The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1900-06-13
GREAT indian DANCE
Sac and Fox Function Is an
Immense Success.
OTTER SKIN CEREMONIES
Dog Soup Served to the Elect
of the Tribe.
OTTER SKIN CEREMONlE;

Guthrie, o. T.. June 12-The medicine
dance held by the Sac and Fox Indi1as
at the agency last week is oroa pIIced by
Matt Duhr, the well known Oklahoma
authority on Indian lore, as one Of the
biggest affairs Of the kind in many years.
The dance began on Sunday evening &nd
was not concluded until Tues lag. Its &C.
casion was the celebration Of the adortio
of several persons into different families
Of the tribe and the initiation O. man
into the tribal lodge. Waw-pah-ke-sek
was taken into the lodge in place of Nav
mal-way, a chief who died about two
months ago, and Mesh-she-walk was
made guardian for the family of Nav
mal-way. Ah-ne-me, Clifford Morton,
Rosa Tus-se-haw, and Fanny Growing
horn were also adopted into different
families. Each of these persons, with the
exception of Waw-Da- ke-sek, was the re-
cipient of the gift of a pany and a new
saddle and bride, gorgeously decorated
With bright ribbons. According 20 the
Mesh-she-walk was provided by the w..iow
of Naw-mal-way. There were also pun
erous gifts Of calico and blankets.
"A writer in the Chandler News furnishes
the following interesting raIi-ion Of the
tribal lodge and a description If the
ceremonies witnessed during the medicine
dance:
The lodge, as it is called, is q srec.es
Of Freemasonry among the Indians They
claim that its origin dates back beyond
the time when the first white man came
to America, so ii is peculiarly an Indian
institution.N There are a good many sec
refs connected with the work, but the
ceremonies are all public The order seems
TO be chiefly fraternal and social, with a
little Notwithstanding and a great deal
of rehearsal Of tribal legends and per-
sonal history. The membership seems to
be limited to a definite number, as new
members are received only to take the
place fthose who have died The cere-
monies were held in an oblong wickiup,
made of bent poles with wagon covers
stretched over them. At night, two fires
were kindled TO furnish light. In the
- SA-N4N- LII NS5O44 GOhELS diDUE Inc
sides of the wickiup are raised to allow
those on the outside get a better view
The ceremonies were presided over by
han-waw-so, who is the head man of the
lodge and a brother OF Chief Mah-ko-sah-
toe. The Indians who were admitted 10
the lodge council. both men and women,
were attired in their gayest dress. with
paint, feathers and all that goes to sat
sfy the demands of Indian fashions. All,
or nearly all, were provided with the sac
red otter skin. which is an indispensable
adjunct of their ceremonies. The pro-
gram Sunday night was mainly prelimin-
ary' and began with long speech ty
Nan-waw-so which seemed to De partly
4 prayer and partly recital Of the be-
ief5 and history of the tribe and of the
merits of their different medicines. After
his there was some drum beating and
followed by an interesting pam
omime which represented number of
Indians as being very sick from the cf-
ects Of sort Of bean or shell that was
n their systems. They went through all
sorts of gyrations. depicting their agony.
out were finally cured by the efficacy of
''o $500 oiNAAA AAt-N'.A--1AI Later the pos
SCISSORS Of the otter skins would go about
and point them at other Indians with a
sort of grunt, and the Indians thus shot
would fall 10 the ground as though dead.
n this performance it was supposed that
he Indians who fell were shot with the
}ean or shell which caused the sickness,
md the older the Indian was in the lodge
he better able he would be to resist the
fleets of the shot. They would lie per-
ectly motionless for a few moments and
hen. apparently healed by the medicine.
would slowly rise and go on with the pro-
ram. This was continued until a late
lour Sunday night
Monday morning the exercises consisted
mainly Of the beating Of the ton,tom AMI
he chanting of songs. About noon Waw-
'ah-ke-sek was brought into the lodge.
lie had been fasting for several days and
lad been in the sweat-box. and so was
'ery weak. He was entirely naked ex-
ept for a breech-ciot The initiation
ceremonies consisted mainly of pantomime
n which the candidate was trailed about
he lodge and shot and brought to life.
after this was concluded The beating Of
he tomtom and the chanting was son.
inued, the drum being passed from one
warrior to another until it reached Chief
when the feast began