A Study of Siouan Cults: Eleventh Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1889-1890, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1861, pages 351-544Dorsey, James Owen
Religion
A Study of Siouan Cults: Eleventh Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1889-1890, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1861, pages 351-544
Dorsey, James Owen
Siouan Indians -- Religion
§ 194. During the sun dance, other dances--intrusive dances, as Lynd
terms them--are going on in the camp. Among these are the following:
The Mandan dance, performed by the Ćaŋte ṭiŋza okolakićiye, or the
Society of the Stout-hearted Ones; the Wakaŋ waćipi or mystery dance,
the Peźi mignaka waćipi or the dance of those wearing grass in their
belts, the ghost dance, the buffalo dance, and the Omaha kiyotag a-i,
popularly called the grass dance.
§ 195. When a man joins the Mandan dance as a leader, he wears a
feather headdress of owl feathers, a scarf, called “Waŋźi-ićaśke,” is
worn around his neck and hangs down his back, and he carries a pipe, a
bow, and arrows. In the Peźi mignaka waćipi, both young men and young
women take part. All these dances are held outside the lodge of the
sun dance, within which lodge only the one dance can be performed. The
grass dance is named after the Omaha tribe. As many men as are able
to participate in that dance march abreast until they reach the camp
of some gens, where they sit down facing the people whom they visit,
hence the name, meaning, “the Omaha reach there and sit down.” Then
the visitors sing while a noise is made by hitting the ground with
sticks, etc. The singers and dancers sit looking at the tents of the
gens that they have visited, and remain so until property and food are
brought out and given to them. Then they arise and probably dance. They
think that if they ask Wakantanka for anything after the conclusion of
the sun dance they will receive it. So they call on him in different
songs, thus: “O Wakantanka, please pity me! Let me have many horses!”
Or, “O Wakantanka, please pity me! Let there be plenty of fruits and
vegetables!” Or, “O Wakantanka, please pity me! Let me live a long
time!”
§ 196. During the sun dance they sing about some old woman, calling her
by name. They can sing about any old woman on such an occasion.
One of these songs has been given by Mr. Bushotter, but the writer must
content himself in giving the words without the music.
“Winŭŋ´ḣća ḳuŋ tókiya lá huŋwo´? He´-ye-ye+!
Yatíla ḳuŋ´ śuŋ´ka wíkinićápe. Hé-ye-ye+!
E´-ya-ya-ha´ ya´-ha ya´-ha yo´-ho he´-ye-ye+!
E´-ya-ya-ha´ ya´-ha ya´-ha yo´-ho he´-ye-yâ!”
That is: “Old woman, you who have been mentioned, whither are you
going? When they scrambled for the stick representing a horse, of
course you were on hand! How brave you are!”
They sing this in a high key, and when they cease suddenly, they call
out, “Ho´wo! Ho´wo! E´-ya-ha-he+! E´-ya-ha-he+!” “_Come on! Come on!
How brave you are! How brave you are!_” When they have said this
repeatedly an old woman enters the circle, making them laugh by her
singing and dancing.
Thus ends the Bushotter account of the sun dance, which was read at a
meeting of the Anthropological Society of Washington, May 6, 1890.
CAPT. BOURKE ON THE SUN-DANCE.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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