“He took _eight poles_ about the size of hoop-poles, of any wood that
would bend readily, and putting the large ends in the ground, at proper
distances in a circle, bent them over and tied them together at the
top. This frame-work he then covered with robes and blankets, leaving a
small hole for a door at one side. It was a little higher than a man’s
head, when seated within. Before the door, he built a fire, and having
selected four round stones (or nearly round) about as big as a man’s head
(size not essential), he placed them in the fire. He called Wamdiokiya
to be high priest on the occasion. The high priest then ordered him to
call so many to be his helpers—the number determined by the size of the
tabernacle—from two to five. With these he entered into the _wokeya_, all
entirely naked.
Simon stands at the door without, by the fire, to attend the stones. He
has made two paddles about twelve inches long and painted them red. These
are to be used by the man within to move the stones with. He covers the
ground, between the tent door and the fire, with nice feathers and cut
tobacco. When the stones are heated, the chief within calls to him to
roll in the first one. This he does, with a brand, putting tobacco upon
it and praying to it—“Turkan wahipani mada wo, toka wahte kta wacia.” So
he rolls one after another of the stones over the tobacco and feathers
and prays to each one. The men within receive them and roll them to the
middle with the painted paddles—singing, hi, hi, hi, hi.
They then commence their songs; each one has a song. They all pray to
the _Tankan_ to give Simon help in the day of battle, to make him strong
and furious and successful. The chief then says to his fellows: “Have
mercy on me, I will cool these stones.” And he proceeds to pour water on
them. The steam fills the tent, which has been closed entirely after the
stones were rolled in. Then they pray to the _Taku skan-skan_ or to the
_Wasican_. All their gods are called _Wasican_.
Simon, this while, stands without crying and praying. The chief _wakan_
man receives an encouraging communication from the stone god which he
delivers to Simon. When the stones are cold, they all cry and come out of
the booth. So ends this sacrifice to the stone god.”
The doctors count much on the efficacy of this “vapor bath.” Perhaps no
other one rite is in more general use than this, on the part of all who
wish to become conspicuously _wakan_.
As regards the medicine man as a doctor, or exorcist, or juggler, it is
not only believed that he can cure diseases, but that he can inflict
them at his pleasure, on any person who may dare to offend him. It only
requires a _purpose_ on his part. They are feared, if possible, more than
the gods themselves, for _they are present_ in the camp and in the lodge.
If a person is sick, he will give all he possesses and all he can obtain
on credit, to secure the services of one of them, and will cheerfully
give a horse, in advance, for a single performance such as has been
described. In almost innumerable instances, families sacrifice all that
they have on these pretenders, and to be abandoned by them is felt to
be a dire calamity. Parents are as careful to train their children to
respect and revere them, as was an early Puritan to inspire his children
with reverence for the divine institutions of Christendom. They are
respected. They sit in the highest and have the best of everything. If
some among them are thought to be mere pretenders, this circumstance only
serves to enhance the importance of those who are believed to be true.
Thus, by imposing on an ignorant, savage people, “gods many,” gods of
life and gods of death, gods of hate and revenge and lust, gods of cold
and of heat, gods of all the various passions, gods of lying, deceit
and wrong, gods of gluttony and drunkenness, gods of lasciviousness and
impurity, gods of conception and abortion, gods innumerable—hideous and
horrid monsters, which are the creation of the inflamed and bedeviled
imaginations of these Thugs—these wakan men—they exert an influence
over them, in the various official capacities which they assume, which
is absolute and which pervades Dakota society—an influence which bears
with all its force on each individual of their victims, which tends to
crush him down still deeper, if indeed there are depths below them, in
ignorance, superstition, degradation and misery of soul and body, and
force them into an unreserved surrender to their own whims and caprices.
Of these wakan men there are from five to twenty five in each of the
little clans of Dakotas.
Alkalies and acids mingled produce effervescence. A like result attends
the contact of any opposing influences. Nothing can exceed the antagonism
that lies between TRUTH and the system of superstition which is the
subject of the foregoing paper. Root, trunk, branches and leaves there is
not the smell of truth to be found on it. It is plainly opposed to truth
and truth is opposed to it. It is opposed by the truth of history, the
truth of science, the truth of “animated nature,” social truth, political
truth and spiritual truth. _All_ truth tends directly to its destruction.
A little boy was one day listening to a missionary who was endeavoring to
explain to him the workings of the magnetic telegraph. The little half
naked fellow seemed to catch an idea of natural truth, and starting up,
excitedly exclaimed. “If that is true, then all our religion is false.”
A glimpse of truth broke the spell that bound his mind, and shook their
whole system of superstition to its foundations. It never recovered its
hold on him. For more than thirty years, truth, in variety, has been held
to the Dakota mind. With a keen and jealous eye, these wakan men have
watched its workings. It has mortified and pained them to see their cords
of error snapped by it, one after another, and their hold on their blind
victims loosened. Their “craft was in danger.” They have cried with voice
and soul, these thirty years, “Great is the Taku-Wakan—the Taku-Wakan is
wakan, and I am their prophet.”
They have done all they could and dare do, in the circumstances, to
oppose the progress of truth among their people, by slanders and snares,
gibes and abuse, and violence, and even murder. But in spite of their
vigilance and efforts to oppose, truth advanced with slow but steady
step, and worked like “leaven in the meal.” Old men and young men, old
women and young women, boys and girls, left them, and by open profession
of regard for truth, stood boldly up in the face of their lies. The
symbols of the gods, which the priests, war prophets and doctors had
painted, wreathed and paraded “on every hill,” were defiantly spurned
from their places by the feet of those who had been used to obey their
caprices and crouch to their authority. The feasts and dances were less
fully attended, the medicine-sack cast away, while hundreds of their
former dupes, emancipated, read daily in their Bibles, sung the song
of Zion, and prayed, in their houses, to their “Father in heaven;” and
on the Sabbath assembled in the Christian church, erected by their own
hands, and seriously, reverently, joined in the holy worship of the God
of heaven. At sight of this, the rage of these demons in human form
boiled over. The effervescence was mighty. Threats were fulminated and
nothing but opportunity was wanting for them to rise, and re-establish
by violence, the waning power of the TAKU-WAKAN, and to return, wading
through the blood of Christians, if need be, to the homes of their pagan
fathers. They hoped to be able to roll back the providential wheels of
the Almighty God.
That opportunity, they deemed, had arrived when all our young men were
being marched off to the South, probably to be swept away by the great
rebellion. Hence, the “out-break” of 1862. True, it has been said that
the _Christian_ Indians were our worst enemies, but where is the evidence
of this? Were not those _Christian_ Indians, at least by profession, who
rescued companies of our people from death, and conducted them, through
perils, to a place of safety? Which is the exception? Were not those
_Christian_ Indians who, in a considerable number of cases sacrificed
their little all and risked their lives to protect individuals and
conduct them to safety? Were there any exceptions? Which was the _pagan_
Indian who performed such a deed? Were not those _Christian_ Indians,
who, encouraged by General Sibley, effected the deliverance from bondage
and death, or treatment worse than death, of hundreds of captives at
“Camp Release?” Did not the leaders of that band bear _Christian_ names,
given to them in the holy ordinance of baptism? Who are they who have
composed the band of faithful “scouts,” three long years standing on
our frontiers to protect our citizens from the scalping-knife of the
worshippers of the _Taku-wakan_, but _Christian_ Indians? Was there an
exception here? It is not claimed for these Indians that they were _model
Christians_, but they were Christians by profession, and their names and
the names of their wives and children stood enrolled on the records of
the Christian church.
On the other hand, who led the murderous bands in work of the
destruction? “_Little Crow_” and his _Wakan_ associates, who, from old
time, had been the open and determined enemies of the Christian religion,
and most zealous and devoted worshippers of the _Taku-wakan_. It is not
denied that individuals, professing Christians, were involved in the
wrong and fled with the pagans to the plains. We could name a few such.
Even those of the pagan party who surrendered themselves to our military
authorities, felt that the Wood Lake battle was the result of the strife
between their _Medicine-men_ and “_God Almighty_;” and from that day,
in their minds, the doom of their gods and of their representatives was
sealed. They soon cast away even the symbols of their divinities, and a
large portion of them began to seek to know how to worship the God of the
Bible.
Those wakan-men will never suffer their people to enter into an honest
treaty of peace with us while they are wakan-men. They can never be
trusted. Circumstances may render them harmless, but by their own
showing, they are _essentially wakan_. They are devils incarnate.