Some garments secured by the writer are decorated on both front and back
with designs chiefly pictographic. On the front of one (Fig. 10) is a
large triangular space extending downward from the shoulders (one half
of which is in red and the other half in blue), thickly dotted over with
white spots representing hailstones. The red represents the morning; and
the blue, the night. Extending across from side to side is a large
arched figure made up of red, yellow, white, and green bands,
representing the rainbow. Above this are two four-pointed stars, the red
for the morning star and the black for the stars seen in the night.
There is a large green star with eight points on the dividing-line
between day and night, concerning which I secured no satisfactory
explanation. At the apex of the triangular space are small dots of
yellow, representing the dawn; and the sun is placed on each side of the
division between day and night. The new moon is represented by a black
crescent. On the morning-side of this design is the picture of a
butterfly; while on the night-side, extending over into the morning, is
a picture of a peculiar figure, which the artist regarded as a
spirit-bird or man-bird, as he expressed it, with the medicine-hoop in
his hand. The other portion of the dress is covered over with small dots
in various colors, representing bullets. There are also pictures of
butterflies, stars, and buffalo-tracks. On one side are two parallel
wavy red lines, and on the other two in green, representing the
lightning.
[Illustration: Fig. 11 (50-3053). Back of Garment
shown in Fig. 10.]
On the other side of this garment, or the back (Fig. 11), is the
representation of a bird, which seems to be mythical rather than
realistic. The background upon which the figure rests is dotted to
represent bullets or hail, as both have the same significance. The lower
part of the garment is the most interesting. Here we have four
buffalo-tracks arranged in rectangular relation to represent buffalo,
and a circle or medicine-hoop (half of which is red and half green) with
extending lines of the same colors, representing the thunder, or its
power. The idea of this association of the hoop, or, as it is sometimes
spoken of, the mirror, is that this buffalo escapes bullets, or perhaps
is immortal. Below the sign of the buffalo is a four-pointed figure,
usually known as the spider-web design, representing the heavens; and
below this is the rainbow. Two swallows are represented connected to the
points in the spider-web design by lines, indicating that they enjoy the
protection of this power, making them difficult to hit with bullets or
other missiles.
[Illustration: Fig. 12 (50-3054). Designs on the Front of
Ghost-dance Garment. Length, 128 cm.]
[Illustration: Fig. 13 (50-3054). Designs on the Back
of Garment shown in Fig. 12.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account