The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1895-12-12
CHAPTER Nv.
History and Religion Of Ecirpites.

show exactly why the Ecirpites rejected
the fourfold formalities of the Red. skin
whom we assume, for present purposes
only, to be the gentleman that erigi-
mated about all the quadruple rites on
earth. We intend to deal with con-
densed facts; they will, perhaps, be
wholly new to many as they were to us
when we began their collection years
ago. Our authorities shall be standard
and for the sake of brevity we would
drop all reference to names and titles
were there not so many doubling
Thomases. Now for fear some one may
conclude that the four wind gois and
mother referred to in the first chapters
of this article were confined to America,
we will call attention to the four dwarfs
of Europe who, in many myth, are
made to support the sky; their names
are now the equivalents of our cardinal
points, Austri, Vestri, Sudri and Nordi,
or, east, west, north and south With
those Was associated the goddess Ostva
from whom is derived our Easter Sun.
day which, be it remembered, is regu.
lated by the moon. Now just as we de.
rived the names OF our cardinal points
from the names OF the four sky. holders
30 did the Redskin derive his; the
names of the four giant brothers who
support the sky are, in the Algonkin
TONGUE, Wabun, the east; Kabun, the
west; Kabibonokka, the north and
Shawano, the south.
1t was doubtless with reference to
these four cardinal gods that the Indians
constructed an earth work at Portsmouth
consisting of "four concentric circles in
tersected with wide avenues perfectly
true to the cardinal points" (Pre.His.
toric America, p, co., And by the way,
an almost identical arrangement seems
to have existed among the Japanese
who, like many of the AmericanIndians,
burn their dead. In Japan the deceased
seated in coffin, is carried by four men ;
the spot where the body is burned is
surrounded by four walls intersected by
four gates which front the cardinal
points. (All Religions of World p 7l9.)
But the No. Fer meets us in every
religion around the globe as the most
ancient, perhaps, OF all the 80 called
sacred numbers. In the older myth.
ologies we constantly read OF the "four
ages" "four years, ""four days." "four
spirits" &C., yet it is just here that some
other sacred numbers come up and de.
mand attention, and especially the Nos.
3 and 7; though in order to explain
them in part we must still have refer.
to the No. 4. Now the earth and water
and moon are regarded by nearly all the
lower races as feminine, but to the stu.
dent of mythology it will be no contro.
diction OF any previous statement when
we say that to primitive man, the earth
was the one great mother whose &C.
couchment occurred at the end of every
harvest, if we remember this, it will
give us the key to many mystery.
1t is with this idea that the Hindoos
have their annual Ambes vaci, or four
"water days." in July, "when the earth
is supposed to be unclean and agricul.
ture is prohibited" (See Williams
Sanskrit Dictionary, article Amba.)
Couple this with the fact, according
to DIR. Brinton, that in ancient Mexico,
''at birth the mother was held unclean
for four days and we are near the origin
of both the Hindoo and Aztec rites of
baptism for ply sical and spiritual pur.
fication." 1t is just in this connection
that we notice the curious blending of
the two Nos. 8 and 4 which complete
the sacred Z; while the Hindoo's, earth
mother ant the Mexican's natural
mother were each held unclean for four
days, the Hebrew mother for like rea-
son was held unclean for seven days
(Leviticus XII, &c But couple this
again with another idea; the Medicans
had their greatest festivals every four
years, Myths of the New World, p 70,
and the Hebrews had their greatest
festivals every seven years, "when they
were commanded to suffer the fields and
vineyards to rest, or lie without tillage"
This "resting" of the earth every
seventh year seems to have been a
lame theological addition to the Hin.
doc idea of resting it four days out of
every year.
Again, the Mexicans sprinkled the
blood of the sacrifcial victim from four
vases to the four directions of space.
I'M. N. w. page 74) The Hebrews
sprinkled the blood of their sacrifcial
victim "seven times before the taber.
nacle OF the congregation" The Mexi.
cans employed four priests in their
rites; the Hebrews employed seven in
some of theirs, (sse Joshua, vi. 4. Be-
fore its sacrifice, the Aztecs led the vic
tim four times around the altar just as
the ancient Hindoos, Greeks and Rom.
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