(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Indians 301: A Yavapai messiah [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2023-10-12 When cultures are under stress, particularly when that stress is coming from forced change outside of the control of the people in the culture, a messiah or prophet may emerge who will provide a religious solution to the problems. In 1875, the Yavapai were forced by the United States government to walk from their homelands to the San Carlos Reservation in Arizona, a distance of nearly 200 miles. San Carlos had been established as a reservation for the Apache and the United States mistakenly believed that the Yavapai were an Apache band. Once on the reservation, their freedoms were reduced as the United States sought to impose cultural genocide on them. Part of this cultural genocide was focused on the broad concepts of religion, spirituality, and healing. As a Christian nation, the United States policies regarding Indians was to force them to become Christians, preferably Protestants. From the American theocratic viewpoint, the Indians either had no religion or they were denizens of the Christian devil. In1883, Henry M. Teller, the Secretary of the Interior (the Cabinet officer in charge of Indian affairs) called for the heathen practices of American Indians to be eradicated. On the reservations Indian agents were to compel the discontinuance of dances and feasts. Teller also claimed: “Another great hindrance to the civilization of the Indians, is the influence of the medicine men.” With the aid of a group of Methodist ministers, the Indian Religious Crimes Code became law in 1884 and all American Indian religious practices became illegal. A Court of Indian Offenses was created to deal with violations. Indians who were found guilty of participating in traditional religious ceremonies were to be imprisoned for 30 days. The pressure for the Yavapai to change intensified in 1885 when the U.S. Army officers took over the management of the San Carlos Reservation. The army officers in charge of the reservation increased interference with the traditional Apache and Yavapai healing practices. The officers felt that the traditional beliefs and practices regarding healing were ignorant and dangerous. As with other Yuman-speaking tribes, dreams or visions were extremely important in Yavapai spirituality. The power for success as a warrior, shaman, singer, or chief came from dreams rather than formal training or learning. The power might not come in a single dream but may be revealed in a series of dreams. Among the Yavapai, a true vision occurs only when the recipient falls down into a trance and then recounts what was seen in the altered condition. In 1887, the noted Yavapai healer Echawamahu began to spend his days wandering away from his San Carlos Reservation camp. He muttered to himself and looked skyward. He returned in the evening, carrying flowers, and then was gone again in the morning. He went to another world, but the Great Spirit sent him back to tell the people about coming changes. Echawamahu called a number of Yavapai and Apache to his camp and gave them specific instructions. In his book Surviving Conquest: A History of the Yavapai Peoples, Timothy Braatz reports: “People from four camps were to approach from the four cardinal directions, then be seated in rows. They were to select four young women to come dressed in white, wearing eagle feathers in their hair. The chosen women would sprinkle dust on each of the seated participants, and then the entire crowd, one by one, would sprinkle dust on Echawamahu.” If the people believed and did as they were told, Echawamahu told them, then the Great Spirit would restore their lands. According to some stories, the Americans were to be struck by a great plague and the government buildings would sink into the ground. If the people would come to a certain place and then dance through the night, then they would be able to return to their homelands. When a large earthquake struck the reservation many Yavapai and Apache were convinced that Echawamahu was speaking the truth. More than 1,000 Indians gathered at a spring known as Coyote Hole for nightly dancing. The dancing did not bring about the destruction of the Americans: there was no plague, the reservation buildings continue to stand, there was no great fire, the Americans continued to suppress the people. However, the Americans noticed the dancing, did not look favorably upon it (American Indian religious activities were not to be tolerated so that Indians could learn about American religious freedom), and called for a military investigation of the movement. While Echawamahu’s religious movement was relatively short-lived among the Yavapai, it did set in motion the glacially-fast bureaucratic movement which would return them to their homeland. General Nelson Miles was the army officer called in to investigate this new, illegal, religious movement on the San Carlos Reservation. While the movement was essentially over by the time he arrived, he did interview a number of Yavapai leaders. Coquannathacka, Pakota, Paguala, Eschetlepan, and Snook pled for a return to their homeland. Miles told them that he did not have the authority to order their relocation, but that he would make recommendations to high-level officials in the government. This marked the beginning of their journey home. Timothy Braatz writes: “The dancing that Echawamahu inspired did not cause San Carlos to burn, but it may have contributed ultimately to the Yavapais’ being allowed to leave San Carlos.” More about American Indian religions Indians 201: Kennekuk, Kickapoo leader and prophet Indians 201: Nakaidoklini, Apache spiritual leader Indians 201: Handsome Lake, Seneca Prophet Indians 301: Smohalla's Dreamer Religion Indians 201: Neolin, the Delaware Prophet Indians 201: Skolaskin, a Sanpoil Prophet [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/10/12/2198541/-Indians-301-A-Yavapai-messiah?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=more_community&pm_medium=web Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/