86 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BULL.ei 



wliat was strongest in his nature and training — namely, the ability 

 to endui'e physic^il pain. He did tliis in fulfillment of a vow made in 

 time of anxiety, usujilly when on the warpath. Strange as it may seem, 

 the element of pain, which ennobled the ceremony in the mind of the 

 Indian, was a cause of its misunderstanding by the white man. The 

 voluntary suffering impressed the beholder, while its deep signifi- 

 cance was not evident. It is probable that no Indian ceremony has 

 been misinterpreted so widely and so persistently as the Sun dance. 

 V. T. McGilli cuddy, agent at Pine Ridge, S. Dak,, wrote in his 

 report for 1882: "The heathenish annual ceremony termed 'the 

 Sun dance/ will, I trust, ... be soon a thing of the past."^ 

 James G. Wright, agent on the Rosebud Reservation, in the same 

 State, characterized the Sun dance as an "aboriginal and barbarous 

 festival." ^ The stand point of the Sioux concerning the Sun dance 

 is indicated by the following statement of Red Bird, a thoughtful 

 member of the tribe. In describing the Sun dance to the writer 

 he said: 



There is a great deal in what a man believes, and if a man 's religion is changed for 

 the better or for the worse he will know it. The Sun dance was our first and our only- 

 religion. We believed that there is a mysterious power greater than all others, which 

 is represented by nature, one form of representation being the sun. Thus we made 

 sacrifices to the sun, and our petitions were granted. The Indians lived longer in 

 the old days than now. I would not say this change is due to tlirowing away the old 

 religion; there may be other reasons, but in the old times the Sun dance was held 

 annually and was looked forward to with eagerness. I believe we had true faith at 

 that time. But there came a year when ' ' the sun died. " There was a period of dark- 

 ness,3 and from that day a new religion came to the Indians. It is the white man 'a 

 religion. We are timid about it, as we are about the other ways of the white man. 

 In the old days our faith was strong and our lives were cared for; now our faith is 

 weaker, and we die. 



The ceremony of the Sun dance varied among different tribes.^ 



1 Ivd. Aff. Rep. for 1882, p. 39, 1882. 



2 Ibid, for 1886, p. 82, 1886. 



3 [The Indians stated that this referred to an eclipse of the sun in 1868, but the reference is probably to 

 the total eclipse which took place August 7, 1869.] 



< Concerning the Sun-dance customs of various tribes the foUovvmg authorities, among others, may be 

 consulted: 



Among the Sioux: 



Fletcher, AliceC, TheSundanceof the OgalallaSioux, inProc. ^77i«r. ^««oc. ^dr. Sci., 1882, pp. 580-84, 

 Salem, Mass., 1883. 



Description by Bushotter, in Dorsey, George A., A Study of Siouan Cults, in Eleventh Rep. Bur. Ethn., 

 pp. 450-64. Also description by Capt. John G. Bourke, U. S. A., ibid., pp. 464-66. 



Clarke, W. P., Indian Sign Language, p. 361, Philadelphia, Pa., 1885. 



Catlin, George, The Manners, Customs, and Condition of the North American Indians, I, pp. 232, 233, 

 London, 1841. 



Lynd, James W., Religion of the Dakotas, ui Colls. Hist. Soc. Minn., vol. 2, pt. 2, pp. 78, 79, St. Paul, 

 Minn., 1865. 



Pond, G. H. (quoting from Rev. S. R. Riggs) , Dakota Superstitions, ibid., pt. 3, pp. 46-49, 1867. 



Beckwith, Paul, Notes on Customs of the Dakotahs, in Smithson. Rep. for 1886, pt. 1 , p. 250, 1889. 



Among the Crows: 



Lewie, Robert H., The Sun Dance of the Crow Indians, in Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., Anthr. Papers, xvi, 

 pt. 1, New York, 1915. 



