uuESEi ] rUBEKTY. 483 



are able each to recognize the other as his lellow-twiu iu a previous 

 state of existence. Medicine men often chiim that their supernatural 

 powers are due to a jirevious existence as twins." ' (See §§ 267, 287.) 



§ 261. When a child is able to walk, they say that " He kicks out the 

 teeth of his elder brother" (or " sister, " as the case may be). The teeth 

 of the elder child which have been shed, probably the tirst set, are 

 buried under the entrance to the lodge so that other teeth may come in 

 their place. Whoever steps over the spot where the teeth have been 

 buried will soon have other teeth in his mouth. 



PUBERTY. 



§262. Among the Oglala Dakota, according to Miss Fletcher,' the 

 rites incident to the puberty of girls take place on the fourth day 

 of the Sundance festival. In a note on page 260 of the Peabody 

 Museum Report, vol. iii, the same authority says: 



Through the kiuduess of Eev. A. L. Riggs I learu that among the bauds of East- 

 ern Sioux living near Fort Sully, Dak., a feast, called the reappearance of the White 

 Bnft'alo Skin, is held for the consecration of a girl on her arriving at puberty. The 

 feast is sacred and eostlj', and not e%'eryone can afford it. Those who have once 

 made the feast become the privileged guests at every such feast, occupy the feast 

 tent, and are served first. A prominent feature iu the feast is the feeding of these 

 privileged persons, and the girl iu whose honor the feast is given, with choke cher- 

 ries, as the choicest rarity to be had in the winter. The feast can be held at any 

 time. Bull berries, or, as the Dakotas call them, " rabbits' noses, " may be substi- 

 tuted, or finely pounded meat mixed with fat, in case no berries are to be had. In 

 the ceremony, a few of the cherries are taken in a spoon and held over the sacred 

 smoke, then fed to the girl. The spoon is filled anew, incensed as each person is fed. 

 As each one is given the cherries, he is addressed thus: " Wi-ca-sa-ya-ta-pi wo-yu- 

 te de ya-tii) kte, i. e., " Y'ou will eat this chief's food. " The eaters are not chiefs ; 

 they only partake of chiefs' food. 



§263. Initiation to manhood took place in one of two ways: (I) By 

 the wohduze ceremony, or, (2) by the bear dance, as witnessed by Long. 



The former has been referred to iu §§122-125 of this article; the lat- 

 ter has been described by Long^ as 



a ceremony which they are in the habit of performing when any young man wishes 

 to bring himself into particlar notice, and it is considered a kind of initiation into 

 the state of manhood. There is a kind of flag made of fawn skin dressed with the 

 hair on, suspended upon a pole. Upon the flesh side of it are drawn certain figures 

 indicative of the dream which it is necessary the young man should have dreamed 

 before he can be considered a proper candidate for this kind of initiation. With 

 this Hag a pipe is suspended by way of sacrifice. Two arrows are stuck up at the 

 foot of the pole, and fragments of painted feathers, etc., are strewed upon the ground 

 near it. These pertain to the religious rites attending the ceremony, bewailing and 

 self-mortification. The young man who has had the dream acts the bear in this 

 dance, and is hunted by the other young men ; but the same man can not act the bear 

 more than once in consequence of his dreams. 



§ 264. Miss Fletcher says :^ 



'Proc. Am. Assoc. Adv. Sci., Montreal meeting, 1882, p. 583. 



^Skiff Voy. to Falls of St. Anthony, in Minn. Hist. Coll., n, pt. 1, pp. 18-19, 



^Rept. Peabody Museum, vol. ni, pp, 277. 278. 



