THE WAR PROPHET.

§ 124. The war prophet has been referred to. In this capacity the wakan man is a necessity. Every male Dakota 16 years old and upward is a soldier, and is formally and mysteriously enlisted into the service of the war prophet. From him he receives the implements of war, carefully constructed after models furnished from the armory of the gods, painted after a divine prescription, and charged with a missive virtue—the tonwan—of the divinities. From him he also receives those paints which serve as an armature for the body. To obtain these necessary articles the proud applicant is required for a time to abuse himself and serve him, while he goes through a series of painful and exhausting performances which are necessary on his part to enlist the favorable notice of the gods. These performances consist chiefly of vapor baths, fastings, chants, prayers, and nightly vigils. The spear and the tomahawk being prepared and consecrated, the person who is to receive them approaches the wakan man and presents a pipe to him. He asks a favor, in substance as follows: “Pity thou me, poor and helpless, a woman, and confer on me the ability to perform manly deeds.” The prophet gives him the weapons and tells him not to forget his vows to the gods when he returns in triumph, a man. The weapons are carefully preserved by the warrior. They are wrapped in cloth, togetherwith the sacred pigments. In fair weather they are laid outside of the lodge every day. They must never be touched by an adult female.[126]

§ 125. Lynd’s account is slightly different, though in substantial accord with the preceding one:

When a youth arrives at the age proper for going on the warpath he first purifies himself by fasting and the inipi or steam bath for three days, and then goes, with tears in his eyes, to some wakan man whose influence is undoubted, and prays that he will present him with the wotawe or consecrated armor. This wakan man is usually some old and experienced zuya wakan or sacred war leader. After a time the armor is presented to the young man, but until it is so presented he must fast and continue his purifications incessantly. It is a singular fact that nothing but the spear of this armor is ever used in battle, though it is always carried when the owner accompanies a war party. At the same time that the old man presents the armor he tells the youth to what animal it is dedicated, and enjoins upon him to hold that animal wakan. He must never harm or kill it, even though starvation threaten him. At all times and under all circumstances the taboo or wohduze is upon it, until by slaying numerous enemies it is gradually removed. By some the animal is held sacred during life, the taboo being voluntarily retained.[127](See §§ 101, 127.)

§ 126. These are similar to the armor gods, in that they are divinities who act as guardian spirits. Each of these powers is appropriated by a single individual, protecting and aiding him, and receiving his worship. These spirits are conferred at the time of initiation into the order of the Mystery Dance, and of course are confined to the members of that order.[128]Each spirit of the mystery sack is not a separate god, but a wakan power derived from the Unkteḣi, according to a later statement of Riggs.[129]

§ 127. This is a form of the wakan which jugglers, so-called mystery men, and war prophets invoke. In their estimation he is the most powerful of their gods; the one most to be feared and propitiated, since, more than all others, he influences human weal and woe. He is supposed to live in the four winds, and the four black spirits of night do his bidding. The consecrated spear and tomahawk (see § 124) are its weapons. The buzzard, raven, fox, wolf, and other animals are its lieutenants, to produce disease and death.[130](Compare this with some of the pictographs on the war chart of the Kansa tribe: Fig. 4, Wind songs; the connection between the winds and war is shown in § 33. Fig. 8, Deer songs. Fig. 9, an Elk song. Fig. 10, seven songs of the Wakanda who makes night songs. Fig. 11, five songs of the Big Rock. This is a rough red rock near Topeka, Kans. “This rock has a hard body, like that of a wakanda. May you walk like it.” Fig. 12, Wolf songs. Thewolf howls at night. Fig. 13, Moon songs. Fig. 14, Crow songs. The crow flies around a dead body which it wishes to devour. Fig. 18, Shade songs. There is a Wakanda who makes shade. Fig. 20, song of the Small Rock. Fig. 22, songs of the young Moon. Fig. 23, songs of the Buffalo Bull. Fig. 27, Owl songs. The owl hoots at night.[131])

§ 128. Miss Fletcher has given us a very interesting account of “The Religious Ceremony of the Four Winds or Quarters, as observed by the Santee Sioux.” “Among the Santee (Sioux) Indians the Four Winds are symbolized by the raven and a small black stone, less than a hen’s egg in size.” “An intelligent Santee said to me: ‘The worship of the Four Winds is the most difficult to explain for it is the most complicated.’ The Four Winds are sent by the ‘Something that Moves.’”[132]There is a “Something that Moves” at each of the four directions or quarters. The winds are, therefore, the messengers or exponents of the powers which remain at the four quarters. These four quarters are spoken of as upholding the earth,[133]and are connected with thunder and lightning as well as the wind.[134]* * *

“My informant went on to tell me that the spirits of the four winds were not one, but twelve, and they are spoken of as twelve.”[135](See § 42.)

§ 129. In Tah-koo Wah-kon, pp. 64, 65, Riggs says:

This god is too subtle in essence to be perceived by the senses, and is as subtle in disposition. He is present everywhere. He exerts a controlling influence over instinct, intellect, and passion. He can rob a man of the use of his rational faculties, and inspire a beast with intelligence, so that the hunter will wander idiot-like, while the game on which he hoped to feast his family at night escapes with perfect ease. Or, if he please, the god can reverse his influence. He is much gratified to see men in trouble, and is particularly glad when they die in battle or otherwise. Passionate and capricious in the highest degree, it is very difficult to retain his favor. His symbol and supposed residence is the bowlder (see Big Rock and Small Rock, § 127), as it is also of another god, the Tunkan.

Pond assigns to him the armor feast and inipi or vapor bath (called steam or sweat bath). He says:[136]

The armor feast is of ordinary occurrence when the provisions are of sufficient abundance to support it, in which the warriors assemble and exhibit the sacred implements of war, to which they burn incense around the smoking sacrifice.

§ 130. In October, 1881, the late S. D. Hinman read a paper before the Anthropological Society of Washington, entitled “The Stone God orOracle of the Pute-temni band of Hunkpati Dakotas.” He said that this oracle had been seen by him while on an expedition with some Dakotas across the James River valley in Dakota Territory. A Hunkpati man of the party gave the history of the stone and an account of its miraculous movement from the Sacred Hill to the old dirt lodge village. This oracle was called the Takuśkaŋśkaŋ.

§ 131. But the Takuśkaŋśkaŋ assumed other shapes. Said Bushotter, in one of his Teton texts:

The Lakotas regard certain small stones or pebbles as mysterious, and it is said that in former days a man had one as his helper or servant. There are two kinds of these mysterious stones (i.e., pebbles, not rocks). One is white, resembling ice or glass (i.e., is probably translucent; compare the translucent pebbles of the Iⁿ-ʞugȼi order of the Omaha, see Om. Soc., p. 346); the other resembles ordinary stones. It is said that one of them once entered a lodge and struck a man, and people spoke of the stones sending in rattles through the smoke hole of a lodge. When anything was missed in the village the people appealed to the stones for aid, and the owner of one of the stones boiled food for a mystery feast, to which the people came. Then they told the stone of their loss and the stone helped them. It is said that the stones brought back different messages. If anyone stole horses the stones always revealed his name. Once the Omahas came to steal horses, but the stones knew about them and disappointed their secret plans; so that the Lakotas learned to prize the stones, and they decorated them with paint, wrapped them up, and hung a bunch of medicine with each one.

It is very probable that the Assiniboin also worshipped the Takuśkaŋśkaŋ; for they reverenced the four winds, as Smet tells us.[137]

§ 132. It has been said by Lynd[138]that the western tribes (probably the Teton, Yanktonai, Yankton, etc.), neglect the Unkteḣi, and pay their main devotion to Tunkan or Invan, answering to the Hindoo Lingam.

Tunkan, the Dakotas say, is the god that dwells in stones and rocks, and is the oldest god. If asked why he is considered the oldest, they will tell you because he is the hardest—an Indian’s reason. The usual form of the stone employed in worship is round, and it is about the size of the human head. The devout Dakota paints this Tunkan red, putting colored swan’s down upon it, and then he falls down and worships the god that is supposed to dwell in it or hover near it.[139]The Tunkan is painted red (see § 136) as a sign of active worship.[140]In cases of extremity I have ever noticed that they appeal to their Tunkan or stone god, first and last, and they do this even after the ceremonies of the medicine dance have been gone through with. All Sioux agree in saying that the Tunkan is the main recipient of their prayers; and among the Tetons, Mandans, Yanktons, and Western Dakotas they pray to that and the spirit of the buffalo almost entirely.[141]

§ 133. Riggs says:[142]

“The Inyan or Toon-kan is the symbol of the greatest force or power in the dry land. And these came to be the most common objects of worship. Large bowlders were selected and adorned with red and green (sic) paint, whither the devoutDakota might go to pray and offer his sacrifice. And smaller stones were often found, set up on end and properly painted, around which lay eagles’ feathers, tobacco, and red cloth. Once I saw a small dog that had been recently sacrificed. In all their incantations and dances, notably in the circle dance, the painted stone is the god supplicated and worshipped with fear and trembling.”

§ 134. Long tells of a gigantic stone figure resembling a human being, which he found on the bank of Kickapoo Creek. The Indians made offerings to it of tobacco and other objects.[143]

§ 135. Rev. Horace C. Hovey says:[144]

“It was the custom of the Dakotas to worship bowlders when in perplexity and distress. Clearing a spot from grass and brush they would roll a bowlder on it, streak it with paint, deck it with feathers and flowers, and then pray to it for needed help or deliverance. Usually when such a stone had served its purpose its sacredness was gone. But the peculiarity of the stone now described is that from generation to generation it was a shrine to which pilgrimages and offerings were made. Its Indian name, ‘Eyah Shah,’ simply means the ‘Red Rock,’ and is the same term by which they designate catlinite, or the red pipe clay. The rock itself is not naturally red, being merely a hard specimen of granite, symmetrical in shape, and about 5 feet long by 3 feet thick. The Indians also called it ‘waukon’ (mystery) and speculated as to its origin. * * * The particular clan that claimed this rude altar was known as the Mendewakantons. Although being but 2 miles below the village of the Kaposias, it was to some extent resorted to by them likewise.[145]The hunting ground of the clan was up the St. Croix, and invariably before starting they would lay an offering on Eyah Shah. Twice a year the clan would meet more formally, when they would paint the stone with vermilion, or, as some say, with blood, then trim it with flowers and feathers, and dance around it before sunrise with chants and prayers. Their last visit was in 1862, prior to the massacre that occurred in August of that year. Since that date, the stripes were renewed three years ago. I counted the stripes and found them twelve in number, each about 2 inches wide, with intervening spaces from 2 to 6 inches wide. By the compass, Eyah Shah lies exactly north and south. It is twelve paces from the main bank of the Mississippi, at a point 6 miles below St. Paul. The north end is adorned by a rude representation of the sun with fifteen rays.”

§ 136. Bushotter writes thus:

“Sometimes a stone, painted red all over, is laid within the lodge and hair is offered to it. In cases of sickness they pray to the stone, offering to it tobacco or various kinds of good things, and they think that the stone hears them when they sacrifice to it. As the steam arose when they made a fire on a stone, the Dakotas concluded that stones had life, the steam being their breath, and that it was impossible to kill them.”

FIG. 188.—Bear Butte, South Dakota. (Copyright by Grabill, 1890.)

§ 137. Eight miles from Fort Meade, S. Dakota, is Mato tipi, Grizzly bear Lodge, known to the white people as Bear Butte. It can be seen from a distance of a hundred miles. Of this landmark Bushotter writes thus:

“The Teton used to camp at a flat-topped mountain, and pray to it. This mountainhad many large rocks on it, and a pine forest at the summit. The children prayed to the rocks as if to their guardian spirits, and then placed some of the smaller ones between the branches of the pine trees. I was caused to put a stone up a tree. Some trees had as many as seven stones apiece. No child repeated the ceremony of putting a stone up in the tree; but on subsequent visits to the Butte he or she wailed for the dead, of whom the stones were tokens.” (See § 304.)

§ 138. The sun as well as the moon is called “wi” by the Dakota and Assiniboin tribes. In order to distinguish between the two bodies, the former is called aŋpetu wi, day moon, and the latter, haŋhepi wi or haŋyetu wi, night moon. The corresponding term in Ȼegiha is miⁿ, which is applied to both sun and moon, though the latter is sometimes called niaⁿba. “The moon is worshiped rather as the representative of the sun, than separately. Thus, in the sun dance, which is held in the full of the moon, the dancers at night fix their eyes on her.”[146]

§ 139. According to Smet[147]—

The sun is worshiped by the greater number of the Indian tribes as the author of light and heat. The Assiniboins consider it likewise to be the favorite residence of the Master of Life. They evidence a great respect and veneration for the sun, but rarely address it. On great occasions, they offer it their prayers, but only in a low tone. Whenever they light the calumet, they offer the sun the first whiffs of its smoke.

This last must refer to what Smet describes on p. 136 as the great “festival lasting several days,” during which the “high priest” offers the calumet to“the Great Spirit, to the sun, to each of the four cardinal points, to the water, and to the land, with words analogous to the benefits which they obtain from each.

§ 140. Bushotter, in his Teton text, says:

They prayed to the sun, and they thought that with his yellow eye he saw all things, and that when he desired he went under the ground.

Riggs states in Tah-koo Wah-kon (p. 69):

Although as a divinity, the sun is not represented as a malignant being, yet the worship given him is the most dreadful which the Dakotas offer. Aside from the sun dance, there is another proof of the divine character ascribed to the sun in the oath taken by some of the Dakotas: “As the sun hears me, this is so.”

§ 141. Pond[148]gave an account of the sun dance obtained from Riggs, in which occurs the following: “The ceremonies of the sun dance commence in the evening. I have been under the impression that the time of the full moon was selected, but I am now (1867) informed that it is not essential.” Neither Capt. Bourke (§§ 197-210) nor Bushotter speaks of the time of the full moon. In Miss Fletcher’s account of the Oglala sun dance of 1882,[149]she says: “The festival generally occurs in the latter part of June or early in July and lasts about six days. The time is fixed by the budding of theArtemisia ludoviciana.” (See §§ 138, 150.)

§ 142. Lynd writes:[150]

The wiwanyag wacipi, or worship of the sun as a divinity, is evidently one of the most radical bases of Dakota religion. It has a subordinate origin in the wihanmnapi, or dreaming, and is intimately connected with the hanmdepi, or vision hunting. This most ancient of all worships, though it is of very frequent occurrence among the Dakotas, does not take place at stated intervals, as among the old nations of the East, nor does the whole tribe participate in the ceremonies. It is performed by one person alone, such of his relatives and friends assisting in the ceremonies as may deem fit or as he may designate. Preparatory to this, as to all the other sacred ceremonies of the Dakotas, are fasting and purification. The dance commences with the rising of the sun and continues for three days, or until such time as the dreaming worshiper shall receive a vision from the spirit or divinity of the sun. He faces the sun constantly, turning as it turns, and keeping up a constant blowing with a wooden whistle. A rude drum is beaten at intervals, to which he keeps time with his feet, raising one after the other, and bending his body towards the sun. Short intervals of rest are given during the dance. The mind of the worshiper is fixed intently upon some great desire that he has, and is, as it were, isolated from the body. In this state the dancer is said to receive revelations from the sun, and to hold direct intercourse with that deity. If the worshiper of this luminary, however, should fail to receive the desired revelation before the close of the ceremonies, then self-sacrifice is resorted to, and the ceremonies of the hanmdepi become a part of the worship of the sun.

§ 143. Several accounts of the sun dance have been published within the past twenty years, but they have, without exception, been written by white persons. The following differs in one respect from all which have preceded it; it was written in the Teton dialect of the Dakota, byGeorge Bushotter, a Teton. As he did not furnish his description of the dance in a single text, but in several, which were written on different occasions, it devolved on the present writer to undertake an arrangement of the material after translating it. The accompanying illustrations were made by Mr. Bushotter.

§ 144.Object of the sun dance.—The Dakota name for the sun dance is “Wi waⁿ-yañg wa-tci-pi (Wi waŋyaŋg waćipi),” literally, “Sun looking-at they-dance.” The following are assigned as the reasons for celebrating this dance: During any winter when the people suffer from famine or an epidemic, or when they wish to kill any enemy, or they desire horses or an abundance of fruits and vegetables during the coming summer, different Indians pray mentally to the sun, and each one says, “Well, I will pray to Wakantanka early in the summer.” Throughout the winter all those men who have made such vows take frequent baths in sweat lodges. Each of these devotees or candidates invites persons to a feast, on which occasion he joins his guests in drinking great quantities of various kinds of herb teas. Then the host notifies the guests of his vow, and from that time forward the people treat him with great respect.

§ 145.Rules observed by households.—The members of the households of the devotees always abstain from loud talking and from bad acts of various kinds. The following rules must be observed in the lodge of each devotee: A piece of the soil is cut off between the back of the lodge and the fireplace, and when virgin earth is reached vermilion is scattered over the exposed place. When the men smoke their pipes and have burned out all of the tobacco in their pipe bowls, they must not throw away the ashes as they would common refuse; they must be careful to empty the ashes on the exposed earth at the back of the lodge. No one ventures to step on that virgin earth, and not even a hand is ever stretched toward it. Only the man who expects to participate in the sun-dance can empty the ashes there, and after so doing he returns each pipe to its owner.

§ 146.The “U-ma-ne.”—“The mellowed earth space, U-ma-ne in Dakota, and called by some peculiar names in other tribes, has never been absent from any religions exercise I have yet seen or learned of from the Indians. It represents the unappropriated life or power of the earth, hence man may obtain it. The square or oblong, with the four lines standing out, is invariably interpreted to mean the earth or land with the four winds standing toward it. The cross, whether diagonal or upright, always symbolizes the four winds or four quarters.”[151]

FIG. 189.—The “U-ma-ne” symbol.

Miss Fletcher uses this term, “U-ma-ne,” to denote two things: the mellowed earth space (probably answering to the u-jé-ʇi of the Omaha and Ponka) and the symbol of the earth and the four winds made within that mellowed earth space. A sketch of the latter symbol is shown in Fig. 189. (See §§ 112, 155, etc.; also Contr. N. A. Ethn., Vol. VI,—471-475.)

§ 147.Rules observed by the devotee.—During the time of preparation the devotee goes hunting, and if he kills a deer or buffalo he cuts up the body in a “wakan” manner. He skins it, but leaves the horns attached to the skull. He reddens the skin all over, and in the rear of the lodge, in the open air, he prepares a bed of wild sage (Artemisia), on which he lays the skull. He erects a post, on which he hangs a tobacco pouch and a robe that is to be offered as a sacrifice. When the devotee takes a meal everything which he touches must be perfectly clean. He uses a new knife, which no one else dares to handle. Whatever he eats must be prepared in the best possible manner by the other members of the household. They make for him a new pipe ornamented with porcupine work, a new tobacco pouch, and a stick for pushing the tobacco down into the bowl, both ornamented in like manner.

§ 148. The devotee must not go swimming, but he can enter the sweat-lodge. There he rubs his body all over with wild sage; he cannot use calico or cotton for that purpose. No unclean person of either sex must go near him. The devotee is prohibited from fighting, even should the camp be attacked. He must not act hastily, but at all times must he proceed leisurely. He has his regular periods for crying and praying.[152]

§ 149. All his female kindred make many pairs of moccasins and collect money and an abundance of all kinds of goods, in order to give presents to poor people at the time of the sun dance. Then they can make gifts to whomsoever they please, and on that account they will win the right to have a child’s ears pierced. The goods or horses, on account of which the child’s ears are to be pierced, are reserved for that occasion at some other place. The man whose office it will be to pierce the children’s ears has to be notified in advance that his services will be required. (See § 205.)

§ 150. When the devotees have performed all the preliminary duties required of them, messages are sent to all the neighboring tribes,i. e., the Omaha, Pawnee Loup, Cheyenne, Ree, Hidatsa, Blackfeet, Nez Percé, Winnebago, Yankton, and Santee. The latter part of June is fixed upon as the time for the dance. (See §§ 138, 141.) The visitors from the different nations begin to come together in the spring, each visiting tribe forming its separate camp. Though some of the visitors are hereditary enemies, it matters not during the sun-dance; they visit one another; they shake hands and form alliances. In this manner several weeks are spent very pleasantly.

§ 151. Policemen are appointed, and a crier proclaims to each lodge that at a specified place there is a broad and pleasant prairie whereall are expected to pitch their tents. The overseers or masters of ceremonies have guns, and their orders are obeyed; for if one disobeys his horses and dogs are killed by the policemen. This punishment is called akićita wićaktepi, or, in common parlance, “soldier-killing.”

All who join the camp must erect the upright (or conical) tents, as no low rush or mat tents, such as are found among the Osage and Winnebago, are allowed in the camp circle.

§ 152. At length orders are given for all the people to pitch their tents in the form of a tribal circle, with an opening to the north.[153](See Pl. XLV.) It takes several days to accomplish this, and then all the men and youths are required to take spades and go carefully over the whole area within the circle and fill up all the holes and uneven places which might cause the horses to stumble and fall.

§ 153. Though Bushotter has written that this work requires several days, it is probable, judging from what follows in his manuscript, that only two days are required for such work. For he continues thus:

On the third day some men are selected to go in search of the Ćan-wakan or Mystery Tree, out of which they are to form the sun pole.[154]These men must be selected from those who are known to be brave, men acquainted with the war path, men who have overcome difficulties, men who have been wounded in battle, men of considerable experience.

§ 154. The men selected to fell the mystery tree ride very swift horses, and they decorate their horses and attire themselves just as if they were going to battle. They put on their feather war bonnets. They race their horses to a hill and then back again. In former days it was customary on such occasions for any women who had lost children during some previous attack on the camp, to wail often as they ran towards the mounted men, and to sing at intervals as they went. But that is not the custom at the present day. Three times do the mounted men tell of their brave deeds in imitation of the warriors of the olden times, and then they undertake to represent their own deeds in pantomime.

§ 155. On the fourth day, the selected men go to search for the mystery tree. They return to camp together, and if they have found a suitable tree, they cut out pieces of the soil within the camping circle, going down to virgin earth. (See § 146.) This exposed earth extends over a considerable area. On it they place a species of sweet-smellinggrass (a trailing variety) and wild sage, on which they lay the buffalo skull.

§ 156. After this there is set up within the camping circle a good tent known as the tent of preparation.[155]When the managers wish to set up the tent of preparation, they borrow tent skins here and there. Part of these tent skins they use for covering the smoke hole, and part were used as curtains, for when they decorate the candidates they use the curtains for shutting them in from the gaze of the people and when they finish painting them they throw down the curtains.

In the back part of this tent of preparation are placed the buffalo skulls, one for each candidate. A new knife which has never been used is exposed to smoke. A new ax, too, is reddened and smoked.

§ 157. Wild sage (Artemisia) is used in various ways prior to and during the sun dance. Some of it they spread on the ground to serve as couches, and with some they wipe the tears from their faces. They fumigate with the plant known as “ćaŋ śilśilya,” or else they use “walipe waśtema,” sweet-smelling leaves. Day after day they fumigate themselves with “waćaŋġa,” a sweet-smelling grass. They hold every object which they use over the smoke of one of these grasses. They wear a kind of medicine on their necks, and that keeps them from being hungry or thirsty, for occasionally they chew a small quantity of it. Or if they tie some of this medicine to their feet they do not get weary so soon.[156]

§ 158. When the tent of preparation is erected, there are provided for it new tent pins, new sticks for fastening the tent skins together above the entrance, and new poles for pushing out the flaps beside the smoke hole. These objects and all others, which had to be used, are brought into the tent of preparation and fumigated over a fire into which the medicine has been dropped. By this time another day has been spent. Now all the candidates assemble in the tent of preparation, each one wearing a buffalo robe with the hair outside. One who acts as leader sits in the place of honor at the back part of the tent, and the others sit on either side of him around the fireplace. They smoke their pipes. When night comes they select one of the songs of the sun dance, in order to rehearse it. Certain men have been chosen as singers of the dancing songs, and, when one set of them rest, there are others to take their places. The drummers beat the drum rapidly, but softly (as the Teton call it, kpaŋkpaŋyela, the act of several drummers hitting in quick succession).

Bureau of Ethnology.

Eleventh Annual Report. Plate XLV

GAST LITH. CO.

CAMPING CIRCLE AT THE TIME OF THE SUN-DANCE.

Three times do they beat the drums in that manner, and then they beat it rapidly, as at the beginning of the sun dance. At this juncture,as many as have flutes—made of the bones of eagles’ wings, ornamented with porcupine quills, and hung around their necks, with cords similarly ornamented, with some eagle down at the tip ends of the flutes—blow them often and forcibly as they dance. While the drum is beaten three times in succession (kpaŋkpaŋyela, as has been described), all the candidates cry aloud (ćeya), but when it is beaten the fourth time, they cry or wail no longer, but dance and blow their flutes or whistles.

FIG. 190.—Eaglewing flute. (From original, loaned by Capt. J. G. Bourke, U. S. A.)

§ 159. When the candidates take their seats in the tent of preparation, they select a man to fill the pipe with tobacco. When they wish to smoke, this man passes along the line of candidates. He holds the pipe with the mouthpiece toward each man, who smokes without grasping the pipe stem.[157]

When the candidates are allowed to eat, the attendant feeds them. No one can be loquacious within the tent of preparation. If a dog or person approaches the tent, the offender is chased away before he can reach it. No spectators are allowed to enter the tent. And this regulation is enforced by blows, whenever anyone attempts to violate it.

§ 160. The next morning, which is that of the fifth day, they prepare to go after the tree that is to serve as the sun pole.[158]The married and single men, the boys, and even the women, are all ordered to gohorseback. Whoever is able to move rapidly accompanies the party. When the chosen persons go to fell the mystery tree they rush on it as they would upon a real enemy, just as tradition relates that the Omaha and Ponka rushed on their sacred tree. (See § 42.)[159]Then they turn quickly and run from it until they arrive at the other side of the hill (nearest to the mystery tree), after which they return to the tree.[160]They tie leaves together very tightly, making a mark of the bundle, assaulting it in turn as a foe.

§ 161. The tree is reached by noon. The persons chosen to fell it whisper to one another as they assemble around it. They approach some one who has a child, and take hold of him. Then they bring robes and other goods which they spread on the ground, and on the pile they seat the child, who is sometimes a small girl, or even a large one.

§ 162. Each of the chosen men takes his turn in striking the tree. Every one must first tell his exploits, then he brandishes the ax three times without striking a blow, after which he strikes the tree once, and only once, making a gash. He leaves the ax sticking in the tree, whence it is removed by the next man. He who leaves the ax in the tree is by this act considered to make a present of a horse to some one. As soon as he gives the blow, his father (or some near kinsman) approaches and hands him a stick, whereupon the young man returns it, asking him to give it to such a one, calling him by name. For instance, let us suppose that a young man, Mato ćuwi maza, Grizzly bear with an Iron Side, requests that his stick be given to Psića waŋkantuya, or Leaping High. The old man who is employed as the crier goes to the camp and sings thus: “Mato ćuwi maza í-ya-ha-he+! Mato ćuwi maza í-ya-ha-he+!”. The last word is a sign of a brave deed on the part of the donor, and it is so understood by every one. On reaching the tent of the other man, the crier says, “Psića waŋkantuya śuŋkawakaŋ waŋ hiyo u ye+! Mato ćuwi maza ćaŋ-wakaŋ kaksa ȼa taśuŋke waŋ hiyo u ye+!” i. e., “O Leaping High, a horse is brought to you! A horse is brought to you because Mato ćuwi maza has given a blow to the mystery tree!” On hearing this, Psića waŋkantuya says, “Há-ye,” or “Thanks!” as he extends his hands with the palms towards the crier; and he brings them down toward the ground and takes the stick representing the horse. Then the crier passes along around the circle, singing the praises of the donor, and naming the man who has received the present.

§ 163. After all the chosen men have told of their deeds, and have performed their parts, the women select a man to speak of what generous things they have done, and when he has spoken, the larger women who are able to fell trees rise to their feet, and take their turns in giving one blow apiece to the tree. By the time that all the women have struck the tree it falls, and all present shout and sing. Many presents are made, and some of the people wail, making the entire forest echo their voices. Then those men who are selected for that purpose cut off all the limbs of the tree except the highest one, and they do not disturb the tree top. Wherever a branch is cut off they rub red paint on the wound.

§ 164. They make a bundle of some wood in imitation of that for which they have prayed, and hang it crosswise from the fork of the tree. Above the bundle they suspend a scarlet blanket, a buffalo robe or a weasel skin, and under the bundle they fasten two pieces of dried buffalo hide, one being cut in the shape of a buffalo, and the other in that of a man.

Though Bushotter did not state the circumstance, it is remarkable that both the figures have the membrum virile rigid. The author learned about this from two trustworthy persons, who obtained all the paraphernalia of the sun dance, and one of them, Capt. John G. Bourke, U. S. Army, showed him the figures of the man and buffalo used at the sun dance at Red Cloud Agency, in 1882. In the former figure, the lingam is of abnormal size. The connection between the phallic cult and the sun is obvious to the student. (See §§ 19, 132, 146, 155, 169, 170, 176).

§ 165. No one of the company dare to touch the sun pole as they take it to the camp. Before wagons were available, they made a horse carry most of the weight of the pole, part of it being on one side of him and part on the other, while the wakaŋ men chosen for the purpose walked on both sides of the horse in order to support the ends of the pole. (See § 317.) At the present day, a wagon is used for transporting the sun pole to the camp.[161]While they are on the way no person dares to go in advance of the pole, for whoever violates the law is in danger of being thrown from his horse and having his neck broken.

The married men and youths carry leaf shields on their backs, and some of the riders make their horses race as far as they are able. Any member of the party can appropriate the small branches which have been cut from the mystery tree.

When they reach the camp circle, all of the party who carry branches and leaves drop them in the places where they intend erecting their respective tents.

§ 166. Judging from Mr. Bushotter’s first text, the tents are not pitched when the people return with the sun pole. But as soon as they lay the pole in the place where it is to be erected, the tents are pitched again. Then all the objects that are to be attached to the sun pole are tied to it, and some of the men take leather straps, such as the women use when they carry wood and other burdens, and fasten them to the sun pole in order to raise it into position.

§ 167. This raising of the sun pole seems to be symbolic of the four winds, the tatúye tópa, or “the four quarters of the heavens,” as Dr. Riggs translates the Dakota term. Those who assist in raising the sun pole must be men who have distinguished themselves. They raise the pole a short distance from the ground, and then they shout, making an indistinct sound; they rest awhile and pull it a little higher, shouting again; resting a second time, they renew their efforts, pulling it higher still. They shout the third time, rest again, and at the fourth pull the pole is perpendicular. Then the men around the camping circle fire guns, making the horses flee. Those who raised the pole have a new spade, and they use it one after another in throwing a sufficient quantity of earth around the base of the pole, pressing the earth down firmly in order to steady the pole.

§ 168. Next follows the building of the dancing lodge. (See Pl. XLVI. and § 317.) Forked posts are set in the ground in two concentric circles. Those posts forming the circle nearer the sun pole are a few feet higher than the posts in the outer circle, thus making a slant sufficient for a roof. From the inner circle of posts to the sun pole there is no roof, as the dancers who stand near the pole must see the sun and moon. From each forked post to the next one in the same circle is laid a tent pole; and on the two series of these horizontal tent-poles are placed the saplings or poles forming the roof. In constructing the wall of the dancing lodge they use the leaf shields, and probably some poles or branches of trees, the shields and leaves stuck in the wall here and there, in no regular order, leaving interstices through which the spectators can peep at the dancers. A very wide entrance is made, through which can be taken a horse, as well as the numerous offerings brought to be given away to the poor. Then they smoke the pipe, as in that manner they think that they can induce their Great Mysterious One to smoke.

§ 169. All having been made ready, the aged men and the chief men of the camp kick off their leggins and moccasins, and as many as have pistols take them to the dancing lodge, around the interior of which they perform a dance. As they pass around the sun pole, all shoot at once at the objects suspended from the pole (§ 164), knocking them aside suddenly. Leaving the dancing lodge, they dance around the interior of the camping circle till they reach their respective tents.

§ 170. This is followed by the “uuȼita.” Each man ties up the tail of his horse and dresses himself in his best attire. When they are ready, they proceed two abreast around the interior of the camping circle, shooting into the ground as they pass along, and filling the entire area with smoke. There are so many of them that they extend almost around the entire circle. If any of the riders are thrown from their horses as they dash along, the others pay no attention to them, but step over them, regarding nothing but the center of the camping circle. (See Pl. XLV.)

§ 171. By this time it is nearly sunset. The young men and young women mount horses and proceed in pairs, a young man beside a young woman, singing as they pass slowly around the circle. The young men sing first, and the young women respond, acting as a chorus. That night the tent of preparation is again erected. The candidates dance there. The people gaze towards that tent, for it is rumored that the candidates will march forth from it.

Bureau of Ethnology.

Eleventh Annual Report. Plate XLVI

GAST LITH. CO.

THE DANCING LODGE.

§ 172. The candidates spend the night in decorating themselves. Each one wears a fine scarlet blanket arranged as a skirt and with a goodbelt fastened around his waist. From the waist up he is nude, and on his chest he paints some design. Sometimes the design is a sunflower. A man can paint the designs referring to the brave deeds of his father, his mother’s brother, or of some other kinsman, if he himself has done nothing worthy of commemoration. If a man has killed an animal, he can paint the sign of the animal on his chest, and some hold between their lips the tails of animals, signifying that they have scalped their enemies. Others show by their designs that they have stolen horses from enemies.

§ 173. Each one allows his hair to hang loosely down his back. Some wear head-dresses consisting of the skins of buffalo heads with the horns attached. Others wear eagle war-bonnets. Each candidate wears a buffalo robe with the thick hair outside. He fills his pipe, which is a new one ornamented with porcupine work, and he holds it with the stem pointing in front of him. Thus do all the candidates appear as they come out of the tent of preparation. As they march to the dancing lodge the leader goes first, the others march abreast after him. He who acts as leader carries a buffalo skull painted red. All cry as they march, and on the way they are joined by a woman who takes the place of her “hakata,” or cousin; and sometimes they are joined by a horse that is highly prized by his owner.

§ 174. The first time that they emerge from the tent where they sleep they march around it four times, and they make offerings of four blankets, which they suspend from as many posts set up in the form of a square within which the tent is erected. When they proceed from the tent of preparation to the dancing lodge, one of their servants sets up sticks at intervals, forming a straight line from the tent of preparation to the dancing lodge, and on these sticks he places their offerings of blankets and tobacco pouches. After the gifts are thus suspended, none of the spectators can cross the line of sticks.

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