The Sun Dance of the Blackfoot Indians Part 1

The Sun Dance of the Blackfoot Indians.

by Clark Wissler.

PREFACE.

The Blackfoot tribes, particularly the Piegan, have been more extensively studied than most other Plains Indians. The writer began a systematic investigation of their culture in 1903. At that time, the only works treating them seriously were those of the younger Henry, Maximilian, and Grinnell. There were some good fragmentary articles by McLean and Hale. Yet, since we began work on this problem, a number of excellent books have appeared. First, the long-forgotten journals of Mathew c.o.c.king and Anthony Hendry who went to the Blackfoot country in 1754 were printed. Then followed McClintock's delightful book, "The Old North Trail" and later, Curtis's highly ill.u.s.trated account of the Piegan. Linguistic studies had been undertaken by Tims, but later, Michelson, Uhlenbeck, and Josselin de Jong brought out studies of the language and some aspects of social organization. Of more popular books, the only one to be considered here is Schultz's, "My Life as an Indian,"

which, though in the form of fiction, is full of true pictures of Blackfoot life and thought. One unfortunate thing about all this subsequent activity is that it centered on the Piegan and as the writer's work was largely with that division before these publications appeared, there was no chance to rectify this asymmetry.

The publication of this study of the sun dance has been long delayed in the hope that circ.u.mstances would permit a more intensive study of the ceremony among the Canadian divisions. But the time for making such a study has really pa.s.sed, since those natives who had the knowledge essential to an accurate exposition of the sun dance are now dead. It seems advisable, therefore, to publish the data as they stand.

The writer saw the Piegan ceremony twice, so that this study is based both upon objective observation and discussion with the native authorities on the subject. Later, Mr. Duvall checked over the data and conclusions with these and other informants. A large series of photographs was taken, but the important phases of the ceremony are so well shown in the published works of McClintock and Curtis that a repet.i.tion here is unnecessary.

CLARK WISSLER.

May, 1918.

THE SUN DANCE.

In our earlier paper upon the bundles of the Blackfoot, we have concerned ourselves with ceremonial functions in which the ownership and chief responsibility, in theory, rested in a single individual. We come now to an affair initiated, it is true, by the owner of the natoas bundle, but yet a composite of other rituals and functions, each of which has a definite place in a program carried out by the whole tribal organization. The only trace of a similar tribal partic.i.p.ation is in the now almost extinct tobacco-planting ceremonies conducted by the beaver owners; but here there was no complex of other unrelated ceremonies and functions. In short, the sun dance was for the Blackfoot a true tribal festival, or demonstration of ceremonial functions, in which practically every important ritual owner and organization had a place. Nevertheless, there were certain rituals peculiar to it which gave it its character.

Since the plan of this section is to give an ethnological presentation of the Blackfoot sun dance, rather than a logically unfolding description of the ceremony as seen at a specified time, we shall present the general program now and take up later a somewhat a.n.a.lytical detailed discussion of the various phases of the ceremony. By this method, we shall be able to concentrate our attention upon a single ceremonial concept without the distraction arising from contemporaneous and intrusive procedures based upon other concepts, for as we shall see, this sun dance is a true composite. The following schedule is not given as the one observed by the writer, but as the one regarded as proper and believed to have been followed before the various divisions of the Blackfoot were under the complete domination of the Canadian and United States governments.

PREPARATION PERIOD.

After making a vow to purchase a sun dance bundle, the woman and her husband make the necessary arrangements and perform the prescribed rites. This is an indefinite period. At the approach of summer, the invitation tobacco is sent to all the bands and the camp circle is formed.

PROGRAM BY DAYS.

_First Day._ The program opens with moving camp to a site previously selected. On the morning of this day, the medicine woman begins to fast, which may be taken as the real beginning of the ceremony. If the ceremony of "cutting the tongues" has not been previously performed or completed, it is now in order. In any event, the father and any male a.s.sistants he may choose to invite, spend a part of the day in "praying and singing over the tongues." A society brings in willows and a hundred-willow sweathouse is built.

_Second Day._ In the morning, the camp moves again to a site still nearer that proposed for the sun dance. A few green boughs of cottonwood are kept around the base of the medicine woman's tipi as a sign of its sanct.i.ty. A sweathouse is made, as on the previous day. "Praying and singing over the tongues" continues during the day and evening.

_Third Day._ The same as the second day.

_Fourth Day._ The camp moves again; this time to the site of the sun dance. In the afternoon, the fourth and last hundred-willow sweathouse is built and used. The singing continues during the evening in the medicine woman's tipi.

_Fifth Day._ This is an active day.[1] The various bands cut and drag in the poles and green cottonwood boughs to be used in constructing the dancing lodge. The center, or sun pole, is selected and brought in with the ceremonies pertaining thereto. During the day, the holes for the posts are dug and the sides of the dancing lodge put in place and prepared for the raising at sunset. A wind-break is erected at the west side, facing the forked end of the sun pole. Later in the day, some medicinemen take up their stations here to receive offerings to the sun and place them on the pole. In the forenoon, the ceremony connected with the opening of the natoas bundle begins in the medicine woman's tipi.

This is completed by the middle of the afternoon when there is a procession from the tipi to the wind-break facing the sun pole. The thongs for the poles are cut. While these are taking place, some food is distributed among the poor people. Those women, who, during the past season, promised "to come forward to the tongues" now fulfil their vows by public declarations addressed to the setting sun. The pole raisers then approach from the four quarters, erecting first the sun pole and then the rafters, with as much speed as possible. The medicine woman then returns to her tipi and the father with his male companions goes into a sweathouse.

_Sixth Day._ In the morning, a booth is erected in the dancing lodge for the medicinemen, or weather dancers. Later in the day, they approach, with processions made up of their respective bands, and take their places in the booth. At various times during the day, they dance to the sun. People also come up to be painted and prayed for. As a rule, the medicine-pipes are brought out for these men to bless and smoke. During the afternoon, the "digging dance" occurs, when the fireplace is made and the fire kindled.

_Seventh Day._ People still come to be painted or prayed for by the medicinemen. Later in the day, the dancing of the societies begins.

_Eighth Day._ The dancing may continue on this day; otherwise, camp is broken and the bands go their several ways. The dancing may continue several days, there being no definite time for closing the ceremony.

Indeed, to the Blackfoot mind, the really vital part of the ceremony closes on the evening of the fifth day. The dancing of the societies is free to take its course as the various organizations see fit. In former times, however, it was customary to break camp any time between the seventh and tenth days.

According to our information, the four camps of the medicine woman was the rule in olden times and a hundred-willow sweathouse was made at each camp. In recent times, but two moves seem to have been made; the first day marking the move from the regular home camp to the temporary one where the second day is also spent. But one of the hundred-willow sweathouses is now made--the one on the third day. Also, where formerly they used the ordinary type of sweathouse, at the close of the fourth day, the men now return to the hundred-willow sweathouse. The time then was "when the service berries are ripe", perhaps August, instead of Fourth-of-July week, as in recent years.[2] Even the fast is much abbreviated, usually but of two days' duration.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] As in many other cases, there is a difference of opinion as to what was, or is, the correct schedule. Some maintain that the timber and sun pole are brought in on the fourth day and the fifth day given over to the erection of the dancing lodge only. This is, however, a matter of no great moment.

[2] See Grinnell, George Bird, _Blackfoot Lodge Tales_ (New York, 1903), 264, for program.

THE VOW.

The most important functionary in the Blackfoot sun dance is a woman, known among the whites as the medicine woman, and upon a clear comprehension of her functions and antecedents depends our understanding of the ceremony itself. Accordingly, we shall proceed with as complete an exposition of her office as the information at hand allows. In the first place, a sun dance cannot occur unless some woman qualifies for the office. On the other hand, it was almost inconceivable that there should be a summer in which such a qualification would not be made. This att.i.tude of our informants implies that public opinion had sufficient force to call out volunteers against their own wills. There was a feeling that an annual sun dance was, from a religious and ethical point of view, necessary to the general welfare, for which some individual ought to sacrifice personal comfort and property to the extent required by custom. As we shall see later, this was no small price to pay for a doubtful honor. This feeling was sure to express itself in the subtle ways peculiar to Indian society, if need be, to the direct suggestion of a candidate who in turn felt impelled to come forward as if prompted entirely from within.

As a rule, however, the woman qualifies by a vow. Oftimes, when a member of the family is dangerously ill, one of the women goes out of the tipi and raising her eyes to the sun calls upon it that health may be restored to the ailing one. In such an appeal she offers to make gifts to the sun, usually specifying that she will sacrifice a piece of cloth, a dress, a robe, an ax, etc., which are after a time, provided the sick one improves, hung in trees or deposited upon a hill. Such appeals are still made with great frequency. It is believed that unless the woman has been industrious, truthful, and above all, true to her marriage vows, her appeal will not be answered. Sometimes, when the woman addresses the sun she promises to be the medicine woman at the next sun dance. She herself may be ill and promise such a sacrifice in case she receives help. Again, she may, out of grat.i.tude for the satisfactory way in which her prayers have been answered, announce her intention to take this step. In such a case, a formal announcement is made to the sun. In company with a man, usually a medicineman experienced in the ceremonies, she steps out into the camp, where they face the sun whom the man addresses, explaining that as this woman asked for help in time of need and that inasmuch as it was granted, she in turn promises to be the medicine woman at the first opportunity. Some such formal announcement is made in every case where the prayers have been answered. By this formality, the vow receives public registry.

As indicated above, the prayers are not always granted. In such cases, the promises are not only not binding, but to proceed with the sun dance, or to take a secondary part in it, would be to the detriment of all concerned. The fault is said to lie in the woman's life and that only the wrath of the sun would be invoked by her partic.i.p.ation in the ceremonies.

It may be asked if a man can make such a vow. He may and does often call upon the sun, promising gifts of property or even scalps and may promise to furnish the material support for a wife, mother, sister, or in fact any woman who will come forward to perform the ceremony. Thus, a Blood chief once told us that he had been very ill all winter; that he had tried all kinds of doctors without relief, until he was stripped of all his property. At last, he recovered and then made a vow that with the help of his wife he would give the sun dance. This he did, but, as he expressed it, "with great difficulty because he was then poor and did not receive adequate help from his relatives."

Again, it must be noted that women who do not feel equal to the responsibility of the medicine woman's office, make a vow to announce publicly their virginity or faithfulness to their marriage vows, as the case may be, though for an unmarried woman to make such a pledge is the exception. This is spoken of as "the going forward to the tongues," the full meaning of which will appear later. The manner and occasion of making this vow are in most respects similar to the preceding. At a certain stage of the sun dance proceedings, all the women who made such a promise to the sun, come forward and make their statements subject to the challenge of any man present. This bears some resemblance to the virginity tests of the Dakota, but applies more particularly to married women and marital virtue than otherwise.

Naturally, the number of women making promises of this kind was much greater than for the more important ceremony. Thus, we have a custom of calling upon the sun in time of need which is an almost universal practice, a more restricted form of such appeal peculiar to women in so far that s.e.xual morality is a necessary qualification, the more specific vow of "going forward to the tongues", and the exceptional vow to perform the medicine woman's functions at the sun dance, a fair ill.u.s.tration of the way in which most complex folk ceremonies are supported by a pyramid of less and less differentiated practices.

In pa.s.sing, it should be noted that when the vow is made to perform the medicine woman's functions, it is literally an obligation to purchase a natoas bundle, or if already the owner of a bundle, to perform its ritual.[3] A woman may own more than one of these bundles at a time; indeed, we have heard of a woman purchasing new ones at several successive sun dances. This purchase is a fundamental feature in all bundle ceremonies to which the sun dance bundle offers no exception.

On the other hand, the vow means more than the mere purchase of a bundle. We are told that the requirement as to virtue holds strictly for the vow and the tongue ceremony. A woman can buy a natoas in the ordinary sense and have it transferred with the ritual even though she has not been true to her husband. We are reminded that Scabby-round-robe's wife[4] was not true to her former husband and that when her husband received a beaver bundle there went with it a natoas and accessories; but that while she could use them by virtue of her relation to a beaver bundle, she was not competent to make a vow and initiate a sun dance.[5] This is consistent with the tradition that the natoas was once bought from a beaver bundle by a woman who gave the sun dance for that year and used instead of a wreath of juniper as in former ceremonies. It also throws some light on the relation of the natoas to the beaver and the sun dance rituals.

FOOTNOTES: