Calendar history of the Kiowa Indians. (1898 N 17 / 1895-1896 (pages 129-444))Mooney, James
History
Calendar history of the Kiowa Indians. (1898 N 17 / 1895-1896 (pages 129-444))
Mooney, James
Kiowa Indians; Kiowa language -- Glossaries, vocabularies, etc.
_K`ádó Sä' lä´ti_, "Hot-sun dance," or _Dóguătal Sáomhäpä-de K adó_ "Sun
dance when blood came up from the young man." It was called the "hot sun
dance" from the fact that it was held late in August, instead of in June
as usual, the delay being due probably to the difficulty of finding a
buffalo for the purpose; after a long search a solitary bull was found.
The dance was held on North fork of Red river, a short distance beyond
the end of the mountains.
The close upright lines between the forks of the medicine pole on the
Anko calendar he explains to indicate the heat, probably from the Indian
gesture sign for fire, made by holding the hand with thumb and fingers
together pointing upward, and separating them with a quick motion, the
concept being the upward motion of the sparks and smoke.
[Illustration: FIG. 170--Summer 1881--Hemorrhage or hot sun dance.]
The suggestive figure on the Set-t'an calendar records an incident which
gives another name to this sun dance, a young man, the adopted son of
Poor-buffalo, having been attacked by hemorrhage. He was called Măsá`te,
"Six," from the fact that he had six toes on each foot; his brother,
Bóhé, still living, is said to have six fingers on each hand, Such
instances of malformation are at least as rare among Indians as among
whites.
WINTER 1881-82
_Ĭmdádóá-de Saiá_, "Winter when they played the _dó-á_ medicine game."
This winter is noted for a great _dó-á_ game played under the auspices
of two rival leaders, each of whom claimed to have the most powerful
"medicine" for the game. The game was played in the winter camp on the
Washita, near the mouth of Hog creek, the Kiowa leader being Pa-tepte,
"Buffalo-bull-coming-out," alias Dátekâñ, now dead (see summer 1882),
while his opponent was the Apache chief and medicine-man Dävéko. The
Kiowa leader was recognized distinctively as having "medicine" for this
game, and it was said that he could do wonderful things with the
"button," making it pass invisibly from one hand to another while he
held his hands outstretched and far apart, and even to throw it up into
the air and cause it to remain there suspended invisibly until he was
ready to put out his hand again and catch it; in other words, he was
probably an expert sleight-of-hand performer. His Apache rival, Dävéko,
is known as a medicine-man as well as a chief, and is held in
considerable dread, as it is believed that he can kill by shooting
invisible darts from a distance into the body of an enemy. On this
occasion he had boasted that his medicine was superior for the _dó-á_
game, which did not prove to be the case, however, and as the Kiowa
medicine-man won the victory for his party, large stakes were wagered on
the result and were won by the Kiowa. It is said that this was a part of
Pa-tepte's effort to revive the old customs and amusements on a large
scale. The game was witnessed by a large concourse, all dressed and
painted for the occasion. The picture on the Set-t'an calendar is very
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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