article

Old religion among the Delawares: the Gamwing (Big House rite)

Ethnohistory : the bulletin of the Ohio Valley Historic Indian Conference44 (1) • Published In 1997 • Pages: 113-134

By: Miller, Jay.

Abstract
This article is a rebuttal to Anthony F.C. Wallace's argument that the Big House (Gamwing) ceremony of the Delaware was an 1805 'new religion' among these people. A '… review of his sources, native testimony, and continuing cultural import suggests instead that it was their ancient integrative ritual, held to mark the conjunction of men and women, hunt and crops, and Creator and creation as a world renewal ceremony of universal thanksgiving' (p. 113).
Subjects
Reviews and critiques
Internal migration
Sociocultural trends
Religious and educational structures
Clans
Cosmology
Revelation and divination
Organized ceremonial
culture
Delaware
HRAF PubDate
2003
Region
North America
Sub Region
Eastern Woodlands
Document Type
article
Evaluation
Creator Type
Ethnologist
Document Rating
4: Excellent Secondary Data
Analyst
John Beierle; 2002
Field Date
no date
Coverage Date
seventeenth-nineteenth centuries
Coverage Place
not specified
Notes
Jay Miller
Includes bibliographical references (p. 129-134)
LCCN
57043343
LCSH
Delaware Indians