Religion (1992) 22, 259-269

CONTESTING WORLD VIEWS :DRE

NG THE - N ANDJESUITS

Lee Irwin

During the second quarter of the 17th-century, Jesuits and Huronsengaged in a debate over the importance and centrality of dreams . Fromthe Jesuits' perspective, dreams were peripheral and often opposed toChristian theology . For the Huron, dreams were a central feature of theirreligious practice and a primary source of both personal knowledge andsocial empowerment . Contrasting these two understandings of dream-ing, this essay explores the little understood religious nature of dreams inHuron religious culture .

While Iroquois and Huron dreams have been analyzed since J . N. B. Hew-itt's 1895 study, the role of dreams in forming the Huron's religious world-view and ritual practice has received little detailed attention . While A . F. C .Wallance, H . Blau, E . Tooker, and B . Trigger have contributed to a generalethnography of dreams in Huron social life,' they have not explored dream-ing as religious experience, or as crucial to the formation of religious identity .This essay examines the centrality of dreaming in the Huron's religioustradition, and the way in which it differed in conception and practice fromthe contemporary Catholic world view imposed by the Jesuits in the first halfof the 17th-century .

The first Canadian Jesuits were convinced that the indigenous peoples ofNew France lacked religions and had only the barest rudiments of social orcultural life . In 1611, Pierre Biard expressed the cultural criteria that theJesuits applied :

They have no temples, sacred edifices, rites, ceremonies or religiousteaching, just as they had no laws, arts or government, save certaincustoms and traditions of which they are very tenacious . The simplenatural need to satisfy the pangs of hunger had forced the Indians to putaside intellectual development, literature and medicine . Secondly, sincethey lived outside the grace of Christ and the way to eternal salvation,they could not share in the natural happiness that God contemplated forall his creatures . 2

Biard distinguishes between the formal structures of Catholic dogma andwhat he perceives as the informal oral traditions of Native Americans whoseem to him to lack law, government, religion, and other cultural character-

0048-721X/92/030259 + 1 1 $03 .00/0

€ 1992 Academic Press Limited

260 L. Irwin

istics of Christian civilization. Biard's distinction, embedded in 17th-centuryFrench presuppositions about Catholic religion and civilization, and cen-tered on the theological issues of faith, salvation, and grace, represents aprofound tension between Catholicism and the worldviews of NativeCanadian peoples .

Extending Biard's comment that indigenous Canadians had only a`slender notion' of divinity, Samuel de Champlain referred to the Iroquoianspeaking Hurons of the lower Great Lakes as having `respect for the Devil',and Gabriel Sagard defined the Huron's spirit helper, the oki, as a `greatdevil just as much as a great angel, a raging devilish disposition as well as agreat, wise understanding' .' Most Jesuit writers denied anything positiveabout the concept of oki in Huron religion, and thereby refused to acknowl-edge the way in which the oki appeared in dreams to empower Huronreligious practice . Because the Jesuits considered the Huron as outside thelaw of Christian revelation and as part of a world of flesh and sensuality, or`corrupt nature', whatever powers might inhabit their fallen world werenecessarily attributed to the domain of Lucifer . Subsequently, all of thesacred beings of the Huron mythos were inevitably epitomized by their mostpotent manifestation, the Huron shaman called oki-that ambiguous termfor which the Jesuit had only one meaning : demon!

DREAMS AND RECIPROCITYSThe Hurons regarded dreams as religious phenomena which maintained thecontinuity between the mythic world and the lived world of personal experi-eence and social interaction . In dreams, the Huron communicated with vari-ous cosmological beings who were the ultimate sources of human empower-ment. Dreams validated traditional values and sanctioned a mythicallydefined cosmology . They also provided the immediate, experiential basiswhich contextualized both individual religious identity and ceremonial per-formances that validated the sacred character of the Huron social order .

The mythic structures of 17th-century Huron cosmology were complexand multifaceted . The great being Aataentsic was regarded as the progenitressof the `island world' upon which all human beings lived . A primary source oflife, she also manifested herself as the moon, and was a powerful figurereflecting the central place of women in the Huron's matrilineal social organ-ization . Aataentsic could reveal herself in dreams to a chosen woman, andclaimed to rule over all the Huron .' The Huron also prayed and madetobacco offerings to the Sun, a manifestation of louskeha . As Aataentsic's grand-son, Iouskeha gave the Huron many of their religious and cultural practices .Aronhiate, or Sky, controlled- the seasons of the year, the winds, the waves ofthe Great Lakes, and assisted the Huron in times of need or danger .' Thus,

Contesting World Views 26 1

the mythic beings of creation continued to interact directly with the Huronpeople8 .

Many animals also gave their special abilities to human beings throughdreams. The earth, rivers, lakes, and rocks contained powerful spirits calledoki, who could aid or hinder human beings ; it was therefore important tomaintain good relations with them . Since this mythic context established theneed for reciprocity between the Huron and the figures of myth and the oki ofthe world, dreams and visions were of great importance . Their manifestation,narration, and ritual enactment deeply affected individual behavior andvillage life. The Huron regarded dreaming as a fundamental mediumthrough which mythic beings and the oki shared their power and knowledge . 9

Huron youth confirmed experientially their religious knowledge by pursu-ing an empowering relationship with the oki. During mid-adolescence,Huron males fasted for a vision or dream to receive a gift of power to helpthem achieve success in life . 10 The vision fast involved an extended period ofisolation, either in a partitioned section of the longhouse, or in a speciallyconstructed cabin ." Longer fasts lasting up to thirty days were part of theshamanistic training by which one became a powerful oki, and shamans alsoundertook them to seek aid in resolving village problems . Men undertookvision fasts to gain power for hunting or war, expressing their need in areciprocal blood offering to the oki .' 2 No record exists of women undertakinga structured fast, but they did experience spontaneous and empoweringdreams and visions .' 3

In visions and dreams, the oki gave the Huron power, or arendi, whichmanifested itself as any unusual or extraordinary ability, or as the power toheal . The Huron understood dreaming as a religious experience whichcharged them with ritual responsibility . They attributed knowledge andauthority to the oki who inspired the dreams that revealed the way in whichdreamers might actualize their power . In a way that the Jesuits never reallyunderstood, the Huron regarded the power of the oki and that of the em-powered human as one and the same .

The union of the individual with the sources of empowerment representedthe strongest possible affirmation of the sacred character of the world . Theoki could take various forms and reveal a variety of activities and objects tothe dreamer. The Huron generally attributed the gift of power to a single okiwho assisted the dreamer throughout his life .' As early as 1614, Champlainnoted the correspondence between powerful Huron and the oki : `When theysee a man do something extraordinary, or more skillfully than common, oreven a valiant warrior or furthermore one in a fury as if beyond all reasonand besides himself, they call him Oqui, as we should a great spirited mind,or a grand Devil' ." Humans who could communicate with the oki, or whohad power from them, were themselves addressed as oki .1 a For example, the

262 L. Irwin

Arendiwane, `great, powerful one', was the master shaman who had had manydreams in which he had received ritual knowledge from a variety of oki .' 7 Ifthe shaman identified with the oki, they received an ability to see into thesouls of others and to diagnose illness . Thus, the Huron construed knowledgeas a living, transformative relationship constituted in reciprocity between theoki and the individual, and acknowledged in collective ritual .

Dream knowledge received from the oki was in fact more real than ordin-ary knowledge . In this sense, there was no concept of the `unconscious'among the Huron because they attributed all such knowledge to the oki whoinspired dreams. Dreams were important to the Huron because theyexpressed what A . F. C. Wallance called the `desires of the soul', a phrasethat overtly psychologizes the Huron's interdependent relationship with theoki . The Huron called such needs the ondinoc of the soul and understood themas deepseated predispositions by which true health and fulfillment could beobtained . In the Huron context, `desire' was more than psychological ." Theondinoc of the soul was stimulated by mythic beings : the Huron held that indreams the soul, esken, departed the body and encountered the oki . The soulwas therefore a medium of communication with those sacred powers, ratherthan a strictly autonomous entity . The cosmological powers of the Huronworld freely interacted with every individual through dreams, and the Huroninterpreted the soul as a distinctive, experiential aspect of the individual'sidentity. Unlike 17th-century Jesuits and 20th-century Freudians, such aview of the soul did not imply a body-mind dualism, or any distinctionbetween physical and psychic perception .

In fact, in Huron conception psychological and religious well-being wereintimately related . Every soul had a special attraction (gonennoncwal) forcertain objects which manifested the soul's needs ." This affinity was anintuitive knowledge revealed by the oki as the ondinoc which could benefit theindividual. Satisfying such a need led to health and well-being, and ignoringit could lead to illness and possibly death . 2Q A wide variety of material,social, and religious items, including various types of ritual behavior (such asadoption and gift exchange) could meet an individual's ondinoc as revealed inhis or her dreams . 2 ' Given knowledge through an empowering dream, a chiefannounced a person's ondinoc to the entire village and all of its membersattempted to provide the needed goods and actions . The full realization ofthe dream brought with it a sense of personal fulfillment2 2 which simul-taneously confirmed the superior, caring knowledge of the oki . In this way,ritually enacted dreaming expressed a religiously motivated basis for socialinteraction and integration. The Huron held that both the ondinoc of the souland a satisfying social life were related to proper ritual relations with sacredbeings .

A number of factors affected the ways in which the Huron attached im

Contesting World Views 26 3

portance to dreams. Dreams were stratified in degrees of significance becausethey did not all reveal power. Because power (arendi) was cumulative, adreamer who had little power, who was poor, or who was held in low esteemby the rest of the community, found it difficult to arouse the social co-operation needed to satisfy his or her ondinoc . But those whose dreams hadbeen shown to be true over an extended period of time were generallyregarded with respect . In return, they assisted others in actualizing theirdreams. More significantly, even recognized dreamers did not regard all oftheir dreams as equally important . One Huron stated that an accuratedream of power was rare . 23 The ondinoc of the dream must be carefullythought about, and its meaning must be interpreted correctly by the Arendiw-

ane, the master shaman . The Arendiwane also knew how the dream could beenacted successfully and so fulfill its meaning . 24

A knowledge of dream symbolism made the shaman the religious authorityin the community because he possessed an abundance of power . His abilityto interpret dreams was respected, and successful interpretation led to a risein social standing and influence . The Huron regarded such practical successas evidence of the proper relationship between the shaman and the oki whogave him knowledge . Such an individual knew how to substitute one dreamsymbol or action for another if certain items were unavailable, or if someaction was impossible to perform ." Through dream interpretation, one typeof shaman could diagnose illness, foretell the return to health or the death ofthe sick, and could prescribe the appropriate ceremony to fit the situation .Another type of shaman performed the actual ceremony . 26 Master shamansalso interpreted their own dreams as prognostic of future events . 27

Huron dreaming was closely related to healing, and many rites were partof a cycle of healing ceremonies, ritual sweats, and feasts which all aimed tosatisfy the ondinoc of the soul. Some rites were informal and involved a singlepetitioner describing to kin or friends a dream in which he received a particu-lar gift . The listeners might then respond by providing the dreamed-of gift,thus satisfying his ondinoc. Important persons who were ill could receive avillage delegation asking what ondinoc must be fulfilled to achieve their heal-ing. Then, the necessary items would be gathered and a feast held ." Themost important dream ritual, the ononhoroia, or dream guessing feast, was acollective undertaking in which dreamers sought to fulfill their particularondinoc. 29

In this healing ceremony, many dreamers banded together and went fromlonghouse to longhouse in an entranced state . The trance expressed theirunion with the oki and demonstrated various forms of empowerment : someparticipants walked through the lodge fires unharmed, and others threw hotcoals about, overturning and scattering items in the longhouse . In theseways, each sought to have their ondinoc satisfied by members of the house-

264 L. Irwin

hold." The greater the uproar and turmoil, the greater the chances forsatisfying their needs . The dreamers also reported their ondinoc in the form ofa riddle while the onlookers tried to guess and, if possible, to discover whatthe ondinoc required . Failure to receive the appropriate gift might indicatethat the dreamer would soon die . Such an collective enactment was in effect aliminal period during which the village was under the influence of the oki .What the Jesuits inaccurately thought of as the village secular authority wasinadequate to moderate or to control the event . 31

The most important dreams became a normal part of the Huron cer-emonial cycle. Various families came to possess an inherited knowledge ofritual performances tied to their ancestors' dreams, and the head of eachfamily owned this knowledge . 32 Instruction in specific dreams, and theirshamanistic interpretation, led to a continuous modification of every type ofritual . Performance of dream feasts and curing rites were thus dynamicallycharged and did not follow a dogmatized or invariant pattern . Instead, theyapplied myth to the conditions of the present while the more stable featuresof the rituals were consistently maintained . 33 Dreams also stronglyinfluenced participation in shamanistic performances .

For the Huron, the dream was a template for social reciprocity as religiousaction. Rites like the ononhoroia created a context in which the objects orcontents of the dream were discovered through communal action . This, inturn, empowered the dreamer and involved the entire community in a con-stant exchange of gifts for the satisfaction of the ondinoc of the Soul .34 TheHuron practice of dreaming involved the continuous redistribution of wealthamong members of the community . The oki sanctioned such an exchange as areligious process that contributed to the stability and prosperity of the com-munity as a whole . Ritual exchange was more than an economic by-productof dreaming . Such actions expressed reciprocity on the human plane that inturn reflected the processes of cosmological order established in the Oki'sgifts . In the context of Huron ritual, such gifts helped to balance socialinequality, and the dynamics of such exchanges grounded the social world interms of mythologically sanctioned imperatives . One Jesuit mentions how anindividual dreamer might `become wealthy in a day' while those who distri-buted gifts increased their social and spiritual standing . 35 Further, suchreciprocity reflected the seamless and integral relations between variousclasses of being who inhabited the mythic world and all members of Huroncommunities . Reverent gifts of tobacco and smoke further sustained harmo-nious, reciprocal relations .

In sum, Huron religiousness was based on permissive, interactive relation-ships established between dreamers seeking to fulfill individual needs . Byrevealing these needs, the oki expressed the religious insight that individualwell-being could only be pursued with communal support . Dreams func-

Contesting World Views 265

tioned to affirm the reality of the mythic world . The powers of the shamantestified to the presence and efficacy of the oki in a ceremonial context . Thesocial and religious world of the Huron was polymorphic and consensual, radiat-ing outward from numerous geographical, ritual, and personal centers, all ofwhich were established through successfully visions and dreams and main-tained through relations of reciprocity . Religious authority was a matter ofpersonal empowerment through greater intimacy with the oki. Such auth-ority expressed itself pragmatically in the effective actions of the mastershaman .

The religious character of the Huron world, with its many-sidedness andplurality, expressed itself in the mutually consistent actions of the multipleoki who appeared in individual dreams . Collective dreaming rituals gave theHuron a way to achieve unity in the face of such diversity . Huron religiouslife was not constrained either by dogma or systematized theology . Rather, itproceeded through precedent, example, mythic narrative, and specificdreams to illustrate the appropriate use of power, primarily for the benefit ofothers. The relevance of the oki for daily life was deeply respected . The okiwere approached reverently, and constantly appealed to because humansuccess depended upon an intimate relationships with those powers . Gooddreams and their fulfillment were the keys to Huron religious identity .

THE JESUIT REACTION TO HURON DREAMSSurprised at the centrality of dreams among the Huron, Jesuit missionariesquickly became hostile when they realized that the Huron regarded theirdreams as `ordinances and irrevocable decrees' and as an `absolutemaster' . 36 The missionaries were dismayed at the way in which the dreamingcomplex affirmed the `desires' of the soul and the value of bodily life . For theJesuits the lower, passionate, sensual body was the source of all `desire', andthey thought of the soul as ignorant and deluded, at least for all unredeemedhumanity, and thus as necessarily `inspired by the demon' . 37 From a lesstheological point of view, they regarded dreams as 'just nonsense', a `deceitand falsehood', `nothing but lies', and more potently as the devil's deceptionsto damn the soul . 38 Jesuits considered the paranormal quality of dreams,particularly the shamans' precognitive visions which could predict eventsdays or weeks in advance, as proof of their `intercourse with the devil' . 39Since the Jesuits thought of the sublunar world as being under the rule ofdemonic powers, and nature itself as incomplete and imperfect, and sincedreaming was a natural activity, they considered the Hurons divorced fromthe redemptive actions of Christian grace and sacramental ritual . TheJesuits' initial hostility was later moderated by an awareness that the Huronwere not a `bare slate' upon which they could easily write . By 1640, after a

266 L. Irwin

self-supporting mission at Ste Marie was founded, the priests concluded thatthe Huron had a highly complex set of `diabolical superstitions' which wereintimately related to dreams and visions . 40

Nevertheless, the Jesuits subscribed to the notion of a holy vision as anindicator of spiritual status and a sign of grace analogous to the Huronconcept of religious empowerment through dreams . Their devotion to theBlessed Virgin and to the saints paralleled the Huron's relations with the oki .Moreover, the Jesuits strongly believed in guardian angels, and in the charis-matic power of martyrs . For example, Jean de Brebeuf had a vision in whichhe saw drops of blood spattered on the robes of his fellow Jesuits . 41 AfterBrebeuf was killed by the Huron, the Jesuits interpreted the vision as foretell-ing his martyrdom . Their interpretation clearly demonstrates that the auth-enticity of a vision depended on a context which was defined in terms oftraditional religious categories .

But there is a crucial difference between the Huron and Jesuit conception .For the Jesuits, subordination to the external hierarchy of the institutionalchurch was mandatory. In addition, Catholics symbolized the privilegedinward access to the mythic world of heaven and the saints with the authoritystructures of cloistered religious life . This conjunction between the dogma-tized and hierarchial Catholic cosmology and the social structures of Frenchlife demonstrates both the concentric and hierarchic nature of Catholic spiritu-ality. Just as Mary interceded for mercy for all Christians, and salvationflowed through a celestial hierarchy downward from Christ, visionary experi-ence interpreted as redemptive grace lifted the hearts and minds of Frenchvisionaries through graded representations back to the symbolic center of itsmanifestation . Jean de Brebeuf, for example, came to symbolize this inwardprocess of spiritual knowledge when he began to appear in visions to anUrsuline nun." In this case, the mediating effects of grace acted through asaintly manifestation that redeemed and perfected the fallen humanity of thevisionary. Brebeuf's appearance functioned as a sign of `election', and be-stowed a new social and spiritual status on thevisionary within the spiritualhierarchy of French Catholicism .

Here was the root of much misunderstanding between the Jesuit mission-aries and Huron shamans : the permissive structure of Huron culture, andindividual freedom to interpret religious experience, contrasted sharply withthe hierarchic and dogmatic structure of Jesuit Catholicism . While the dog-matic outlook of the Jesuits necessarily construed most dreams as irrelevant,and classified visions according to their congruity with Catholic doctrine, theHuron regarded dreams as validating a mythic reality unbound by a sys-tematized dogma. For the Jesuits, dreaming tended to be inclusive ; thosethat were valid were so because they were confirmed by the authority of theirown theology. For the Huron, dreaming tended to be inclusive and part of a

heterogeneous, consensual view in which the dreams themselves affirmed thereligious reality of the community . Further, dreams differed from the hier-archical assumptions of the Catholic theory of grace . Huron dreams were theprimary means of communication between various classes of beings . Theysanctioned the sharing of `gifts' between those beings as a primary expressionof religious and social interaction .

Both the Huron and the Jesuits evaluated dreams according to the socialidentity of the dreamer . Both subjected dreams to symbolic interpretation-the Jesuits in the service of Catholic dogma, and the Huron in terms of theceremonial efficacy of dream enactment . For both, the actual lives of thedreamers testified to the power or grace they had received, but such dreamswere central for the Huron, and only peripheral to the Jesuits .

Huron religion was heterogeneous and variable because it lacked a rigidhierarchy . The Huron valued the personal power that an individual shamanaccrued. This personal value was embedded in the primary religious experi-ence of dreaming that varied from individual to individual, but which alsoparticipated in a collective understanding that validated the Huron cos-mology. Thus by 1640 the Jesuits had identified, albeit with very littlecultural sensitivity, the oncoming clash of cultures, a clash between oneculture that was individualistic but corporate, and the other individualisticbut communal . In this clash of cultures, the outcome depended on how Jesuitand Huron understood the relationship of cosmology and social order . More,the encounter entailed different religious allegiances, as the Jesuits placedtheir faith in a transcendent, other-worldly orientation, and the Huronlooked with increasing uncertainty at a post-contact world in which dreamsseemed less and less central to religious identity .

NOTES1 A. F. C . Wallace, `Dreams and wishes of the soul : a type of psychoanalytic theory

among the seventeenth-century Iroquois', American Anthropologist 60 (1958), pp .234-48; H. Blau, `Dream guessing : a comparative analysis', Ethnohistory 10(1963), pp. 233-49 ; E. Tooker, An Ethnography of the Huron Indians, 1615-1649,Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin 190, Washington, D.C ., SmithsonianInstitution 1964 ; B. G. Trigger, The Huron : Farmers of the North, 2nd Edn, FortWorth, FL, Holt, Rinehart and Winston 1990 .

2 R. G. Thawites (ed .), The Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents, 73 vols, Cleveland,OH, The Burrows Brothers Company 1901, 2 : 75 .R G. Thwaites, The Jesuit Relations, op . cit ., 2 : pp. 75, 77, Samuel de Champlain,The Works of Samuel de Champlain, 6 vols, Toronto, The Champlain Society 1929,3: p. 143; Gabriel Sagard, The Long Journey to the Country of the Hurons, G. M .Wrong (ed .), and H. H. Langton, trans ., New York, NY, Greenwood Press 1939(1632), p. 170 .

4 R. G. Thwaites, The Jesuit Relations, op . cit ., 10 : p . 141 ; 14 : p . 153 ; 17 : p . 163 ; 28 :p . 51 . And see Thomas Acquinas, Summa Theologica, Q . 75, Art . 6 . This Jesuit

Contesting World Views 267

268 L. Irwin

censure was part of a broader pattern of reform stimulated by the CounterReformation : A. Lynn Martin, The Jesuit Mind: The Mentality of an Elite in EarlyModern France, Ithaca, NY, Cornell University Press 1988 .

5 By reciprocity, I am referring to the interactive exchange that takes place be-tween the Huron seeking knowledge or power and the Oki who were the sourcesof that power. This refers to a deeply embedded socio-psychic relationship withthe inhabitants of the natural environment created through offerings, gifts, andfasting that resulted in the empowerment of the individual or the community .This empowerment is thought of as an extension of the kinship network andresults in sharing based on the principle of respect and reverence . It is a limitingmisinterpretation to see reciprocity as a form of `control' or `manipulation' by theshamans; in fact, they constantly demonstrate a reverential and cautious attitudein prayer and tobacco offerings . It is the religious character of the act whichestablishes the bond, not the economic .

6 R. G. Thwaites, The Jesuit Relations, 10: p . 133 ; 17 : p . 167 .7 R. G. Thwaites, The Jesuit Relations, op . cit ., 10 : p. 159, 161 ; 33: p . 225 .8 For Huron mythology see C . M. Barbeau, Huron and Wyandot Mythology, Depart-

ment of Mines and Geological Survey, Anthropological Series, 11, Ottawa, GovernmentPrinting Bureau 1915 .

9 For an overview of recent works on the anthropology of dreaming see B . Tedlock,Dreaming : Anthropological and Psychological Interpretations, Cambridge, CambridgeUniversity Press 1987. For an extensive survey of dreams and visions on theGreat Plains see L . Irwin, The Bridge ofDreams: Myth, Dreams and Visions in NativeNorth America, Ann Arbor, MI, University Microfilms International 1990 .

10 E. Tooker, An Ethnography ofthe Huron Indians, op . cit ., 100 ; R. G. Thwaites, TheJesuit Relations, op. cit ., 23 : pp . 155-9 .

11 R. G. Thwaites, The Jesuit Relations, op . cit ., 11 : p . 265 ; 13 : p . 227 .12 R. G. Thwaites, The Jesuit Relations, op . cit., 12 : pp. 69-7113 Unfortunately, female dreaming among the Huron has not been documented

with any consistency but the evidence in Champlain supports the idea thatwomen also dreamed and received power which they then demonstrated in ritualdances . This also implies that there were female shamans and ritual leaders aswell as an active female tradition among the Huron . Champlain (The Works ofSamuel de Champlain, op . cit ., 3 : p . 148) gives an account of female dancers healingthe sick . Also many dreams of Huron, Catholic women were recorded by theJesuits (The Jesuit Relations, op . cit ., 13 : p. 149; 26 : p . 289 ; 48 : p . 189) and thecontext of their recitation suggests the underlying importance of female dream-ing and shamanistic practice. One of the longest descriptions of a vision-enducedceremony was initiated by a woman who had a direct waking vision of the femaleMoon who told her to perform the appropriate ceremony (Ibid ., 17: p . 176) .However, because most of the texts refer to male shamans, I have chosen to usethe male pronoun .

14 R. G. Thwaites, The Jesuit Relations, op . cit ., 17 : pp. 153-5 .15 S. de Champlain, The Works ofSamuel de Champlain, op . cit ., 3 : p . 144 .16 C . M. Barbeau, Huron and Wyandot Mythology, op . cit ., pp. 9-10 ; E . Tooker, An

Ethnography of the Huron Indians, op . cit., p . 78 .17 R. G. Thwaites, The Jesuit Relations, op. cit. 33 : pp. 193-5. E . Tooker gives the

etymology for Arendiwane as arendi, `sacred Power', and wane as `great, large' . Shealso points out the similarity of arendi to the better known Iroquoian concept oforenda : An Ethnography of the Huron Indians, op . cit ., p . 91 .

Contesting World Views 269

18 For such a view see A . F . C . Wallace, `Dreams and Wishes of the Soul', op . cit .,p. 238 .

19 R. G. Thwaites, The Jesuit Relations, op . cit ., 10 : p . 141 .20 R. G. Thwaites, The Jesuit Relations, op . cit ., 33: p . 189 .21 R. G. Thwaites, The Jesuit Relations, op. cit ., 10 : p . 201 ; 33 : pp . 191, 207 ; 47 : p .

181 .22 R. G. Thwaites, The Jesuit Relations, op. cit ., 33 : p . 207 .23 R. G. Thwaites, The Jesuit Relations, op. cit ., 10 : p . 171 .24 R. G. Thwaites, TheJesuit Relations, op. cit ., 10 : p . 171 ; 33 : p . 191 .25 R. G. Thwaites, The Jesuit Relations, 8 : p. 263; 10: p . 201 .26 R. G. Thwaites, The Jesuit Relations, op. cit ., 7 : p . 169 ; 8 : p . 123; 10: pp . 185, 197 .27 R. G. Thwaites, The Jesuit Relations, op. cit ., 7 : p. 169 .28 R. G. Thwaites, The Jesuit Relations, op. cit ., 17 : p . 147 .29 For many references to the early 17th-century rite see R . G. Thwaites, The Jesuit

Relations, 10 : p . 175; 17: pp. 167, 171 ; 23: pp. 53, 103 ; 30: p . 101. For anOnondaga variant see H . Blau, `Dream Guessing', op . cit ., pp . 233-49 .

30 R. G. Thwaites, The Jesuit Relations, 10 : pp . 175-7 .31 R. G. Thwaites, The Jesuit Relations, op. cit ., 17 : pp. 165-87 .32 R. G. Thwaites, The Jesuit Relations, op . cit ., 17 : p . 153 ; 17 : p . 163 .33 R. G. Thwaites, The Jesuit Relations, op . cit ., 10 : p . 185 .34 R. G. Thwaites, The Jesuit Relations, op . cit ., 33 : p . 207 .35 R. G. Thwaites, The Jesuit Relations, op . cit ., 33 : p . 207 .36 R. G. Thwaites, The Jesuit Relations, op . cit ., 10: p . 169 .37 R. G. Thwaites, The Jesuit Relations, op . cit ., 14: pp. 153-5 .38 R. G . Thwaites, TheJesuit Relations, 9: p . 13 ; 10 : p . 147 ; 11 : p . 203 ; 7 : p . 169 ; 13 : p .

227 .39 R. G. Thwaites, The Jesuit Relations, op, cit ., 2 : p . 75 ; 5 : p . 159; 4 : pp. 217-9 .40 R. G. Thwaites, The Jesuit Relations, op . cit ., 23 : pp. 150-2 .41 R. G. Thwaites, The Jesuit Relations, op . cit ., 34: pp. 164-5 .42 R. G. Thwaites, The Jesuit Relations, op . cit ., 52 : p . 69.

LEE IRWIN received his Ph .D. in folklore at Indiana University, specializ-ing in Plains Indian religions. He is an assistant professor at the University ofCharleston and assistant editor for volume thirteen of the Smithsonian Hand-book of North American Indians . He remains affiliated with the American IndianStudies Research Institute at Indiana University .

Department of Philosophy, College of Charleston, Charleston, SC 29424, U .S.A .