Archive for October 13th, 2014

308. October Operas

Not all that many years ago, as the leaves began to turn and the nights grew longer, the Pawnee Indians who once lived here would hold an “opera” along the banks of the Beaver Creek. “Opera” was, of course, a word the whites gave to these performances in an attempt to capture the drama of these yearly events. But these native performances didn’t feature singers on a stage; instead they highlighted the powers of the Pawnee medicine men. Medicine men would take turns injuring people so they could demonstrate their prowess by then healing their victims.

The whites who witnessed these operas, including the venerable North brothers, Frank and Luther, who led the famed Pawnee Scouts, could only attribute these deeds to psychological manipulation – they thought the Pawnee must have somehow hypnotized the spectators, tricking them into believing they’d seen what they saw. But they had no idea how the Pawnee might have done this.

One can understand why they’d seek such an explanation – though it raised as many questions as it answered, it was still better than believing what they’d seen was real. Because what they reported they saw defied belief. Men would be shot dead and then brought back to life. Others would have their livers cut out (and eaten) and then likewise resurrected.

And while the gun used to shoot these people could have been loaded with blanks and the extraction of a liver could have been sleight-of-hand, some “tricks” were harder to explain.

For example, dirt would be gathered from the bare earthlodge floor and placed in a shallow pan. A kernel of corn would then be planted in the dust, but no water would be added. A doctor would then sing “See the corn, it is growing/See the corn, watch it grow” over and over again. Witnesses reported that in about 20 minutes time a full stalk of corn would grow from the pan and produce an ear.

Though they took great pains to find alternative explanations, in reading their reports one cannot escape the impression that, underneath it all, these white observers believed they’d witnessed genuinely magical acts.

One of the most incredible accounts the North brothers recorded didn’t even happen at an opera. One day while crossing the prairie with the Pawnee Scouts – Indians who helped the Army track hostile tribes – the group stopped by a small stream to water their horses. During this time a Pawnee picked up a handful of mud and fashioned it into the shape of a turtle. He then held it close to his mouth and breathed on it. The turtle immediately came to life. The Pawnee set it down and it crawled along the stream. (Luther North asked what would happen to the turtle. The Pawnee said it would die soon. Luther actually circled back later in the day and found the turtle dead not far from where they’d left it.)

It’s as difficult for us today to believe such things could happen as it was for the whites who actually witnessed them. But to Native Americans such magical acts were taken for granted. In a world without modern medicine, magical healing abilities were held in high regard. Such powers could be obtained through vision quests, passed down through families and even purchased with horses. No magic, though, could stop the onslaught of whites or cure the diseases they spread. And so, like so much of Native American culture, the Pawnee’s October Operas live on only in tales preserved by baffled whites.