Nez Perce Traditions
How very misty Indian traditions look back of the third generation from the present. As We try to gather up the myths and customs of the past.  Tradition Says there was a time before the people came. that the animals represented the people and were gifted with speach. but after the people  came animals were silent. How human like the friendships, dislikes, revenges. & love affairs of the animals were. The over reaching cunningness of the ki yote. in particular as well as that of his cousin the fox is evident in all their traditions If you ask how long this period lasted answer is Koon? dont now. The kioyte was constantly saying Na ti tam he wah yam. The people are coming the people are coming - The animals began to question in their councils. And what will become of us Where will We go to? Answers were ready. the bear said I go to the mountain and hide a part of the time in a hole the beavr said I can hide part of the time in the Water. the birds said We will make our nests high up in the branches of the trees. When the people came the animals were have been silent ever afterward. Their tradition of the animals first, would suit Darwin. According to the peoples statement the Tewats? a medicine men in former ages were Skunks the Chiefs Kiyotes they have the different kinds of people back.

Name

A child did not receive its name until six, seven or Eight years old. up to that time had some pet name or only My child - "my darling" then the Spirit of the wind "Alla yim yah" gave him a name So the first names were all given him in after generations the boy was called usually after the fathers people. the girls after the mothers. if there was any debate about the childs name wether it should be called after father or Mothers people it was settled at the next Feast for the dead by father or Mother taking Something there as a blanket. & after the distribution of all that belonged to the dead was made, the parent Would hold up the gift or shew it - announce So I wish My childs name to be - an Old Woman or man would Say Ah. then all would say Ah. the gift was laid down for any one to take up the child was ever after called by that name. The child was then told enough when named to see any peculiarity about it & give it an appropriate name. Sometimes a person rejected the name by which he was called and wanted it changed. He could do this by making a present at a Feast for the dead if the people consented to it.

Mens names were from the large birds, fierce animals, Womans names from the lesser animals & birds or from the land if from the land has the suffix Mah, my All tribes use the names of bear. Wolf goose Eagle for mens names. Koyate is in evidence all through Nez Perce traditions, proclaiming himself at all times to be invulnerable. "I may be killed or drowned twenty times but still I live" he was the chief of the larger animals. Ale tup nin (mink) chief of the smaller furred animals. Original names were from Alla yim nah, Spirit of Wind Ah lew yah (Winter) or heat or any of the roots. variations in meaning were made usually by suffixes. Chiefs names were from large birds, beasts & Sun no names from the moon (Moon is simply the sun of the night.) Children or people given names from some striking peculiarity seen about them. As Timps te te lew -- (large cherries.) Hin ma tom Selu (lightnings eyes) Many outlandish names with seemingly no reason for the name she kam tsits kan (horses blanket) Mat si you poh it (five ears) Et pa lat ket a name sung to keep the bad from going down to death. they had a vague idea of a place of sorrow where the bad spirits were. No talk of the Happy hunting Ground.

Wy ya kin - or attending spirit

When the child was 6, 7, 8 years old he was sent off to the mountains alone to get his or her Wy ya kin or attending Spirit And with it a new name. he was to remain there night as well as day without any thing to eat until some animal or bird would come and speak to him - then he was free to return - A feather of that species of bird or tail of the kind of animal that talked to him - was to be kept or worn throughout life as a symbol of his attending Spirit - no arrow could kill him. he was invulnerable while he kept it and trusted it. And how they held to that feather or tail how hard to throw it away after the Gospel came - One Woman who had burried one child after another until perhaps the eight was to be carried to the grave. At the funeral Rachel whispered to Me We think she has not thrown away her Wy a kin but is hiding it some where is the reason her children die. The people tell yet how afraid they were to go alone to the mountains for their Wy a kin. All did it. it was intended to give them courage. All a limyah (the spirit of the mountain) was all important in this matter he it was who sent the bird or animal to speak to the child. Some times from sheer exhaustion the child fell asleep and in his dreams saw the Wy a kin. In after life the christian has scruples about eating his Wy a kin reminding us.   We need the same charity for the weak brother Nez Perce that that Paul had for his weak brethren at Corinth If Meat make My brother to offend &

Te wats Sorcerers
When were they not? Where did they come from? some of the Nez Perce would answere from the devil, they belive in a personal devil. and these are his emesaries. The earliest worship that any one can tell about was a kind of devil worship in which the Tewats figured largely. they could carry red hot stones around in the palm of the hand and not be burnt, could swallow hot arrow heads without harm. We are aware they are hard to kill, so determined to hold on to their power over the people. Both the law and the Gospel has been tried upon them And still they live, (in a poor dying condition). Dear Mrs Abraham one of our godliest Women met a Te wat "Tas wa ki ikt" in my house. Said her hand & arm after shaking hands with him was numb & paralized for weeks.  A Te wat in the olden time could kill with his eye! even at a distance. he had but to stand and gaze steadily at a person, saying, "You will be in your grave before this time next year" and Sure enough he would be there, nothing could lift that weak hearted one above that prophecy. The beginning of a mans te wat ship was when he met his wy a kin when a boy on the mountains. Many medicine dances and much trying of power and skill of the Would be Te wat must be gone through before the people receive him as a Big Te wat. they use some medicine, roots or herbs but the faith of the subject must not rest on this, but in the man. his incantations and manipulations He wants helpers, the more the better, the beating on the old skin, the circle on the ground. swaying of their bodies and chanting. they expect to make weak the spirit of the evil one in the possessed one sometimes the spirit is another Tewat. then it is a trial of strength between the two the sent for Tewat and the Tewat inside of the sick one. sometimes even thechristian perhaps a mother after she has tried the skill of the white man without benefit, finds the tempter at her side in the lonely watches, sugesting the old time way the Te wat and as a last resort to try to save her child, the Tewat is sent for, or she wraps up her child and carries it to him. It is well she has a patient Lord who knows how warped and woven in her nature is the old time ways. he is more charitable than the Session of the church before whom she must appear or be suspended.In civilizing, christianizing any tribe both the Te wats and chiefs must be killed, all the same their power over the people must be destroyed before they can be any thing but serfs. The chiefs are easier to get out of the way than the Te wats. One is in direct opposition to citizenship the other to religion. The Tewats were flourishing before the chiefs. They come out of the Egypt part of their history or out of the darkness which enshrouds the very earliest history of the Indian tribes. These Te wats do not sweat sing, dance, beat the drum for love but for the Siller? they may be seen driving the fatest cow or leading the best horse away after a visit to the sick. There consuming ambition for power or leadership makes them die hard.