Part 2

[2] Bandelier (Reports of the Peabody Museum, Vol. II, p. 109).

[3] Bandelier, op. cit., p. 108.

[4] In the drawings, colors are indicated by the following devices: red, by horizontal shading; yellow, by vertical shading; green, by left oblique shading; blue or purple, by right oblique shading. Black and white have their conventional qualities. The drawings were made by Miss R. B. Howe.

[5] For an illustration see Catlin, North American Indians (7th ed., 1848), Plate 102.

GHOST-DANCE DESIGNS.

About the year 1890 a religious movement, generally known as the “ghost-dance religion,” infected the Plains Indians. The chief feature of this religion was the belief in a speedy return of the old time, the buffalo, and the extermination of the white race. The different tribes had various ideas of their duties with respect to this new faith, and, with the exception of the Dakota, they did not manifest direct hostility to the white race. This warlike people, however, were already greatly dissatisfied with the treatment they received from the Government and with the difficult conditions under which they lived. In consequence, they received the ghost-dance religion as a herald of the good time which, to their minds, was to be secured only by war with the white race. While a great many of the conditions in the immediate environment of the Dakota have been given by various writers as causes for the outbreak, the fact that these Indians interpreted the new religion as the manifestation of a warlike spirit was probably due to the fact that they were at heart a warlike people. Their ideas still run toward military things. As the essential idea of the ghost-dance religion was a return of the old time, the ceremonies pertaining thereto made use of the typical objects and ideas of the past. In this, of course, they were not entirely consistent, since they did not discard the use of fire-arms, and did not actually resurrect bows, arrows, and shields. Yet, as a substitute for the protective power of the shield, they introduced garments bearing protective designs. These garments are generally known under the name of “ghost-shirts,” and at the time of the outbreak were spoken of by white people as “bullet-proof shirts.” The following are descriptions of these garments by eye-witnesses at the time of their first appearance:—

“All the men and women made holy shirts and dresses they wear in dance. The persons dropped in dance would all lie in great dust the dancing make. They paint the white muslins they made holy dresses and shirts out of with blue across the back, and alongside of this is a line of yellow paint. They also paint in the front part of the shirts and dresses. A picture of an eagle is made on the back of all the shirts and dresses. On the shoulders and on the sleeves they tied eagle-feathers. They said that the bullets will not go through these shirts and dresses, so they all have these dresses for war. Their enemies’ weapon will not go through these dresses. The ghost-dancers all have to wear eagle-feather on head.”[6]

“I think they wore the ghost-shirt or ghost-dress for the first time that day. I noticed that these were all new, and were worn by about seventy men and forty women. The wife of a man called Return-from-scout had seen in a vision that her friends all wore a similar robe, and on reviving from her trance she called the women together, and they made a great number of the sacred garments. They were of white cotton cloth. The women’s dress was cut like their ordinary dress, a loose robe with wide, flowing sleeves, painted blue in the neck, in the shape of a three-cornered handkerchief, with moon, stars, birds, etc., interspersed with real feathers, painted on the waist and sleeves.

“The ghost-shirt for the men was made of the same material—shirts and leggings painted in red. Some of the leggings were painted in stripes running up and down, others running around. The shirt was painted blue around the neck, and the whole garment was fantastically sprinkled with figures of birds, bows and arrows, sun, moon, and stars, and everything they saw in nature. Down the outside of the sleeve were rows of feathers tied by the quill-ends and left to fly in the breeze, and also a row around the neck and up and down outside of the leggings. I noticed that a number had stuffed birds, squirrel-heads, etc., tied in their long hair. The faces of all were painted red with a black half-moon on the forehead or on one cheek.”[7]

As is noted by the above, designs on these garments were made by individuals who had dreams or other unusual experiences similar to those of the medicine-men; and it would seem from this account that the designs and objects used in the dance were in every way similar to those employed before the ghost-dance religion appeared. The writer made the acquaintance of several individuals who had prepared such garments at the time of the ghost-dance, and from them he secured reproductions with explanations as to the significance of the designs. As some time had elapsed since the ghost-dance religion was at the height of its popularity, it is possible that the more special features belonging to it were forgotten by these men, and that they worked into the reproduced garments older and more conservative ideas. However, the writer is of the opinion, and he took special pains to investigate as best he could, that whatever may have been lost in this way made no important changes in either the objective character of the designs or in the ideas expressed by them. As a matter of fact, the ghost-dance in some of its milder forms is still observed.

Some garments secured by the writer are decorated on both front and back with designs chiefly pictographic. On the front of one (Fig. 10) is a large triangular space extending downward from the shoulders (one half of which is in red and the other half in blue), thickly dotted over with white spots representing hailstones. The red represents the morning; and the blue, the night. Extending across from side to side is a large arched figure made up of red, yellow, white, and green bands, representing the rainbow. Above this are two four-pointed stars, the red for the morning star and the black for the stars seen in the night. There is a large green star with eight points on the dividing-line between day and night, concerning which I secured no satisfactory explanation. At the apex of the triangular space are small dots of yellow, representing the dawn; and the sun is placed on each side of the division between day and night. The new moon is represented by a black crescent. On the morning-side of this design is the picture of a butterfly; while on the night-side, extending over into the morning, is a picture of a peculiar figure, which the artist regarded as a spirit-bird or man-bird, as he expressed it, with the medicine-hoop in his hand. The other portion of the dress is covered over with small dots in various colors, representing bullets. There are also pictures of butterflies, stars, and buffalo-tracks. On one side are two parallel wavy red lines, and on the other two in green, representing the lightning.

On the other side of this garment, or the back (Fig. 11), is the representation of a bird, which seems to be mythical rather than realistic. The background upon which the figure rests is dotted to represent bullets or hail, as both have the same significance. The lower part of the garment is the most interesting. Here we have four buffalo-tracks arranged in rectangular relation to represent buffalo, and a circle or medicine-hoop (half of which is red and half green) with extending lines of the same colors, representing the thunder, or its power. The idea of this association of the hoop, or, as it is sometimes spoken of, the mirror, is that this buffalo escapes bullets, or perhaps is immortal. Below the sign of the buffalo is a four-pointed figure, usually known as the spider-web design, representing the heavens; and below this is the rainbow. Two swallows are represented connected to the points in the spider-web design by lines, indicating that they enjoy the protection of this power, making them difficult to hit with bullets or other missiles.

On another garment (Fig. 12), the triangular area at the top is entirely in red, covered with white spots representing hail, and bordered with wavy lines representing the rainbow. This represents the rainbow in the sky. The dark crescent represents the moon. Below is a large four-pointed star in black, representing the night, with a line extending over each side, representing the clouds. The small disk in red represents a bullet; and the small green crescent, the moon. Below these is the spider-web design, representing the heavens, over the four corners of which the lightning appears; but in this case the design is covered with dots representing the falling of the stars. Near this design we find the butterfly and the buffalo-tracks. The remaining space on the whole garment is covered with patches of color, representing the hail. On the opposite side (Fig. 13) are peculiar triangular designs, the background of which is in red bordered by straight lines, suggesting the rainbow; while on the red background are placed the design of the moon and two circles in such relation as to suggest a face. This design was spoken of as the “moon-face;” but this seems to have been an after-interpretation, since the artist wished to represent the medicine-hoop or mirror in the sky. [It seems likely that this is simply an adaptation of a head-dress used in the elk ceremony.] Below this we have a combination which appears to be the spider-web design combined with the figure of a bird, which is said to be the dream-figure, representing the bird seen on a tree. Below this we have the moon, rainbow, tracks of the buffalo, stars, butterfly, and a mounted warrior riding through the hail.

In Fig. 14, the triangular space at the top is similar to that on the preceding garment, and need not be described here. The body of the dress is covered with dragon-flies as they appear when flying over water. The stars represent reflections in the water; and the dashes of color, the hail. The wavy green lines extending down the full length of the garment represent the lightning. In this case the red at the top is spoken of as the thunder-cloud. On the opposite side (Fig. 15), the triangular area with its tail-like extension represents the rattlesnake. In addition we have tracks of the buffalo dragon-fly, and butterfly, all associated as in nature. Upon the sides of this garment are the designs of the lizard, swallow, and turtle.

The above detailed statements concerning the designs and their import do not convey their full significance as it was brought out in discussions between the writer and the men who made these garments. In the first place we find on them symbols to be described in another section of this paper; namely, the spider-web designs and the medicine-hoop. It will be seen that in most cases the living creatures represented are those that seem to have power to escape the hailstones, because, as they say, no matter how severe the hailstorm may be, no one observes their dead or maimed upon the ground: therefore they assume that these creatures possess some extraordinary power, or receive the attention of some protective power. The bird represented does not seem to be the thunder-bird, as is usually the case in Dakota art, but such species, usually birds of prey, as soar above the destructive range of the hail. The lizard and the turtle are spoken of as animals of great power, since they are killed with great difficulty, from which it follows that they also enjoy the protection of some power. This we may generalize by saying that the Indian placed upon these garments representations of living creatures that, according to his observation and experience, were seldom hit by missiles, or that possessed great vitality, making it difficult to kill them. Placed on the garments, they express a prayer, a hope, or an actual realization, on the part of the wearer, of the protective power by which these creatures are enabled to survive.

The triangular designs at the top of these garments were spoken of as shields, the idea being that they were in some measure shield-designs, and performed the same function as did those upon shields in former times. Mr. Mooney expresses the opinion that the protective designs on garments used in the ghost-dance religion were not aboriginal with the Indian.

“The protective idea in connection with the ghost-shirt does not seem to be aboriginal. The Indian warrior habitually went into battle naked above the waist. His protecting ‘medicine’ was a feather, a tiny bag of some sacred powder, the claw of an animal, the head of a bird, or some other small object which could be readily twisted into his hair or hidden between the covers of his shield, without attracting attention. Its virtue depended entirely on the ceremony of the consecration, and not on size or texture. The war-paint had the same magic power of protection. To cover the body in battle was not in accordance with Indian usage, which demanded that the warrior should be as free and unincumbered in movement as possible. The so-called ‘war-shirt’ was worn chiefly in ceremonial dress-parades, and only rarely on the war-path.”[8]

This statement, however, suggests that Mr. Mooney based his opinion upon objective evidence, while the opinion expressed by the writer is based upon subjective evidence. A comparison of the interpretations of shield-designs and ghost-dress designs seems to leave little opportunity for any other conclusion than that the protective designs used in the ghost-dance were essentially the same as those used in former times upon shields and other objects. The garments may be foreign; but the idea of protective designs is most certainly not peculiar to the ghost-dance religion, since it was widely distributed among American tribes, and associated with ceremonial objects that were in use at least a century before the ghost-dance religion appeared.

If the writer had no other information at hand than that furnished by Mr. Mooney in his comprehensive study of the ghost-dance religion, he would be inclined to regard the whole as the manifestation of aboriginal religious ideas in response to a single foreign conception; namely, that of the coming of a messiah and the destruction of the present order of the world. The way in which the ghost-dance ceremonies were performed, the ideas expressed in the songs, the things the priests dreamed of, and the objects used in the ceremonies, are so characteristically Indian, that no other interpretation seems possible. However, in the present connection we are concerned with these designs as types of the universal primitive expression of belief in the presence of a guiding personal agency that looks into the affairs of men.

[6] George Sword, on Ghost-dance Religion (Fourteenth Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology, p. 798).

[7] Mrs. Z. A. Parker (Fourteenth Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology, p. 916).

[8] Mooney (Fourteenth Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology, p. 790).

THE HOOP.

The circle, or more properly the hoop, is a very important religious symbol among the Dakota. One form of it appears in the great hoop-game described by Louis Meeker,[9] and later by Dr. J. R. Walker.[10] This hoop is usually about two feet in diameter, and notched so as to divide the circumference into quadrants. While this hoop-game seems to be a true gambling game, it could be and was sometimes played as part of a ritualistic ceremony the object of which was to bring the buffalo. It is interesting to note that this large hoop is similar to the sacred wheel used by the Arapaho in the sun-dance. At the time of the ghost-dance outbreak among the Dakota of Pine Ridge Reservation, Mr. Mooney saw the hoop and the two pairs of sticks used with it carried in the ceremonies connected with the ghost-dance religion. He states:—

“It is said that the medicine-man of Big Foot’s band carried such a hoop with him in their flight from the north, and displayed it in every dance held by the band until the fatal day of Wounded Knee. A similar hoop was carried and hung upon the centre tree at the dance at No Water’s camp near Pine Ridge. To the Indian it symbolizes the revival of the old-time games.”[11]

The last line of the above quotation implies that the hoop was a part of the paraphernalia used in the ghost-dance ceremonies, because it symbolized the ancient games. On another page of the same article occurs the following:—

“As it was the favorite game with the men in the olden times, a great many of the songs founded on these trance visions refer to it, and the wheel and sticks are made by the dreamer, and carried in the dance as they sing.”[12]

It should be remembered, however, that the game was formerly played to restore the buffalo when they were temporarily absent from their range; and, as one of the great objects of the ghost-dance religion was the return of the buffalo as in the olden times, the reason for the use of the hoop in the ceremonies described by Mooney is apparent. In Mooney’s account, a number of songs pertaining to the hoop-game are given as sung by the various tribes practising the ghost-dance religion. Among these is a Dakota version, as follows:—

“The holy (hoop) shall run, “Come and see it, The holy (hoop) shall run, Come and see it, The swift hoop shall run, Says the father, The swift hoop shall run.” Says the father.”[13]

A mythical account of the hoop-game is given by Dr. J. R. Walker, which indicates one of the probable conceptions upon which this religious use of the hoop rests.[14]

The hoop-symbol occurs in graphic form, sometimes upon garments. The writer secured a shirt that was used by one of the leaders in ghost-dances; and which seems to have been a type of the so-called “bullet-proof shirt.” This garment is daubed with red about the neck and on the shoulders, but in addition bears four circular designs, also in red, with large dots at their centres (Fig. 16). One of these designs is placed upon the right breast; another, directly opposite, upon the back of the garment; one upon the right shoulder; and one upon the left. These are so arranged, that, no matter from what point you see the wearer, one of the circular designs will be visible. These designs were recognized as symbols of the medicine-hoop, and were supposed to have the power to protect the wearer from all harm. The idea of placing the designs so that one of them should always be between the wearer and the source of danger may be original with the owner of this shirt; but the number of them (four), and their arrangement according to the four directions, correspond to the common explanation of religious symbols.

Meeker describes[15] a wheel-shaped hoop-ornament consisting of a ring enclosing four spokes at right angles to each other. According to his account, this is a symbol associated with the hoop-game; but similar specimens were seen by the writer upon the heads of Dakota men, who explained that these were symbols of the medicine-wheel or medicine-hoop, and did not refer to the hoop-game. They were worn because they were regarded as symbols of the power that could protect the wearer from arrows, bullets, or other dangers.

As is suggested by the above, the game-hoop is distinguished from the medicine-hoop as used in ceremonies. A medicine-hoop seems to have been used by all divisions of the Dakota, and, according to the descriptions received by the writer, to have been of several forms. In certain ceremonies where the elk played an important part, a hoop or ring was formed by twining together fresh twigs and leaves of the willow. In the centre of this hoop, a small mirror was held by four cords arranged at right angles, and representing the four directions. A drawing of an elk-dancer by a native is shown in Fig. 17. The painted centre for the circular designs on a shirt (Fig. 16) described above, as well as the small wheel-shaped head-ornament, were said to represent a hoop of this type.

The connection of this hoop with the idea of protection is well illustrated in the manufacture of one kind of red paint. It is produced by burning a kind of yellow clay, found near the Black Hills, until it takes on the red color. The paint, however, is given its protective power by certain ceremonies performed as it is made. In the particular ceremony observed by the writer, the yellow earth was pounded fine, and mixed with water until it became a stiff paste. This was then made into a flat disk about half an inch thick and from four to six inches in diameter, after which a hole or depression was made in the centre. The purpose of this, as explained, was to give it the form of a medicine-hoop, the hole in the centre corresponding to the place occupied by the mirror in the form of hoop just described. This disk was then burned in the fire until red, after which it was pounded on a stone until fine enough for use. The ceremony in preparing the paint consisted of ritualistic songs and prayers, which reached their climax as the disk of clay was formed and perforated. The burning and the subsequent preparation were not regarded as parts of the ceremony. The idea, as expressed, was to connect the paint with the power represented by the hoop, so that when a warrior rubbed some of it upon his body, he came at once under the protection of this power.

Another idea seems to be connected with the conception of the medicine-hoop, and that is the appearance of certain mythical animals with openings through their bodies where their hearts should be. The conception seems to be, that an animal without a heart is immortal and supernatural: at least, this is the way in which the mythical elk was described. According to the belief, there is a connection between this opening through the heart and the centre of the medicine-hoop, represented in the elk ceremonies by the mirror; but it is the opinion of the writer that this is an error on the part of the Indians themselves in associating two things that were formerly distinct.[16]

It seems rather curious that the mirror should become so closely associated with the hoop, and that the mirror should have appealed to them as a symbol of almost equal importance. The writer is of the opinion that the preceding cases, where the mirror and the hoop are considered as identical symbols, are the result of a former close association of the two in ceremonial affairs.

[9] Meeker (Bulletin of the Free Museum of Science and Art, University of Pennsylvania, Vol. III. No. 1).

[10] Walker (The Journal of the American Folk-Lore Society, October-December, 1905).

[11] Mooney (Fourteenth Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology, p. 1075).