RELIGION \\D CEREMONIES. 113 



sas, Missouri, Osage, Oto, Wichita, Bannock, and Nez 

 Perce: thai even some of these formerly practised it, 

 is probable. Like soldier societies (p. 89), the sun 

 dance presents several features variously combined 

 and distributed. These are the torture, the circular 

 shelter of poles, the use of a sacred bundle, the erection 

 of a sun pole, and the dancing ceremonies. The form 

 of shelter shown in the Arapaho model has been ob- 

 served among the Arapaho, Gros Ventre, Kiowa, 

 Cheyenne, Blackfoot, Sarsi, Plains-Cree, and Hidatsa. 

 With the possible exception of the Plains-Cree all used 

 a sacred bundle of some form. (For examples see the 

 Blackfoot and Crow collections.) The Crow used a 

 bundle containing an image, but a different form of 

 shelter. The Assiniboine, Ponca, and Dakota used 

 no bundles but a shelter of another type from that 

 shown in the model. The torture, dancing, and the 

 sun pole were common to all. 



Among the Mandan we note an unusual form of 

 sun dance, known as the Okipa, fully described by 

 George Catlin who visited that tribe in 1832. (See 

 sketches in the Catlin collection.) 



Ghost Dance Ceremonies. Even within historic times, 

 there have been several interesting religious develop- 

 ments among the Plains Indians. The most noted of 

 these was the ghost dance. This was a religious cere- 

 mony founded upon the belief in the coming of a 

 Messiah, which seems to have originated among the 

 Paviotso Indians in Nevada (Plateau Area) about 1888 

 and which spread rapidly among the Indians of the 



