From: sbrock@teal.csn.org (Steve Brock)
Newsgroups: alt.books.reviews,alt.native
Subject: Three books on Native American religion and myths
Date: 10 Sep 92 02:31:00 GMT
Organization: Colorado SuperNet, Inc.

Here are reviews of three just released books on Native American
myths and religion:

RENEWING THE WORLD: PLAINS INDIAN RELIGION AND MORALITY by Howard
L. Harrod.  University of Arizona Press, 1230 N. Park, #102,
Tucson, AZ  85719.  Illustrated, index, map, bibliography, notes. 
213 pp., $13.95 paper.  0-8165-1312-0


                             REVIEW

     When we look to the heavens at night or the blue sky during
the day, we all see essentially the same components: the moon and
stars, the sun and clouds.  Nevertheless, the sky inspires
different feelings, and we define its workings and meanings
according to how we feel about it.
     Harrod studied how these feelings affected the religion and
morality of the Plains Indians (defined here as the Blackfeet,
Crow, Cheyenne, and Arapaho) of the period 1850 to 1900 in this
paperback reissue of the 1987 edition.
     He begins with an essay on the interconnectedness of culture
and nature, detailing the natural, prehistorical, and historical
context of the tribes, and tracing their cultural development,
concluding that the most important aspects of individual life were
to give it meaning through symbolism, transcendence, and vision.
     In his chapter, "Experiencing the Sacred," Harrod says that
the individual vision experience was "the locus for the appearance
of transcendent meanings," and he outlines several examples of
these visions, which occurred in both awake and sleeping states. 
Both of these vision states also had levels of importance, the most
highly valued being the dream of power.
     He goes on to explain the cosmology of each tribe, the tribes' 
relation with plants and animals, the symbols used to reinforce a
normative social order (especially the Trickster), objects that
have healing qualities (such as healing bundles), rituals, dances,
and ceremonies of world renewal, and the kinship of the tribes with
their natural world.  In most cases, Harrod describes the process
as it relates to each tribe (for example, he characterizes the
components and religious significance of Blackfoot and Crow
medicine bundles in different sections).
     The book is best utilized as a primary text by an undergradu-
ate or graduate level class on Native American religions, and is
highly recommended.  Harrod is on the faculty of the School of
Divinity, Vanderbilt University.










THE MYTHIC WORLD OF THE ZUNI as written by Frank Hamilton Cushing,
edited and illustrated by Barton Wright.  University of New Mexico
Press, Albuquerque, NM  87131-1591.  Illustrated, bibliography,
glossary, sources of myths, notes.  167 pp., $16.95 paper  
0-8263-1387-6


                             REVIEW

     Frank Cushing is known as the first participant observer of a
Native American Indian population.  As a youth, he was sick and
unable to attend school for months at a time, but he nonetheless
wrote a paper for the Smithsonian Institution at the age of
seventeen that was published in their 1874 Annual Report.
     On the basis of that paper, he was hired by the Smithsonian as
an assistant curator of ethnology the next year.  In 1879, he
accompanied "Colonel" James Stephenson and his wife to the Zuni
village to gather anthropological data.
     Initially, the Zuni were suspicious of his note-taking and
sketching, nor were his data-gathering actions held in favor of his
fellow researchers.  When the rest of the expedition had served
their time and Cushing wanted to stay, they left him provisionless. 
His three-month tenure lasted for four-and-a-half years.  He
essentially became a Zuni.  His story could have been the one
dramatized in "Dances With Wolves."
     Cushing's writings were gathered by Barton Wright after being
discovered in a Bureau of American Ethnology report of 1891. 
Twenty-five of the myths are presented here.
     The book is divided into two parts.  First are the twenty-five
myths, which are in historical order, from Genesis to The Blessing
of the Dieties to The Great Flood.  Next are Cushing's writings and
notations, as well as information from other sources.  Each myth is
accompanied by Wright's dramatic full page black-and-white
depiction of the event.
     "The Mythic World of the Zuni" is perfect for those looking to
place Zuni myths in an anthropological context, with comparisons to
other versions of the myths told by other Pueblo tribes.  Also
included is a list of the myth sources and a glossary.














ZUNI CEREMONIALISM: THREE STUDIES by Ruth L. Bunzel.  University of
New Mexico Press, Albuquerque, NM  87131-1591.  Bibliography.  835
pp., $18.95 paper.  0-8263-1376-0


                             REVIEW

     Bunzel, who passed away two years ago, visited the Zuni
village in the 1920s, sent there by Franz Boas.  Her findings were
also published in the Annual Reports of the Bureau of American
Ethnology in 1932, and built upon the work of Frank Hamilton
Cushing, as well as Elise Clews Parsons and Alfred Kroeber.
     The three reports here are part of a four work set.  Part
four, "The Nature of Kachinas," was not included in this volume as
it was considered incomplete and the three works can stand on their
own merit.  "The Nature of Kachinas" is available separately.
     The first essay, "Introduction to Zuni Ceremonialism," is a
basic introduction to Zuni religion.  Bunzel analyzes the "organi-
zation of Zuni ritual, the cult of the ancestors, and places this
within Zuni conceptual categories and simultaneously demonstrates
how these relate to social organizations."  She reveals how the
people relate to their ancestors and the importance of adhering to
the ceremonial calendar.  Several of the ceremonial prayers are
transcribed word for word.
     "Zuni Origin Myths" relates the basis for Zuni metaphysics.  
Bunzel credits Cushing with "hinting at the true character of Zuni
mythology," when he said "there is no single origin myth but a long
series of separate myths.  Each ceremonial group has a myth which
contains, in addition to a general synopsis of early history, the
mythological sanction for its own organization and rituals."  This
section contains two "First Beginning" myths and one titled "The
Talk of the Katcina Chief."  Two of the myths are told both in Zuni
and English.
     The third essay is called "Zuni Ritual Poetry."  It begins
with Bunzel's analysis of the nature and function of prayer, which
to the Zuni is "never the spontaneous outpouring of the overbur-
dened soul; it is more nearly a repetition of magical formulae." 
The prayers can be of any length, must be formally learned, and
they follow a poetic style.  The prayers are categorized into seven
sections: Prayers to the Ancients, to the sun, to the Uwanammi, of
the war cult, of priests of masked gods I and II, and of the
medicine cult.
     Bunzel's anthropological work has been overlooked.  She has
been known more for her work on Pueblo pottery ("The Pueblo
Potter," 1929, 1972).  This volume will surely bring her work the
recognition it deserves, albeit posthumously.
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