MOONET] 



REVERENCE FOR THE MORNING STAR 



1011 



Translation 



Father, the Morning Star ! 



Father, the Morning Star ! 



Look on ns, we have danced until daylight, 



Look on us, we have danced until daylight. 



Take pity on us — Hi i i ' 



Take pity on us — Hi i i ' 



This song is sung about daylight, just before the closing song, after 

 the dancers have danced all night and are now ready to quit and go 

 home. When the new doctrine came among the prairie tribes, the Ghost 

 dance was held at irregular and frequent intervals, almost every other 

 night, in fact — lasting sometimes until about midnight, sometimes 

 until daylight, without any rule. As the ceremonial became crystallized, 

 however, the messiah gave instructions that the dance should be held 

 only at intervals of six weeks, and should then continue four consecu- 

 tive nights, lasting the first three nights until about midnight, but on 

 the fourth night to continue all night until daylight of the next morn- 

 ing. The original letter containing these directions is given in chapter 

 x. For a long time these directions were implicitly followed, but the 

 tendency now is to the original fashion of one-night dances, at short 

 intervals. This song to the morning star was sung just before daylight 

 on the final morning of the dance. 



With all the prairie tribes the morning star is held in great reverence 

 and is the subject of much mythological belief and ceremony. It is 

 universally represented in their pictographs as a cross, usually of the 

 Maltese pattern. In this form it is frequently pictured on the ghost 

 shirts. The Arapaho name, nagaq', means literally "a cross."' The 

 Kiowa know it as fainso, "the cross.*' or sometimes, as da-e'dal, " the 

 great star.'' 



73. Ahu vr iiatiii xa (closiug song) 



Aniblnllnn., 



t 

 A 



3 i^.— _ =q: 



4=3=3 



*zt 



v\i h;i 



na'-ni • m 



liu 



-9 



a - liu 



vu hii- 



fcr3 — 1> . 1 i- 3 | * -,'s-^ = 



he-sii 



-»-* 



l -ni ni liu - liu, 



4--?- 



-»»s— cV 



"""P=T 



a - tliu n 



ta -11 sa' - ba, ya- thu'n a- 



Ahu'yn hiithi 11a hesftna nini hu hu, 

 Ahu yu hiithi 11a hesflna'nini hu liu. 

 Vathu n iita -usii'ba — 



