980 TIJE GHOST-DANCE RELIGION [eth.ahm h 



spotted hawk feather in the other hand. In his trance vision he had 

 received such a spotted feather from the messiah. 



33. A-M Q IXA GA 



A-ni'qana ga, 

 A-ni'qana ga, 



Ha'taui'i'na (lain- na. 

 Ha'tani'i'na'danS'ua, 



Translation 



There is a solitary bull, 



There is a solitary liull — 



I am going to use him to "make medicine," 



I am y;oiug to use him to " make medicine." 



From the buffalo they had food, fuel, dress, shelter, and domestic fur- 

 niture, shields for defense, points for their arrows, and strings for their 

 bows. As the old Spanish chronicles of Coronado put it: "To be 

 short, they make so many things of them as they have need of, or as 

 many as suffice them in the use of this life." 



Among Indians the professions of medicine and religion are insepa- 

 rable. The doctor is always a priest, and the priest is always a doctor. 

 Hence, to the whites in the Indian country the Indian priest-doctor 

 has come to be kuown as the "medicineman," and anything sacred, 

 mysterious, or of wonderful power or efficacy in Indian life or belief 

 is designated as " medicine," this term being the nearest equivalent 

 of the aboriginal expression in the various languages. To "make 

 medicine" is to perforin some sacred ceremony, from the curing of a 

 sick child to the consecration of .the sun-dance lodge. Among the 

 prairie tribes the great annual tribal ceremony was commonly known 

 as the "medicine dance," and the special guardian deity of every war- 

 rior was spoken of as his " medicine." 



The buffalo was to the nomad hunters of the plains what corn was 

 to the more sedentary tribes of the east and south — the living, visible 

 symbol of their support and existence; the greatest gift of a higher 

 being to his children. Something of the buffalo entered into every 

 important ceremony. In the medicine dance — or sun dance, as it is 

 frequently called — the head and skin of a buffalo hung from thecenter 

 pole of the lodge, and in the fearful torture that accompanied this 

 dance among some tribes, the dancers dragged around the circle buffalo 

 skulls tied to ropes which were fastened to skewers driven through 

 holes cut in their bodies and limbs. A buffalo skull is placed in front 

 of the sacred sweat-lodge, and on the battlefield of Wounded Knee I 

 have seen buffalo skulls and plates of dried meat placed at the head of 

 the graves. The buffalo was the sign of the Creator on earth as the 

 sun was his glorious manifestation in the heavens. The hair of 

 the buffalo was an important element in the preparation of "medi- 

 cine," whether for war, hunting, love, or medicine proper, and for such 



