The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1926, Page 101

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THE LUTHERAN PIONEER.

101

2,000 children are attending mission boarding- and
day-schools. But many of the children attending
Government schools are also getting religious train-
ing at the hands of a number of denominations.

Primitive INpIAN RELIGION.

The Indians believed in a “Great Spirit,” whom
they worshiped. They believed, too, that spirits
lived in almost everything around them. .Praying
and fasting constituted a great portion of their
worship. Special sacrifices were offered upon extra-
ordinary occasions. Dancing occupied a prominent
part in their religion. ‘The Apaches and Navajos

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pint

had the fire-dance in honor of the God of Fire; the
snake was worshiped by the Moquis and Hopis of
Arizona in the snake-dance;, the Sioux danced the
sun-dance in honor of the sun; and many tribes
practised the ghost-dance prior to entering upon
the war-path. ‘The religious ritual of some tribes
was very complicated and consisted of thousands of
significant songs and prayers. The shamans, or
medicine-men, were compelled to study for years in
order to familiarize themselves with the order of
worship in all its intricacies. These medicine-men
occupied a very influential position. When in their
official regalia, they were looked upon as the em-
bodiment and personification of all the powers they
represented. ‘This regalia consisted of a medicine
shirt, a medicine hat, a sacred belt, and a mask of

cases

& An Indian Hut in Wisconsin.

the greatest possible ugliness. When dressed in this
outfit, the medicine-man practised his magical rites
and necromancy with great noise and ostentation.
Multitudes of Indians who have not come in con-
tact with the Christian missionaries still cling to
these old superstitions, and the old animistic
heathenism of tlieir fathers still has a strong hold
upon them.

CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AMONG: THE AMERICAN
INDIANS.

The Roman Catholics began.to work among the
Indians soon after the coming of Columbus. Their

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fields of labor were especially in the Southwest and
on the Pacific coast. © French Jesuits, with only
very moderate success, attempted to plant missions

_along the shores of the Great Lakes. 4

As early as 1643 Campanius, a Swedish Lu-
theran pastor, began to work among the Indians of
what is now New Jersey. And about the same time
that Eliot, the “Apostle to the Indians,” began his
work at Roxbury, Mass., Campanius had translated
Luther’s Small Catechism into the language of the
Delawares. This was in 1648. The whole history
of the work among the Indians forms an inspiring
chapter in the annals of Christian missions. The
heroic devotion, untiring efforts, and truly extra-
ordinary patience shown from the days of John
Campanius, John Eliot, and John Sargent, through