"'w'/iV 



\ 



/^*- 



.A 



the digging of tliat first 

 forl)i(l<len turnip. At hist 

 the woman is conducted to 

 the sun dance place where 

 her confession is made. 

 The bundle she cares for 

 until some other woman 

 makes a \ow. 



The whole tribe has an 

 interest in this ceremony. 

 They camp in a great circle 

 and await the issue of 

 those four days, for shou.ld 

 there be a fault, all would 

 suffer. The appearance 

 of the woman with this re- 

 galia is the great ceremoni- 

 al moment of the tribe, 

 all are there to see and 

 stand in reverent silence. 



That the bundle is here 

 is due to our late friend 

 The Bear-One. One day 

 we received a letter in 

 which he stated that the 



bundle owned by a certain woman could be had for the cost of a few 

 presents to her family. We learned later that the husband of the bun- 

 dle-owner had died. During his illness the woman prayed to the bimdle 

 and made a vow to the sun. Now if such a plea is of no avail, the woman 

 is released from her obligation, but more, she is then under the dis])leasure 

 of the sun and should get clear of the bundle. lk>cause of the disrei)ute 

 this bimdle was now in, no one would care to take it and the poor widow 

 looked upon it as the real cause of her husband's death. The reader nmst 

 know that the taking of a bundle is like entering into marriage, one cannot 

 escape the l)onds without scandal and crime, except in the regular man- 

 ner. Even one so powerful as oiu- friend could not have ventured to gi\e 

 us such a bundle under normal conditions; as it was, the risk was great. 

 Misfortune and sudden death were predicted for him; in fact his end re- 

 cently, some two years after the events of this story, was regarded as jiroof 

 of the sun's displeasure. 



' Tlu-ough a mistakpn transference of captions on pixjiv L'Oi) of the OocMiibi^r Journal, 

 the discovery of the Blackfoot sun dance was accredited to Dr. Pliny E. Goddard. The 

 investigations of Dr. Goddard concerned the sun dance of the Phi.ns Cvqc. 



2.5 



The Blackfoot sweat liouse cert-niony is a part of 

 tlie sun dance rituaU 



Building the 

 frame of wil- 

 lows 



of 



Procession 

 holy men 



in sun-wise 



direction 



Entering for 

 the purifica- 

 tion rites 



