ocean--flowers and fishes and
animals.
For a long time the people did not know where the Ul'-le or Ghosts went.
After a while the Napa Indians told our people that they sometimes heard
strange noises in the air overhead, usually in the evening or very early
morning, sometimes at night, and more rarely in the daytime. The sounds were
sometimes like singing, sometimes like crying, sometimes like calling or
scolding--always high up. For a long time they did not know what these
noises were, but finally some wise Indians found out that they were the
Ghosts of people from the interior passing over on their way to the ocean.
One of our people was a 'Half Doctor'; he knew much medicine and was a good
dancer. Once, when some one died, the 'Half Doctor' made up his mind that he
would find out about the Ghost. So after dark he went to the place and hid
close to the grave and watched. In the night he saw something like a person
get up out of the ground and shake his head to shake the earth off, and then
fly away quickly, disappearing at once. Nothing more was seen.
The Dawn of the World; Myths and Weird Tales Told by the Mewan [Miwok]
Indians of California; Collected and Edited by C. Hart Merriam; Cleveland:
Arthur H. Clarke Co., [1910] ] and is now in the public domain