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
§ 213. Ho-ke-wiŋ-la is a man who stands in the moon with outstretched
arms. His name is said to mean Turtle Man. When the Teton see a short
man with a large body and legs they generally call him “Ho-ke-la,”
after the man in the moon.
The Teton do not like to gaze at the moon, because at some past time a
woman, who was carrying a child on her back, gazed a long time at the
moon, till she became very weak and fell senseless.
No Teton dare look at the stars and count even “one” mentally. For
one is sure to die if he begin to count the stars and desist before
finishing. They are also afraid to point at a rainbow with the index
finger, though they can point at it with the lips or elbow. Should one
forget, and point with the index finger, the bystanders laugh at him,
saying, “By and by, O friend, when your finger becomes large and round,
let us have it for a ball bat.”
DAY AND NIGHT.
§ 214. One of Bushotter’s Teton texts reads thus:
Indians are often singing “The day and night are mysterious” or
“wakaŋ.” They do so for the following reasons: While the day lasts
a man is able to do many wonderful things at different times, and
he kills so many animals, including men, and sometimes he receives
presents, and besides he is able to see all things. But he does not
fully understand what the day is, nor does he know what makes the
light. Though the man can do various things during the day, he does not
know who makes or causes the light. Therefore he believes that it was
not made by hand, i.e., that no human being makes the day give light.
Therefore the Indians say that the day is “wakaŋ.” They do not know who
causes all these things, yet they know that there is some one thing
having power, and that this thing does it. In their opinion, that is
the sun. So they pray to the sun; and they respect both the day and the
sun, making them “wakaŋ.” On that account they usually sing some songs
about them. Then they say that the night is “wakaŋ.” When it is night,
there are ghosts and many fearful objects, so they regard the night as
“wakaŋ,” and pray to it.
THE DAWN.
§ 215. When Bushotter’s younger brother was sick on one occasion
he was made to pray to Anpao, The Dawn. The tent skins were thrown
back from the entrance and the sick boy was held up with the palms
of his hands extended towards the light, while he repeated this
prayer: “Wakaŋ´taŋka, uŋ´śimála yé! Téhaŋ wauŋ´ kte,” i. e., “O Great
Mysterious One, please pity me! Let me live a long time!” Then the
patient was laid back on his couch. While the sick boy prayed a blanket
was held up, and the next morning it was hung from the top of the tent.
When the invalid recovered the blanket and a tobacco pouch were taken
to a hill and left there as sacrifices. The boy got well, and the
people believed that some mysterious power had cured him.
WEATHER SPIRIT.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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