The Fremont weekly journal. [volume] (Fremont, Sandusky County, Ohio) 1867-1877, 1870-10-28
THHsIoUx sUN-DANcn
Description Of the HOrrid Perform
ances


Description OF the Horrid Perform
ances
A correspondent Of the ST. Louis
Republican, writing from Fort Lar
annie, says of the Sioux sun-dance:
This festive performance, as prac-
ticed among the Sioux, is regarded
by the whites with feelings Of hor-
ror, and few have the nerve to be-
come spectators to the cruelties
which are undergone by the deluded
victims. 1t is q sort Of religious
dance, in which the young braves
test their fortitude and stOicism in
resisting pain without -Wincing. A
young officer who witnessed the sun
dance a few weeks since, at the Chey-
enne Agency, seven miles above
Fort Sully, on the Missouri river,
gives the following account:
The Indians manifested consider
able opposition to having the whites
present When several officers be
longing to the Seventeenth United
States Infantry came up, Red Leaf
leaped over hreastwork of logs,
and ordered the troops away. AT
ter parleying with the chief some
time, the soldiers fell back and took
a position which was not objection
able to the Indians, but whence they
could obtain only partial view of
the performance. There was a large
lodge built in shape of an ampithe-
atre, with a pole in the center. The
side and roof were covered with will
lows, forming a tolerable screen, but
not so dense at to obstruet entirely
the view. The performances were
commenced with chants and incan-
tations. Five young men were
brought in and partially stripped,
their mothers being present and as
sisting in the ceremony. Then the
medicine man began his part by cut
ting slits in the flesh of the young
men, and taking up the muscles with
pincers. The old squaws assisted
in lscerating the flesh of the boys
with knives. The squsws would at
the same time keep up bowling,
accompanied with O movement to
and fro. When the muscles were
lifted out.by the pincer on the breast
one end of q scrt of lariat or buffalo
thong was tied to the bleeding flesh,
while the other end was tied to the
top Of the pole.i in the center of the
lodge. The first young man, when
thus prepared, commenced dancing
around the circle in a frantic man
ner, pulling with all his weight, so
as to stretch out the rope, and by his
Jerking movements loosen himself
by tearing out the flesh. The young
mans dance was accompanied by
chant of those who were standing
round assisted by the humping of
a hideous drum to keep time. The
young brave who was undergoing
this self-torture finally succeeded in
tearing himself loose, and the rope
relaxed from its tightness, fell back
toward the center pole with a piece
of the flesh to which it was tied.
The victim, who up to this point did
not move muscle Of his face, fell
down on the ground exhausted from
the pain which human weakness
could no further conceal A squaw
then rushed in, and bore the young
brave away. He had undergon the
terrible ordeal, and amid the congra-
tulations of the old men would be
complimented as q warrior of un-
doubted pluck and acknowledged
prowess.
Another of the young men, named
Charles, was cut in two places under
each shoulder-blade, the fesn was
raised with pincers, and thongs tied |
around the flesh and muscle thus
raised The thongs reached down |
below the kness and were tied to
buffalo s1ulls.-With these heavy
weights dangling at the ends of the |
thongs, the young man was required
to dance around the circle, to the |
sound of the drum and chants of !
the by ISLANDERS until the skulls be-
came detached by tearing out the
flesh. They continued the perform
ance until one of the skulls broke
loose, but the other remained. The
mother of the young man then rush
ed into the ring, leading pony, and |
tied one end of the lsriat which was
around the poney's neck to the skull |
which was still fastened to the young
man. The latter then followed the |
pony round the ring until nearly ex-
hausted, he fell OF his face, and the
skull was thereby torn out Of the
flesh. The sufferers voice grew
husky from joining in the chant; he
groveled on the ground in violent
contortions for a few minutes, and
was then removed to the outside of
the lodge.
A third man had the lariat of the
poney hitched to the raised muscle
of his back, and was dragged in this
way several times round the ring,
but the force not being sufficient to
tear loose from the flesh, the pony
was backed up, and, a slack being |
thus taken on the lariat, the pony
was urged swiftly forward, and the
sudden jerk tore the lariat out of the
flesh. My informant having seen
enough of these performances to
satisfy his curiosity, left with his
companions, "Without waiting to see
the dance through" The dance,
with its bloody orgies, lasted three
days. The sun dance is not now as
frequently practiced as in former
days, and the ceremony viii become |
extinct only under the reservation
system.
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