BULL. 30] 



SUN DANCE 



651 



mance is that of voluntary self-laceration 

 or torture. The two most common forms 

 of torture were ( 1 ) to attach the free end 

 of a reata that had been fastened to the 

 center fork of the lodge, to a skewer in- 

 serted in the loose skin of the breast, and 

 (2) to drag around inside the camp circle 

 one or more buffalo-skulls by a reata the 

 other end of which was attached to a 

 skewer inserted in the back. In some 

 tribes a small piece of flesh was cut from 

 the arm or shoulder of the dancer and was 

 offered with tobacco seeds at the foot of 

 the center pole. The amount of torture 

 performed seems to have been greatest 

 among the Cheyenne and Mandan. Tor- 

 ture in any form was not tolerated by the 

 Kiowa; indeed, the appearance of blood 

 at any stage of the ceremony was re- 

 garded by them as an ill omen, and it is 

 said sometimes to have caused the cere- 

 mony to cease. 



A form of sacrifice other than torture, 

 consisting in the offering of the cast-off 

 clothing of children or adults to the lodge 

 on the last day, was practised by several 

 tribes, especially those of Algonquian 

 stock. 



The ceremony of the Sun dance abounds 

 in symbolism, no rite being performed 

 except in a prescribed manner. There 

 seems to have been universal veneration 

 of the four cardinal points. The sun, or 

 a god spoken of as the "great mystery," 

 "great medicine," or "man above," ■vv'as 

 even more prominent, being symbolized 

 by the center pole. The salient features 

 of the symbolism may be epitomized as 

 follows: The tipi of secret preparation 

 corresponds to the sacred mountain to 

 which the originator of the ceremony re- 

 paired when in distress and there learned 

 the inysteries of the ceremony. The rites 

 of the secret tipi represent the acts per- 

 formed originally in the sacred mountain, 

 and hence are a kind of rehearsal. The 

 secret tipi is often spoken of as the "rab- 

 bit" or "lone" tipi or the "morning 

 star." The camp circle symbolizes the 

 constellation Corona Borealis, which is 

 frequently spoken of by the Plains tribes 

 as the camp circle of the gods above. 

 Again, the camp circle may be regarded as 

 symbolizing the horizon, standing for the 

 universe. The lodge itself represents this 

 earth, as the home of man. The altar 

 symbohzes the essence of life or spring 

 of fertilization. In the fork of the center 

 pole was the nest of the thunderbird. 

 Into the nest a digging stick was usually 

 thrust, symboHc of that used by the wo- 

 man who in the well-known tale climbed 

 to the sky in pursuit of a porcupine and 

 later gave birth to the Sun Boy. While 

 the center pole itself, with its bands of 

 red and black paint, is symbolic of earth 

 and heaven, and typifies the supreme 



medicine or mystery, it may be regarded 

 as symbolizing also, especially at the 

 time of its capture, the common enemy 

 of the tribe. The Cheyenne declare, in- 

 deed, that from the fork of the center 

 pole was formerly suspended alive an en- 

 emy captured in war. The dancers col- 

 lectively overcome an enemy, generally 

 the sun, and by their medicine compel 

 the thunderbird to release rain. The 

 wreatlis worn by dancers are symbols of 

 the sun, and the four old men in the dance 

 represent the gods of the four world-quar- 

 ters, while the paints applied to the body, 

 usually four in number, are progressive 

 in their virtue, generally culminating in 

 a black paint, which may be regarded as 

 defying the rain to wash it off. The 

 painted designs are symljols of the sun, 

 the moon, the morning star, and the gods 

 of the four world-quarters. The whistling 

 symbolizes the breath, or life, of man, and 

 at the same time the cry of the thunder- 

 bird. Vomiting and sweating are em- 

 ployed as purification rites. The fasting 

 and the self-inflicted torture are penance, 

 done to obtain special favor of the gods, 

 and represent the fast of the originator of 

 the ceremony. 



In the ritual of the Sun dance it is related 

 that once in a period of famine an indi- 

 vidual wandered forth with a female com- 

 panion in behalf of his tribe, encountered 

 a deity, fasted, learned the ceremony, re- 

 turned to the tribe, caused the ceremony 

 to be performed, and thus brought relief 

 from famine through the appearance of 

 the buffalo. The ceremony accordingly 

 may be regarded as one of rebirth or re- 

 animation. In the tribes which have 

 this ritual the one who has made the vow 

 at a stated period of the ceremony offers 

 his wife to the chief priest, thus exempli- 

 fying the act of the originator of the cere- 

 mony, who offered his companion to the 

 one from whom he obtained the cere- 

 mony. 



The Sun dance, being strongly opposed 

 by the missionaries because it was utterly 

 misunderstooji, and finding no favor in 

 official circles, has been for many years 

 an object of persecution, and in conse- 

 quence is extinct among the Dakota, the 

 Crows, and the Mandan, of the Siouan 

 stock, and among the Pawnee and the 

 Kiowa. It is still performed by the Crqe, 

 Siksika, Arapaho, Cheyenne, Assiniboin, 

 Ponca, Shoshoni, and Ute. Its disap- 

 pearance among certain of these tribes, 

 such as the Ponca, is near at hand, for it 

 has lost part of its rites and has come to be 

 largely a spectacle for gain rather than a 

 great religious ceremony. 



The Sun dance was not only the great- 

 est ceremony of the Plains tribes, but was 

 a condition of their existence. ]\Iore than 

 any other ceremony or occasion, it fur- 



