Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1906-06-30
INDIAN CUSTOMS.
Some OF the TTtbes Are SUN wOr-
shippers.


A recent article written by Matt
Duhr contains a graphic description Of
some Of the strange customs of certain
tribes Of Oklahoma Indians. Mr.. Duhr
says:
Yes, some Of our redmen are sun
Worshipers. I have seen many Iowas
and Tarvness address their prayers and
lamentations to the glorious orb of day.
The Iowas, who have dwindled down to
elghty-two persons, believe in spirits,
spiritual horses, dogs and birds. Billy
Dole, an old Iowa Amerind. once told
me: I have eleven sQuaws and
papooses up there. 1 can see them, and
see lots of my ponies grazing on the
ever green prairies where white men
can't burn the grass
When asked who made the light
ming and thunder, the late Chief Tohee
said: The big, very big thunder, God
makes it to scare or kill bad people,
When He makes sheet or forked light
ming then He wants to just scare bad
people, but when he wants to kill a
great liar or thief, then He shoots them
to death with a ball. Only one Iowa
'Amerind' was ever killed by lightning.
All IoWas preserve the account Of that
terrible event with great care 1t Is
taught and retold to the Iowa chill
dren with religious precision.
Long ago, when over 100000 IOwas
lived in the State Of Iowa, a certain
foremost medicine man sent word to
all the members of the tribe to come
to his wigwam during the time when
the trees were green and partake Of a
nine days feast. Over $4,000 Iowas
assembled at the appointed place when
the flowers were blooming. Their pro-
visions had been used up. They were
very hungry they were about starving.
Then the headmen asked the medicine
man when the promised feast would
| come off. Then he laughed like a fool
and said: I just wanted to deceive
you, to fool you. I have hardly any
thing to eat myself Just then the
thunder god sent lightning bolt from
the clear sky and killed the greatest
liar Of the Iowa nation.
Most of the Amerindian parents re-
frain from teaching their infants baby
talk. The papooses are taught to speak
correctly from their birth or shortly
after. White folks first teach their off
spring dodge dorg jargon, and then
| take great pains to unlearn what they
impressed on their minds and tongues.
Hardly any of the Amerindian my
thologies have been condensed and
printed. The Amerinds have many as
sistant gods; the snow god, the rain
god, the tornado gods and a host Of
bigger and lesser gods. Some Of our
Oklahoma Amerinds firmly believe that
some Of their noted ancestors dwell in
certain stars, and when they see a So
called shooting -meteor-they ex-
claim that departed Amerind has de-
scended from above to visit his rela-
tives on earth.
Some Of the ignoble red men mourn
with vigor for their dead and have
them entombed In $50 shroud coffins.
Some have mourners to sing, chant or
grunt the great deeds performed by the
deceased. The hired mourners have to
abstain from eating during the mourn
ing. They are tied securely on their
ponies, so that when sleeping they can
not fall from their horses. Some of
these paid mourners for the dead re-
frain from eating for four days and
nights.
The last noted mourner was hired
to mourn four days and nights on the
banks of the sandy Cimarron. He was
paid four gallons Of whisky In advance
for his doleful services. He managed
to drink all his wages, except one
mouthful, before the last five minutes
of his solemn contract. He drank the
last drink at midnight of the fourth
day and expired in ten minutes."-
Kansas City Journal.