Traditionally most Native American men had a "medicine bag", much as a white woman has a purse. Like the purse, the medicine bag - contained objects and substances which had a meaning for the owner. Mementos of events which occurred during his vision quest as a young lad would certainly be placed in there. As years went by "souvenirs" would be added. Suppose the young man found a swan’s feather (the swan being the bird that symbolized Yogasete, the creator) it could acquire an air of magic and go into the bag. Roots like calamus would also be kept in there. A braid of sweet grass, where it grew, or in the north a piece of a bracket fungus which gave off a sweetish smell when placed on red coals provided incense when the man wanted to pray in a special way. A stone, a root, or other object with a marked or fancied resemblance to an animal became a fetish-supposedly endowed with magical powers. |
