Gentle And Peaceable As They Are, They Have A Great
Admiration For Fierceness And Courage; And The Bear, Which Is The
Strongest, Fiercest, And Most Courageous Animal Known To Them, Has
Probably In All Ages Inspired Them With Veneration.
Some of their
rude chants are in praise of the bear, and their highest eulogy on
a man is to compare him to a bear.
Thus Shinondi said of Benri,
the chief, "He is as strong as a bear," and the old Fate praising
Pipichari called him "The young bear."
In all Aino villages, specially near the chief's house, there are
several tall poles with the fleshless skull of a bear on the top of
each, and in most there is also a large cage, made grid-iron
fashion, of stout timbers, and raised two or three feet from the
ground. At the present time such cages contain young but well-
grown bears, captured when quite small in the early spring. After
the capture the bear cub is introduced into a dwelling-house,
generally that of the chief, or sub-chief, where it is suckled by a
woman, and played with by the children, till it grows too big and
rough for domestic ways, and is placed in a strong cage, in which
it is fed and cared for, as I understand, till the autumn of the
following year, when, being strong and well-grown, the Festival of
the Bear is celebrated. The customs of this festival vary
considerably, and the manner of the bear's death differs among the
mountain and coast Ainos, but everywhere there is a general
gathering of the people, and it is the occasion of a great feast,
accompanied with much sake and a curious dance, in which men alone
take part.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 346 of 417
Words from 94892 to 95186
of 115002
