Note 105 — THE ETHNOLOGY OF PEYOTISM

There are specific and detailed rules about passing the paraphernalia. Ordinarily, save in the case of the leader and his assistant at the opening song, etc., the paraphernalia (here the staff) never move counter-clockwise. The drum always passes inside the staff, i.e., proximally, the staff at arm’s length in the left hand, the drum being passed under it with the right, when for any reason this occurs. The symbolism of this is perhaps obvious. A man may not be the singer more than once in a round, but he may be successively drummer, singer and drummer. (Though the staff may not go backward, the drum may, and in this case A receiving the staff, passes the drum with his right hand under his outstretched left, from the man on his right to the man on his left, B. A then sings to B’s drumming; the staff is then passed forward from A to B, and the drum exchanged or passed backward from B to A, this time A drumming and B singing. Still going clockwise, the staff may be passed from B to C, and the drum from A to B, C singing this time and B drumming a second time.)