[tkups]

David O’Day
ENG 150
Professor Joly.
2/17/06

Barbarian

The mud squelches underfoot, the rain continues to pour, but Timothy does not notice. The hunt demands his full attention. His quarry is small, and difficult to see. Climbing trees, poking bushes, all bear no results. The exercise relieves the tension that had been building in him during the cleansing ceremonies. Preparations for the hunt had required his mother to leave those ceremonies early, and Tim had envied her relief. A glint of white, barely noticeable in the brush, and Tim is reaching, straining his muscles to catch his prey. He makes contact, clenches, withdraws his hand. He has caught it. He dropped the Easter egg in with his others and continues hunting. Timothy is performing a ritual common to his culture; he’s searching for colorful eggs on Easter. The Blackfeet have similar rituals, as shown in Fools Crow, which may seem primitive or uncivilized if not understood properly. The rituals and beliefs of the Blackfeet are just as civilized as modern Christian rituals and beliefs.
The most important piece of this is the meaning of the keyword “civilized”. Many would consider a measurement of civilization the same thing as the measurement of intelligence of the average citizen in the measured group of people. As an extension of this assumption, people measure the average intelligence by looking at the technological achievements of the group. This line of reasoning is flawed on all logical links. Technology does not measure intelligence. Technology is dependant on a great many uncontrollable factors, including available natural resources and random chance. This is ultimately irrelevant, since civilization would be more on par with the average wisdom of a citizen than the intelligence: how the citizen uses his knowledge, not what he knows. Wisdom can be measured by how well one uses their knowledge to achieve their goals. So to measure how civilized a group is, one only has to measure how consistently the systems they have in place produce their intended results. In order for the Blackfeet to be as civilized as modern Christians, their systems must merely be as successful. Many of the intended results in both groups lie in the spiritual realm, which is quite hard to perceive, so any analysis must depend solely on the visible effects.
The first such system is, appropriately, the stories of the beginning. The Blackfeet believe in a Creator, whom they call Napi, or Old Man. This creator, along with animal help, created the earth out of mud. He proceeded to create animals, most importantly the buffalo and antelope, whom he placed specially, then plants. Finally came the humans, who began immortal, but were made mortal by the blunder of the first woman. Napi then taught the humans how they were to use the earth he created.

In Christianity, there are two Creation stories, the one most widely taught and known contains the most similarities to the Blackfeet story. Christians refer to their Creator as God. Like “Old Man”, God is portrayed as an older male through the common moniker “Father”. God makes the water over the earth, then separates it into land, following the same order of existence as the Blackfeet. Once they have something to live on, the animals can be made, and the plants can be grown. The Christian account has no exalted animals, as the Blackfeet does, but God does tell the humans what they can and cannot do with their land, giving them a right to use it. Eve, the first woman, does not follow this, resulting in the mortality of man. The differences between the two stories is minute enough that both would rank equal in the “civilized”category, based solely on the content of the stories.

These stories explain how the world and everything in it came to be. They give the citizens a sense of who they are. They answer the questions of a curious people, people who realize that everything has a cause, but in regards to their existence they have only an effect. To the Blackfeet, this means obeying the ways given to them by the Creator, and respecting the animals he made for them. It also means they feel no moral dilemma in hunting for their food, as Napi has told them to do it, though they need to perform certain rituals show their respect. They owe their lives to Napi, and thank him for his gifts. Similarly, Christians obey the laws of their Creator. They have less reverence for animals, for their story gives them a superior role to animals. They can kill animals and eat them; God gave them this right. God made everything and they thank him for letting them use it.

Another system deals with communication between humans and supernatural world. This happens through a variety of mediums. In both the Blackfeet and Christian world-view, the most common communication originates with the humans and is sent to the supernatural world. Christians do this usually through prayer, bowing their knees and heads to show proper respect, closing their eyes to block out the physical world, in order to focus on the spiritual. The Blackfeet communicate to the spiritual realm through promises and sacrifices. They give of their possessions to show their devotion and reverence. Both acknowledge that this communication is not a trivial matter, and is not accomplished as easily as normal communication. The scarcer form of communication goes the other direction: from the spiritual to the physical.

Spiritual communication directed at physical beings can be represented by communication with animals. The Blackfeet believe animals can talk, and lend their strengths to humans. In Fools Crow, the Wolverine leads the protagonist to him, and tells the protagonist how to call upon his strength. Fools Crow follows his advice and is honored because the Wolverine chose him. This attitude towards animals seems to be a large reason that people label Blackfeet and other tribal societies as uncivilized. What kind of a culture thinks animals can talk? Only an uncivilized one, of course. The issuers of these arguments, however, would never call Christianity uncivilized, even though it shares these characteristics. Christianity has at its core the snake, the tempter who led Eve to sin, and brought death to the world. One of the main authors of the Bible, Paul, turned his life around when God made his donkey talk to him. In both religions, animals are used to trasfer messages from deities to mortals.

Another method of communication, dreams, is even more prevalent in both mythologies. As shown in Fools Crow through the icy spring dream of Fast Horse, the troubling dreams of Fools Crow, and the dream of hope by Heavy-Shield Woman, to name a few, Blackfeet people regularly interpret their dreams as messages from spiritual powers. On the Christianity side lies the dreams and interpretations of the prophet Daniel, the dream of warning that prompts Joseph, the father of Jesus, to move to Egypt, and a plethora of dreams and visions by various prophets. In either case, these dreams can carry any message, from a rebuke to a warning, a notification of a reward, to a request for greater devotion.

An even more pronounced message system is the sending of visions. Fool's Crow gets a very potent dream, and is then led on a Vision Quest. He follows the instructions of the dream and finds a character from a myth, who reveals to him the terrible fate that will befall his people, and tells him how to make the best of a bad situation. John, a Christian Prophet, receives a similar vision. He, too, sees the end of the world. HE, too, talks to people from his mythology. The details of his physical experience are not described, but his spiritual one is quite comparable.

These happenings in both ideologies serve the same purpose: to let the people know they are not alone. They are the anti-Deist; they show that the spiritual world is very much active and alive, and cares about the physical world. The Blackfeet people in Fools Crow show a very deeply held belief in this. Christians today also show this belief, so it seems the mythology is effective in both cases.

The next shared system is that of group rituals and ceremonies. While most ceremonies and rituals perform different tasks, and many vary wildly in what actions are performed, they do all share common traits. They all give the individual a sense of belonging to the community, and help define the role the individual plays within that society. They allow people to express themselves openly, and feel accepted as who they are. They also bring the community together as a whole, gluing each person together with the bonds of belief and trust.

For Christianity, these rituals are usually performed in conjunction with one another. The most common form of doing this is going to church on Sundays. At church, Christians receive a lesson from their spiritual leader, which is usually derived from the Bible, or inspired in the leader by God, and pray together with him to God. They also sing songs to praise God, blending their voices into one. Occasionally, they take perform what is called Communion, drinking wine and eating bread which represent the blood and flesh of Jesus, whom they worship.

For Blackfeet tribes, these rituals are performed throughout the year at various points, but the most important and common one is the Sun Dance Ceremony. This ceremony, being an annual event, is more sacred than the previously described Christian events, but it still shares characteristics with them. During the Sun Dance, the medicine woman, the chosen leader of the Dance, offers up the prayers and requests of the tribe to Napi. These payers serve a double purpose, they both communicate with Napi, and remind the people who hear them that Napi is sacred, and worthy to be praised and obeyed, much as the Christian leader prays with his congregation. As one could guess, the Sun Dance entails a lot of dancing. This is more individual than the singing of the Christians, but is of the same category, since both are done to music and let the individual be lost in the rhythm. Music allows a human to forget the normal annoyances of daily living and focus their mind on the task at hand.

The next part of the ritual is the most variant and another primary reason for the labeling of Blackfeet as “uncivilized”: Individuals hook metal spikes into their backs and dance until they fall out, often pulling flesh out with them, to show strength and commitment. This self-mutilation seems unnecessary and barbaric. However, is cannibalism any better? Communion in Christianity is the consumption of the Flesh and Blood of Jesus. This seems more barbaric. Christians may say that this is an oversimplified version of the Communion, one that doesn't look at its true religious and personal significance, and that is exactly how they should look at their own argument against the Blackfeet dance. The point of the dance is not to satiate a bloodthirst, it is to undergo a trial. There is a physical aspect to it, of course, but it mostly tests the will of the participant. They need spiritual strength to succeed. This certainly works for Fools Crow, and presumably it has worked for the whole Blackfeet people. Its successful, so it is wise. It is wise, so it is civilized.

The mythology of the Blackfeet is just as civilized as that of Christianity. Both could be considered incorrect or foolish by some, but neither should be considered uncivilized. Timothy, the little boy who likes to seek out eggs, is following the traditions set up by his forefathers. Is he is a savage for following the customs of his religion?

[Traged G-Unit]

you're going to fail, because the teacher is a catholic and you are a heretic.

[Welshy]

DAVID OH DAVID OH DAVID O'DAY!

[rub the bear]

I got tired of writing my analysis on Chaucer so I just put Heist Society in at the end to fill it out.

[FarKalkir]

*sigh*

Written like a programmer. It has no soul, just like your chosen profession.