CHAPTER XXXIV
BEGINNING OF THE SUN DANCE
The Blackfoot Indians did not have a personal God. They looked to the Sun as the source of all power, believing he was everywhere—in the mountains, lakes and rivers, birds and wild animals. They believed that Sun Power could be transferred to man. Any one might be the favored person; an individual was powerless to gain it, but he could put himself in the way of receiving the gift.
If an Indian wanted a religious experience, or to gain supernatural power, he went alone to a remote place to fast and pray, sometimes for many days. The gift came generally through the medium of some wild animal, bird, or supernatural being, whose compassion was aroused by his fasting and by his exhausted condition; often through one of the more powerful animals—the buffalo, grizzly bear, beaver, wolf, eagle, Thunder, or the Maker of Storms and Blizzards. If the grizzly bear bestowed his power, the man who received it was believed to attain the great strength and vitality of the bear.
The tribe had many sacred bundles containing supernatural power; all had songs for their rituals, and all the songs were different. The medicine men who led the ceremonies had to know the songs of the different bundles. This required many years of patient study and was an important part in the preparation of a medicine man.
In the ceremonies of these bundles, the objects they contained were of minor importance; the songs were the means of contact with religious power. Some of the ceremonies were believed to have power to heal the sick, others to promote the welfare of the people, or to bring success in war. But each bundle was owned by an individual who, in turn, could transfer it to another.
The Sun Dance was the only ceremony in which all the people participated. It was a great tribal festival held every year at midsummer when the grass was long and food plentiful. It always had its origin in a woman’s vow to the Sun generally in behalf of a relative who was dying. Some attended to fast and pray, others to fulfill vows; but most of the people came for social enjoyment, and to see the ceremonies and social dances.
Mad Wolf, my Indian father, and his wife were the givers of a Sun Dance. One day in the early summer, I rode Kutenai, my saddle horse, across the prairie to attend their opening ceremony. When I came to a long ridge-like summit that led down to his camp, I dismounted to rest and view the landscape.
In the wide and grassy valleys were herds of fat horses and cattle. Sharp against the western horizon stood the snowy peak of Divide Mountain, where two continental divides meet, and the rocky summit of a mountain called “Chief” by the Indians, because it stands apart and is higher than the other peaks. It was evening and the hills and mountains were bathed in the rosy light of sunset. On all sides I heard the sweet sounds of prairie birds—the Western meadowlark and lark sparrow and the serene and exalted song of the willow thrush.
But the dogs of Mad Wolf’s camp soon broke the spell; they got wind of the approaching white man and began an incessant barking. So I leaped into the saddle and rode down to his camp.
When I entered the lodge, the chief and his wife Gives-to-the-Sun were seated together at the back, their heads bowed in prayer. He looked at me with his keen glance, then shook hands and, directing me to a seat on a couch, said:
“I am glad in my heart that you have come to our Sun Dance. Ever since you went away, I have prayed to the Sun for your safe return. Now you can see our ceremony. I shall tell you everything and you can explain it to the white men; for I believe you are straight and will tell them the truth.”
I asked Mad Wolf how it happened they were giving a Sun Dance, and he replied:
“Last winter, at the time of the second big blizzard, Small Otter, our youngest grandchild, was ill. Snow lay deep over the prairie; it was cold and for many days the sun did not shine. The doctors, White Grass and Ear-Rings, came. They gave root medicines; they danced and sang and beat upon their medicine drums. But our child grew weaker; they said he was going to die.
“One evening the clouds broke and the sun shone through. My wife went outside the lodge; she looked up to the Sun and prayed:
“ ‘Sun, have pity!
I am praying for my grandson,
The one that is dying.
May he get well!
Sun, you must listen.
I swear I am pure.
All my life I lived straight.
Sun, I promise to give your ceremony,
If our child gets well.
We shall call in all the people.
Sun, have pity and hear my prayer.’
“Then she went to the bedside of Small Otter and said: ‘Rise up, my child, and get well; for your sake I have vowed to give a Sun Dance.’
“After that my wife went to see Bull Child, the medicine man, and told him of her vow. Next morning they stood together facing the rising sun; and Bull Child prayed:
“ ‘Sun, I know this woman has led a pure life. If her sick grandchild recovers, I promise she will give the ceremony for you; she will fast before all the people and become a medicine woman.’
“The following spring, by the time the snow had melted, Small Otter was well. So when the warm winds began to blow and the grass was green, we began to save tongues and make ready to fulfill our vow to the Sun. Now we are going to prepare them for the sacred food.”
Before Mad Wolf and Gives-to-the-Sun started on the tongues, they asked White Calf, the head-chief, and his wife to help and guide them in the ceremony. They were the givers of the Sun Dance the year before. So they came to our camp and went through the ceremony of painting Mad Wolf and his wife and Small Otter, for whom the vow was made. They prayed with them and sang many songs. And the two couples stood together outside the lodge, while White Calf prayed to the Sun, promising that the Sun Dance would be given. White Calf repeated this promise in the four directions, while they faced in turn, north, south, east, and west.
Then they smoked a pipe together, and White Calf and his wife promised to lead and instruct and to act as “father” and “mother” throughout the long ceremony of the Sun Dance. And from them Gives-to-the-Sun purchased a “natóas” (sun-dance bundle), containing a sacred headdress and other articles, which were used by the woman who made a vow to the Sun. Thus it became known throughout the tribe that the Sun Festival would be given that summer by the Mad Wolf family.
After many tongues had been gathered and dried ready for use, Mad Wolf moved his camp to another place and summoned his relatives and friends to assist him in the ceremony. Then came many well-known Indians and their families and joined the camp, White Grass, Ear-Rings, Curly Bear, Middle Calf, Double Runner, Morning Plume, and Blessed Weasel—the men to help in the singing and prayers, the women in preparing tongues.
Throughout these long rites my Indian father gave me instruction and every facility to learn; he stopped the ceremony that I might write down the chants and prayers and make photographic records. All his friends and relatives were well-disposed and the way was open.
The consecrating of the tongues lasted several days, the same ceremony being repeated for every lot of tongues brought in. They chanted and prayed and burned incense. White Calf and his wife directed. Throughout the entire ceremony of the Sun Dance, they were known as the “father” and “mother,” Mad Wolf and his wife as the “son” and “daughter.”
Gives-to-the-Sun, as the medicine woman, sat directly back of the fire in the central position, with Mad Wolf on her left and the wife of White Calf on her right. Next to Mad Wolf sat the head-chief, White Calf, and the other men. The men were all together on the north side of the lodge, while the women were together on the opposite side and in the same order as their husbands.
The wife of White Calf, as the “mother,” took the tongues from the cases and laid them in rows on a rawhide. It was her privilege to hand them to the other women for slicing and skinning. She gave the first one to Gives-to-the-Sun, because she made the vow to the Sun. This tongue was then painted black on one side and red on the other, to distinguish it from the others; and as soon as Gives-to-the-Sun had taken it, she renewed her vow by praying:
“Sun, I have lived a straight life.
Ever since I came to my husband,
I have been faithful to him.
Sun, help me! What I say is true.
Help me to cut this tongue without mistake.”
During the preparing of the tongues, if any of the women cut themselves or made a mistake, it was taken as a sign they were not virtuous.
After the tongues were cut into slices, two women went to the river for water, carrying a kettle between them. Before starting and all through their movements, they made prayers and sang. On their way to the river they stopped four times, each time standing with bowed heads, praying earnestly to the Sun. While dipping the water, they also sang and prayed and made four pauses for prayer on their way back to the lodge.
When the women placed the kettle of tongues on the fire, they burned sweet grass as incense. And while the tongues were boiling, they chanted and prayed, burning sweet grass and throwing it into the kettle. At this time the women made vows to the Sun that they were virtuous. They recounted their temptations—the occasions when they were improperly approached by men; they made known the names of the men and told how they had resisted.
After the boiling of the tongues, the kettle was taken from the fire and held in the sweet smoke, while White Calf sang to the Sun, Moon, and Morning Star. Then they had another ceremony for drying the tongues, and still another one for placing them in cases. Thus the meat was consecrated and made ready for taking to sun-dance camp, where the entire tribe would assemble.