Book
From the earth to beyond the sky: an ethnographic approach to four Longhouse Iroquois speech events
National Museums of Canada, National Museum of Man • (20) • Published In 1974 • Pages: xi, 448
By: Foster, Michael K..
AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
The Longhouse Iroquois of New York State and southern Ontario are carriers of the ancient tradition of political and religious oratory of which part is devoted to speeches, chants, and songs associated with the calendrical round of ceremonies (e.g., the Midwinter Festival and Green Corn Ceremony). The first part of this study presents an analysis of four structurally related rituals which are performed in conjunction with the ceremonies, these being the Thanksgiving Address, the Great Feather Dance, the Skin Dance, and the Tobacco Invocation. The rituals are divided into sections devoted to one or more of the cosmological spirit forces -- the terrestrial (earth, plants, animals); the celestrial (sun, moon, stars); and the forces beyond the sky (the Creator and other spirits). Each of the rituals is accompanied by a prescribed formal speech which may vary somewhat between speakers. The second part of this work presents a detailed structural analysis of the contents of these speeches as well as a description of the background and qualifications of the speakers themselves. The transcribed and translated texts of these speeches appear in the appendices.
- SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
- Grammar
- Phonology
- Oratory
- Literary texts
- Cosmology
- Organized ceremonial
- cultureCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
- Iroquois
- HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document
- 1996
- 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.
- Linguist
- 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 ; 1994
- Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
- 1970 (p. ix-x)
- Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
- variable
- Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
- Six Nations Reserve, Ontario, Canada
- NotesAdditional notes
- Michael K. Foster
- Includes bibliographical references (p. 421-432) and index
- LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
- Iroquois Indians