THE SHAMAN OF THE ALLIGEWI

The appropriate zodiac sign for a shaman is the Freeze Up Moon, whose animal sign is the snake. This month is the transitional month between the “alive” part of the year when plants grow and go to seed, and the “contemplative” time of autumn and winter when the world rests. This dichotomy symbolizes the transition, or “goes between,” from the world of the living and the world of the spirits. Shamans born in the Frog Clan were often the most famous shamans as the water element is the best for healing. Thus, Spotted Elk—or more accurately the being formerly known as Spotted Elk—now had the opportunity to become a shaman. There was only one major problem in this particular instance: as the boy had admittedly killed an albino bear, he must either graduate as a shaman’s apprentice in six months’ time or graduate as a corpse. Needless to say, he had more than the usual incentive to attend carefully to his new studies. Black Panther emerged from the ceremonial lodge and announced the council’s decision to a small crowd outside that included Spotted Elk’s aunt and uncle. “The son of Smiling Rabbit and grandson of Bent Oak has lost all his medicine19 [i.e., he has died] in the cave of our beloved shaman Moon Bear, who helped build the first southern octagon. The body of Smiling Rabbit’s son is now occupied by a great spirit-bear. The son of Smiling Rabbit will lift his medicine pouch no more and will be cremated immediately.” This pretty much sounded to Spotted Elk, who was brought outside to hear the council’s verdict, like the worst-case scenario of what would happen to him. The Alligewi usually avoided direct use of a recently deceased person’s name, and so he was called “the son of Smiling Rabbit.” Was he to be cremated alive? he wondered. Black Panther continued, “This sleeping spirit-bear in hibernation before you will be treated as not existing to the people, and we will know by noon on the spring equinox whether it is a beloved shaman returned to us or a bear’s corpse that presently walks upright. Smiling Rabbit’s brother, Yellow Lark, will prepare the cremation at once.” With these last words, Spotted Elk was now thoroughly and understandably confused. What had just happened? he wondered. Was he to remain alive or be killed? He did not have much time to think about it as he was quickly dragged into the shaman’s lodge nearby within the octagon enclosure. His hair was all shaved off, his old face paint was washed off, and his face was repainted completely in white clay by the shaman. The shaman took away his white bear rug and the bear paws after saying a prayer and put them into a purified chest. His beautiful newly carved lance was broken in two to symbolize that it was dead. The lower half of the lance, the part with his clan and family motifs and figures, was put in a pile with his hair to be buried eventually with his old clothes.20 The top half was put in the purified chest to purge it of any lingering evil spirits. The shaman now painted two thick lines of red ocher down the left side of his face, with each one passing across his left eye and then swerving across his cheek and to the left side. Two more lines in like fashion were drawn on his right side crossing through his eye and swerving across his right cheek toward the back. Spotted Elk recognized that this was how the Alligewi painted the faces of their dead. He was then clothed all in a white-bark tunic that reached the floor. Finally, he was wrapped in a death blanket made of plant fibers that was used to wrap the corpse of the dead for cremation. His hair and the lower part of his lance were promptly given to his aunt and uncle, who were already grieving. His aunt and the other women of his extended family were all crying and wrapped his hair, except for one lock, and the half-lance in a funeral blanket with his best clothes. A raised wooden platform was hastily constructed over a pit in the ground outside the ceremonial lodge. Wood was placed in the pit, and the funeral blanket, with his best clothes, hair, and the half-lance inside, was placed on top of the platform facing the west—the direction of death.