Indian Tribes of the Upper Missouri: Edited with Notes and Biographical SketchDenig, Edwin Thompson
History
Indian Tribes of the Upper Missouri: Edited with Notes and Biographical Sketch
Denig, Edwin Thompson
Assiniboine Indians; Indians of North America -- Missouri River Valley
BULLS’ DANCE (TAH-TUN-GAH WAH-CHE).—The kin called Bulls is perhaps
the most numerous among them, and a good many middle-aged men and
chiefs are found in this dance who do not figure in the others.
Their headdress is the skin of a buffalo bull taken off as low as
the shoulders of that animal, and dressed with the head, horns, hair
and snout complete. Around the holes where the eyes were and in the
nostrils and mouth are sewed pieces of scarlet cloth. The skin is then
sewed up along the back of the neck. The head of the man is thrust in
this, and the rest of his body being naked except the breechcloth and
moccasins, is painted with black and red stripes. They carry guns and
powder horns in the dance, moving without any order, jumping about,
snorting, and shaking their horns at each other, and firing among their
feet with powder. The song is the Bull Song. They usually are attended
by six or eight drummers and singers, all males, who are not dressed in
any remarkable manner.
No speeches are made by the Bulls during the dance, but they seek the
occasion of other dances, such as the Braves or Soldiers to which most
of them belong, to perpetuate the remembrance of their chivalrous
deeds. This kin give a good many feasts to each other and are said to
be remarkably faithful in the observance of their promises of mutual
aid and protection.
SOLDIERS’ DANCE (AHKITCHETAH WAH-CHE).—This body of men having already
been fully described in these pages it will, of course, be understood
that their dance must include the most important personages in camp.
They seldom perform, and only with a view of exhibiting their force
as a body; and in the presence of strangers or visitors to count their
coups or when a war party is in contemplation, with the intent of
stimulating the ardor of the young to follow them to battle. They must
have some object to dance for, as they are not men to expend much time
merely for the sake of amusement and display; besides their characters
and acts are so well known as to need no repetition.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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