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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



that dancing society, either to show his endurance or to learn the 

 awful revelations which may make him a priest or chief. The 

 cruel rites begin in childhood days.* Thus, every Zuiii boy of the 

 age of four or five has no choice about being initiated into the 

 kok-ko, the principal feature of which is a brutal whipping. 



Fig. 2. Dancing Paraphernalia : Shaman's Shirt. (Front view.) 



This practice reminds us of the initiations into the mysteries of 

 Artemis, wherein Spartan boys were cruelly scourged. f 



What makes early dancing sacred are cruel ceremonies which 

 give sanction to secrecy. The more severe the initiation the more 

 sacred is the dance. " A man who wanted to get the secrets," said 

 Pipe Chief to George Bird Grinnell, " had to go through a severe 

 trial, such as dancing and fasting.'' J The severe trial in the 

 Pawnee Young Dog's Dance consisted in the candidate having his 

 breast cut, and strings or sticks passed through the slits, which 

 were tied to posts, and then the dancer endeavored to break loose 

 by tearing out the skin. 



Mr. Paul Beckwith describes a Dakota "medicine-dance," 

 given in midwinter, and " one can readily imagine the agony 

 the candidate must undergo, clothed only in a coat of paint." 



* Mrs. Stevenson, in the Fifth Annual Report on Ethnology, p. 552. 



\ Pausanias, iii, 15. % Journal of American Folk Lore, vol. iv, p. 307. 



