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
“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 devout Dakota 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]
IŊYAŊ ŚA.
§ 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
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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