Book
A study of the Delaware Indian Big House Ceremony: in native text dictated by Witapano'xwe
[Pennsylvania historical commission] • Harrisburg • Published In 1931 • Pages:
By: Speck, Frank G. (Frank Gouldsmith), Pennsylvania Historical Commission, Witapano'xwe.
AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
This source presents an intensive study of the Big House Ceremony, one of the Paramount ceremonies of the Delaware Indians for the fulfillment of obligations to the host of spiritual beings comprising their cosmography. The author, a noted ethnologist, gives a historical resume of the Big House Ceremony as it existed in the 17th and 18th centuries, and its distribution among neighboring tribes, where it appeared in various attenuated forms. A good part of this source consists of the original native text supplied by the author's primary informant Wi-tapano'xwe (War Eagle), which is then given a free translation by the author with the thought in mind of preserving the order, emphasis, terms of thought, and wording characteristic of native speech. Abundant explanatory footnotes augment the English translation.
- SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
- Religious and educational structures
- Literary texts
- Spirits and gods
- Sacred objects and places
- Organized ceremonial
- Ethnometeorology
- cultureCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
- Delaware
- HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document
- 2003
- RegionThe area the document pertains to
- North America
- Sub RegionThe more specific area the document pertains to, which is located within the Region
- Eastern Woodlands
- Document TypeMay include journal articles, essays, collections of essays, monographs, or chapters/parts of monographs
- Book
- Evaluation
- Creator TypeThe type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigenous Person, and so on.
- Ethnologist
- Document Rating A ranking done by HRAF anthropologists based on the strength of the source material on a scale of 1 to 5, as follows: 1 - poor; 2 - fair; 3 - good, useful data, but not uniformly excellent; 4 - excellent secondary data; 5 - excellent primary data.
- 4: Excellent Secondary Data
- 5: Excellent Primary Data
- AnalystThe HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection
- John Beierle ; 1962
- Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
- ca. 1925
- Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
- 1800-1920s
- Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
- Oklahoma, United States
- NotesAdditional notes
- By Frank G. Speck
- Includes bibliographical references (p. 179-182) and index
- LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
- 32027390
- LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
- Delaware Indians