Eagle Bund

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The Eagle Association is a medicine association of the Iroquois - Indians . It belongs to the category of mystical animals .

The ritual of this society consists of ten songs and a dance. Each participating member draws a round red dot on each cheek. Only members can attend the ceremony. The ceremony, along with the Great Feather Dance, is considered the most sacred of all ceremonies. It is believed that the Eagle League songs contained the greatest magical powers. Tales are circulating that this ceremony can be used to raise the dead, especially those who have died of disease or old age. This is because the dew eagle , to which society feels it belongs, is the resuscitator of withered things.

Membership can be obtained through a dream or by experiencing the rites through illness. During the ceremony the members dance and sing until they are completely exhausted. Any member will then give a speech. Then the speaker presents the person for whom he was speaking with a gift in the form of money, tobacco or bread. It used to be a custom that something must be given that the birds wanted to eat. After the ceremony, a pig's head is eaten. Bear or deer heads were used in the past.

literature

• Arthur C. Parker: Secret Medicine Societies of the Seneca , in: American Anthropologist, Col. 11, 1909, pp. 161-185. New York: Kraus Reprint Corporation, 1962