Rensselaer Republican, Volume 23, Number 19, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 January 1891 — THE SUN DANCE. [ARTICLE]

THE SUN DANCE.

AStnnge and Barbaric Custom. Hsrper’a Weekly. * The sun dance of the Blackfeet Indians takes place (luring the hottest period of the summer—July or August - -and lasts three or four days, But long before that time, at a period late in the spring, the Indians have begun to beat the tomtom, their native drum, the sound of which goes along distance and is heard through the different camps. The noise is kept up during most of the nights,and is accompanied by dancing. The drumming anddanoing culminate in the putting up of a large medicine lodge near the ground chosen for the grand dance, and the exposing of valuable presents as an offering to the sun. The young men who are to undergo the ordeal fast for some time previous to the sun dance. At the beginning of the cere-, monies they repair to the lodge of the medicine-man, who makes four incisions in each aspirant’9 chest—two at each side—and passes a knife under the muscles of the breast, so that a short stick can be passed underneath the flesh inter venting between each pair of incisions. They then repair to the dance ground, where a stout pole about twepty feet in length has been set upright; suspended from its top are a half-dozen raw-hide ropes, the loose ends of which are made fast to the sticks in the young men’s chests. The young men then throw their weight on the ropes, and begin to dance around the pole. They hang suspended only by these cords, without food or drink, while tile head and body in an attitude of supplication face the sun, and the eye is unflinchingly bent upon it. Their minds are intently fixed upon the object in which they wish to be assissted by the diety, as they wait for a vision from above. Swinging by the rope, they blow a bone whistle or shout and sing in bravado, boasting of past exploits and of the brave actions that they intend to do, until the sticks are torn away through th 9 flesh and tendons or the dancers fall fainting to the ground. If they hesitate to join the dance, or show the least signs of cowardice in bearing pain, they are regarded as unfit to associate with warriors, and henceforth rank as “squaw men” and are not allowed to take part in the tribe councils, war parties and dances. Occasionally, as a greater display of courage, individuals will have corresponding incisions made in their shoulders and backs, and attach to these by hair ropes one or more saddles, shields, or buffalo or ox heads, so that every time the body moves as the dancer keeps time with the music, a jerk is given to the objects dragging behind him, until the stick are torn .from the flesh.. This greater display of courage is rewarded by more prestige a- a ••brave,” and more important privileges among his tribe in after life Sometimes the stick is set so deeply in the flesh that two men have to press n the performer’s shoulders to ■ tear it away. The sun dance affords a barbaric and striking scene, with the great crowd of gayly attired onlookers watching with eager and sympathetic interest the tortured braves, who, betraying no sign of the pain they endure, dance wildly amid the continued songs oi admiration and encouragement by the spectators, accompanied by the loud and violent beating of tho tomtom. The young aspirants, weakened by their previous fast, often fall faint and senseless to the ground, but they are lifted up and continue their dance until the flesh tears loose or it is manifest that they can endure no more, in which case they are honorably released. The ordeal sometimes endures for three or four days, but one by one they break away, and each, after his release from j torture, receives the attention of his relatives, who usually prepared for j him a feast, In after years the Indians show the scars of the ordeal with 1 pride.