Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-08-11

as soon as 1t Is dropped. The dance goes
on around and around the plaza until the
supply Of Serpents Is exhausted. DIR.
Fewkes has seen some men in the course
of this ceremony take two and even more
rattlesnakes In their mouths at one time.
After the dance the snakes are prayed
over, sprinkled with sacred meal and re-
turned to their desert lairs. Finally all OF
leaning over the mesa, fall into violent
paroxysms Of nausea. After this they
battle and sit down to a great feast, the
first food eaten on this festive day.
The Sun Dance.
The sun dance of the plains Indians will
occur In many places this summer. It Is
the most popular Of all dances of the In
dams, and has been witnessed by many
white men; but the secrets behind the
scenes were never known until lately, when
Ethnologist George A. Dorsey lcceived
from council Of the Cheyenne chiefs spe-
cial permission to witness all Of the secret
rites Of the ceremony.
The sun dance among the Cheyenne and
Arapaho always results from a VOW or
pledge made by some individual who wishes
the gods to heal sick relative or spare
him from some peril. Shortly after making
the VOW the initiator of the dance invites
the members of his warrior society to as
semble at his lodge and prepare a feast.
There he appears before them with his
face and hands painted red by a medicine
man, and hereafter he must continue to
wear this red paint until the last day of
the ceremony, although that event may be
scheduled for moro than a year in the
future. In his lodge he passes a pipe
among his fellow-warriors and formally
asks them to dance with him and assist
him n the ceremony. Then they make him
ma cIych nHniA ocin
blankets, calico and money. If for any rea-
son 1t be improper for the pledger's wife
to take part in the dance. his fellow-T-r-
riors now advise him in the selection Of
a woman to take her place. Next the
pIedger visits all of the camps of his tribes
men in the country round, inviting them
to participate in the ceremony. Then fol-
lows another feast and further gathering
of presents to help defray the expenses
of the dance. From the time of the VOW
until tho dance, whether an interval Of
few days or of more than year, the
pledger and his wife must discontinue the
marriage relation; otherwise, it is firmly
believed. one or both of them will die,
and a similar fate will follow If either
should prove unfaithful to the other. Dur
ing this time also no one may pass in front
OF either the pledger or his wife, either
within or out of doors. for should this hap
pen one or both Of them would die. and
tho person who committed tho offense
would meet with some other misfortune.
The sun dance may not be held until the
grass is in full growth and the willows and
cottonwoods are in full leaf. 1t usually
takes place in July or August. IL a VOW has
been made. The guests arriving for the sun
dance pitch their tents in circle, often a
mile in diameter, and with an opening on
one side a quarter mile or so wide. The
participants are now busy preparing their
dance paraphernalia, especially the pledger
who plays the star role. Second only in
rank Is his female associate-generally,
though not always. his wife. 1t Is even al
lowed that she be the wife of another man.
Then there is chief priest who must have
been the pledger of former ceremony, and
who must not be related by marriage to the
pledser. Others in the dramatis iersonae
are an assistant chief priest, crier and
priests.
On the first day the tipi Of some member
of the pledger's society is selected from the
camp circle as the secret lodge" and into
this assemble, with the pledger and his
female companion. all who have been
pledgers in previous years and who on this
account have become priests. The next day
all of these priests feast, the secret lodge"
Is carried fifty steps toward the center OF
the camp circle and various additions are
performed. These include the ceremonial
representation of the creation Of the earth,
continued the next day when the priests
feast again and sacrifice food. On the
fourth day a "sun dance lodge" is built and
formally dedicated by the chiefs and war
rior societies, certain dancers performing
in the evening the so-called hand and arm
drill" On the succeeding day an altar Is
built amid great ceremony and at noon
there Is formal feast to the priests, food
is sacrificed to the gods and the dancers
are painted and carefully costumed. Then
follow the first and second dances, different
paint being used with each. Then for from
one to three days more the dance goes on.
At shutdown on the last day the dancers
remove their paints, the pledger and his
wife after smoking the sacred pipe. break
the fast and In company with the chief
priest take a sweat-bath, the other dancers
and priests indulging in the same rite Of
publication.
Fasting and Torture.
All of the dancers must have tasted abb
selutely from the time Of the building OF
the altar until these additions end the
dance. Two Cheyennes who recently died
at the reputed ages Of 90 and 10s tasted
four days at q time in the sun dances OF
years back; but in these times two days
seems to be the limit for fasting.
Self-inficted torture was q common
feature of the sun dance OF former years.
and enters somewhat into 1t even now.