May, 1903. The Arapaho Sun Dance — Dorsey. 131 



removed the sage from the water, passed it up the side of each leg of 

 the dancer, and on up the sides of his body to the head, and then 

 down to the center of the breast, where he gave the sage a rotary 

 motion. Then the dancers turned their backs to the grandfathers and 

 the tip of the sage was passed up their backs, over their shoulders, to 

 the tops of their heads. 



The dancers rose, leaving their blankets behind them, and stepped 

 out in front nearer the center-pole and thoroughly scrubbed their 

 entire bodies, including their faces, with the sage. Several of the 

 dancers, beginning with Thihauchhawkan, now knelt down in front of 

 Hawkan and Watdngaa, with their knees drawn up to their chins. 

 Hawkan then passed the tips of his fingers, beginning at the feet, up 

 the outside of the legs and arms, on up to the head of each dancer, 

 first rubbing his hands together five times. The dancer then turned, 

 and Hawkan made a similar movement up the back of each one. Watan- 

 gaa, who had been mixing the paint, gave it to Hawkan, who passed 

 it to the dancer, who stepped back and thoroughly rubbed his body all 

 over with the white paint. This operation was now repeated with the 

 second dancer, and with the third and fourth, and so on, the third one 

 receiving yellow instead of white paint. 



After each man had given his body the preliminary coat of paint 

 he returned to Hawkan, whereupon the latter rubbed his hands 

 together, and drew a line with the second finger of his right hand in 

 the palm of his left, from the middle of the second and third fingers 

 to the wrist. Then he passed the tips of the fingers of his two hands 

 outside of the body, beginning with the feet, up along the legs and the 

 body, to the top of the head. This he did four times, the second time 

 drawing a line in his right hand with the second finger of his left. 

 The dancer now took the cup of paint and went over by the fire, where 

 he rubbed his body thoroughly, including his face and hair. When 

 this performance had been gone through with for each dancer, and 

 when the body paint had become thoroughly dry, each returned to his 

 individual grandfather, where he received his own appropriate paint. 

 (See Plate LXV.) In general, the manner of procedure was similar to 

 that employed by Hawkan, the dancer squatting or kneeling down in 

 front of the grandfather, who generally began applying the paint on 

 his legs, then on his hands, breast, face, and finally upon his back. 

 (See Fig. i, Plate LXVI.) As the method of painting was practically 

 the same for each dancer on this and on the following days, there 

 need be no further description of this element of the ceremony. Inas- 

 much, however, as the character of the symbolism painted on each 



