Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1899-04-05
OUR INDIAN DANCES.
THREE KINDS, RELIGIOUS, SEC
ULAR AND SOCIAL.
THE DANCE WAS FOLLOWED BY
HORRIBLE TORTURES.

/
! Most Of the Indian wars and threatened
uprisings Of Indians of which we hear are
| brought about by the prevention of the
performance of their ceremonies by the
! Indians. OF such nature are the ghost
dances and others. Although usually or
derby and never INDUCED in with the
avowed purpose of war, they have often
awakened the dormant warlike spirit of
the redskins, and on this account the In
dian agents and officers at the army posts
do all that they can to prevent them.
! Hence the dances grow less numerous each
/ year, and those that were once INDUCED
/ in are no longer seen.
TVk most noted among the Indians for
sheir dances were the Cheyenne, Arapahoe
nnd Sioux Indians. The Chippewas of
Minnesota and Dakota INDUCED in these
ceremonies to less extent than did most
Of their nCighhors The three tribes first
mentioned, however, We're noted far and
wide for the variety and number of their
dances. While Low the dances are of rare
occurrence and done in a rcrlunctory man
nor, it was far different in the old days
before the Indian reached his present
iemicivilized condition.
/ Indian dances are of three kiHds-reh-
gious ceremonial, secular ceremonial and
social Tho Hoch ea-yun, or medicine
dance, of the Cheyennes and Arapahoes is
identical With tho famous sun dance of tho
Sioux, and all the wild tribes had u dance
which presented the SAINT idea. In the
mere warikn nations the dance was fol.
lowed Ivy horrible fortunes The endur.
ance Of these fortunes with stoicism was
great homer lnr they were looked upon as
a test of endurance, and with the red men,
as everybody knows, endurance was &C
counted tho greatest of human virtues.
They were not u part of the medicine
dance, but followed it as a supplemental
ceremony.
| A generation ago when the Indian youth
desired to put away childish things and
become man, he was obliged to go
/ through an ordeal as brutal and bloody as
/ it is possible to conceive At the close of
/ every medicine dance there would be a
call for volunteers for torture Those
who offered themselves were usually young
men, but now and then, as an act of pen
ance to expiate some wrong, an old buck
would offer himself for the torture. Those
who volunteered for the torture did not
+ join in the dance, bat spent ME few days
preceding in fasting and scclusion.
When the Old medicine men decided that
send for the volunteers one by one. First
they were stripped and then carefully ex-
amined to note if it were likely that they
could undergo the torture without fatal
INJURY After this examination had been
passed by all eligible there were simple
religious ceremonies, and then the chief
medicine man approached with Il sharp
knife On some men he would make
sharp incisions, two vertical ineisions on
each breast, about two inches apart, pass
ing the knife through the pectoral mus
cles Tho parts between the incisions
would be lifted up and the ends of horse
hair rope passed through and fastened to
piece of wood The free ends of the rope
were then fastened to the top of the lodge
pole Sometimes the incsions would be
made through the muscles of the back and
the rope stretched to blocks of wood or
buffalo skulls Others were dragged up
into the air and left to hang until their
weight and struggles tore out the flesh and
released them
Each tribe usually had one purely reli
gious dance each year. If a tribe We're in
good circumstances, it would sometimes
have two or more. OF all the ceremonial
dances the medicine dance took precc-
dcncc, and the scalp dance came next in
4
the day following the return of a success
full war party and was only participated
in by the members of that party. Before
the dance a ceremony was performed by
the warriors who took the scaps no one
else heing permitted to be present or to SEC
what was done Those who took part in
this would form a circle, when the skin
of the scalps would he cured and all fleshy
matter removed. Then each scalp would
be stretched on Il wooden stick and the
hair dressed Each warrior then attached
his scalps to a small pole.
When this ceremony had been complet
ed, the circle was broken and all the war
riors marched back to the camp and plant
ed their poles, with the dangling scalps
in circle in the middle of the spot select
ed for the dance Those who had scalps
were then joined by others who had taken
part in the fight and who had thus won
right to take part in the dance.
a circle would be formed by the party
around the scalp laden poles. AT signal
the warriors joined hands and began
monotonous song, keeping time with SLOW
steps while turning about the scalps
Faster and faster grew the dance, wilder
and wilder AS it progressed whoops and
yclls were uttered Higher and higher the
+ men "puiu lcll, ioosIiS anu biHtO
ishing their weapons This would con-
] tinue until rot only the dancers, but those
who witnessed the ceremony, would be-
come intoxicated with mad excitement.
Then one Of tho participants would spring
I from tie circle and. standing in the mid
4 die, would relate MS story and by his ac-
tons repeat again and again the operation
of taking scalps When he finished, an
other took ms place and told of his per
I sonal proves. while finally those who had
70 sralpS would tel ef their deeds and
how the bad god had prevented them
7 from securing any scalps
The two dauccs | have mentioned were
/ the great ones of the two wild tribes
/ There was also the green corn dance of the
/ Sioux and the NaVaIoes, which took place
] in honor 0f the riuening of the corn aud
often ended in lid orgies
These were religious dances performed