Dodge City times. [volume] (Dodge City, Kan.) 1876-1892, 1884-02-21
BURNING THE WHITE DOG.

BURNING THE WHITE DOG.
Peculiar Ceremony of the Pagan Onon.
dagas Near Syracuse-An Offering to the
Great Spirit for the Forgiveness of the
Last Years Sins of the Indian Nation.
Modern civilization and ancient bar
barity were strangely blended in this
township to-day, where, within sight of
the steeples of Syracuse, the Ono ldaga
Indians held their feast of Burning
the White Dog These savages have
a reservation near here, which is about
eight tines as big as Central Park. The
ma or part of it is a lovely valley,
81 ielded by hills that still retain the for
csts nature clad them with. In lis
valley, in tumbie-down hanties. some
built of logs with plastered cracks, and
some being ordinary frame dwellings,
live four hundred Indians, principally
0nondagas. but embracing few sur
vivors O. the famous Six Nations of a
century ago. They have been 81 ghtly
affected by civilization. A few are
Chri tans. A few work their little
farms in an indol Mt, clumsy mannsr,
and or the resi- they hunt and fish, pay
Indian gam s, drink as much rum as
they can get, and preserve their old
tribal Go eminent almost as it was
when iii v trod this soil unchal 'enged
Tier Eou,e stai d far apart along the
wind no roads of the valley, ID at the
iunct on of these roads Their castle or
councii-house stanis. 1t is one-story
frame building with many windows and
door On each 81 e, and looks like
country school-hou>e.
Out OF nearly every house came chiefs,
warriors and squaws, AL a'king with
the stride peculiar to old Bowery ira
gedians over the sparkling snow. They
wore the same clothing as the people OF
Syracuse. although it was as rule
threadbare and ill-fitting. There were
eccentricities in their dress not observ-
able in the city, however. The women,
for instance, wore no hats, but covered
their heads with shawls or squares of
blue cloth, the ends of which fell to
their breasts and were held there under
their folded arms. Some of them, too,
had their legs covered with buckskin
leggings. PRETTY deeked with beads and
porcupine feathers. Ugliness more
hideous than that of the old squaws,
whose faces were scanned like peach
stones, it would be difficult to imagine.
Their white hair against their coffee
colored skin looked strangely unnatural.
The little girls were rather pretty.
Their glossy black hair, bright jet eyes,
plump bronzed cheeks, and their straight
noses and shapely mouths made them
attractive. The young wives were not
SO presentab!e. Hard work had thinned
their faces, so that their cheek bones
stood out and their eyes were sunken in.
All wore bright-colored shawls. 1t
must be said for them that they neither
looked nor acted like tho depraved and
wretched beings their converted fellow
Indians say they are.
The warriors were nearly all tall,
6nely-built men, dark skinned, with
straight features and jet black hair.
They were as fond of color as their
women, though the only means they
had for display was in bright worsted
scarfs that they wound around their
necks. The men sat on benches ut one
end of the cOuncil-hall. The women
were AT the other end. The room was
bare-foored, and no ornaments broke
the squares of wall paper between the
windows. There was a big wood stove
ut each end of the apartment.
When all had gathered and were seat
ed there was long pause. No man or
woman uttered word. They did not
even salute one another. They were
waiting for the medicine-man to br nc
in the white dog. which, by the way.
q was cur that had belonged to JAKE
Farmer. warrior. and had been han red
until dead in Jake's house and then
. daubed with red spots. The white hide
represented purity, the red spots were
symbolical of blood offering, and the
whole cele ration was the Indian OBJ
servance OF combination of New ears
Day and Thanksgiving, when the last
year sins were supposed to have en-
tered into the cur in readiness to be
burned up.
Tom " ebster was the medicine-man.
The last of long race of hereditary
priests, he belongs to the clan of Tawis-
ta-wis-tas or Snipes, and they, and the
clans of g gh-qua-e and Skan-un-tung,
the Bears and tie Deer, were over
across the campus in a dwelling. There
were only twenty or thirty warriors and
squaws and four chiefs there, so slender
have the Snipes. Bears and Deer
grown; but the Wolves, Mud Tur ties
and Beavers filled the big coun: il-house.
Sudd My Medicine Man Webster APP
peared in the doorway before the
throng. which at once exclaimed
"Ughr' as though he was a big dose
of med cine they all bad to swallow
He wore maroon-colored handker-
chief. held on his head by q gold baud.
above which. in 'front.' wsved long,
brosd plume. His tsce was etreaked
with black psint on . backKrourd Of
red. Beneath all this be woe q we'll
worn twelve dollar business suit. Be
hind him stalked typical lor~ood-col.
ored farmer, and behind him brave,
who carried the dog. Its neck was
decked with blue ribbons, and its tail
was done up in a red love-knut. Other
ribbons were wound around its body.
As it was borne in the men ahl women,
with one voice. uttered the yell with