I.— Bibliography. 



Fletcher, Alice C. The Sun Dance of the Ogellalla Sioux. Proc. 

 A. A. A. S., Vol. 31, 1882, pp. 580-4. Character; time of; consecrating tent; 

 vows; interval; center-pole; piercing of ears; altar, dance; scarification. 



Pond, Gideon H. Dakota Sun Dance. Minn. Hist. Coll., Vol. II., pp. 234-8. 

 Vow; lodge; torture; time; songs; torture (quoting from a letter of Major 

 • General Curtis). 



Lynd, James W. Minn. Hist. Coll., Vol. II., pp. 166-7. Dancing; self-sacrifice. 



Dorsey, J. Owen. A Study of the Siouan Cults. Report Bureau of Eth- 

 nology, Vol. II. The Sun Dance, pp. 450-467. Object; rules of households; 

 tribes invited; discipline; camping circle; mystery tree; tent of preparation; 

 raising sun pole; lodge; uncita decoration and offerings of candidates; dance 

 proper; end of dance; intrusive dances. 



BouRKE, John G. Quoted by Dorsey in above, pp. 464-6. 



Catlin, George. Okeepa: A Religious Ceremony; and Other Customs 

 OF THE Mandans. Philadelphia, 1867. An interesting and early account of 

 the Mandan Sun Dance, illustrated with several colored plates. 



II.— The Vow. 



The ceremony of the Sun Dance is performed in compliance with 

 a vow, generally made during winter, but which may be made, how- 

 ever, at other seasons of the year. The vow is in the nature of a 

 pledge, that the speaker will make provision for the erection of the 

 lodge and for the proper performance of the ceremony if the Man- 

 Above will grant him his wish in regard to some particular matter. 



The occasion for such vows evidently differed among the tribes 

 giving the Sun Dance. Among the reasons given by Hdwkan, a priest 

 in the Arapaho ceremony, were the following: sickness in case of self 

 or of any member of the family, lunacy, dreams, etc. These causes 

 for the taking of the pledge have been the predominating ones in com- 

 paratively recent times, but often in former times an individual would 

 pledge the Sun Dance for safety when sorely pressed on the war-path. 

 Again an individual might behold in a vision or series of visions, the 

 Offerings-lodge, and these visions would continue till he or she felt 

 compelled to vow to make the lodge. 



STORY OF A WOMAN'S VOW. 



To illustrate the way in which a vow may be made, the following 

 story was related by Hdwkan : An Arapaho and his wife went out to 



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