THE CROW INDIAN SUN DANCE 25 
owning one of the dolls and induce him 
to supply the needed effigy, and act 
as master of ceremonies, vested with 
dictatorial powers. The doll bought of 
Pretty-enemy had been successful, above 
all others of its kind, in effecting visions 
that led to victorious reprisals against 
the enemy, hence the high veneration 
in which it was held by the tribe. 
It would seem from the above that the 
entire Sun Dance pivoted about the doll 
and the vision it procured. In a certain 
sense this is true, for no sooner had the 
vision been experienced and announced 
than the ceremony came to an abrupt 
stop, and preparations were made to 
bring about the fulfillment of the promise 
embodied in the revelation. Neverthe- 
less this would be a very one-sided point 
of view. For the Crow Sun Dance, like 
the corresponding ceremony of all other 
Plains tribes, was a very elaborate per- 
formance, lasting several days, in which 
practically all the members of the tribe 
played a part. To the pledger and the 
doll-owner, to be sure, the essential thing 
was the vision to be obtained through 
the doll, but to the other tribesmen, 
whether actors or spectators, the per- 
formance meant something quite differ- 
ent. As in all great assemblies of the 
Crow tribe, there was abundant oppor- 
tunity for the recital of one’s heroic 
exploits; accordingly, to the great 
warriors the Sun Dance was a chance 
for self-aggrandizement before a large 
audience. Again, certain offices in the 
construction of the lodge devolved only 
on men and women of a perfectly pure 
mode of life, hence for these the cere- 
mony meant a public recognition of 
virtue. Then there were others who 
voluntarily underwent self-torture, not 
to enhance the vision of the pledger, but 
in order to secure one for their own 
benefit. As for the common herd, what 
appealed to them most was probably 
the dramatic aspect of the spectacle and 
the licensed frivolity that was customary 
throughout the duration of the ceremony. 
The great interest of the Crow Sun 
Dance lies precisely in this: that it brings 
out so clearly the great difference be- 
tween theory and reality, which coin- 
cides in this case with that between the 
esoteric and the exoteric aspects of the 
ceremony. Theoretically, any part of 
the performance not directly contribut- 
ing to the production of the vision would 
seem superfluous. But in reality, to 
the great majority of the people, the 
“superfluous” portions of the perfor- 
mance are probably the main object of 
interest, filling the want of a free show. 
Moreover, these exoteric parts are the 
very ones that are most widely diffused 
over the Plains area and are thus pre- 
sumably of great antiquity. To say 
therefore, that the entire Sun Dance of 
the Crow is nothing but the quest of a 
vision to ensure vengeance, would be 
wide of the truth. It seems so only to 
the logic-chopping white observer, or 
to the native himself when he begins to 
theorize about the complex things he 
does. But apart from the pledger, the 
Indian performers or witnesses pass 
through various psychological states 
during the ceremony, which are very 
remote from the notion embodied in the 
theory of the performance. This ten- 
dency to rationalize his actions, to inter- 
pret things to himself and mislead 
himself and the guileless ethnologist as 
to his real motives, is a very marked 
characteristic of primitive man that has 
invited and continues to engage the 
attention of ethnologists. 
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