Definitions of “Cult” and “Siouan” 361
Siouan Family 361
Authorities 361
Alphabet 363
Abbreviations 364
CHAPTER II.--Definitions 365
Alleged belief in a Great Spirit 365
Phenomena divided into human and superhuman 365
Terms for “mysterious,” “lightning,” etc. 366
Other Omaha and Ponka terms 367
Significance of personal names and kinship terms 368
Myth and legend distinguished from the superhuman 368
CHAPTER III.--Cults of the Omaha, Ponka, Kansa, and Osage 371
Beliefs and practices not found 371
Omaha, Ponka, and Kansa belief in a wakanda 372
Seven great wakandas 372
Invocation of warmth and streams 372
Prayer to wakanda 373
Accessories of prayer 373
Omaha and Kansa expressions about wakanda 374
Ponka belief about malevolent spirits 374
An old Omaha custom 375
The sun a wakanda 376
Invocations 376
The offering of tobacco 377
The Ponka sun dance of 1873 378
The moon a wakanda 378
Berdaches 378
Stars as wakandas 379
The winds as wakandas 380
Invocation 380
Kansa sacrifice to the winds 380
Osage consecration of mystic fireplaces 380
The thunder-being a wakanda 381
Omaha and Ponka invocation of the thunder-being 381
Thunder-being invoked by warriors 382
Ictasanda custom 383
Kansa worship of the thunder-being 385
Subterranean and subaquatic wakandas 386
The indaȼiñga 386
Other Kansa wakandas 387
Omaha invocations of the trap, etc. 387
Fasting 390
Mystic trees and plants 390
Iȼa‘eȼĕ 392
Personal mystery decorations 394
Order of thunder shamans 395
Generic forms of decoration 397
Specific forms of decoration 398
Corn and the buffalo 403
Other Omaha mystery decorations 403
Kansa mystery decorations 405
Omaha nikie decorations 407
Omaha nikie customs 410
Governmental instrumentalities 411
Omaha and Ponka taboos 411
Fetichism 412
Fetiches of the tribe and gens 413
Omaha tribal fetiches 413
Osage tribal fetiches 414
Kansa tribal fetiches 415
Personal fetiches 415
Sorcery 416
Jugglery 417
Omaha and Ponka belief as to a future life 419
Kansa beliefs respecting death and a future life 421
CHAPTER IV.--┴ciwere and Winnebago cults 423
Authorities 423
Term “Great Spirit” never heard among the Iowa 423
The sun a wakanta 423
The winds as wakantas 423
The thunder-being a wakanta 424
Subterranean powers 424
Subaquatic powers 424
Animals as wakantas 425
Apotheoses 425
Dwellings of gods 425
Worship 425
Taboos 426
Public or tribal fetiches 427
Symbolic earth formations of the Winnebago 427
Personal fetiches 428
Dancing societies 428
The Otter dancing society 429
The Red Medicine dancing society 429
The Green Corn dance 429
The Buffalo dancing society 429
┴ɔiwere traditions 430
Belief in a future life 430
CHAPTER V.--Dakota and Assiniboin cults 431
Alleged Dakota belief in a Great Spirit 431
Riggs on the Taku wakan 432
Meaning of wakan 433
Daimonism 433
Animism 433
Principal Dakota gods 434
Miss Fletcher on Indian religion 434
Prayer 435
Sacrifice 435
Use of paint in worship 438
The unkteḣi, or subaquatic and subterranean powers 438
Character of the unkteḣi 438
Power of the unkteḣi 439
Subordinates of the unkteḣi 439
The mystery dance 440
The miniwatu 440
The Wakiⁿyaⁿ, or thunder-beings 441
The armor gods 443
The war prophet 444
The spirits of the mystery sacks 445
Takuśkaŋśkaŋ, the Moving deity 445
Tunkan or Inyan, the Stone god or Lingam 447
Iŋyaŋ śa 448
Mato tipi 448
The sun and moon 449
Nature of concepts 449
The sun dance 450
A Dakota’s account of the sun dance 450
Object of the sun dance 451
Rules observed by households 451
The “u-ma-ne” 451
Rules observed by the devotee 452
Tribes invited to the sun dance 452
Discipline maintained 452
Camping circle formed 453
Men selected to seek the mystery tree 453
Tent of preparation 454
Expedition to the mystery tree 455
Felling the tree 456
Tree taken to camp 457
Raising the sun pole 457
Building of dancing lodge 458
The Uuȼita 458
Decoration of candidates or devotees 458
Offerings of candidates 459
Ceremonies at the dancing lodge 460
The dance 460
Candidates scarified 460
Pieces of flesh offered 462
Torture of owner of horse 462
End of the dance 462
Intrusive dances 463
Captain Bourke on the sun dance 464
Berdaches 467
Astronomical lore 467
Day and night 467
The dawn 468
Weather spirit 468
Heyoka 468
The concepts of Heyoka 468
Heyoka feast 469
Story of a Heyoka man 469
Heyoka women 471
Iya, the god of gluttony 471
Ikto, Iktomi, or Unktomi 471
Ćaŋotidaŋ and Hoḣnoġića 473
Anuŋg-ite 473
Penates 475
Guardian spirits 475
Beliefs about the buffalo 475
Prevalence of the beliefs 475
Origin of the buffalo 476
The Tataŋgnaśkiŋyaŋ, or Mythic buffalo 477
The bear 477
The wolf 477
Horses 479
Spiders 479
Snake lore 479
The double woman 480
Deer women 480
Dwarfs or elves 481
Bogs 481
Trees 482
Customs relating to childhood 482
Puberty 483
Ghost lore and the future life 484
Meaning of wanaġi 484
Assiniboin beliefs about the dead 485
Ghosts not always visible 485
Death and burial lore 485
Why the Teton stopped burying in the ground 486
Importance of tattooing 486
Ceremonies at the ghost lodge 487
Good and bad ghosts 489
Intercourse with ghosts 489
Ghost stories 489
The ghost husband 489
The solitary traveler 489
The ghost on the hill 489
The Indian who wrestled with a ghost 489
The man who shot a ghost 492
Assiniboin beliefs about ghosts 492
Prayers to the dead, including ancestors 493
Metamorphoses and transmigration of souls 493
Exhortations to absent warriors 493
Mysterious men and women 493
Gopher lore 496
Causes of boils and sores 496
Results of lying, stealing, etc. 497
Secret societies 497
Fetichism 498
Public or tribal fetiches 498
Private or personal fetiches 498
Ordeals, or modes of swearing 499
Sorcery and jugglery 499
Omens 500
Bodily omens 500
Animal omens 500
Omens from dreams 500
CHAPTER VI.--Cults of the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Sapona 501
Authorities 501
Alleged belief in a Great Spirit 501
The great mystery a modern deity 501
Polytheism 502
Worship 502
Fasting 502
Sacrifice 502
The Okipa 502
The Daḣpike 503
Cult of the Yoni 505
Absaroka fear of a white buffalo cow 505
Mandan cults 506
Mandan divinities 506
Guardian spirits 507
Mandan belief about serpents and giants 507
Thunder lore of the Mandan 508
Astronomical lore 508
Mystery objects and places of the Mandan and Hidatsa 508
The mystery rock 508
Dreams 510
Oracles 510
Fetiches 510
Folklore 511
Sorcery 511
Jugglery 512
Ghost lore 512
The future life 512
Four as a mystic number among the Mandan 513
Hidatsa cults 513
Hidatsa divinities 513
Animism 514
Worship of the elements, etc. 514
Serpent worship 514
Fetiches 515
Tribal fetiches 515
Personal fetiches 515
Oracles 516
Dreams 516
Berdaches 516
Astronomical lore 517
Food lore 517
Four souls in each human being 517
Sorcery 517
Disposal of the dead 518
Hidatsa belief as to future existence 518
Sapona cults 518
CHAPTER VII.--Concluding remarks 520
Peet on Indian religions 520
The author’s reply 521
Cults of the elements 522
The four quarters 524
Symbolic colors 527
Colors in personal names 533
The earth powers 534
Earth gentes 534
The fire powers 534
Fire gentes 536
The wind-makers 536
Wind gentes 537
Each quarter reckoned as three 537
Names referring to other worlds 537
The water powers 537
Water people 538
Cautions and queries 538
Composite names 539
Personal names from horned beings 541
Names derived from several homogeneous objects or beings 542
Return of the spirit to the eponym 542
Functions of gentes and subgentes 542
The “Messiah craze” 544
Epilogue 544
ILLUSTRATIONS.
PLATE XLIV. Siouan tents (_A_, tent of Ԁejequta; _B_, tent of
Mazi-jiñga (man in the sun); _C_, tent of Heqaga; _D_,
tent of Kaxe-ȼaⁿba’s father; _E_, tent of Hupeȼa,
Sr., and Agaha-wacuce) 361
XLV. Camping circle at the time of the sun dance 454
XLVI. The dancing lodge 458
XLVII. Scarification of candidates (1, Okáska nażin; 2,
Ptepa kin waći) 460
XLVIII. The sun dance 462
XLIX. A suspended devotee 464
L. The double woman 480
FIG. 156. George Miller’s personal mystery decoration 394
157. A variant of Fig. 156 394
158. Robe of Wanukige 395
159. Tent of Wanukige 396
160. Robe of Ȼaqube 396
161. Robe of Ԁahe-ʇap‘ĕ 397
162. Generic decoration referring to night, etc. 397
163. Tent of Aⁿpaⁿ-ska, Sr. 398
164. Robe of Aⁿpaⁿ-ska, Sr. 399
165. Tent of Mazi-jiñga (ghost vision) 399
166. A tent of Nikuȼibȼaⁿ 399
167. Another tent of Nikuȼibȼaⁿ 399
168. Blanket of Cuʞa maⁿȼiⁿ 400
169. Tent of ┴esaⁿ; vision of a cedar 401
170. Tent of ┴esaⁿ; sun and rainbow vision 401
171. Cornstalk decoration of the tents of Fire Chief and Waqaga 402
172. Robe of Ni-ȼactage 403
173. Duba-maⁿȼiⁿ’s father’s tent 403
174. Maⁿtcu-naⁿba’s tent 403
175. Wackaⁿhi’s tent 404
176. Tent of an unknown Omaha 404
177. Tent of ┴ebi‘a 405
178. Tent of a Kansa who had an eagle vision 405
179. Kansa decorated tent 406
180. Kansa decorated tent 406
181. Maⁿze-guhe’s robe 406
182. Maⁿze-guhe’s tent 407
183. Duba-maⁿȼiⁿ’s father’s blanket 407
184. Iñke-sabĕ tent decoration 408
185. Iñke-sabĕ tent decoration 409
186. Waqaga’s robe 409
187. Sacred tent in which the pole was kept 413
188. Bear Butte, South Dakota 449
189. The “u-ma-ne” symbol 451
190. Eagle-wing flute 455
191. The tent of preparation and the dancing lodge 459
192. The ghost lodge 487
193. The Ȼatada gentile circle 523
194. The four elements, etc. 523
195. Kansa order of invoking winds, etc. 525
196. Tsiɔu (Osage) order of placing the four sticks, etc. 525
197. Paⁿɥka (Osage) order of placing the four sticks, etc. 526
198. Kaⁿ[s]e (Osage) order of circumambulation 526
199. Showing how the Osage prepared the scalp for the dance 526
200. Omaha lightnings and the four quarters 527
[Illustration:
Bureau of Ethnology. Eleventh Annual Report. Plate XLIV
[image]
GAST LITH. CO.
SIOUAN TENTS.]
A STUDY OF SIOUAN CULTS.
BY JAMES OWEN DORSEY.
CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTION.
DEFINITIONS OF “CULT” AND “SIOUAN.”
§ 1. Cult, as used in this article, means a system of religious belief
and worship, especially the rites and ceremonies employed in such worship.
The present article treats of the cults of a few of the Siouan
tribes--that is, with two exceptions, of such tribes as have been visited
by the author.
“Siouan” is a term originated by the Bureau of Ethnology. It is derived
from “Sioux,” the popular name for those Indians who call themselves
“Dakota” or “Lakota,” the latter being the Teton appellation. “Siouan”
is used as an adjective, but, unlike its primitive, it refers not
only to the Dakota tribes, but also to the entire linguistic stock or
family.
SIOUAN FAMILY.
The Siouan family includes the Dakota, Assiniboin, Omaha, Ponka,
Osage, Kansa, Kwapa, Iowa, Oto, Missouri, Winnebago, Mandan, Hidatsa,
Crow, Tutelo, Biloxi, Catawba, and other Indians. The Sapona, who are
now extinct, probably belonged to this family.
The author was missionary to the Ponka Indians, in what is now part of
Nebraska, from 1871 to 1873. Since 1878 he has acquired native texts
and other information from the Omaha, Ponka, Osage, Kansa, Winnebago,
Iowa, Oto, Missouri, and Dakota.
In seeking information respecting the ancient beliefs of the Indians
the author has always found it expedient to question the Indian when no
interpreter was present.
AUTHORITIES.
§ 2. This study is based for the most part upon statements made
by Indians, though several publications were consulted during the
preparation of the fifth and sixth chapters.
The following Indians had become Christians before the author met them:
Joseph La Flèche, Frank La Flèche, John Big Elk, and George Miller,
all Omaha. Joseph La Flèche, who died in 1888, was the leader of the
civilization party in the Omaha tribe after 1855. He was at one time
a head chief. He spoke several Indian languages, having spent years
among other tribes, including the Pawnee, when he was in the service
of the fur company. His son, Frank, has been in the Indian Bureau at
Washington since 1881. The author has obtained considerable linguistic
material from the father and son. The father, with Two Crows, aided
the author in the summer of 1882 in revising his sociologic notes,
resulting in the preparation of “Omaha Sociology,” which was published
in the third annual report of the director of the Bureau of Ethnology.
John Big Elk, a full Omaha, of the Elk gens, furnished an article
on “Sacred Traditions and Customs,” and several historical papers,
published in “Contributions to North American Ethnology, Vol. VI.”
George Miller, of the Ictasanda or Thunder gens, is a full Omaha, from
whom was obtained nearly half of Chapter III, including most of the
Omaha illustrations.
The following Indians were not Christians: Gahige, Two Crows,
Ԁaȼiⁿ-naⁿpajĭ, and Samuel Fremont, all Omaha; Nudaⁿ-axa, a Ponka; and
the Kansa, Osage, Missouri, Iowa, and Winnebago informants.
Two Crows has been connected in several ways with the ancient
organizations of his people. He has been a head man, or nikagahi, being
thus an ex-officio member of the class which exercised the civil and
religious functions of the state. He has been a policeman during the
buffalo hunt. He has acted as captain, or war chief, and he is the
leading doctor in the order of Buffalo shamans, being the keeper of the
“sweet medicine.”
Ԁaȼiⁿ-naⁿpajĭ, or He-who-fears-not-the-sight-of-a-Pawnee, is a member
of the Black Bear subgens, and he is also one of the servants of the
Elk gens, it being his duty to be present at the sacred tent of that
gens, and to assist in the ceremonies pertaining to the invocation of
the Thunder Beings.
Gahige was the chief of the Iñke-sabĕ, a Buffalo gens, and at the
time of his death he was the keeper of the two sacred pipes.
Samuel Fremont is a member of the Eagle subgens. He came to Washington
in the autumn of 1888 and assisted the author till February, 1889.
Nudaⁿ-axa is a chief of a part of the Thunder-Being gens of the Ponka.
The author has known him since 1871.
The other Indian authorities need not be named, as they are in
substantial agreement.
The following authorities were consulted in the preparation of the
Dakota and Assiniboin chapter:
BRUYIER (JOHN), a Dakota, MS. Teton texts. 1888. Translated by
himself. Bureau of Ethnology.
BUSHOTTER (GEORGE), a Dakota, MS. Teton texts. 1887-’88.
Translated by J. Owen Dorsey. Bureau of Ethnology.
FLETCHER (Miss ALICE C.), The Sun-dance of the Ogalalla Sioux. In
Proc. Am. Assoc. Adv. Sci., Montreal meeting, 1882, pp. 580-584.
FLETCHER (Miss ALICE C.), several articles in Rept. Peabody
Museum, vol. 3, 1884, pp. 260-333.
HOVEY (Rev. H. C.), “Eyay Shah,” in Am. Antiquarian, Jan., 1887,
pp. 35, 36.
LONG (Maj. S. H.), Skiff Voyage to Falls of St. Anthony. In Minn.
Histor. Soc. Coll., vol. II, pt. 1, pp. 18, 19, 55.
LYND (J. W.), Religion of the Dakotas. In Minn. Histor. Soc.
Coll., vol. II, pt. 2, pp. 57-84.
POND (G. H.), Dakota Superstitions. In Minn. Histor. Soc. Coll.,
vol. II, pt. 3, pp. 32-62.
RIGGS (S. R.), Theogony of the Sioux. In Am. Antiquarian, vol. II,
No. 4, pp. 265-270.
----. In Am. Antiq., vol. V, 1883, p. 149.
----. In Am. Philolog. Assoc. Proc., 3d An. Sess., 1872, pp. 5, 6.
----. Tah-koo Wah-kon, or, The Gospel Among the Dakotas, 1869.
SAY (THOS.), in James (E.), Account of Long’s Exped. Rocky Mts.,
vol. I, Phil., 1823.
SHEA (J. GILMARY), Am. Cath. Missions, N. Y. (after 1854).
SMET (Rev. P. J. DE), Western Missions and Missionaries, N. Y.
(n. d.).
WOODBURN (Dr. J. M., Jr.), MS. Letter and Teton Vocabulary, 1890.
Bureau of Ethnology.
ALPHABET.
§ 3. With the exception of seven letters taken from Riggs’s Dakota
Dictionary, and which are used only in the Dakota words, the characters
used in recording the Indian words occurring in this paper belong to
the alphabet adopted by the Bureau of Ethnology.
[TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE: many of the letters in the original book cannot be
represented faithfully in the character set available. The following
table explains the conventions used to represent such characters. In
the table, ‘x’ and ‘y’ are used to mean “any letter”.
Symbol Symbol in book
‘ Inverted comma, to the left of a letter and raised above the
baseline, like a single opening quotation mark.
’ Comma, to the right of a letter and raised above the baseline,
like a single closing quotation mark.
´ “Accent mark”--a diagonal slash indicating a stressed syllable.
[x] The letter upside-down. This is used for upside-down
lower-case ‘p’, because an upside-down lower-case p looks too
much like a ‘d’; and for upside-down ‘s’, which looks too much
like a right-side-up ‘s’; and for an upside-down upper-case K,
because I don’t think that character exists in Unicode.
ȼ A lowercase ‘c’ with an acute accent and a mark below.
Ȼ An uppercase ‘c’ with an acute accent and a mark below.
END OF TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE.]
a, as in _father_.
‘a, an initially exploded a.
ă, as in _what_, or as _o_ in _not_.
‘ă, an initially exploded ă.
ä, as in _hat_.
c, as _sh_ in _she_. See ś.
ɔ, a medial _sh_, a sonant-surd.
ć (Dakota letter), as _ch_ in _church_.
ç, as _th_ in _thin_.
[ç], a medial ç, sonant-surd.
ȼ, as _th_ in _the_.
e, as in _they_.
‘e, an initially exploded e.
ĕ, as in _get_.
‘ĕ an initially exploded ĕ.
g, as in _go_.
ġ (in Dakota), _gh_. See x.
ɥ (in Osage), an h after a pure or nasalized
vowel, expelled through the mouth
with the lips wide apart.
ḣ (in Dakota), _kh_, etc. See q.
i, as in _machine_.
‘i, an initially exploded i.
ĭ, as in _pin_.
j, as _z_ in _azure_, or as _j_ in the French
_Jacques_.
ʞ a medial k, a sonant-surd.
k’, an exploded k. See next letter.
ḳ (in Dakota), an exploded k.
ŋ (in Dakota), after a vowel has the sound
of _n_ in the French _bon_. See ⁿ.
ɯ (in Kansa), a medial m, a sound between
m and b.
ñ, as _ng_ in _sing_.
hn, its initial sound is expelled from the
nostrils and is scarcely heard.
o, as in _no_.
‘o, an initially exploded o.
[p], a medial b or p, a sonant-surd.
p’, an exploded p.
q, as German _ch_ in _ach_. See ḣ.
[s], a medial z or s, a sonant-surd.
ś (in Dakota), as _sh_ in _she_. See c.
ʇ, a medial d or t, a sonant-surd.
t’, an exploded t.
u, as _oo_ in _tool_.
‘u, an initially exploded u.
ŭ, as _oo_ in _foot_.
ṵ, a sound between o and u.
ü, as in German _kühl_, _süss_.
x, _gh_, or nearly the Arabic _ghain_. See ġ.
ź (in Dakota), as _z_ in _azure_. See j.
dj, as _j_ in _judge_.
tc, as _ch_ in _church_. See ć.
tc’, an exploded tc.
ʇɔ, a medial tc, a sonant-surd.
ts’, an exploded ts.
ʇ[s], a medial ts, a sonant-surd.
ai, as in _aisle_.
au, as _ow_ in _how_.
yu, as _u_ in _tune_, or _ew_ in _few_.
The following have the ordinary English sounds: b, d, h, k, l, m, n,
p, r, s, t, w, y, and z. A superior n (ⁿ) after a vowel (compare the
Dakota ŋ) has the sound of the French n in bon, vin, etc. A plus
sign (+) after any letter prolongs it.
The vowels ‘a, ‘e, ‘i, ‘o, ‘u, and their modifications are styled
initially exploded vowels for want of a better appellation, there being
in each case an initial explosion. These vowels can not be called
“breaths,” as no aspiration is used with any of them; nor can they be
spoken of as “guttural breaths,” as they are approximately or partially
pectoral sounds. They have been found by the author not only in the
Siouan languages, but also in some of the languages of western Oregon.
In 1880 a brother of the late Gen. Armstrong, of Hampton, Va., who was
born on one of the Hawaiian islands, informed the author that this
class of vowel sounds occurred in the language of his native land.
ABBREVIATIONS.
The abbreviations in the interlinear translations are as follows:
sub.--subject.
ob.--object.
st.--sitting.
std.--standing.
recl.--reclining.
mv.--moving.
col.--collective.
lg.--long.
cv.--curvilinear.
pl.--plural.
sing.--singular.
an.--animate.
in.--inanimate.