Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-11-03

TINE stranEeSS u american t.
lizionS-the peyote cult 81 The
Winnebago Indians--ha6 split
into modernist and fundamen-
taiits branches.
Such u the report Of Miss Frances
Densmore. Smithsonian Institution eth
ncIogitf Who has Just returned from
Summer with the Winnebsgos. during
which she made a special study Of the
religious practices accompanying the
use Of the curious drug obtained from
a species II Southwestern cactus which
Ia considered BY the vorshipeTB TO be a
virtue drug acting 70 clear the mind
Of evil and promote kindliness.
Peyo,e has It's widest use in the Wis
constn tribe studied by Miss Densmore
Both cults she describes as combina-
tions Of Christian ideas and symbolism
spread among the Indians during the
last century BY Protestant missionaries
aboriginal Indian religious practices and
the eating Of the "mescai button ."
which contains the peyote. which pro-
notes mystical visions and dreams and
which Is supposed 70 act upon the char
sctcr. The modernist wing incorporates
more Christian symbolism in its ritual
The fIndamentalists tend toward the
aboriginal practices Each has its own
ceremonial songs, in which, as a student
Of music, Miss Densmore is especially
intereted
PeyOte Acts Like Revival.
From all outward appearances, Miss
Densmore says. the peyote seems 10
have approximately the effect the
Winnebagos attribute 10 IT, After one
Of the peyote festivals. which are held
once or twice each year. a new good
ness seems to come over the people
somewhat like the aftermath of a re-
vival in a small town She made no
study OF the physiological effects OF
the peyote. which has been bitterly de-
bated in the past between those who
consider 1t habit-forming and dele
terious and those who claim that 1t
Is harmless.
Both branches Of the 'peyote"
church hold their ceremonials at night
without any pGblic announcement, but
welcome any visitors who happen to be
on hand One branch uses the Bible
and the Lords Prayer in its cere-
monies and finds an especial appeal in
such books as Revelations. The other
has much less trace Of Christian wor-
ship
The visions reported to Miss Dens-
more were naive. but deeply impressed
the Indians, filled as they were with
apocryphal animals, siX-winged angels
and all sorts of mystical creatures for
which a suggestion is derived from the
gospels. Miss Densmore is studying
peyote purely from the behavior point
of view.
The Smithsonian ethnologist now is
on her way for a second Winter among
the Seminoles of Florida. a tribe little
investigated by anthropologists and
whom she describes as the most indie
pendent people still living in the
United States. Last Winter she was
able to break through the wall Of re-
serve which the Seminoles, deeply sus-
picious of whites ever since the Florida
wars, customarily throw up before
their tribal life and hopes to penetrate
far into the depths Of the Everglades
the great secret places Of the In
dams, which never have been visited
by white men In the most mac"
cessible places they hold their religious
and tribal ceremonies and bury their
dead. She expects to record the music
of the people and obtain list OF their
medicinal plants and healing prac-
tees.
Clothes Resemble Oriental Rug.
A remarkable feature Of the Seminoles
from the viewpoint OF the ethnologist,
Miss Densmore says, is the clothing
which apparently they have developed
themselves without any suggestions from