inculcated by the teaching of any priest or shaman. Yet the Pueblos show
a great advance over many primitive tribes in that their legends and
their priests reiterate constantly the idea that 'prayer is not
effective except the heart be good.'"

[Footnote 18: Coolidge, Mary Roberts, The Rain-makers: Houghton Mifflin
Co., New York, 1929, p. 203.]




VIII. CEREMONIES; GENERAL DISCUSSION

* * * * *

=Beliefs and Ceremonials=

The beliefs of a tribe, philosophical, religious, and magical, are, for
the most part, expressed in objective ceremonies. The formal procedure
or ritual is essentially a representation or dramatization of the main
idea, usually based upon a narrative. Often the ceremony opens with or
is preceded by the narration of the myth on which it is based, or the
leader may merely refer to it on the assumption that everyone present
knows it.

As to the purpose of the ceremony, there are those who maintain that
entertainment is the main incentive, but the celebration or holiday
seems to be a secondary consideration according to the explanation of
the primitives themselves.