The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1895-10-31
SIOUX ST RSTITIONS
Barbardty OF Some or Their An.
client Religious Rites. n
Ruins and Relics Which Bear witness g
the Woird Ceremonies OF By-Gons .t2
tl Days-Thc Gods W hom tho 8
VI Rcdmen invoked. Sa5S8sa -

4,$i
] To the Sioux Of the past, relir,o,
! was truly q mystery. From the simpl,
growth of the blade Of grass tos tn,
complex phenomena Of the thunder
storm, MI life, power and strengtl
! were interpreted as the physical act!
Of unknown gods. The Great Spirit
writes Lieut., William H. Wassell ir
Harper's Magazine, is a name given III
by the interpreter. for the Sioux had nc
conception OF a single spirit. howeve,
great, capable of ruling the universe.
Lightning was the anger of a thunder
god, On awful bird. whose structure
! varied from wings containing only six
quilts to wings with four joints each,
according to the imagination Of the
! medicine-man. The. moving god he
! whose aid it was difficult to invoke,
was too subtle to be likened to- any
known form, but he controlled the in
tellect, passions and mental faculties,
distractions for which the Sioux has
not even q name. The IIayoka was
the contrary god, who sat naked, and
famed himself in the GOODNESS Of . ;Da-
kota blizzard, and huddled shivering
over a fire in the heat of summer,
who cried for joy and laughed in
his sorrow. Rocks and powders
were the hardest and strongest
things: hence they belonged stoathe
eldest gods-smaller rocks were fetch.
es. On the barren buttes of the 5Dnko-
tas may be seen many crumbling pile
Of stones erected in by-gone days to
propitiate an unknown god. Many a
forgotten chief has gone to the highest
hill when HI son was sick, and amidst
HASTINGS ana lamentations reared q
mound # little stones in the hope that
his loved ones life might he spared.
And still another relic of the savage
belief Of the old Sioux is found on the
bodies of the warriors themselves
Take almost any man who is thirty
years old or more, and he can show
You long scars ON his back or breast,
and dozens Of smaller scars on his
arms, all inflicted by himself in fulfill.
ing his VOWS. to the sun. The sun.
dance was one of the great religious
and political events of the Sioux life
villages assembled and feasted,
while &c worshipers tasted and ex.
hau>tc, the strength they were to need
50 badly in the coming test Of en-.
aurance. On the appointed day
none but virgins were allowed
10 cut down and trim the tree that
vas to be used, while only chiefs and
of exceptional bravery were
allowed to carry it to its place III the
center of the village. Here, with mysr
:erious pipe-smokings and unintelligi.
Bile incantations, the, pole is planted,
ropes of buffalo hide having been fas.
;ened to its top, one rope for each wcr
shipper. The men, already half dead /
rom exhaustion, are then brought out
md laid on the ground around the pols, |
'lways ready knives thrust through
he muscles of their chests OF backs.
md in the holes thus made wooden
kewers thrust, to which are fastened
he loose ends of the ropes. Thea
ound and round dance the worshipers, +
heir eyes fixed on the blazing sun,
While the jerk, jerk, jerk Of the bleed
ng flesh beats sickening time to ths
li-yas OF Dakota song Friends and
men, women and childron.
ash their arms and breasts to stimulats
ho dancers and keep up their courage.
Vhen the flesh is torn apart the dancer
) released, his VOW fulfilled. his brav~
~, his manhood unquestioned.. Theso
nd = thousand other monstrous Gus
oms were what the early rlissiooasz
ad to combat. n