DENSMORE] TETON SIOUX MUSIC 167 



Lone Man said : 



A man enacting this ceremony often tied a bunch of grass or sage to the lock of hair 

 over his forehead, wearing this as a warrior would wear his medicine. Some were so 

 humble that they covered their faces. It was the custom that a man go with bare 

 head, and he often had his face painted in black and white, or blue and white, his 

 arms and legs being painted with streaks of lightning. If a man wished to express 

 the greatest possil)le humiliation and did not feel that he could even go through the 

 ceremony, he cut off jjart of his hair and put it with the entire body of a dog which 

 had been killed for the purpose, both being placed on a pole beside his lodge. 



The man who was to show his humiliation engaged the services of a medicine-man 

 to have charge of the ceremony. For this he selected a man who had had many 

 dreams of the wolf, horse, and other animals, and compensated him liberally, probably 

 giving him a horse. 



On the appointed day the Crier announced to the tribe that a certain man (giving 

 his name) had had a dream of the thunderbird and \vished to fufill the dream, and that 

 he requested all who had had similar dreams to join him in the ceremony of humilia- 

 tion. Sometimes women also had these dreams, and they were under the same obli- 

 gations as the men. 



The medicine-man led the dreamer in tattered garments out of his tent. If the man 

 were rich a horse was ready for him to ride, one was provided for the medicine-man, 

 and his relatives accompanied him on horseback as he went around the tribal circle, 

 followed by a jeering crowd, who treated the matter as a jest. On their return they 

 dismounted, sang, and told their dreams. A fire was burning in front of the specially 

 erected tent, and a pot of boiling water was hung over the fire. For this pot the man 

 provided as valuable an offering of meat as he could afford; this might be a buffalo 

 tongue and sometimes a dog was given. He did not put this into the pot himself, 

 but gave it to the medicine-man, who held it toward the west, then toward the north, 

 east, and south as he sang of his own dreams and also told the dreams of the man who 

 was making lus humiliation. He then turned toward the pot and pretended that he 

 would throw the meat into it. He did this three times, and the fourth time he released 

 the meat [see p. 74] , which sped through the air, falling into the pot without splashing 

 the water. All who joined him in the ceremony put some meat in the pot. These 

 constituted an offering to the thunderbird and were symbolic. 



Lone Man gave the following explanation of this symbolism : 



The water comes from the clouds, the fire is the sun which warms the earth, the 

 meat is from the animals, which are placed here for the use of the Indians, and over 

 the pot are the clouds of steam like the clouds in the sky. These are to teach the 

 people to meditate how Wakag^tagka by these means is taking care of them. 



After the meat was cooked there w^as a command to take it out of 

 the w^ater. This was an important part of the ceremony, as the men 

 had to plunge their bare arms into the })oiling water to take out the 

 meat, and it was in this action that medicines to prevent scalding 

 were tested. ^ These medicines consisted of herbs prepared with water, 



> The ability to walk upon hot stones or through fire, or to plunge the hand into boiling liquid, without 

 injury, has been noted among many Indian tribes. The following descriptions are cited: 



-Vmong the Chippewa: Hoffman, W. J., in The Midewiwin or " Grand Medicine Society" of the Ojibwa, 

 in Seventh Hep. Bur. Elhn., p. 157, 1891; also Chippewa Music, Bull. 45, Bur. Amer. Ethn., 1910. 



Among the Menominee: Hoffman, W. J., The Menomini Indians, in Fourteenth Rep. Bur. Ethn., p. 151 

 1896. 



Among the Mandan: Lowie, R.H., Societies of the Crow, Hidatsa, and Mandan Indians, in Anthr. Papers 

 Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., xt, pt. 3, p. 308, New York, 1913. 



See also Lynd, account of Heyoka Feast, in Minn. Hist. Soc. Colls, for 1804, vol. 2, pt. 2, pp. 70, 71, 

 St. Paul, 1865. 



