Daily union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1865-1866, 1865-12-24
Religion. Frenzy extraordinary.

NEW ORLEANS, Nov. 6.-Among the
striking peculiarities of the American negro
is his fondness for .noisey demonstrations of
religious fervor, which has been frequently
remarked by travellers in the South. 1t is
said that the Chinese have no conception of
bravery or heroism unless accompanied by
the beating of gongs and tom-toms, and the
negroes have similar ideas in the perform
ance of their religious ceremonies. Not
only does great noise and hustle seem nee
essary to them, but, like the rites of the In
dia Fakirs, il must be accompanied with
muscular action and bodily contortion. The
scenes witnessed in their churches during
periods Of revivals must cause, in sensitive
minds only feelings of disgust. For some
time past there has been a revival here, dur
ing which the church members have acted
more like wild beasts in cage than like
human beings. The sight beggars discrip-
ton, and were one to tell truely all he saw
at one of these revival meetings, he would
receive many piOus blessings for burles-
quing religious ceremonies and the worship
of the Deity. Passing the colored church a
few nights ago, ! stepped in for moment,
where some converts were taking the rites
of baptism from white missionary from
Massachusetts,. The scene would have been
rather demoniac than Christian had it not
been supremacy ridiculous Before the altar
was large tank of water, up to which the
converts marched in turn, while the as
sembled company were shouting, scream
ing, yelling, stamping and singing; while
two groups were dancing about in the aisle;
some were embracing or shaking hands;
negro women was jumping backwards and
forwards over a seat and several, more in
spirit of fun than religion, were delivering
lusty "hi-hi's" from a corner. As convert
approached the water there was n moment
airy silence; but after being immersed and
stepping out upon platform on the other
side, the yelling and screaming again COM
menced. Then the newly-born began a
series of gymnastic feats that threatened TO
break every bone in her body. Going
through the most indecent and almost OBJ
scene motions, she screamed and kicked
until exhausted, and finally ended by stifien-
ing out like a log of wood. Half a dozen
stout men now stepped forward to carry her
out, the woman remaining all the time IN
this rigid state, with eyes set, teeth shut
hard together, and muscles strained to their
utmost tension. Seven went through the
same operation, and were each carried out
in this stiffened state in the arms of the men.
The white missionary from Massachusetts
uttered the word "glory" as each one passed,
while his eyes turned upward, hands clasped
above his head and an approving smile play
ing about the hard lines of his mouth. He
was man who understood well how to ex-
cite these simple creatures and had learned
the srt of working their feelings up to a pitch
that was almost frenzy. And all the time he
believed, orappeared to believe, that he was
doing the work of God. This screaming
and yelling, sometimes kept up all night,
and day after day, is great annoyance to
the people residing in the vicinity Of the
church, but if they give expression to such
feelings or words Of similar purport, they
are accused of barbarism by members of that
sect that favor such ceremonies. Speaking
Of the same thing in Thibodeaux, the
Sentinel notices that the path to Heaven has
become so noisy among the coiorc1 Metho-
dists of that community as to make the town
purgatory to every one else.