The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1894-05-19
sun DANCE OF the CREES
Great Falls Chosen for This Year'9
Festival.
Only IA Hundred and Fifty Remain of .
Once Proud Tribe-The Ishninc-
lites of the Indians-Little
Bear Talks.

addition to other conventions to be
held in this city during the coming
summer II unique occasion will be tho
"sun Ounce of the Crees. About 1856
of them arc already gathered here and
couriers were sent IL to round up
The lodges at Assiniboine, Glasgow,
Chinook, Garrison, Helena, Missoula
and other points, and these will make
from 500 to 1000 participants. These
Indians are the remnants of those
tribes which with tho half breeds under
Louis Rel some years ago made wal
upon the Canadian government, u wal
ending i'll tho death by hanging O.
their leader, who for many years wss u
resident and we'll known in this vicin.
lily. and the going forth into exile Of
the Crees. They are the lshmao.
lites of The Indian race to
this extent. that although them
selves too humble through starva.
ton to raise their hand against other
men, Montana at large does not hest.
tate to raise her hand aguinat them and
they IRE driven from point to point III a
circle of endless roaming. They make
II scanty living by the manufacture OF
buffalo horn articles, and failing in
this AVE to resort, pariuhlike, to tho
slaughter houses, the cattle killed by
trains, and the swill barrels of the white
man. But the annual ''suu dance" they
mover give over, and as they have this
year chosen Great Falls for it's observ-
ance tho writer sought Il medicine talk
with their chief, Little Bear, 10 learn
its significance and ceremonials. Little
Bear is an Indian of medium stature
nod ,>N,;iY l-tIk ma.
strong and he ilmprcsses you us
u man of much intelligence.
He is big medicine man as we'll us
chiet, and the scriptural centurion was
not more positive than is Little Bear
in his commands to his people. His
nephew, Natoos lrhe SUM, will be his
successor, and he, with Mchewnssaki
(Big Buffalo Coat, Mnnitopeshim
Gods SOM. and Pcpnnmasowit eng.
lish must be Ohm Doc, as the Crccs
cannot tell what ltmeans), act as Little
Bears aide-dc-camps.
At the talk. Little Bear was accom-
panied by The Badger, Mistanusk, for
the purpose, us the interpreter said, of
seeing thnt his words were straight.
I'm the springtime, said Little Fear,
when the children of Mantle are sick
and the grass is coming up and the
trees putting forth their leaves, we
dance the SUI dance that we NAV be
made we'll and to thank Mantle for the
thugs that grow. Tho priest of the
white man ut certain times fasts FOR
several days, SO we Crees likewise fast
md think of Mantle. The white man
kneels and prays to his God, we dance
before Mantle. 1t is our church
and II preaching. The Young
men listen to me and | instruct them
in the ways of our fathers. My father
and my father in law and other old
men of our race told mo, 'Tnke our
places when We are gone and teach tho
people to make the sun dance In the
spring, and that day the next spring to
dance again We Crees meet to punish
ourselves for sirs. For days and nights
before the dance we eat nothing, we
drink nothing. we grow very thin.
The men sit apart on one side of the
lodges, the women sit on tho other.
All think OF Mantle. Then the old
men go into the woods ana selecting n
growing tree report to tho lodges,
going from tepce to tepee chant
ing the songs of Mantle. The
people form procession on
horseback, the young men with guns and
BOWS, and the squaHs sitting behind
them on the ponies. They move for.
ward to the tree, and dismounting
gather about it singing and dancing.
AS the tree is falling the braves dis
charge their weapons, shooting it down
to show their happiness at the lcuvcl
growing again. AT the camp
up the tree, making stalls In w "a
naked warriors screened to the waist
Ounce until they fall, and up above we
weave II roof of willows. When ali has
been done the Young men come to me
and ask that they may he put to the
test. ] cut Sits in the skin of their
arms, run small sticks through and
these drag weights by strings. L
make medicine over them, all which
keeps the wounds from fostering. We
dance two days and nights withoutstop-
ping ind as one man fails another takes
his place. We nss that white men
keep every one from giving our people
whisky. as no drunken man cun take
part in the dance" Little Bear, on be-
ing told that this talk was for n news
paper far away, asked, "~NYnsh'ton?
Chi'go? N'Yuk?" and further said that
n white man had once read Il newspaper
to him which stated that the sun daiicc
was II war dance and he was very nnx-
ious to deny it. | nsleed him If the
Crees could write and he replied that
they could.