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New Mexico Quarterly
Volume 1 | Issue 1 Article 3
1931 The Great Spirit Hartley Burr Alexander
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Recommended Citation Burr Alexander, Hartley. "The Great Spirit." New Mexico Quarterly 1, 1 (1931). https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/nmq/vol1/iss1/3
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• p .' • : ~ I , I, ,":, i~Y HARTLEY BURR ~LEXANDER ('. ' ,I o •" ' ': . il ~ , .' I T. LEAST in English,:literatqre1ithe nam~' "'Grea ~pir~" A IS fixed as the proper form f~f the Indlan'~ de~ ~atl, n 0:( God. It. appeared iil; the early ~eports of .missioarfes; jt
, wa~' takenJup sympa~h~tica:llY b~ the eighteent~ "qentu I '\ wrIters on natural rehgH)n, who c~eated a portraflt all the r o . o~,Of the Indian as an idyl~c sav~~e, natively p~8lje sed :f , kind~y" virtues and lofty ideals; an~ it has heen give ' an· j eradi~able·vogue-aloni wit4 the ipea of t~e "Hatp Hun
, in~~ 'qrou~d"" as 'the Ind~an'~s, :pa.-t1adis~bY th~ r', ion" f 'r-
.' Co,per, ~nd tl1e poetry ,of Longfe~low, and of Po~ ;j
Lo, th~ poor Indi~n! , Whose' u~~utored Mind I· . • Sees God in clou~, or hears ~m in the wind; His SOUl" pr()~d S~ience never ~~ght to stray Far asl.tpe solar ,walk, or mil way;' sim~e ., _Yet Nature to his hope has giv'n, Behind the cloud-topt hill, an humbler heav'n; I; Some safer world in depth of woods embrac'd, , __ 1 Some happier islaI?-d in !he watry,"waste, ,
Where sl~ves once more their IJ.ative l~:pd b~h~ld, 'i , , No fiends torni~nt, no Christians thirst fO~ ,gold. To be <:ontent's his natural desire, ,-' He' as~ no Ang~l's wing, no. ~eraph'~ fire.; But thmks, admItted to the equal sky,! - His faithful d~g ~hall bear himcompan§. ', is:1;~e 'fi~tive "~?or LO~:: k~ r?mantic~~ed Such 6y.'-.t e. fhite I .man's mlsuhderstandIngs; and It IS perhaps small onder I,. ,~~, ~ .. '""" ' ...... :' that/fifore l1ecent writers.,:in the interest-of anthr pologic 'truth, have gone to anoth~r extreIt1e.in denying all ounda.- i. tion--t"9 the I~dh;~;n's' right' to the)?~ of, a."Great' pirit;"· conceived as ;" s.upIieme and beneficient God,averri .g ,that where~er it!}s found, its presenqe,is;the result of ISSIQn izing, land that the "G.teat Spirit" and~ "Happy dnting Ground" are hut mrsu~~rstoodiyersionsof the Chr stian's God and the Christian's~:Heav~rl: In the Handbook of the d • f3 7iii' " , . , I," ~.'"
Published by UNM Digital Repository, 1931 \ 1 .~ I ..~ --~ ! I New Mexico Quarterly,.J Vol. 1 [1931], Iss. 1, Art. 3 , , ,I . ,
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\ . ,4] The NEW MEX leo QUA R' TERL Y
r American -Indian~,l both'ideas are,. referred to as "Popular 4Fallacies," and numerous contrib~tors to the 'subject, in this ..country a~'d Europe, have accepted and reiterated this view; the ~~dian, they say, had natively n~ conception)what-, ever corresponding to the Christian idea of God. Nevel1heless, not infrequently,. in the very ·breaths in which the negation is expressed, ~s to b~found strong ~up> port for an opposi~ opinion. Thus Lewis Morgan writks,:2
.-t "The beautiful and elevating conc~ption of the Great Spirit '. -watching over his red childreit lfrom the heavens ,and pleased with their good deeds, their prayers; and their sac- / rifices, qas been known. to the ~ndians only sipce the'Gospel: of Christ was preached to them~' But in the jpst preceding section on Indian councils, Morgan says: "The master of ceremonies, again rising to his' feet, .filled 'and' lighted the pipe,of peace from his. own fire. Drawing three whiffs, bne after'the other, he 'blew the first toward the zenith, !the . " I second I toward, the ground, and the third toward{;the .un. By the nrst.acb he' re1!urned thanks to the Great Spirit fQr r, 'the prese.rvati5n of his life 'during the, past year, arid f6r f b~ing, perm"itted. to b;,present ~t this cO\lnci1.' By thes,ec,, ~ ond, he retulrned tha Irs to,1)is' mother,. th~ ~arth, ~for per f various productions' i.ch had ministe~ed,to bjis sustenance. . rf - And by the third, h¢ returned thanks"to' t~~ sun for his' f ' nevet:..failing light, ~er shining upon all." iN'O one' ,ques-' ~' tiona the aboriginal eharacter of this pipe ritual or. its'uni versality among the Indians,8 and-eqUally th~rWno ques tion that Morgan's ~nterpretati9n 'of it is' c~ect: th~:first whiff is directed t~ the Great Spirit~ the ~aster of, Life, whose abode 'is th~ upper .heavens.; very commonly he IS called by the Indiahs Uems,e!yes "Father Heaven," j~st as , the earth is "Mother Earth." Invariably Father Heaven is ~ c , I 1. . Bulletin SO, Bureau of American EthnololW. : ~ ~ I 2. L.et!-gue of .the Iroquois. +pllend. B, Sect. 62. Cf. Brinton, ltf,Jlths ~~ ,the New , World, 3d ed., p. 69. .. '. ..• S. Cf., e. g., Life,. Letter8 -and Travels of Father Pie".,.e Jean De Smet (New : , York, 1905), inde«:, "calumet."
https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/nmq/vol1/iss1/3 2 .. I .., Burr Alexander: The Great Spirit I \ , i
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"' • ( I I . The ,,-NEW MEXICO QUARTERLY [.6 .r- - - .--- - - . - . ,- '.- r.. '. i '" reg~rded as beneficent and ~Il-seeing~ and ,as "ple~ 'ed witli
the 'good deedfr6f---hi-s~recr children.'-~: It is·~rue;tn.aI Father ~ .' .. ~..-, I >1 Heaven is not a figure of importance in myth; ~Ehas n.Q- m~hic histo~y; ~~t..in ritu~ and a~ ~~ obje~ of V~.·I etatfo:nt. he IS ever-present In the IndIan's' relIgIous hfe. . i I ~. ,___ \_ I Similarly, to turn to another' continent, it has!1:Jeen frej . -quentlY- asse~ed of'thJ G~iana and Orinoco tribe§.:~ Idt the* ~d. have no true conception of "The natives of prihocb,'f ,i ~ Humboldt,declares/."know no~her worshi~~han.thfl~ofth+ powers of nature; lIke the·, anCIent Germans, j;hey ~~Ify -th~ ,c
mysteriouS object which excites' their siIjlple admiratioJ1 'I (deo'r1fm. norni~ibU8 appelarit secretum illuq, quod 1S l revt erentia vid¢nt.;," Fro~ t;he point ofyiewtorari ethno 0ist0t ']" the school pf Trl6r, im Thurn ·describes· ~h1 religio I f ,th,. ': •. India~s Qf; Guiana,: "Having no beli~f' hi;: a hiera - y of :, . spirits, th¢ical]. have," he says,15"~nonein any such'b i~gs ai . in hi~her r~ligi~;ns are ;~alled gods ... Jt is true that.+rio'p~ worqs ~av~Qeen found in all, or nearly all, the Ian r*ages~ not only oflGuiana, but also of the whC?le lVorld, whi ~ have be~ 'suppored to be tlle names of a .$'reat ;spirit, ,s, ·trem~ . ~ beIng, or g~d";. nevertheless, he conclu~es, "The co c,pt~0I1 of ~. God-is not only totally fo~eign;\to Indian h bfts 'o~ t~ou'gJt" bUjt.. be_~n~s to. a ~uch .fighe~ stage of,.int .I ct~l. developmen~ than any attaIned by them." I ; \. ~ I J I . I·· ,. . But th~re a!e logical idols in mory than one tra ; the ethnologist~ h~ve their full share of t~m. 1m Thu' Jgive$ us ~ ~ist of~ indfgettmrs appelI~tions o~ th.e Great' ~ irit 0* GUIana': -. ,:' I ..': .. I ': Tanio~i (the Ancie ilOne)1 - Carib Tribe!J<" True Caribs Tamd~i kabotanq (t h ~ ~e . '-. Ancient one in t el sky)1 ~ .' (> ,;. 1 " i ' . , Ae'kawoi: Mackonaima ("O~ whQ works in the nig;ht."-'Schom .urgk.)1 .' Macusi: -Kutti (prpbably only: acusit
": Dutch .for "God"~" '. i', . I
---,----,'-., I. .... • .'- ' l " 1 4. .Per.J01UU Narrative of Travels ('tr. T. Ross, Lonqon; ,1853). Vol. Uir p. 69. 5. Amo~" t~e UUJ:Ul'!Ul of G;uUl'(la (London, 1883), p~: 365. . \. .. .. ! . It . I . : ! . .' . I ':I 'j Published by UNM Digital Repository, 1931 .~ 3 ; I ,t I tl 2S&24, " New Mexico Quarterly, Vol. 1 [1931], Iss. 1, Art. 3
" ,6], TTte NEW MEJfICO QU'ARTERLY .., ~, I . ., Wa murreta kwonci ("our,Maker") Arawak Tribes 'Wacinaci ("our Father") } Ifilici wacinaci ("our Great Father"), Kononatoo ("our Maker") , Warrau-Wapia~a Tominagatoo (meaning unknown) Of all these names im Thurn remarks that in those whose meanings are known "only three ideas are"expressed -(1) One who lived long agp anCcl is Inow in sky-la~d; (2). the maker of the .Indians, and (3). their f~ther. ' None of these i~eas," he continues,' "in any way ,involve the at \ tributes> of a god ...." , Obviously, acceptance 'of this negation turns up~n one'~ ,I understanding the' meaning of ( "G'od"; .arid a~suredl~ one m~y indu;lge a wry smile Whe~ ;told 'that "heavenly' _. father" and "c:reator~' are no attributes .01 nod, and may . be reasonably justified in preferring ;8il- Richar& Schom. burgk's 'judgement, where he 'says :6, "Almost all stockS of British Guiana are o~e irt their religious convictioBs;' at least in the main; the creator of 'tihe world and of mankind' '? ... '.. .' , •' , is an infinitely exalted being, but his energy is so occupied in rul~ng and maintainiIig the earth that he can give no special care to individual men.," Thi~ unusual reason for the indif ference of the Supreme Being toward the affairs of ordi nary men is; probably an inference of the author's. Roth commences }jis study of Guiana fudian 'beliefs with a chap ter,~entitled t'No -Evidence of Belief in a Supre~e Being;" and begins his discussion with the statement: "Careful in vestigation lforces on'e to the c@clusion that, on the evi: de~ce, the rlative triobes of Guiana had no idea of a Supreme Being in the modern conception :of the term," quoting 'evi dence from'Gumilla.and others, which to the present writer se~ms to point in ipst the op~osite direction. Oi'course, the phrase, "in the modern conceptibn of the term" is' the' key' to much difference of judgement. If it means th~t savages ',have no conception- of a Divine .Ens, Esse, Actus' Purus, or ! ;6. Reisen in Prit'ish Guiana (Leipzig, 1847), Vol. I, p. ,170. ,I '.
.; , -
https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/nmq/vol1/iss1/3 4 '; I , " ,l i Burr Alexander: The Great Spirit, , I ~ ... 1 ' , 1
,.: ' ,,' '. ·1, .':. the like, defulable by highly abstractlattributes, c 'Va 8ans :- . dire ,. but' i,f the intention is to: say, th8j~ t~ere is ,n6 p.rimitive belief in a.lumino~s, ~ky ;FathE!r, crea~of and rul~ ; go~d. ~ri )" the whole~ though not preoccupied· wi~!l tlte small etails of 'gonian Sodth, everywhere in the two Americas,.ar" ,found 1 records ~f ~he Indhui'flilielief in a Great Spirit, WRO~ I ., ,. L I' 1 Published by UNM Digital Repository,I I 1931 ~! 5 . f I ~ 1 (._ i2P#· & . , I ..~ New Mexico Quarterly, Vol. 1 [1931], Iss. 1, Art. 3 , 1 " MEXkco QUARTERLY i ! • . '. " https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/nmq/vol1/iss1/3 6 ,~ I & ,~ ,·1· ' ~ ":" ~ - ' .\',l'- , : J' .... r Burr Alexander: The Great Spirit , . ·lJ ~ ,. ! • .- j , 1~ . I !r "oth~rsu~ernat~t~l bein.;s, s~ the whole of t~ .lItter go~ , . \ ,. , " . " . theirs ill! la~t analysis from. Power - of - t:qe - hining - Hea\rells/r' The same ~dea of a hierarchy in space with J the .' _. I . ~ heaven-gqd at its summit appears in the ritu:. 'ofJthe I, < • ... Ojibwa jJ1;idiwiwin, in tIle native theology ~f the ioux, in the Pawn~e Hako, in th4 poetical Wintun tale !o~ lelbis, i1;l' t: I ' !. 1 the ~stra~ and s(jlar ,ph~losophies qf the, Azte,c, M ya, and~"'" Inca natiqns. T~es~are oply a few instances ~rom differe~ti t parts of the, two c btinents. There are numero sather 'f examplesJ f~r wher vJr tb,e bteath of heaven is ·dentified " II, .. ~ ..\ 0 flo ·.with the a.esceIit of life from on high, and whe ver the " light of d~y is regafded'as th~ symbol.o~ blessings estowed !, upon man~ ther~ th+ copcepti1n of Father Heaven, tIe,Great J Spirit, is ~ound. "\\fritling of the H.uron; ipthe ~id. Je,'of tpe ~ seventeen~h century, fPere· Rag\!enau ,says:8 ,,' rtainly',, they haye;not onlith~ ,perception pf a divinity, b t also a name which in their dangers they ~nvoke~ without: owing;-r:-.I T. i . - its true'significance,-recomme:Q.dinjg themselves'Ig o~o -Deo.: with thes~ words: Aireskui Sutanditenr; the -last f'which'", may be.re~.dered: Miserere 'nobis." And in another passage he remarkb: "So true is,what'\Tertullian s~f 'oft ': ost in-\ fidel natio~s, that nature, in the midst of 'p~~ba es them :', . l · speak witH "a Christian voice-Exclam~&em00' uraliter'\; ~. f • -: · Christiaoom.",I ,, '/ ." .i The EfDglish term, "Gr,eat Spirit," is apparentl a direct , efort to r~~der the Ojibwh "Gitche." Qr "Kitshi Ma ito"-a name whiqh occurs in many AIgOD,quilIn'languages in cog form~, receiv~ naful· , ~ and. ,which has ,-;'..many interpr tafions. Besides "areat'Spirit/, it has been interpreted as th "Gr~t Mystery,"'.~he "Great' UnknoWn," as ~'Goodness Its .If,'! :(in contrast ~ith Miche Man~to, "~v~l itself") ; and, ga~n as' the "Uncre~ted God," or "He-wh6..~a's-his-orig;in-fro -nQne- . '" _. .. 1.' . '1 but-himself." All of these,- howev~r,! ~th the pos ible ex':' • ception C)f the "Great Mystery," ate in fact too deft "te,too' ,. an~~:i::: :~::::~: :rt:~:o:~:. ::A::~: (Boston. 1916}, pp, 1&-17" .' ,-1. ;,. .~, .' Published by UNM Digital Repository, 1931 7 New Mexico Quarterly, Vol. 1 [1931], Iss. 1, Art. 3 T he NEW M EXI GO"" QUA RT ERLY Indian's conception. Probably that may better ,be ap-' . , ' proached th.rough the studies of the Sio~an term, Wakonda, wh~ch is an al~ost' precise equivalent for Manito~and of . ' . ~, whieh shrewder study has been made. " . ~ .. f Doubtle~s .th~ most ilhim~nating~analysis of this great Siouan conception is that made by ,Alice Fletcher in her study of the Omahatribe. Wakonda, she says,o "stands for :the mystJrious life-power permeating all'natu~al forms and, forc;es and all phases of man's, conscious life.'....'Visible . nature seems to have mirrored to the Omaha mind .the ever present activities of the invisible and mysterious Wakonda and to; have been an instructor in both religiQn and ethics '....,Natural phenomena served to enforce ethics. Old ~en have said: ' 'Wakonda causes' day to follow night without variation, and summer to follow winter; we can depend on th~se regular changes and· can order our lives by them. In this way Wakonda teaches us that our wOrds and"our acts must be truthful, so that we I.I1ay live in peace and hap piness with One another. Our fathers thought about these things and observed the acts of Wakonda and their wordsl have come down to dS:' ... All experjences ~n life 'Yere be;: lieved to be directed by Wakonda, a belief that gave rise to a kind of fatalism. In ~the .face of calamity the thought, 'this is ordered by Wakonda,' put a stop to any form of re bellion against the trouble and often to anY'effort to over co~e it ." .. An old 'man said:' 'Tears 'were ~made by Wa konda as a relief to our human nature; Wakonda made joy and he also made tears/ An aged man, standing in th~ .. ' 1 presence of death, said: 'From my earliest ,years I remem- ber the sound of weeping; I have heard it all my Hfe an~ shall hear·it until I die. There will be p~rting as long 3ls mali lives on the earth. Wakonda has willed it to be so.' . .'. Personal prayers were addressed directly, to Wakonda. A man 'would take his pipe and g() alone to the hills; there he would silentl,y offer smoke and ntter the call, Wakonda hoI ~ , 9. Twenty-seventh Annual ~port, Bureau of American Ethnology, P~. 0,97f. '. https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/nmq/vol1/iss1/3 8 Burr Alexander: The Great Spirit i. ~ ~ 'I ~ Ii • ,i,. T lh e NEW 1\1 EXI co. QUA RTER LY -[ 11 r , f; ! ~ i '':<~. "While-th~~o~n~ca~e. thepufp~rt O~ ~s:raye" ~Ould remain un~x;p~essed in ~or~s.).. ¥ his stress of fee in~1 ~as great,y ~e 'Y0ulgdJ~aye ~IS pIpe Of t~e groundwher. hI" ap peal had b~en made..'.. WOn!en dId not use the pI e :when prayil1J!'; tfeir,p,p~ls were ma~e 'dir,ectly, withou any ~n termediarYl...·F~wr If an?" wor~~-ere used'; ge:ne all~. the ,sorroWful :?r burdened woman ~imply called on th ~rste-" ' rious power sbe' believed to con~rol all'thblgs, to . of all . des~res, all ;needs, a:qd to be able~to send'l~ require h~I:p.'" rjot Ie~s. significant is the ;estimony ~f Chari s East man, hims~lf reared in the reli on of his Siouan ki s ri :10 "The worship;of'the Great Mys ~ ry was silent, soILt ry free necessity f~"eble and imp,erf~ct, ; therefore the .soul OW my ~scen,. I~I .~ ancestors ded to God In j' ordless adoratIOn. was solitary,. b~caUISe they believed hat He is nearer 0 lils in solitude, arld.there were no pri ts authorized to ,~be- • tween a man .and· his Maker. pne might exhort 0 j"fess ~. or in any way m,ed,dIe with th ireligiousexperienc - : an-: --, other.. ,4~0lJP' ,us ·all men w~~e' created so~s of 0 and ;;, stood erect,!. 8:S". consciou~ of their, divinity.. Our fai~ '~,:ight not be formul~ted in creeds, no: forced upon any w o were f ~ <. I ull'~illing t~ r~cei~e .it; hep~e th re was no ,preach~n. ,tljlros~- i .IytIn~, nor peEsecutI~n, neItver (were th~re any sc,o ~~~ nor at,~IstS. 1jhere were no te~pl: s 9r shrInes, among u Isave those of na~uDe. Being a natural man, the Inqian ''s in- i· tensely poe.tical. . He would d~em it sacrilege to 'ld '·a house ~or ijim ,!ho may be .m~t lace to .face in, t~~ 'yste,,: i r.ious, shad'Wf. isl~s ,?f the~~riVteval.fo~est, ,o~ ~.t "s~n pr',IrIe~i d~~zy ~ I lIt bosom'0t- tle VIrgJn q,:pon spIres ! pIn- n~l~ an~ ~n j~welled a~.t • of nl1k 12] The' NEW MEXICO QUA,RT'ERLY' l -t" , His spirit,upon aromatic southern airs, w}j.ose war-c~noe is\. launched upon .majestic rivers and inlan~ s~as---He needs no' lesser cathedral!" . :.., "All the Indians,"-says Pere De Smet~ speaking of an-' other Siouan tribe,ll. '~admit\ the existen~e of thEt Great . ~ Spirit, namely, of a Supreme• Being who governsl all the im..:. .J portant affairs of life', an~ who manifests /hi& action, in the most ordiJ.lary events:.. \ Every spring, at' the first peal of , thunder, which they call 'the voice of the G eat Spirit sp~akL :. iI,lg from the clouds,' the Assiniboins offer l·t sacri~ces .... Thunder, next to the :sun, is their great "fah-Kon ,.' .:.. At , the least misfortune, the father of a·fanr-ily presents the calumetto the Great Spirit, and, in prayer, implores Him to take pity on him, his wives, and children." , But it is in the words of the untaught Indians them- ,. I'" , selves that the-' heart of the conception i~ most ~ruly ex~ pressed. The Sioux proper use,the ~xpress[on Wakantanka, from wakan, "niystetious," and tanka~ "g*eat.'''< Wakan is . the generic term, designating all'the mysterious' powers of ~at~re. "!n att~m~ting to explain the Im~.aning of )he . , word,'" wrItes MISS Densmore,12. ,,"the fOn~WIng st~tement ) was made by several old Indians, after epnsultation: 'An ordinary ma~ has natural ways of doing t I ings. Occasion- . ally there is a man Who has a ,gift for doi g extraordinary things, and he' is called wakan. Althoug this is a super natural gift, he can use it only by effort. ad stuqy.~man may be' able to do things in a .mysterious. ay., but none has, ever been found- 'Yho could command•.the::.$un. 'S'· and moon\,or change the s~ason~.Themost w~;n -. II https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/nmq/vol1/iss1/3 I 10 I Burr Alexander: The Great Spirit [ 13 ; .. ' " I',' ~ . ' 1 alone, foJ, 'ail nature is beii ~ed to be perm4t d l!bY it, powers. most ofthe$e lesser powers, who, union brings f t" al .the moving pa~,e~nltry of li~e. The' orning Star, h ,~,' -. r Published by UNM Digital Repository, 1931 11 ) ' .-.-. . ~. " I i' - • ~1 , , ; New Mexico Quarterly, Vol. 1 [1931], Iss. 1, Art. 3 .. 1 -14 ] T ,k e :N EW ,M E'X leo QUA RT ERL . ' I Y , senger's, with the Eagle at their head, each ",ith:its special , ,·,,-:'wisdom; and here, too, dwell the VisionS+-are they th'e, , colors of the 'sun-engl unity of mankind: we are• all children. of tier one Nature, whose lesson is wxit for us in the greateandJ moving hiero- glyph of Eal?th' and, her rocks, 'Heaven and her' seasons. ,. : There is";a natural hierarchy in the ph$omena of the " ·skies. Supreme over I all is "that' Power-bf-the-Shining. Heavens, Zeus, Father Jove, Tirawa-atius,! whose seat is the citadel of the zenith, whose raiment is tl!le sh~n.ing day, 'and whpse servitors are th~ heavenly bodies, ~6n, moon, .anq stars/and beneath. thesethe clouds, the wind~~ th~ lightning, I' the feathered messengers, birds of. the air.; The old Teu tonic pantheon placed Tyr, the Sky, pver~n ; below him w~re Thor, t:tte thunderer, and Odin;,the wind-god, who 'later, p~rhaps because of the cloudiness ot'lhe Teutonic lands)tlt~nded to replace their ancient overlolTd. -~ Something of the same' sort appears in America, th~ Thunder arid the' Winds ~eplaci:ilg at times,,' the dlstant and mfsterious celes- '" tial power, if not in conceptual height, 'at lea~t,in ritual im ~ porlance. Thus the Thunderbird-the Amlerican Thor was known over all' North America as a grbat and'potent being, flapping waters trom his feath~rs and darting light-. 1 J https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/nmq/vol1/iss1/3 i' 12 Burr Alexander: The Great Spirit 'mD~s fron! his kyes. He was· col~ved ~s huge enoug~ tQ lift a *ha~e fr~~.·.. t~e seas, til ~rkeD.broad..regiO¥S lith . the shadow of his wIngs, to des . py natIOns wIth th~ th -' .' I. 1; . of his fires. .Nnother and even~ more widespread In .an conc·eption~· is of ,the gr~at S~~Serpent, or SkY-D.ra "on: whose sy~pols aa-e ~lso the storm~ louq and the.Ievin,-!nd ~ here our analogue IS the I. great ,; ragon of ChInese m'h~ Asian, rather th~n European. T:e lightning-in its 'sin~,us forms naturally suggests- the ser ~ nt, and perhaps'agail~\in the suddenness ~ the death'whic '" it may deli~e~~\; But ~he ' Sky-Serpent is n~ver a mere snakei; it is ,a. plumed (l)r Win~ed i or~rested ller,~.t-C--drag0;D' :rathEir.:... ~~ reptile, ~.ali.bi· ~, as ItS skyey abo~ should I1p;ply.. ~ sImIlar combJJnationll,n the CI,~sic~1 wot"ld is .presented 4y Jove's messenger, :pe win.ge& l\{ercu?,~ whose. ~a.nd~ ·tht.· .cad~ceUll, .is .a.' twist; \bf 'serpents; apd It 1)8 not a httle ext~aor.dIn~rY"to fiJ;ld on ore "ofthe aD;cient mo~uments of Peru, ks attdbu~soflithe .gr~ t ~ "I skY-god o(the l~rld of the Incas, ~n~ only the \7ery replicar f • ,the cad~c~~s o'{~erc~ry~. but Iso fhe ,bidental th~nder~ It \-'\ r of OlympI~n Jove. Guevara s l~ of the AITaUCani n 1 \ Pi~lan, the $pirit-~f-Heaven,that 'f ~ey made his ~bifati n iin all those parts wh'ence breaks th ,thunder; on the crest f " 1" j. hig~,~oqnt~ins, i~.. the clouds, an? iin the volc~IiO~S, who e . eno erup.... t!O~~.".;\a.:.r? so ?fte,.n.accom~nI~.'.' by ele~trI.cal '.•,..Ph .. 1-.. en~..'" A~d, l~ w~ fQll~w the irt- ~ ,ven fonnsof ,;the .sIdt- beIngs, from the: Eskimo of Ala" to the lana of· tiib . Cak~hiquel in Ar~ntina, ~n alm~s~'n perf~c~' devef°fme!lt Af' the- whole group' ~f assocIated "ldels-bIrd, serpept, r~I~, 9 wiDdf.. ]ightning,~.,l be. f()und a1.:' representation.s.' a~i ..r...... Ibute" o~ emblema~c' sel'Vltors of ~ Power Abov~; .. "~\~~ __ 14.~ HiBtori.a de 14 CitJ~iUJ,Ci6n de Arauccmia (S' ntiago de Chile. 190()i.02). VoL ~ • ~. I, , ch. villi. - "', 1, : .. - 11 -s \ "\ ~ ~ > ,~ . -1\, 1 . ! . j f • ~ ~. '~ l' 'I f ! t :1 t ~i.. l '.ll' I. Published by UNM Digital Repository, 1931 13