A Study of Siouan Cults by James Owen Dorsey

Author:James Owen Dorsey [Dorsey, James Owen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: History, Native American, Religion, Ethnic & Tribal
ISBN: 9788026888673
Google: fodjDwAAQBAJ
Publisher: e-artnow
Published: 2018-04-09T00:39:02+00:00

End of the Dance

§ 189. At sunrise they stop dancing and they leave the dancing lodge. As they come forth, they pass out by the right side, and march four times around the exterior of the lodge. After which they proceed directly to the lodge of preparation, around which they march four times prior to entering it.

§ 190. When the devotees emerge from the dancing lodge, one of their attendants places more gifts on the line of sticks between the two lodges, and after the procession has moved on there is considerable disputing among the small boys of the camp for the possession of the gifts.

§ 191. After leaving the lodge of preparation, the exhausted devotees are taken back to their own tents, where each one is given four sips of water and a small piece of food, and by the time that he gets accustomed to food after his long fast, he eats what he pleases, enters the sweat lodge, rubs himself with the wild sage, and thenceforward he is regarded as having performed his vow.

§ 192. The spectators scramble for the possession of the blankets and long pieces of calico left as sacrifices at the dancing lodge, and some of them climb to the top of the sun pole and remove the objects fastened there. The sun pole is allowed to remain in its place. The author saw a sun pole at Ponka Agency, then in Dakota, in 1871. It had been there for some time, and it remained till it was blown down by a high wind.

At the conclusion of the dance the camp breaks up and the visitors return to their respective homes.

§ 193. All who participate in the dance must act according to rule for if one slights part of the rites they think that he is in great danger. The men selected as overseers or managers are the persons who act as the attendants of the candidates.

The candidates think that all their devotions are pleasing to the sun. As they dance, they pray mentally, “Please pity me! Bring to pass all the things which I desire!”

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