434 A STUDY OF SIOUAN CULTS. 



to them which must needs be reverenced ; for these spirits, too, vent 

 their wrath \ipon mankind. Indeed, there is no object, however trivial, 

 but has its spirit.' 



In his article on the Mythology of the Dakotas,^ Eiggs says of the 

 Dakota: 



They pray to the sun, earth, moon, lakes, rivers, trees, plants, snakes, anil all kinds 

 of animals and vegetables — many of them say, to everything, for they pray to their 

 guns and arrows — to any object, artificial as Tvell as natural, for they suppose that 

 every object, artificial as well as natural, has a spirit which may hurt or help, and 

 so is a proper object of worship. 



Lynd says : 



The essentially physical east of the Indian mind (if I may be allowed the ex- 

 pression) requires some outward aud tangible representation of things spiritual 

 before he can comprehend them. The god must be present, by image or in person, 

 ere he can oft'er up his devotions. * * * Similar to this "belief in a spiritual 

 essence" is the general Dakota belief that each class of animals or objects of a like 

 kind possesses a peculiar guardian divinity, which is the mother archetype. » » » 

 Sexuality is a prominent feature in the religion of the Dakotas. Of every specie* 

 of divinity, with the exception of the Wakantanka, there is a plurality, part male 

 and part female. Even the spirits, which are supposed to dwell in the earth, twigs, 

 and other inanimate substances, are invested with distinctions of sex.^ 



§98. Pond asserts that "evidence is wanting to show that these 

 people divide their Taku-wakan into classes of good and evil. They 

 are all simply wakan." * 



PRINCIPAL DAKOTA GODS. 



The gods of the Dakotas are of course innumerable; but of the 

 superior gods these are the chief: The Unktelii, or god of the water; 

 the Wakinyau, or thunder god; the Takui^kanskau, or moving god; 

 the Tunkan, Inyan, or stone god ; the Heyoka god ; the Sun ; the Moon ; 

 the Armor god ; the Spirit of the Medicine Sack ; and the Wakantanka, 

 who is probably an intrusive deity.' 



MISS FLETCHER ON INDIAN RELIGION. 



§ 99. The following remarks are those of a later writer, Miss Fletcher : 



The Indian's religion is generally spoken of as a nature and animal worship. The 

 term seems too broadcast and indiscriminate. Careful inquiry and observation fail 

 to show that the Indian actually worships the objects which are set up or men- 

 tioned by him in his ceremonies. The earth, four winds, the son, moou, and stars, 

 the stones, the water, the various animals, are all exponents of a mysterious life 

 and power encompassing the Indian and filling him with vague apprehension and 

 desire to propitiate and induce friendly relations. The latter is attempted not so 

 much through the ideas of sacrifice as through more or less ceremonial appeals. 

 More faith is put in ritual and a careful observance of forms than in any act of 

 self-denial in its moral sense, as we understand it. The claim of relationship is 

 used to strengthen the appeal, since the tie of kindred among the Indians is one 

 which can not be ignored or disregarded, the terras giaudfather and grandmother being 



'Lynd, Ibid., p. 67. ^Am. Antiq., vol. v, 149. 'Minn. Hist. Soc. OoU., vol. i, pt. 2, pp. 67, 68. 

 «Ibid., pt. 3, p. 33. » Rigge, Tah-koo Wah-kon, p. 61, et pa.ssim. 



