The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1886-09-09
KILLING THE DEVIL.
CURIOUS CUSTOM ANNUALLY OBSERVED
BY THE MICMAC INDIANS.

What all the preachers of Christiandom
have vet failed to accomplish is yearly
done by the Indians of the Restigouche
country-at least, to their own salts
faction. st. Anne's Day every year they
kill 'tthe devil, an achievement which
would be greatly to their credit were 1t
not that the adversary seems to come to
life again every twelve months. At St.
Anne's mission, opposite the town, writes
Campbeliton, n. B., correspondent of
the Boston Herald, there gathered
yesterday a most motley and curious
crowd. The steamer Admiral came up
from Dalhousie, bringing some hundreds
OF French and Indians from along the
lower Quebec coast as far as Cape. All
the Mic Macs were en- fete, for St. Anne 8
Day is one of the great days of their year.
Over muddy roads, past scores OF
calmly wallowlng or nursing swine and
piglIngs, the patti colored throng poured
on toward the Mission church Smoked
contemplation Of the squaws. They wore
| neither hats nor bonnets, bu. each dusky
| head was covered with the brightest Of
| bright bandanas. Handkerchiefs of
varying shades Of red glowed everywhere
| IN the Sunshine, giving the effect of a
| poppy bed, when several squaws met or
sat or squatted together upon the grass.
Skirts and Jackets of brilliant hues put
| the soberer costumes of white sister S
| to shame, and even the men reioiced now
N red flannel shirts, again in snowy
scarfs or gaudy jewelry, or hats decorated
with bright salmon flies.
| Presently up staggered some young
Indians, decidedly of the hoodlum type,
carrying guns and pistols, weapons which
would delight an antiquarian. They
were hint-loc and muskets which pos
sibly dated from Queen Anne One
rusty barrel was joined to home made
stock which had apparently been chopped
out of spruce log.
All this warlike array meant the assail-
| ing and utter destruction of the adver
saty, or, as the Mic Macs have it, "killing
Mundou" Mundou being the evil one.
In the olden time silver ball was thought
necessary for the shooting of witches or
of animals protected by magic, but the
| Mic Macs consider the ammunition OF
the shops effective against his Satanic
Majesty himself.
| Now and then some red skinned youth,
emerging from his cabin, dlscharging his
gun into the air, aud the scene was as
Stunning a Fourth of July aspect, when q
message came from the priest forbidding
firing for the present on account of the
| crowd, the number of horses tied along
the road. and the consequent risk of ac-
cident, 81 The G.yIl was repreived for a
time, but after the ceremonies in the
church were concluded the Indians cele
brated in their own fashion.
The destruction of Mundou is not a
difficult matter according to the Mic
Macs. They appear to hold that the
devil is lowering in the air somewhere
he may be, they take pains to fire in every
direction, Kidding the air toward every
point of the compass. The favorite way
of shooting him is for two or more In
dams to cross the barrels of their guns,
pointing upward, and fire at the same
time. They reason that if the devil
lodges one discharge he may blunder
into the way of another. The fact that
The devil remains disembo3ied does not
seem to make him proof against earthly
powder and shot, and so the Mic Macs
load and fire as rapidly as possible in the
laudable desire of hitting the adversary
on the wing.
There is something rather fascinating
| in the idea of wing shooting at this kind
of game, and / earnestly hope that the
uproarious burning of ammunition was
not without successful result This
curious custom of chilling the devil is
of coarse not practiced with the implicit
faith Of former years, but the Fourth of
July uproar continues. One feature OF
the day has fallen completely into abey-
ance, that of feasting upon roasted dog.
| IT was usual with the Mic Macs, as with
many Indian tribes, to honor this occa-
sion and other festivals by banquet of
cog, but for many years the dog has been
banished from the board. The feast is
atill held, or rather there were two, one
for the visiting priests, another for the
Indians.