dohsktI SHAM FIGHT HEDE-WATCI 297 



§153. The Hede-watci. — Sometimes the ceremonies ended with the 

 sham fight, in which event the people started homeward, especially 

 when they were iu a great hurry. But when time allowed the sham 

 fight was followed by a dance, called the Hede-watci'. When it occurred 

 it was not under the control of the keepers of the two sacred tents, but 

 of the I nkc-sabe keeper of the two sacred pipes. 



On the evening of the day when the sham fight took place, the chiefs 

 generally assembled, aud consulted together about having the dance. 

 But the proposition came from the keeper of the pipes. Then the 

 chiefs said, "It is good to dance." The dance was appointed for the 

 following day. On the morrow five, six, or seven of the Inke-sab6 men, 

 accompanied by one of their women, went in search of a suitable tree. 

 According to La Fleche and Two Crows, when the tree was found, the 

 woman felled it with her ax, and the men carried it on their shoulders 

 back to the camp, marching iu Indian file. Frank La Fleche says that 

 the tree was cut during the evening previous to the dance; and early 

 the next morning, all the young men of the tribe ran a race to see who 

 could reach the tree first, (With this compare the tradition of the 

 race for the sacred pole, § 36, and the race for the tree, which is to 

 be used for the sun-dance, as practiced among the Dakotas). He also 

 says that when the sham fight ended early in the afternoon, the Hede- 

 watci could follow the same day. (Iu that event, the tree had to be 

 found and cut on the preceding day, and the race for it was held early 

 in the morning before the anointing of the sacred pole.) In the race 

 for the tree, the first young man who reached it and touched it, could 

 carry the larger end on his shoulder; the next one who reached it 

 walked behind the first as they bore the tree on their shoulders ; and 

 so on with the others, as many as were needed to carry the tree, the 

 last one of whom had to touch the extreme end with the tips of his 

 fingers. The rest of the young men walked iu single file after those 

 who bore the tree. Frank La Fleche never heard of the practice of any 

 sacred rites previous to the felling of the tree. Nothing was prepared 

 for the tree to fall on, uor did they cause, the tree to fall iu any particu- 

 lar direction, as was the case when the Dakotas procured the tree for 

 the sun-dance. 14 



In the sun-dance, the man who dug the " ujeii" iu the middle of the 

 tribal circle for the sun-pole had to be a brave man, and he was obliged 

 to pay for the privilege. Frauk La Fleche could not tell whether there 

 were similar requirements in the case of him who dug the ujeii for the 

 pole in the Hede-watci ; nor could he tell whether the man was always 

 chosen from the Inke-sabg gens. 



When the men who bore the tree reached the camp they planted it 



"None of the questions answered by Frank La Fl&che were asked by the writer 

 while Joseph La Fleche and Two Crows were in Washington ; it was not till he heard 

 Miss Fletcher's article on the Dakota sun-dance that it occurred to him that similar 

 customs might have been practiced by the Omahas in this Hede-watci. 



