450 A STUDY OF SIOUAN CULTS. 



§ 140. Bushotter, in his Teton' text, says: 



They prayed to the sun, and they thought that with his yellow eye he saw all 

 things, and that when he desired he went under the ground. 



Eiggs states in Tah-koo Wali-kon (p. 69) : 



Although as a divinity, the sun is not represented as a malignant being, yet the 

 worship given him is the most dreadful whiih the Dakotas oft'er. Aside from i he 

 sun dance, there is another proof of the divine character ascribed to the sun in the 

 oath taken by some of the Dakotas: "As the sun hears me, this is so." 



THE .SUN DANCE. 



§ 141. Pond ' gave an account of tlie sun dance obtained from Eiggs, 

 in wliicli occurs tlie following: "The ceremonies of the suu dance 

 commence in the evening. I have been under the impression that the 

 time of the fiill moon was selected, but I am now (1867) informed that 

 it is not essential." Neither Capt. JJourke (§§ 197-210) nor Bushotter 

 speaks of the time of the full moou. In Miss Fletcher's account of the 

 Oglala Sim dance of 1882,^ she says: " The festival generally occurs in 

 the latter part of June or early in July and lasts about six days. The 

 time is fixed by the budding of the Artemisia ludoviciana." (See §§ 138, 

 150.) 



§ 142. Lynd writes : ■" 



The wiwanyag wacipi, or worship of the suu as a divinity, is evidently one of the 

 most radical bases of Dakota religion. It has a subordinate origin in the wihan- 

 muapi, or dreaming, and is intimately connected with the hanmdepi, or vision hunt- 

 ing. This most ancient of all worships, though it is of very frequent occurrence 

 among the Dakotas, does not take place at stated intervals, as among the old nations 

 of the East, nor does the whole tribe participate in the ceremonies. It is performed 

 by one por.son alone, such of his relatives and friends assisting in the ceremonies as 

 may deem fit or as he may designate. Preparatory to this, as to all the other sacred 

 ceremonies of the D.akotas, are fasting and purificatiou. The dance commences with 

 the rising of the sun and continues for three days, or until such time as the dream- 

 ing worshiper shall receive a vision from the sjiirit or divinity of the suu. He faces 

 the sun coust.antly, turning as it turns, and keeping up a constant blowing with a 

 wooden whistle. A rude drum is beaten at intervals, to which ho keeps time with 

 his feet, raising one after the other, and bending his body towards the sun. Short 

 intervals of rest are given during the dance. The mind of the worshiper is fixed 

 intently upon some great desire that he has, and is, as it were, isolated from the 

 body. In this state the dancer is said to receive revelations from the sun, and to 

 hold direct intercourse with that deity. If the worshiper of this luminary, how- 

 ever, should fail to receive the desired revelation l>efore the close of the ceremonies, 

 then self-sacrifice is resorted to, and the ceremonies of the hanmdepi become a part 

 of the worship of the sun. 



A DAIiOTA'S ACCOUNT OF THE SUN DANCE. 



§ 143. Several accounts of the sun dance have been published within 

 the past twenty years, but they have, without exception, been written 

 by white persons. The following differs in one respect from all which 

 have preceded it; it was written in the Teton dialect of the Dakota, by 



' Minn. Hist. Soc. Coll,, Vol. n, pt. 3. 



2 Proc. Am. A.ssot. Adv. Sci., Montreal meeting. Vol. xxxi, p, 580, 



3 Minn. Hist. Soc. Coll., Vol. u, pt. 2. 



