{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_36224/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_36224","id":"gutenberg_36224","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/36224","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Archaeology & Anthropology","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Kiowa Indians","Sun dance"],"text":"</pre>\n\n\n\nProduced by Tor Martin Kristiansen, Joseph Cooper and the\nOnline Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n  ANTHROPOLOGICAL PAPERS\n  OF\n  THE AMERICAN MUSEUM\n  OF NATURAL HISTORY\n\n  VOL. XVI, PART VI\n\n\n  NOTES ON THE KIOWA SUN DANCE\n  BY\n  LESLIE SPIER\n\n\n  NEW YORK\n  PUBLISHED BY ORDER OF THE TRUSTEES\n  1921\n\n\n\n\n  NOTES ON THE KIOWA SUN DANCE.\n\n  BY LESLIE SPIER.\n\n\n\n\n  ILLUSTRATIONS.\n  TEXT FIGURES.\n\n                                                       PAGE.\n  1. Groundplan of Dance Lodge                           441\n\n\n\n\nNOTES ON THE KIOWA SUN DANCE.\n\n\nThe following notes were obtained from Andres Martinez (Andele, a\nMexican captive of the Kiowa whose history[1] is well known) in August,\n1919. Attention was directed in the first instance to the organization\nof the dance, but a brief description of the whole ceremony was also\nobtained, chiefly by way of comments on Scott's account.[2] The last\nKiowa sun dance was held in 1887.[3]\n\nThe Kiowa sun dance is the prerogative of the individual who owns the\nsacred image, the _tai'me_. He deputes the ancillary offices where he\nsees fit, although there is a well-defined tendency for them to be\nhereditary. The predominant idea of this image is that of a war\nmedicine. Thus the dance is fundamentally like that of the Crow, but it\ndiffers from it in two important respects. First, the Kiowa rites\ncluster about only one particular medicine, whereas among the Crow, any\none of a number of medicine dolls may be used in the ceremony. The\nquestion arises whether the dozen minor Kiowa images, which are\nsometimes brought into the dance, were more recently acquired or\nconstructed in order to reproduce the functions of the _tai'me_, or\nwhether one medicine doll has completely overshadowed all the others, as\nseemed about to happen among the Crow. The evidence favors the first\nview, since no rites, other than those attendant on any personal\nmedicine, are described, or even intimated, for the minor images. The\nsecond difference is, that while the Crow shaman invokes his medicine\nfor any one who appeals to him for aid, acting only in a directive\ncapacity, the Kiowa _tai'me_ owner is himself the principal suppliant.\nWere it not for the hereditary bias in the distribution of ceremonial\nfunctions, the Kiowa sun dance would be the prerogative of one man as\ncompletely as that of the Crow is, when the latter is once under way.\nThe hereditary principle does not appear in the military societies\nexcept in the ownership of the medicine lance or arrow (_ze'bo_).[4]\n\nThe Kiowa sun dance (_k'o{~GREEK SMALL LETTER THETA~}dun_ specifically the name for the lodge) was\nan annual tribal affair, in which the associated Kiowa Apache freely\njoined.[5] It was danced in an effort to obtain material benefits from,\nor through, the medicine doll in the possession of the medicineman, who\nis at the same time director and principal performer.\n\n    This is a small image, less than 2 feet in length, representing a\n    human figure dressed in a robe of white feathers, with a headdress\n    consisting of a single upright feather and pendants of ermine skin,\n    with numerous strands of blue beads around its neck, and painted\n    upon the face, breast, and back with designs symbolic of the sun and\n    moon. [Martinez says the face is entirely obscured by hanging\n    beads.] The image itself is of dark-green stone, in form rudely\n    resembling a human head and bust, probably shaped by art like the\n    stone fetishes of the Pueblo tribes. It is preserved in a rawhide\n    box in charge of the hereditary keeper, and is never under any\n    circumstances exposed to view except at the annual sun dance, when\n    it is fastened to a short upright stick planted within the medicine\n    lodge, near the western side.... The ancient _tai'me_ image was of\n    buckskin, with a stalk of Indian tobacco for a headdress. This\n    buckskin image was left in the medicine lodge, with all the other\n    adornments and sacrificial offerings, at the close of each ceremony.\n    The present _tai'me_ is one of three, two of which came originally\n    from the Crows, through an Arapaho who married into the Kiowa tribe,\n    while the third came by capture from the Blackfeet.[6]\n\nThe bundle containing the image is usually hung outside of its keeper's\ntipi. It is not customary to expose the image except at the sun dance,\nbut tobacco is placed with it from time to time. Its function outside of\nthe dance is identical with its use there: those who need its aid make\nvows to it, which they fulfil by sacrificing horses, etc., and making\nsweatlodges. The image is the property of one man, or more properly of\nhis family, since it may be inherited by his blood relatives. If the\ntransfer is made before the father's death, payment and a sweatlodge\nmust be given by the son.[7] After Long Foot died about 1870, as he had\nno son, it passed into the possession of three of his nephews in\nsuccession, and reverted in 1894 to his daughter who still has it.[8]\nWhile she may handle the image, she would not be permitted to enter the\ndance with it.[9] There the functions which would normally devolve on\nher would be performed in their entirety by a captive. This captive has\nbeen trained to the position in order to take the place of the image\nkeeper should he be sick. A captive is chosen for the substitute so that\na calamity incurred by a mischance in the proceedings may fall on him\nalone and not on the Kiowa. The erstwhile substitute, a Mexican, is\nstill living. The image keeper, like his four associates, must not look\nin a mirror, nor touch a skunk or jackrabbit. One who touches these\nanimals cannot enter the tipi where the doll is housed until four days\nhave elapsed. No dog is allowed in this tipi, nor is one permitted to\njump over the keeper or his four associates, the _g.uolg.uat`_.\n\nThere are ten or twelve minor images (_tailyuka_) which strongly\nresemble the _tai'me_ in function, as they are essentially war\nmedicines. Most of them were in the keeping of men other than the sacred\ndoll owner, but two were kept by him for a time.[10] They have little or\nno part in the sun dance.\n\n    The _Gadombitsonhi_, \"Old-woman-under-the-ground,\" belonged to the\n    Kinep band of the Kiowa. It was a small image, less than a foot\n    high, representing a woman with flowing hair. It was exposed in\n    front of the _tai'me_ at the great sun-dance ceremony, and by some\n    unexplained jugglery the priest in charge of it caused it to rise\n    out of the ground, dance in the sight of the people, and then again\n    sink into the earth.[11]\n\nThe sun dance was normally an annual ceremony, but sometimes a year\npassed without one. The dance was theoretically dependent on someone\ngoing to the keeper and saying, \"I dreamed of it (_i.e._, the sun\ndance),\" or on the keeper himself dreaming of it. On two occasions a\nsecond dance was held in the dance lodge after the keeper had removed\nthe sacred doll at the close of the first dance, because a second man\nhad also dreamed of it.[12] After the dream is announced the keeper\nhangs the image on his back and rides out to all the camps, announcing,\nas he circles them, that he will conduct the ceremony the following\nspring (May or June). This announcement was sometimes made immediately\nafter the close of the preceding dance, but usually it came just before\nthey intended to hold the dance.[13] The keeper fasts while he is making\nthe announcement, even if it takes three days, as may happen when the\ncamps were scattered. When they know the dance is to be held, others vow\nto dance for a specified number of days, and all gather near the dance\nground. No one may absent himself: they are all afraid of his medicine.\nWhen the tribe is assembled, the keeper circles the camp, again bearing\nthe sacred doll on his back.\n\nTwo young men are selected by the keeper from one of the military\nsocieties[14] to scout for a tree to serve as center pole for the dance\nlodge. While searching, they must refrain from drinking. About this time\nall those intending to dance are building sweatlodges to purify\nthemselves: the keeper must enter each of these to direct the\nproceedings; this entails considerable work on him. Should he be sick at\nthis time, the doll is carried into the sweatlodge by the captive in his\nstead. It is incumbent on the _tai'me_ shield owners to accompany this\ncaptive and help him perform the necessary ceremonies. When the tree for\nthe center pole has been selected, the whole camp moves after the keeper\nand his family to the dance ground. A dozen or more old men follow\nimmediately after him. The main body is guarded front, rear, and both\nflanks by the military societies, as is customary when a camp moves.[15]\nThe procession halts four times on its journey while the keeper smokes\nand prays. Next, the soldier societies charge on the dance ground,\nor rather on a pole erected there before the camp circle is\nestablished,[16] according to Methvin (p. 64), but on the newly\nestablished camp itself according to Scott's informants (p. 357).\n\nThe next morning the man who has that privilege sets out with his wife\nto get the hide of a young buffalo bull. When such a person dies, the\nkeeper appoints one of his kin to take his place.[17] The couple must\nfast while on this hunt. If the buffalo is killed with a single arrow,\nit is a favorable omen, if many are needed, the opposite is indicated.\nThe buffalo must be killed so that he falls on his belly with his head\ntoward the east. A broad strip of back skin, with the tail and head skin\nattached is carried to the keeper's tipi, where feathers are tied to its\nhead.[18]\n\nThe next morning they set out to fetch the center pole. Scott describes\na parade around the camp circle by the military societies which then\nproceed to charge the tree selected for the center pole, which is\ndefended in sham combat by one of the men's societies[19] (_akiaik`to_,\nwar with the trees). After the chiefs have recited their coups, and\nprayers have been said by the sacred doll keeper and his wife, who have\nbrought the doll there, the tree is chopped down by a captive Mexican\nwoman. A captive is always selected for this difficult task, so that any\nharm due to an error on her part may not fall on a tribesman. This\nfunction is always performed by a Mexican woman: when she dies, the\nkeeper appoints her successor. As the tree falls, they shout and shoot\nin the air. The pole is carried to the dance ground by a society\ndesignated by the keeper,[20] where a hole to receive it has been dug by\na men's military society.[21] The pole is set upright by a single\nmedicineman who owns this privilege. The buffalo hide is then fastened\nacross the forks with its head to the east and offerings of cloth, etc.,\nbrought by various individuals are tied to it. In 1873 Battey\nobserved:--\n\n    The central post is ornamented near the ground with the robes of\n    buffalo calves, their heads up, as if in the act of climbing it;\n    each of the branches above the fork is ornamented in a similar\n    manner, with the addition of shawls, calico, scarfs, &c., and\n    covered at the top with black muslin. Attached to the fork is a\n    bundle of cottonwood and willow limbs, firmly bound together, and\n    covered with a buffalo robe, with head and horns, so as to form a\n    rude image of a buffalo, to which were hung strips of new calico,\n    muslin, strouding, both blue and scarlet, feathers, shawls, &c., of\n    various lengths and qualities. The longer and more showy articles\n    were placed near the ends. This image was so placed as to face the\n    east.[22]\n\nThe center pole is not painted.\n\nAfter the center pole is in place, everyone, but especially the military\nsocieties, assists in building the enclosing structure. The lodge is\nlike those of the Arapaho and Cheyenne: it is circular, the rafters rest\non the center pole, and the covering of boughs extends a third of the\nway to the center of the roof. An entrance is left on the east side. A\nflat stone is placed here so that every dancer passing through must set\nhis foot on it. Wet sand is spread over the ground in the dance\nlodge[23] and heaped around the base of the center pole. Two little\nround holes, walled in with mud, are dug near the rear of the lodge to\nhold incense smudges. A screen of cottonwood and cedar branches is\nconstructed just north of these.\n\n    This business continued through the day, except for an hour or two\n    in the middle of the afternoon, when the old women[24]--the\n    grandmothers of the tribe--had a dance. The music consisted of\n    singing and drumming, done by several old women, who were squatted\n    on the ground in a circle. The dancers--old, gray-headed women, from\n    sixty to eighty years of age--performed in a circle around them for\n    some time, finally striking off upon a waddling run, one behind\n    another; they formed a circle, came back and, doubling so as to\n    bring two together, threw their arms around each other's necks, and\n    trudged around for some time longer; then sat down, while a youngish\n    man circulated the pipe, from which each in turn took two or three\n    whiffs, and this ceremony ended.[25]\n\n    [When the dance lodge was completed] the soldiers of the tribe then\n    had a frolic in and about it, running and jumping, striking and\n    kicking, throwing one another down, stripping and tearing the\n    clothes off each other.[26]... Before this frolic was over, a party\n    of ten or twelve warriors appeared, moving a kind of shield to and\n    fro before their bodies, making, in some manner (as I was not near\n    enough to see how it was done), a grating sound, not unlike the\n    filing of a mill-saw.[27]\n\n    In the afternoon, a party of a dozen or more warriors and braves\n    proceeded to the medicine house, followed by a large proportion of\n    the people of the encampment. They were highly painted, and wore\n    shirts only, with head-dresses of feathers which extended down the\n    backs to the ground, and were kept in their proper places by means\n    of an ornamented strap clasping the waist. Some of them had long\n    horns attached to their head-dresses. They were armed with lances\n    and revolvers, and carrying a couple of long poles mounted from end\n    to end with feathers, the one white and the other black. They also\n    bore shields highly ornamented with paint, feathers, and hair.\n\n    They took their station upon the side opposite the entrance, the\n    musicians standing behind them.\n\n    Many old women occupied a position to the right and near the\n    entrance, who set up a tremulous shrieking; the drums began to beat,\n    and the dance began, the party above described only participating in\n    it.\n\n    They at first slowly advanced towards the central post, followed by\n    the musicians several of whom carried a side of raw hide (dried),\n    which was beaten upon with sticks, making about as much music as to\n    beat upon the sole of an old shoe, while the drums, the voices of\n    the women, and the rattling of pebbles in instruments of raw hide\n    filled out the choir.\n\n    After slowly advancing nearly to the central post, they retired\n    backward, again advanced, a little farther than before; this was\n    repeated several times, each time advancing a little farther, until\n    they crowded upon the spectators, drew their revolvers, and\n    discharged them into the air.\n\n    Soon after, the women rushed forward with a shrieking yell, threw\n    their blankets violently upon the ground, at the feet of the\n    retiring dancers, snatched them up with the same tremulous shriek\n    that had been before produced, and retired; which closed this part\n    of the entertainment. The ornamented shields used on this occasion\n    were afterwards hung up with the medicine.[28]\n\nThese may be the shields which are associated with the _tai'me_. Later,\nafter the sacred doll has been brought into the lodge, they are either\nhung with it on the cedar screen as Battey observed,[29] or on stakes\nset up outside the dance lodge to the west, i.e., behind the image,\nwhere Martinez saw them. No offerings are made to them there. It is\nincumbent on a _tai'me_ shield owner to dance with the associates\n(_g.uolg.uat`_) in every sun dance so long as he continues to own the\nshield. He is not considered one of the associates however. Shield\nowners always help the image keeper when he asks their aid. They must\nalso assist his captive substitute when officiating in a sweatlodge. A\nshield owner cannot sell his shield, but he may give it to his son in\nanticipation of his death, receiving presents in return. Otherwise, on\nthe death of its owner the shield is placed on his grave. Should a son\nor nephew dream of it, he has the right to make a duplicate with the\nhelp of the doll owner in order to keep it in the family. However, if\nany other man dreams of it and wants to make the duplicate, he must pay\nthe owner.[30] The shield is usually hung outside of its owner's tipi.\nThe shield owners \"must not eat buffalo hearts, or touch a bearskin, or\nhave anything to do with a bear.\" Like the associates, \"they must not\nsmoke with their moccasins on,[31] or kill, or eat any kind of rabbit,\nor kill or touch a skunk.\"[32] These shields are used only in war as\ntheir owner's personal medicine: no offerings are ever made to them.\n\nLate in the day, a number of men who have vowed to take part in the\nsubsequent dance, together with one woman who has the privilege,[33] are\ngarbed in buffalo robes to represent the living animals. They gather to\nthe east of the lodge where they simulate the actions of a herd of\nbuffalo. A man, called a scout, starts from the entrance of the lodge\nwith a firebrand and circles about the herd until he meets a second man,\nmounted and carrying a shield and a straight pipe, who thereupon drives\nthe buffalo toward the dance lodge, which they circle several times\nbefore negotiating the entrance. Once inside they lie down; the man with\nthe pipe dismounts and enters. Picking up the hairs on the back of first\none animal and another, he says, \"This is the fattest animal. He is our\nprotector in war.\" Then he recites a coup. This designated (or makes ?)\na brave man of that buffalo.[34] Both the man with the firebrand and he\nwith the pipe ought to be medicinemen. The present incumbent of the\nfirst office also has the privilege of erecting the center pole. When\nthese men die, the sacred doll keeper selects successors from their\nfamilies.[35]\n\nThat evening after sunset the dance proper begins, to last four nights\nand days, ending in the evening. The doll keeper proceeds to his own\ntipi, where, with the assistance of seven other medicinemen (_tai'me_\nshield keepers and some others not otherwise connected with the\nceremony), he unwraps the _tai'me_. Carrying it on his back, he walks to\nthe dance lodge, and, completely circles it four times, feigning to\nenter each time he passes the entrance. After entering, he goes around\nby the south side to the northwest quadrant, where he plants the image\nhanging on a staff. Formerly two or more of the minor images,\n_tailyuka_, were placed with the _tai'me_. After the image is in place\nthe dancers enter to perform for the night.\n\nThe keeper dances throughout the whole four-day period. He is painted\nyellow, with a design representing the sun, and sometimes another for\nthe moon, drawn on his chest and back. \"His face was painted, like that\nof the Taimay itself, with red and black zigzag lines downward from the\neyes.\" He wears a yellow buckskin kilt, a jackrabbit skin cap with down\nattached, and sage wristlets. He is barefoot. He carries a bunch of\ncedar in his hand, and an eagle bone whistle from which an eagle feather\nis pendent. Battey observed that he was painted white at the\n\"buffalo-herding\" rite, and not painted at all in the dance proper.[36]\n\nBeside the _tai'me_ keeper there are three classes of persons who dance;\nthe associates (_g.uolg.uat`_), the _tai'me_ shield keepers, and the\ncommon dancers. The four associates (Scott's \"keeper's assistants\") must\ndance throughout the whole four day period. They appear in four\nsuccessive dances (normally four years), after which they choose\nsuccessors from among those young men, eighteen to thirty years old, who\nhave made the best records in war. These young men, with the assistance\nof their relatives,[37] pay horses and buffalo robes for the privilege,\nreceiving the regalia in return.[38] One who is chosen cannot refuse: if\nhe does, he may expect a calamity. The associate may belong to any of\nthe military societies. His office does not impose obligations of\nfoolhardiness in war (such as the no-flight idea), but he is obliged to\nact the part of an intrepid warrior, because he enjoys security in\nbattle.[39] The associate must not look in a mirror lest he become\nblind,[40] nor can he touch a skunk or jackrabbit, nor remain near a\nfire where someone is cooking. Dogs must not be permitted to jump over\nan associate. He must remove his moccasins before he smokes, but others\nmay keep theirs on when smoking in his presence. The associate dances in\norder to live long and to be a great warrior. His body is painted white\nor yellow: a round spot representing the sun is painted on the middle of\nhis chest, with a crescent moon (the concavity upward) on both sides of\nthe sun, and the same decoration is repeated on his back. The skin is\ncut away as a sacrifice and to make these designs permanent after his\nfirst dance. A scalp from a _tai'me_ shield hangs on his breast with two\neagle feathers; another on his back. His face is \"ornamented with a\ngreen stripe across the forehead, and around down the sides of the\ncheeks, to the corners of the mouth, and meeting on the chin.\"[41] He\nwears a yellow buckskin kilt, with his breechclout hung outside, like\nthe Arapaho and Cheyenne sun dancers. Bunches of sage are stuck into his\nbelt, others tied around his wrists and ankles, and carried in each\nhand. On his head is either a cap of jackrabbitskin in which is stuck an\neagle feather or a sage wreath with down attached. He carries a bone\nwhistle. Like the sacred doll keeper and all other dancers, he is\nbarefoot.[42] Battey saw three associates purify themselves in the\nincense from the censors, and then dance on piles of sage.[43]\n\nThe _tai'me_ shield owners, who dance with the associates are sometimes\npainted yellow or green with pictures of the sun and moon on their\nbodies, but otherwise they wear the regalia of the common dancers.\n\nThe rank and file of the dancers are men, never women. Anyone may vow to\ndance a certain number of days, with the object of becoming a better\nwarrior and living long.\n\n    They believe that it warded off sickness, caused happiness,\n    prosperity, many children, success in war, and plenty of buffalo for\n    all the people. It was frequently vowed by persons in danger from\n    sickness or the enemy.[44]\n\nSometimes a medicineman danced to intercede for a sick man. A sick man\nwho had vowed to attend the dance in order to be cured would be carried\ninto the dance lodge, but he would not dance. These dancers make\nofferings to the _tai'me_. They do not pay the doll keeper in order to\nenter the dance, and they have no rights in any subsequent performance\nby reason of having once participated. Like all other dancers they must\nfast and go without water during the period that they dance; they can\nhowever, smoke, provided the proper rites are observed.\n\n    ... The pipe was filled, brought forward, and laid upon the ground;\n    the person, carefully turning the stem towards the fire, and bedding\n    it in the sand, so that the bowl should remain in an upright\n    position, arose and stood with his back towards it, or facing the\n    medicine. It was then approached by one of the musicians, who, in a\n    squatting position, raised his hand reverently towards the sun, the\n    medicine, the top of the central post, or buffalo; then, passing his\n    hands slowly over the pipe, took it up with his left hand, and\n    taking a pinch from the bowl with the thumb and fore finger of the\n    right, held it to the sun, the medicine, the top of the central\n    post, then the bottom, and finally covered it up in the ground. He\n    then proceeded to light the pipe, blowing a whiff of smoke towards\n    the several objects of adoration, and placed it carefully where he\n    found it, in reversed order, that is, with the stem from the fire.\n    The person who brought it had stood waiting all this time for it. He\n    now took it up and retired to the dancers, who, wrapped in buffalo\n    robes, were waiting, in a squatting position, to receive it. The\n    sand where the pipe had lain was carefully smoothed by the hand, and\n    all marks of it wholly obliterated.[45]\n\nThese dancers are painted white; they wear white buckskin kilts, with\nthe breechclout outside, carry bone whistles, and are barefoot. They\nhave no headdress, wrist or ankle ornaments. They paint themselves.[46]\nThere is only one style of paint used by either the principal or the\ncommon dancers throughout the sun dance.\n\nThe dancers form a line on the east side of the lodge facing the image.\nTheir step is that characteristic of the sun dance of other tribes: they\nstand in place, alternately bending their knees and rising on their\ntoes. They dance intermittently throughout four days and nights; the\ncommon dancers leave as the periods for which they have vowed to dance\nhave elapsed or when they can no longer stand the combined strain of\nfasting, thirsting, and dancing. Martinez left after three days and\nnights. The \"four days and nights\" which are specified are in reality\nonly three nights and days; evidently the first day of preliminary\ndancing is included to fill out the quota to the magic \"four.\" In\nScott's account, the dancers perform on the first day from evening to\nthe middle of the night, and on the succeeding days from sunrise to the\nchorus's breakfast, nine o'clock to dinner, four in the afternoon to\nsundown, and from evening to midnight, ending in the evening of the\nfourth day. The dance Battey describes evidently began in the evening of\nthe 18th and continued intermittently to late afternoon of the 21st.\nApparently the dancers do not leave the lodge during this entire period.\n\n    _19th_ [June, 1873.]--Music and dancing continued in the medicine\n    house through the night. At an early hour this morning I went\n    thither with Couguet, and witnessed one dance throughout. The ground\n    inside the enclosure had been carefully cleared of grass, sticks,\n    and roots, and covered, several inches deep, with a clean, white\n    sand. A screen had been constructed on the side opposite the\n    entrance, by sticking small cottonwoods and cedars deep into the\n    ground, so as to preserve them fresh as long as possible. A space\n    was left, two or three feet wide, between it and the enclosing wall,\n    in which the dancers prepared themselves for the dance, and in front\n    of which was the medicine. This consisted of an image, lying on the\n    ground, but so concealed from view, in the screen, as to render its\n    form indistinguishable; above it was a large fan, made of eagle\n    quills, [an error, these are crow feathers], with the quill part\n    lengthened out nearly a foot, by inserting a stick into it, and\n    securing it there. These were held in a spread form by means of a\n    willow rod, or wire, bent in a circular form; above this was a mass\n    of feathers, concealing an image, on each side of which were several\n    shields, highly decorated with feathers and paint. Various other\n    paraphernalia of heathen worship were suspended in the screen, among\n    these shields or over them, impossible for me to describe so as to\n    be comprehended. A mound had also been thrown up around the central\n    post of the building, two feet high, and perhaps five feet in\n    diameter.\n\n    The musicians, who, if I mistake not, are the war chiefs, were\n    squatted on the ground, in true heathen style, to the left, and near\n    the entrance, having Indian drums and rattles. The music was\n    sounding when we entered.\n\n    Presently the dancers came from behind the screen; their faces,\n    arms, and the upper part of their bodies were painted white; a soft,\n    white buckskin skirt, secured about the loins, descended nearly to\n    the ankles, while the breech-cloth,--blue on this occasion,--hanging\n    to the ground, outside the skirt, both in front and behind,\n    completed the dress. They faced the medicine--shall I say idols? for\n    it was conducted with all the solemnity of worship,--jumping up and\n    down in true time with the beating of the drums, while a bone\n    whistle in their mouths, through which the breath escaped as they\n    jumped about, and the singing of the women, completed the music. The\n    dancers continued to face the medicine, with arms stretched upwards\n    and towards it,--their eyes as it were riveted to it. They were\n    apparently oblivious to all surroundings, except the music and what\n    was before them.\n\n    After some time, a middle-aged man, painted as the others, but\n    wearing a buffalo robe, issued from behind the screen, facing\n    the entrance, but having his eyes fixed upon the sun, upon\n    which he stood gazing, without winking or moving a muscle,\n    for some time, then began slowly to incline his head from side\n    to side, as if to avoid some obstruction in his view of it,\n    swaying his body slightly, then, stepping slowly from side to\n    side--forward--backward--increasing his motions, both in rapidity\n    and extent, until in appearance nearly frantic, his robes fell off,\n    leaving him--except his blue breechclout--entirely naked. In this\n    condition he jumped and ran about the enclosure,--head, arms,\n    and legs all equally participating in the violence of his\n    gestures,--every joint of his body apparently loosened, his eyes\n    only fixed. I wondered how, with every joint apparently dislocated,\n    and every muscular fibre relaxed, he could maintain the upright\n    position.\n\n    Thus he continued to exercise without ceasing, or once removing his\n    eyes from the sun, until the sweat ran down in great rolling drops,\n    washing the white paint into streaks no more ornamental than the\n    original painting, and he was at length compelled to retire, from\n    mere exhaustion, the other dancers still continuing their exercises.\n\n    Presently another man [the _tai'me_ keeper] entered from behind the\n    screen, wearing an Indian fur cap and a blue breechcloth reaching to\n    the ground. He was unpainted, and had a human scalp fastened to his\n    scalplock, the soft, flowing hair of which, spreading out upon his\n    naked back, bore mute testimony to the tragical death of some\n    unfortunate white woman. This man, with a kind of half running jump,\n    still in step with the music, went around all the dancers, who did\n    not notice him, with one arm stretched out over his heads, first in\n    one direction, then the other, turning his course at every time,\n    after stopping in front of the medicine, and making some\n    indescribable motions before it. He sometimes parted the feathers\n    concealing the small image, appearing to examine it minutely, as if\n    searching for something, and sometimes putting his lips to it, as if\n    in the act of kissing it. [He takes some medicine root into his\n    mouth, chews it and blows it on the dancers.][47] At length, after\n    repeated examinations, he, apparently for the first time, discovered\n    the fan, and took hold of it hesitatingly, and as if afraid.\n\n    This was loosed from its fastenings by a hand behind the screen, and\n    he slowly raised it up, looking intently at it, while the expression\n    of his countenance indicated a fearfulness of the result of handling\n    an object whose hidden and mysterious powers were so far beyond his\n    comprehension. He held it up before the medicine, waved it up and\n    down, and from side to side, then, turning round so as to face the\n    dancers and spectators, waved it from side to side near the ground,\n    once around the dancers; then, raising it above his head, he waved\n    it in the same manner, performing another circle around the dancers.\n\n    Then, with gestures of striking, and a countenance scowling as with\n    fierce rage, he began to chase them around and around the ring,\n    [i.e., around the center pole] from left to right. Finally, getting\n    one of them separated from the rest, he pursued him with the most\n    fiend-like attitude, fiercely striking at him with his fan. The\n    pursued one fled from him with a countenance expressive of almost\n    death-like terror, until, after several rounds, he stumbled and fell\n    heavily to the ground. Another and another were thus separated from\n    the dancers, pursued, and fell before the mystical power of the fan,\n    and the act closed.[48]\n\nThe \"feather-killing\" (_staienkial_, he runs after them with feathers)\noccurs every day in the late forenoon.[49] The associates as well as the\nother dancers, are fanned into unconsciousness.[50] In such a condition\nthey would try to get visions: they would rise, call for a pipe, and\nannounce what they had seen.[51]\n\n    Being called to a council of the war chiefs, I went no more to the\n    medicine house to-day, though the music and dancing continued the\n    whole time, by day and by night, with short intervals between the\n    different acts, to give opportunity for rest, arranging dress,\n    painting, and such other changes as the programme of the ceremony\n    demanded.\n\n    _20th._--Saw but one dance to-day. Quite a quantity of goods, such\n    as blankets, strouding (blue and scarlet list-cloth), calico,\n    shawls, scarfs, and other Indian wares, had been carried into the\n    medicine house previous to my entrance. The dancers had been painted\n    white, three of them [the _g.uolg.uat`_] ornamented with a green\n    stripe across the forehead, and around down the sides of the cheeks,\n    to the corner of the mouth, and meeting on the chin. A round green\n    spot was painted on the back and breast, about three inches in\n    diameter, while on either side of it, and somewhat elevated above\n    it, was a crescent of the same size and color. Two small, hollow\n    mounds of sand and clay had been made before the medicine, in which\n    fire was placed, and kept just sufficiently burning, with the\n    partially dried cottonwood leaves, cedar twigs, and probably\n    tobacco, to produce a smoke. A small fire was burning near the\n    musicians, for lighting pipes, tightening drums, &c.\n\n    When all was ready, the three young men, who were painted as\n    described, were led, each by a man clad in a buffalo robe [possibly\n    the former _g.uolg.uat`_ who were transferring their privileges],\n    near to the smoking mounds in front of the medicine. An ornamented\n    fur cap was, with some ceremony, placed upon the head of one of\n    them; wisps of green wild wormwood were fastened to the wrists and\n    ankles, which being done, he reverently raised his hands above his\n    head, leaning forward over one of the mounds, brought them down\n    nearly to it; then, straightening up, passed his hands over his face\n    and stroked his breast. This was repeated several times; then, after\n    holding one foot, and the other, over the mound, as if to warm them,\n    two or three times, he went around the central post, and back to the\n    other mound, where the same ceremony was repeated. During this whole\n    ceremony I could perceive that his lips moved, though he uttered\n    nothing. I afterwards learned that it was in prayer to this effect:\n    \"May this medicine render me brave in war, proof against the weapons\n    of my enemies, strong in the chase, wise in council; and, finally,\n    may it preserve me to a good age, and may I at last die in peace\n    among my own people.\" The others, one at a time, were similarly\n    brought forward, and went through with the same ceremony. Three\n    bunches of wild wormwood were then placed on the ground in a row,\n    crossing the line of entrance, and between it and the central post,\n    upon which the three young men were placed by their attendants, who\n    stood behind them, with their hands upon their shoulders, the music\n    playing all the time. Two or three men then approached the pile of\n    goods, selected therefrom some plaid shawls, strouding, blankets,\n    scarfs, and an umbrella, and hung them over the medicine; this being\n    done, the six men began to dance,--the three foremost ones upon the\n    wormwood, with their arms stretched towards the medicine, the three\n    others with their hands still resting upon the shoulders of the\n    former. After some time the latter retired; the other dancers came\n    from behind the screen, and joined in the dance, which continued\n    until they were driven off by the medicine chief, as described in\n    yesterday's dance. All these ceremonies had a sacred significance,\n    which I did not understand, but have been informed that they believe\n    any article of wearing apparel, or of harness for their horses, hung\n    up by the medicine during these ceremonies, receives a charmed power\n    to protect their wearers from disease, or the assaults of their\n    enemies, during the year.\n\n    _21st._--At one of the dances to-day, all but one retired behind the\n    screen, who continued to dance by himself for a long time. Various\n    articles were brought forward, and laid upon the ground, which he\n    took up and hung in proximity to the medicine. After along time, the\n    other dancers reappeared, and he retired; these continued their\n    exercises, until driven off as before. The last dance differed from\n    the preceding in this: the last man selected and separated from the\n    others by the medicine chief to be driven off, though he ran from\n    him, did not appear terrified, and would not fall down, but retired,\n    with the medicine chief, behind the screen.\n\n    At one of the dances to-day, five human scalps were exhibited,--one\n    attached to each of the right wrists of two men, and one to each\n    wrist of another, besides the one worn attached to the scalp lock of\n    the medicine chief. Two of these scalps were from the heads of\n    Indians. They had all been tanned, and evidently belonged with the\n    medicine fixtures.\n\n    The whole ceremony closed about four o'clock in the afternoon. The\n    medicine was packed away by the medicine chief, and the several\n    articles which had been hung about it--medicated, I suppose, or, in\n    other words, sanctified by proximity to the sacred things during\n    the ceremonies, and consequently having power to protect their\n    possessors from evil--were restored to the proper owners. They then\n    packed them, took them upon their backs, formed into a procession,\n    and marched, to the music of the drums, around and out of the\n    medicine house, whence every one took the direction of his or her\n    own lodge, and the ceremonies of the great medicine were ended.[52]\n\nAt the end of the ceremony, the image keeper chews up some medicine root\nand prepares a drink, of which the dancers are permitted to imbibe a\nlittle.[53]\n\nAfter the image has been removed, old clothing is hung on the center\npole as a sacrifice. Once Martinez saw a horse tied to the center pole\nas a sacrifice to the sun. It remained there until it starved to death.\nHorses were also painted and placed, together with blankets and similar\nvaluables, on high hills as sacrifices. Others beside the associates\nsacrificed their flesh to the sun at this time, or in fact, whenever\nthey wanted to, as Martinez has done. The Kiowa never suspended their\ndancers, as in the self-torture dance of other tribes, neither in the\nsun dance, nor when an individual sought a vision while fasting alone in\nthe mountains.\n\nThe night the dance closes everyone joins in a hilarious time in the\ndance lodge. Next morning the camp circle breaks up, and the warriors\nsoon go off to war.[54] They do not molest the dance lodge, though other\ntribes passing that way may do so: the Kiowa do not care.\n\n\n\n\nAMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY\n\nPublications in Anthropology\n\n\nIn 1906 the present series of Anthropological Papers was authorized by\nthe Trustees of the Museum to record the results of research conducted\nby the Department of Anthropology. The series comprises octavo volumes\nof about 350 pages each, issued in parts at irregular intervals.\nPrevious to 1906 articles devoted to anthropological subjects appeared\nas occasional papers in the Bulletin and also in the Memoir series of\nthe Museum. A complete list of these publications with prices will be\nfurnished when requested. All communications should be addressed to the\nLibrarian of the Museum.\n\nThe recent issues are as follows:--\n\n\nVolume XV.\n\nI. Pueblo Ruins of the Galisteo Basin, New Mexico. By N.C. Nelson. 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Price, $3.00.\n\nII. (In preparation.)\n\n\nVolume XXVI.\n\nI. The Aztec Ruin. By Earl H. Morris. Pp. 1-108, and 73 text figures.\n1919. Price, $1.00.\n\nII. (In press.)\n\n\nVolume XXVII.\n\nI. Pueblo Bonito. By George H. Pepper. Pp. 1-490. Plates I-XII, and 155\ntext figures. 1920. Price $3.50.\n\n\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n\n[1] Methvin, J. J., _Andele, or The Mexican-Kiowa Captive_. _A Story of\nReal Life among the Indians_ (Louisville, Kentucky, 1899).\n\n[2] Scott, Hugh Lenox, \"Notes on the Kado, or Sun Dance of the Kiowa\"\n(_American Anthropologist_, N. S., vol. 13, pp. 345-379, 1911). The\nphonetic system used in the present paper is that of the \"Phonetic\nTranscription of Indian Languages\" (_Smithsonian Miscellaneous\nCollections_, vol. 66, no. 6, 1916), 2-7.\n\n[3] Mooney, James, \"Calendar History of the Kiowa Indians\" (_Seventeenth\nAnnual Report_, _Bureau of American Ethnology_, part 1, pp. 129-445,\nWashington, 1911), 385.\n\n[4] Lowie, R. H., \"Societies of the Kiowa\" (this series, vol. 11), 847;\nMooney, 325, 338.\n\n[5] Mooney, 253, states the contrary.\n\n[6] Mooney, 240; Plate LXIX shows a model (see Scott, 349).\n\n[7] This coupling of purchase with inheritance is strictly comparable to\nthe Hidatsa bundle (this volume, 416-417).\n\n[8] Scott, 369, 373.\n\n[9] If this is more than a general taboo against women handling sacred\nobjects, it has its parallel in a similar Crow bias (this volume, 13).\n\n[10] Mooney, 241, 323, 324.\n\n[11] Mooney, 239.\n\n[12] Mooney, 279, 343.\n\n[13] Lowie, 842.\n\n[14] Lowie, 843.\n\n[15] Compare, Battey, Thomas C., _The Life and Adventures of a Quaker\namong the Indians_ (Boston, 1876) 185.\n\n[16] The Southern Cheyenne also charge and count coup on some sticks\nmarking the site of the dance lodge (G. A. Dorsey, _Cheyenne Sun\nDance_).\n\n[17] Cf. 83, 109. Mooney, 349.\n\n[18] Scott, 358-360, 365. In this account the hide is taken into a\nsweatlodge at this juncture.\n\n[19] \"Foot-soldiers,\" Scott, 360-361.\n\n[20] Lowie, 843.\n\n[21] Not by a woman's society as Scott's informant states (361).\n\n[22] Battey, 170.\n\n[23] By the \"old women soldiers\" according to Scott (361), but Martinez\ninforms me that, with the exception of the dance described by Battey,\nthe two women's societies have no significant part in the sun dance.\n\n[24] The Old Woman society (Lowie, 850).\n\n[25] Battey, 168.\n\n[26] Cf. Lowie, 843.\n\n[27] Battey, 169.\n\n[28] Battey, 170-172. War singing _gwudanke_, was customary before an\nexpedition set out for war (Lowie, 850).\n\n[29] Scott, Pl. XXV.\n\n[30] Evidently a shield of this type was made by Konate, who was\ninstructed to do so by the _tai'me_ which appeared to him as he lay\nwounded (Mooney, 304).\n\n[31] Lewis notes this custom for the Shoshoni, and Lowie for their\nmedicinemen when treating the sick (Lowie, Northern Shoshone, 213-214).\nThe Crow do not smoke where their moccasins are hung up, according to\nMaximilian, (Reise in das innere Nord-America in den Jahren 1832 bis\n1834 [Coblenz, 1841], I, 400).\n\n[32] Scott, 373.\n\n[33] Scott, 362.\n\n[34] Martinez puts this performance after the image has been brought\ninto the dance lodge: this does not seem correct.\n\n[35] Battey has the keeper signal to the herd with a firebrand. Neither\nBattey nor Scott mention a mounted herder; the former puts the pipe in\nthe hands of the keeper, and the latter in those of a third man who\nremains in the dance lodge, but in Scott's account also the function of\nthe pipe is to force the buffalo to enter the lodge. In Battey's account\ntwo men assist the keeper in designating warriors, and in Scott's three\nmen with straight pipes do it. (Battey, 172-173; Scott, 362-364).\n\n[36] Battey, 173, 176; Scott, 351-352, 367, Pl. XXII; Methvin, 66, notes\nthat his feet are painted black with sage wreaths about his ankles.\n\n[37] Lowie, 843.\n\n[38] Martinez, in Methvin's account, (71), states that the payment is\nmade in four successive years.\n\n[39] Methvin, 71; Scott, 352, states that these men directed the sun\ndance as substitutes for the keeper and did the ceremonial painting, but\nthis is contrary to my information.\n\n[40] Compare Mooney, 296.\n\n[41] Battey, 178.\n\n[42] Compare Scott, 352, 368, Pls. XVIII, XXII; Methvin, 70-71.\n\n[43] Battey, 178-179.\n\n[44] Scott, 347.\n\n[45] Battey, 181-182.\n\n[46] Mooney, 302, notes that one of these individuals carried his\npersonal medicine in the dance.\n\n[47] Methvin, 66; Scott, 366.\n\n[48] Battey, 173-177.\n\n[49] Once, not three times a day as Scott states (366).\n\n[50] Scott, 366, places raven fans in hands of the associates.\n\n[51] In the ghost dance a shaman hypnotizes the dancers by waving a\nfeather or scarf before their faces. The subject staggers into the ring\nand falls (Mooney, _Ghost dance_, 925-926). This performance may not be\nrelated to that of the Kiowa, since it appeared among the Sioux before\nthe southern Plains tribes took up the ghost dance. On the other hand,\nthe Paiute, from whom the ghost dance was derived, did not hypnotize.\n\n[52] Battey, 177-181.\n\n[53] Scott, 365, 367.\n\n[54] Mooney, _Kiowa Calendar History_, 282, 297, 304, 321, 322. Another\nsuggestive similarity to the Crow is the assumption of \"no-flight\"\nobligations in both tribes at the sun dance (_Ibid._, 284, 287, 320).\n\n\n\n\nTranscriber's note: On page 443, 'the the' changed to 'the' (Once inside\nthey lie down; the man with the pipe ...)","title":"Notes on the Kiowa Sun Dance","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":8432}