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126 INDIAN GAMES AND DANCES |
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Bestowing a New Name
The bestowal of a new name upon an adult generally took place at some tribal ceremony when all the people were gathered together. In this way as much publicity as possible was given to the act. Among the Pawnee tribe there were three requirements that had to be met in order to take a new name:
First, a man could only take a new name after the performance of an act indicative of ability or strength of character;
Second, the name had to be assumed openly in the presence of the people to whom the act it commemorated was known;
Third, it was necessary that it should be announced in connection with such a ritual as that here given.
These three requirements indicate (i) that a man's name stood for what he had shown himself to be by the light of his actions; (2) that this was recognized by his tribesmen, and (3) that it was proclaimed by one having charge of mediatory rites through which man can be approached by the supernatural.
The old priest who gave the following ritual and explained it said: "A man's life is an onward movement. If one has within him a determined purpose and seeks the help of the powers, his life will climb up." Here he made a gesture indicating a line slanting upward; then he arrested the movement and, still holding his hand where he had stopped, went on to say: "As a man is climbing up, he does something that marks a place in his life where the powers have given him an |
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