The Kalispell bee. [volume] (Kalispell, Mont.) 1900-192?, 1902-01-01
AN INDIAN CEREMONY
THE "MEDlclNE SWEAT" THAT MAKES
THE RED MAN CLEAN.

1t Is His Turkish Bath, So TO speak,
and 1t Is to Him a Rite, Both Phys
icaI and Spiritual - Making Medi-
cine to the Great Spirit.
Few, if any, of the writers on the
habits, folklore and history Of the
American Indian have devoted any
space to the red mans Turkish bath,
an institution homemade, to be sure,
but a recognized necessity in every
camp and a feature of the daily life of
the Indian. On the contrary, COM
mentators have conveyed the impress
eign to the Indian and that he has an
Unborn aversion to water except for
culinary purposes.
By the avidity and frequency with
which the Indian INDUCES IN his home
made Turkish bath he proves the fall
sacy of this belief and shows that he,
as well as his white brother, can live
up to the precept Cleanliness is next
to goodness" only in the practice the
| Indian puts cleanliness first.
| The term Turkish bath is unknown
| to the Indian. He calls that method of
ablution q medicine sweat" 1t is to
| him a rite both physical and spiritual,
| for he cleanses his person and then
''makes medicine" to his Great Spirit.
That the rite is religiously observed
was shown by q band of Brule Sioux
Indians, who made a journey across
the continent to the east and went into
| In TO CT 1Crn
land.
On their arrival, even before they
raised their tepee poles, they erected a
medicine sweat" tent. The framework
of this tent is of hoop poles so trained
that it is about nine feet in diameter,
four feet high, fiat topped and almost
circular in form.
Just within the framework there is a
bedding of straw about two feet wide,
and in the center of the tent there is a
whole in the ground about three feet in
diameter and three feet deep. There
are no steam vents or pipes, no marble
slabs, no rubbers and no sheets. When
the Indian is ready for his medicine
sweat a number of stones or rocks
are heated to almost white heat and
dumped into the hole in the ground.
Then the red men, 20 or % of them, in
a costume even scantier than Adams
after the fall, range themselves upon
the straw. They sit mummy fashion,
their chins on their knees and their
arms around their shins, packed so
close together that even if they would
they could not move.
When they are all ready, blankets
skins and canvas are thrown over the
framework until the tent is almost air
tight two or three buckets of water
are passed in and thrown upon the hot
stones and the medicine sweat" be
{ gins. The moment the steam begins tC
rise the Indians begin a chant, which
is kept up without interruption unit
the sweat is over. Packed together
enveloped in steam SO thick that none
can see his neighbor, the Indians sit
singing and persp:ring for an hour o.
more. Not an Indian moves. H.
l neither can nor wants to-
At a signal from the chief OF thu
medicine man section of the tent il
torn away, and with a heave and {
whoop all the bucks make pellmell fO
the water. A run and a jump, and il
, they go. 1t is just as much sport 70
the oldest warrior as for the boy wh'
has not yet Won his war bonnet. One
g more on land, the Indian. having per
!. formed a duty he owes to himself ant
3 his neighbor, is ready to make medi
: cine" This is always done after tn
iS
and parcel of the ceremony, for it i
regarded as ceremony.
The Indian, clean in person and a
this moment, before his communion
with the God of his fathers, suppose
to be equally clean of mind and guile
> less of soul. now proceeds to the high
> est point of land in the vicinity of tn
camp. thus getting as near to til
=, Great Spirit as it is possible to do Will
on earth. On the way he gathers up
little soil. a stray leaf, some old Tobacco
: guilds. dead fly or bug or two-in fac
> anything which may be deemed refuse
= for he is about to convey to the Grea
/ Spirit that he has cleansed his perso
and that all things unclean have gon
from him.
- These things that he has gathered h
places in a piece of white cloth. whic
in turn is fastened to the end of IL Ion
stick. The other end of the stick
n thrust into the ground at the top OF til
I. hill or knoll. and the good Indian ha
" made medicine. Two days seldom pas
N without the repetition of this cert
n mony. 1t never varies. The scene ma
Y change. the Indian may wander to ne'
" lands or be driven to them. but wheI
N he is there also is his medicine sweat
N tent and there he makes medicine"
y New York Times.
N No Pipes Smoked In Cuba.
y Cuba produces no tobacco for chew