The Little Water Medicine Society of the Senecas (review)

The Little Water Medicine Society of the Senecas, by William N. Fenton, is the culmination of a lifetime of participant observation, research, and thought about this Seneca medicine society. Much of the ethnological fieldwork took place between 1934 and 1959, but a renewed sense of urgency is evident. Fenton is more than a professional observer collecting data—he has personal relationships with his informants and a desire to see the information contained in this book receive the "public understanding it deserves" (xix). This dissemination is paradoxical, revealing a set of ritual practices that traditional Seneca would prefer to keep secret, assuming they still know about them. "Such matters are sacred to believers, who may be disturbed to see them in print, but the materials . . . cry out for release, explanation and synthesis" (4). With this book, Fenton releases the information in raw form for others to consider, synthesize, and practice.

The introduction provides a rich context for the book, including a history of Fenton's interest and experience with the topic and the people who helped him learn. Included are references to earlier work by this author and others. Early chapters describe the relationship between the Little Water Medicine Society and other elements of traditional Seneca and Iroquoian culture. They explain the functioning of this society, its origin, and its operations. In addition to transcriptions of activities and songs, the book contains many lengthy quotes by informants and floor plan drawings to describe ritual structure in terms of spatial relationships between people and material components.

The second chapter focuses on the origin legend of the Little Water Medicine Society, a tradition shared by Northern Iroquoian groups. It involves the death and resurrection of the Good Hunter by a group of mythical animals. This legend provides the structure for practicing medicine society rituals. Two full versions of the legend, along with notes on others, provide comparative material relating to different Seneca informants and ethnohistoric records dating back to the late nineteenth century. The third chapter characterizes rituals for renewing the Little Water Medicine in detail. Renewal is critical to the efficacy of the medicine and a recurring theme in Iroquoian culture. Again, the focus is on structure, activity patterns, and variation between events as practiced at different western New York reservations between 1934 and 1959 (Cattaraugus, Allegany/Coldspring, and Tonawanda).

Fenton recounts his experiences as understudy to various Seneca tutors around 1938, having learned firsthand the finer points of ritual performance, structure, and meaning. Subsequent chapters are detailed, though repetitive, with some elements presented in outline form. They explore relationships among the medicine, its origins, and other component rituals. Fenton provides details of specific song cycles that accompany ritual sequences of activity and spatial patternings of peoples and objects from performances at different times and places. These complex relationships are murky due to the lack of synthesis, beyond that of comparing the structure of different performances. This reflects the author's learning process and the primary nature of this ethnological resource. The book contains over one hundred Seneca and English translations of songs performed by individuals and groups during observed rituals. Translations are checked through informant consultation and can serve as learning tools. The book continually addresses relations among clan, moiety, and ritual structures. Different degrees of ritual involvement and ceremonial formality add a dimension of complexity to the information presented. Appendices present translations, transcriptions, and musical scores from specific ritual segments and songs, including the tobacco-burning invocation (Appendix A).

This book will be of great interest to historians, linguists, ethnologists, members of the Seneca Nation, and to Iroquoian people in general. It provides expanded treatment of Fenton's "lifetime of looking, asking and listening to the old people" (4) regarding a sacred society that is all but forgotten.