Chapter V: Dakota and Assiniboin Cults (1)

ALLEGED DAKOTA BELIEF IN A GREAT SPIRIT.

§ 92. That the Dakota tribes, before the advent of the white race, believed in one Great Spirit, has been asserted by several writers; but it can not be proved. On the contrary, even those writers who are quoted in this study as stating the Dakota belief in a Great Spirit, also tell us of beliefs in many spirits of evil. Among the earlier writers of this class is Say, who observes:

Their Wahconda seems to be a protean god; he is supposed to appear
to different persons under different forms. All who are favored
with his presence become medicine men and magicians in consequence
of their having seen and conversed with Wahconda, and of having
received from him some particular medicine of wondrous efficacy.

The same writer records that “Wahconda” appeared sometimes as a grizzly bear, sometimes as a bison, at others as a beaver, or an owl, or some other bird or animal.[84] It is plain that Say mistook the generic term, “Wahconda,” for a specific one. (See §§ 6, 21-24.)

Shea says:

Although polytheism did not exist, although they all recognized
one Supreme Being, the creator of all, * * * they nowhere
adored the God whom they knew. * * * The demons with which
they peopled nature, these alone, in their fear they sought to
appease. * * * Pure unmixed devil-worship prevailed
throughout the length and breadth of the land.[85]

§ 93. Lynd made some very pertinent remarks:

A stranger coming among the Dakotas for the first time, and
observing the endless variety of objects upon which they bestow
their devotion, and the manifold forms which that worship assumes,
at once pronounces them pantheists. A further acquaintance with
them convinces him that they are pantheists of no ordinary
kind--that their pantheism is negative as well as positive, and
that the engraftments of religion are even more numerous than
the true branches. Upon a superficial glance he sees naught
but an inextricable maze of gods, demons, spirits, beliefs and
counter-beliefs, earnest devotion and reckless skepticism,
prayers, sacrifices, and sneers, winding and intermingling with
one another, until a labyrinth of pantheism and skepticism
results, and the Dakota, with all his infinity of deities appears
a creature of irreligion. One speaks of the medicine dance with
respect, while another smiles at the name--one makes a religion
of the raw fish feast, while another stands by and laughs at his
performance--and others, listening to the supposed revelations of
the circle dance, with reverent attention, are sneered at by a
class who deny in toto the wakan nature of that ceremony.[86]

In common with all nations of the earth the Dakotas believe in a
Wakantanka or Great Spirit. But this Being is not alone in the
universe. Numbers of minor deities are scattered throughout space,
some of whom are placed high in the scale of power. Their ideas of
the Great Spirit appear to be that He is the creator of the world
and has existed from all time; but after creating the world and
all that is in it He sank into silence and since then has failed
to take any interest in the affairs of this planet. They never
pray to Him, for they deem Him too far away to hear them, or as
not being concerned in their affairs. No sacrifices are made to
Him, nor dances in His honor. Of all the spirits He is the Great
Spirit; but His power is only latent or negative. They swear by
Him at all times, but more commonly by other divinities.[87]

Yet Lynd is not always consistent, for he says on another page (71) of the same work: “No one deity is held by them all as a superior object of worship.”

§ 94. Pond writes:

Evidence is also wanting to show that the Dakotas embraced in
their religious tenents the idea of one supreme existence, whose
existence is expressed by the term Great Spirit. If some clans
at the present time entertain this idea it seems highly probable
that it has been imparted to them by individuals of European
extraction. No reference to such a being is found in their feasts,
fasts, or sacrifices. Or if there is such a reference at the
present time it is clear that it is of recent origin and does not
belong to their system. It is indeed true that the Dakotas do
sometimes appeal to the Great Spirit when in council with white
men, but it is because they themselves have embraced the Christian
doctrines. Still, it is generally the interpreter who makes
the appeal to the Great Spirit, when the Indian speaker really
appealed to the Taku Wakan, and not to the Wakantanka. It is true
that * * * all the Dakota gods * * * are mortal. They are
not thought of as being eternal, except it may be by
succession.[88]

The author agrees with Pond in what he says about the average Indian interpreter of early days, who seldom gave a correct rendering of what was spoken in council. But at the present time great improvement has doubtless been observed.

It should be remembered that Messrs. Riggs and Pond were missionaries to the Dakotas, while Messrs. Say, Shea, and Lynd must be classed among the laity. Yet the missionaries, not the laymen, are the ones who make the positive statements about the absence of a belief in one Great Spirit.

RIGGS ON THE TAKU WAKAN.

§ 95. Riggs remarks:

The religious faith of the Dakota is not in his gods as such. It
is an intangible, mysterious something of which they are only the
embodiment, and that in such a measure and degree as may accord
with the individual fancy of the worshiper. Each one will worship
some of these divinities and neglect and despise others; but the
great object of all their worship, whatever its chosen medium, is
the TA-KOO WAH-KON, which is the supernatural and mysterious. No
one term can express the full meaning of the Dakota’s Wakan. It
comprehends all mystery, secret power, and divinity. * * *
All life is Wakan. So also is everything which exhibits power,
whether in action, as the winds and drifting clouds, or in
passive endurance, as the bowlder by the wayside.[89]

MEANING OF “WAKAN.”

In the mind of a Dakota * * * this word Wah-kon (we write,
wa-kan) covers the whole field of their fear and worship. Many
things also that are neither feared nor worshiped, but are simply
wonderful, come under this designation. It is related of Hennepin
that when he and his two companions were taken captive by a Sioux
war party, as they ascended the upper Mississippi one of the men
took up his gun and shot a deer on the bank. The Indians said,
“Wah-kon chi?”--Is not this mysterious? And from that day
* * * the gun has been called Mah-za wah-kon, mysterious
iron. This is shortened into Mah-za-kon. The same thing we may
believe is true when, probably less than two centuries ago, they
first saw a horse. They said “Shoon-ka wah-kon,” wonderful dog.
And from that day the horse has been called by the Sioux
wonderful dog, except when it has been called big dog, Shoon-ka
tonka. These historical facts have satisfied us that the idea of
the Great Spirit ascribed to the Indians of North America does
not belong to the original theogony of the Sioux, but has come
from without, like that (sic) of the horse and gun, and probably
dates back only to their first hearing of the white man’s
God.[90]

_Taku Wakan._--This is a general term, including all that is wonderful, incomprehensible, supernatural--what is wakan; but especially covering the objects of their worship. Until used in reference to our God, it is believed that the phrase was not applied to any individual object of worship, but was equivalent to “the gods.”[91] As tuwe, _who_, refers to persons, and taku, _what_, to things, the correctness of Riggs’s conclusion can hardly be questioned, provided we add that the Dakota term, Taku Wakan, could not have conveyed to the Dakota mind the idea of a _personal_ God, using the term _person_ as it is commonly employed by civilized peoples.

DAIMONISM.

§ 96. Lynd says:

The divinities of evil among the Dakotas may be called legion.
Their special delight is to make man miserable or to destroy him.
Demons wander through the earth, causing sickness and death.
Spirits of evil are ever ready to pounce upon and destroy the
unwary. Spirits of earth, air, fire, and water (see § 36) surround
him upon every side, and with but one great governing object in
view--the misery and destruction of the human race.[92]

ANIMISM.

§ 97. Their religious system gives to everything a soul or spirit. Even the commonest sticks and clays have a spiritual essence attached to them which must needs be reverenced; for these spirits, too, vent their wrath upon mankind. Indeed, there is no object, however trivial, but has its spirit.[93]

In his article on the Mythology of the Dakotas,[94] Riggs says of the Dakota:

They pray to the sun, earth, moon, lakes, rivers, trees, plants,
snakes, and all kinds of animals and vegetables--many of them say,
to everything, for they pray to their guns and arrows--to any
object, artificial as well as natural, for they suppose that every
object, artificial as well as natural, has a spirit which may hurt
or help, and so is a proper object of worship.

Lynd says:

The essentially physical cast of the Indian mind (if I may be
allowed the expression) requires some outward and tangible
representation of things spiritual before he can comprehend
them. The god must be present, by image or in person, ere he
can offer up his devotions. * * * Similar to this “belief in a
spiritual essence” is the general Dakota belief that each class of
animals or objects of a like kind possesses a peculiar guardian
divinity, which is the mother archetype. * * * Sexuality is a
prominent feature in the religion of the Dakotas. Of every species
of divinity, with the exception of the Wakantanka, there is a
plurality, part male and part female. Even the spirits, which
are supposed to dwell in the earth, twigs, and other inanimate
substances, are invested with distinctions of sex.[95]

§ 98. Pond asserts that “evidence is wanting to show that these people divide their Taku-wakan into classes of good and evil. They are all simply wakan.”[96]

PRINCIPAL DAKOTA GODS.

The gods of the Dakotas are of course innumerable; but of the superior gods these are the chief: The Unkteḣi, or god of the water; the Wakinyan, or thunder god; the Takuśkanśkan, or moving god; the Tunkan, Inyan, or stone god; the Heyoka god; the Sun; the Moon; the Armor god; the Spirit of the Medicine Sack; and the Wakantanka, who is probably an intrusive deity.[97]

MISS FLETCHER ON INDIAN RELIGION.

§ 99. The following remarks are those of a later writer, Miss Fletcher:

The Indian’s religion is generally spoken of as a nature and
animal worship. The term seems too broadcast and indiscriminate.
Careful inquiry and observation fail to show that the Indian
actually worships the objects which are set up or mentioned by
him in his ceremonies. The earth, four winds, the sun, moon,
and stars, the stones, the water, the various animals, are all
exponents of a mysterious life and power encompassing the Indian
and filling him with vague apprehension and desire to propitiate
and induce friendly relations. The latter is attempted not so much
through the ideas of sacrifice as through more or less ceremonial
appeals. More faith is put in ritual and a careful observance of
forms than in any act of self-denial in its moral sense, as we
understand it. The claim of relationship is used to strengthen
the appeal, since the tie of kindred among the Indians is one
which can not be ignored or disregarded, the terms grandfather and
grandmother being most general and implying dependence, respect,
and the recognition of authority. (See §§ 9, 100.)

One of the simplest and most picturesque explanations of the use
of the varied forms of life in the Indian worship was given to me
by a thoughtful Indian chief. He said: “Everything as it moves,
now and then, here and there, makes stops. The bird as it flies
stops in one place to make its nest, and in another to rest in its
flight. A man when he goes forth stops when he wills. So the god
has stopped. The sun, which is so bright and beautiful, is one
place where he has stopped. The moon, the stars, the winds, he has
been with. The trees, the animals, are all where he has stopped,
and the Indian thinks of these places and sends his prayers there
to reach the place where the god has stopped and win help and a
blessing.”

The vague feeling after unity is here discernible, but it is like
the cry of a child rather than the articulate speech of a man. To
the Indian mind the life of the universe has not been analyzed,
classified, and a great synthesis formed of the parts. To him
the varied forms are equally important and noble. A devout old
Indian said: “The tree is like a human being, for it has life and
grows; so we pray to it and put our offerings on it that the god
may help us.” In the same spirit the apology is offered over a
slaughtered animal, for the life of the one is taken to supplement
the life of the other, “that it may cause us to live,” one formula
expresses it. These manifestations of life, stopping places of the
god, can not therefore be accurately called objects of worship
or symbols; they appear to be more like media of communication
with the permeating occult force which is vaguely and fearfully
apprehended. As a consequence, the Indian stands abreast of
nature. He does not face it, and hence can not master or coerce
it, or view it scientifically and apart from his own mental and
emotional life. He appeals to it, but does not worship it.[98]

PRAYER.

§ 100. Every power is prayed to by some of the Dakota and Assiniboin. Among the accessories of prayer the Dakota reckons the following: (_a_) Ceremonial wailing or crying (ćéya, to weep, wail; whence, ćékiya, to cry, to pray, and woćékiye, prayer), sometimes accompanied by articulate speech (§§ 177, 208); (_b_) the action called yuwiⁿtapi (yuwiŋ´tapi) described in § 24; (_c_) holding the pipe with the mouthpiece toward the power invoked, as the Heyoka devotees sometimes do (§§ 223, 224); (_d_) the use of smoke from the pipe or the odor of burning cedar needles (§§ 159, 168); (_e_) the application of the kinship terms, “grandfather” (or its alternative, “venerable man”) to a male power, and “grandmother” to a female one (§§ 99, 107, 239); (_f_) sacrifice, or offering of goods, animals, or pieces of one’s own flesh, etc. (see § 185).

SACRIFICE.

§ 101. The radical forms of worship among the Dakota, according to Lynd, are few and simple. One of the most primitive is that of Wocnapi (Wośnapi) or Sacrifice. To every divinity that they worship they make sacrifices. Even upon the most trivial occasions the gods are either thanked or supplicated by sacrifice. The religious idea it carries with it is at the foundation of the every-day life of the Dakota. The wohduze or taboo has its origin there; the wiwaŋyag waćipi or sundance (§§ 141-211) carries with it the same idea; the wakaŋ wohaŋpi or sacred feast (feast of the first-fruits) is a practical embodiment of it; and haŋmdepi or god-seeking of the extreme western tribes is but a form of self-sacrifice. No Dakota in his worship neglects this ceremony. It enters into his religious thoughts at all times, even at the hour of death. The sacrifices made upon recovery from sickness are never composed of anything very valuable, for the poverty of the Indian will not permit this. Usually a small strip of muslin, or a piece of red cloth, a few skins of some animals, or other things of no great use or value are employed. Sometimes a pan or kettle is laid up for a sacrifice. But after a short time, the end for which the sacrifice was made is attained, and it is removed. Those in need of such things as they see offered in sacrifice may take them for their own use, being careful to substitute some other articles. Perhaps the most common forms of sacrifice are those which are made in the hunt. Particular portions of each animal killed are held sacred to the god of the chase or some other deities. If a deer is killed, the head, heart, or some other part of it is sacrificed by the person who has slain it. The part sacrificed differs with different individuals. In ducks and fowls the most common sacrifice is of the wing, though many sacrifice the heart, and a few the head. This custom is called wohduze, and is always constant with individuals, i. e., the same part is always sacrificed. The other wohduze or taboo is connected with the wotawe or armor,[99] and will be described hereafter (§ 125).

§ 102. _Haŋmdepi or god-seeking._--Haŋmdepi or god-seeking is a form of religion among the Dakotas that points back to a remote antiquity. The meaning of the word, in its common acceptation, appears to be greatly misunderstood by some. Literally, it means only to dream, and is but another form of haŋma; but in its use it is applied almost wholly to the custom of seeking for a dream or revelation, practiced by the Sisitonwan, Ihanktonwanna, and Titonwan (Sioux), and by the Crow, Minnetaree, Assiniboin, and other western Dakota. In this respect it has no reference whatever to the common dreams of sleep, but means simply the form of religion practiced.

If a Dakota wishes to be particularly successful in any (to him) important undertaking, he first purifies himself by the Inipi or steam bath, and by fasting for a term of three days. During the whole of this time he avoids women and society, is secluded in his habits, and endeavors in every way to be pure enough to receive a revelation from the deity whom he invokes. When the period of fasting is passed he is ready for the sacrifice, which is made in various ways. Some, passing a knife through the breast and arms, attach thongs thereto, which are fastened at the other end to the top of a tall pole raised for that purpose; and thus they hang, suspended only by these thongs, for two, three, or even four days, gazing upon vacancy, their minds being intently fixed upon the object in which they desire to be assisted by the deity, and waiting for a vision from above. Once a day an assistant is sent to look upon the person thus sacrificing himself. If the deities have vouchsafed him a vision or revelation, he signifies the same by motions, and is released at once; if he be silent, his silence is understood, and he is left alone to his reverie.

Others attach a buffalo hair rope to the head of a buffalo just as it is severed from the animal, and to the other end affix a hook, which is then passed through the large muscles in the small of the back, and thus fastened they drag the head all over the camp, their minds meanwhile being fixed intently, as in the first instance, upon the object in which they are beseeching the deity to assist them.

A third class pass knives through the flesh in various parts of the body, and wait in silence, though with fixed mind, for a dream or revelation. A few, either not blessed with the powers of endurance or else lacking the courage of the class first named, will plant a pole upon the steep bank of a stream, and attaching ropes to the muscles of the arm and breast, as in the first instance, will stand, but not hang, gazing into space, without food or drink, for days.

Still another class practice the haŋmdepi without such horrid self-sacrifice. For weeks, nay, for months, they will fix their minds intently upon any desired object, to the exclusion of all others, frequently crying about the camp, occasionally taking a little food, but fasting for the most part, and earnestly seeking a revelation from their god.[100]

§ 103. Similar testimony has been given respecting the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara, though this last tribe belongs to the Caddoan stock. Smet wrote thus about them:

They cut off their fingers and make deep incisions in the fleshy
parts of the body before starting for war, in order to obtain the
favors of their false gods. On my last visit to these Ricaries,
Minataries, and Mandans I could not discern a single man at all
advanced in years whose body had not been mutilated, or who
possessed his full number of fingers.[101]

In treating of the religious opinion of the Assiniboin, Smet says:

Some burn tobacco, and present to the Great Spirit the most
exquisite pieces of buffalo meat by casting them into the fire;
while others make deep incisions in the fleshy parts of their
bodies, and even cut off the first joints of their fingers to
offer them in sacrifice.[102]

Lynd says:

§ 104. Frequently the devout Dakota will make images of bark or
stone, and, after painting them in various ways and putting sacred
down upon them, will fall down in worship before them, praying
that all danger may be averted from him and his. It must not be
understood, however, that the Dakota is an idolater. It is not the
image that he worships, * * * but the spiritual essence which
is represented by that image, and which is supposed to be ever
near it.[103]

This plausible distinction has been made by persons of different nations at various periods in the world’s history, but it seems to be of doubtful value.

USE OF PAINT IN WORSHIP.

§ 105. In the worship of their deities paint forms an important feature. Scarlet or red is the religious color for sacrifices, while blue is used by the women in many of the ceremonies in which they participate (§§ 374, 375). This, however, is not a constant distinction of sex, for the women frequently use red or scarlet. The use of paints the Dakotas aver was taught them by the gods.[104]

For accounts of the Sun-dance and a sacrifice to the Dawn, see §§ 141, 211, 215.

THE UNKTEḢI, OR SUBAQUATIC AND SUBTERRANEAN POWERS.

§ 106. The gods of this name, for there are many, are the most powerful of all. In their external form they are said to resemble the ox, only they are of immense proportions. They can extend their horns and tails so as to reach the skies. These are the organs of their power. According to one account the Unkteḣi inhabit all deep waters, and especially all great waterfalls. Two hundred and eleven years ago, when Hennepin and Du Luth saw the Falls of St. Anthony together, there were some buffalo robes hanging there as sacrifices to the Unkteḣi of the place.[105]

§ 107. Another account written by the same author informs us that the male Unkteḣi dwell in the water, and the spirits of the females animate the earth. Hence, when the Dakota seems to be offering sacrifices to the water or the earth, it is to this family of gods that the worship is rendered. They address the males as “grandfathers,” and the females as “grandmothers.” It is believed that one of these gods dwells under the Falls of St. Anthony, in a den of great dimensions, which is constructed of iron.[106]

§ 108. “The word Unkteḣi defies analysis, only the latter part giving us the idea of _difficult_ [sic], and so nothing can be gathered from the name itself of the functions of these gods. But Indian legend generally describes the genesis of the earth as from the water. Some animal, as the beaver [compare the Iowa and Oto Beaver gentes, Paça and Paqça.--J. O. D.] living in the waters, brought up, from a great depth, mud to build dry land.”[107] According to the Dakota cosmogony, this was done by the Unkteḣi, called in the Teton dialect Ŭñktcexila or Uŋkćeġila. (Compare the Winnebago, Waktceqi ikikaratcada or water-monster gens, and the Wakandagi of the Omaha and Ponka, see §§ 7, 77).

§ 109. The Iowa and Oto tribes have among their nikie names, Niwaⁿcike, Water Person, and Niwaⁿcikemi, Water Person Female. If these do not refer to the beaver, they may have some connection with the water monsters or deities. An Omaha told the author a Yankton legend about these gods of the waters. The wife of the special Unkteḣi coveted an Indian child and drew it beneath the surface of the river. The father of the child had to offer a white dog to the deity in order to recover his son; but the latter died on emerging from the water, as he had eaten some of the food of the Unkteḣi during his stay with the deity. After awhile the parents lost a daughter in like manner, but as she did not eat any of the food of the Unkteḣi, she was recovered after an offering of four white dogs.[108]

Smet tells of offerings made by the Assiniboin to “the water” and “the land,” but it is probable that they were made to the Unkteḣi.[109]

§ 110. The Dakota pray to lakes and rivers, according to Riggs,[110] but he does not say whether the visible objects were worshiped or whether the worship was intended for the Unkteḣi supposed to dwell in those lakes and rivers.

POWER OF THE UNKTEḢI.

§ 111. These gods have power to send from their bodies a wakan influence which is irresistible even by the superior gods. This influence is termed “tonwan.” This power is common to all the Taku Wakan. And it is claimed that this tonwan is infused into each mystery sack which is used in the mystery dance. A little to the left of the road leading from Fort Snelling to Minnehaha, in sight of the fort, is a hill which is used at present as a burial place. This hill is known to the Dakota as “Taku Wakan tipi,” the dwelling place of the gods. It is believed that one of the Unkteḣi dwells there.

§ 112. The Unkteḣi are thought to feed on the spirits of human beings, and references to this occur in the mystic songs. The mystery feast and the mystery dance have been received from these gods. The sacrifices required by them are the soft down of the swan reddened with vermilion, deer skins, dog, mystery feast and mystery dances.

In Miss Fletcher’s article on “The Shadow or Ghost Lodge: A ceremony of the Ogallala Sioux,” we read that 2 yards of red cloth are “carried out beyond the camp, to an elevation if possible, and buried in a hole about 3 feet deep. This is an offering to the earth, and the chanted prayer asks that the life, or power in earth, will help the father” of the dead child “in keeping successfully all the requirements of the ghost lodge.”[111] (See § 146.)

SUBORDINATES OF THE UNKTEḢI.

The subordinates of the Unkteḣi are serpents, lizards, frogs, ghosts, owls, and eagles. The Unkteḣi made the earth and men, and gave the Dakota the mystery sack, and also prescribed the manner in which some of those pigments must be applied which are rubbed over the bodies of their votaries in the mystery dance, and on the warrior as he goes into action.

THE MYSTERY DANCE.

§ 113. Immediately after the production of the earth and men, the Unkteḣi gave the Indians the mystery sack and instituted the Wakan waćipi or mystery dance. They ordained that the sack should consist of the skin of the otter, raccoon, weasel, squirrel, loon, one variety of fish, and of serpents. It was also ordained that the sack should contain four species of medicines of wakan qualities, which should represent fowls, medicinal herbs, medicinal trees, and quadrupeds. The down of the female swan represents the first, and may be seen at the time of the dance inserted in the nose of the sack. Grass roots represent the second, bark from the roots of the trees the third, and hair from the back or head of a buffalo the fourth. These are carefully preserved in the sack. From this combination proceeds a wakan influence so powerful that no human being, unassisted, can resist it.

Those who violated their obligations as members of the Mystery dance, were sure of punishment. If they went into forests, the black owl was there, as a servant of the Unkteḣi; if they descended into the earth, they encountered the serpent; if they ascended into the air, the eagle would pursue and overtake them; and if they ventured into the water, there were the Unkteḣi themselves.[112] An account of the mystery or medicine dance is given by Pond, op. cit., pp. 37-41.

“Those Dakotas,” said Lynd, “who belong to the medicine dance esteem the Unkteḣi as the greatest divinity. Among the eastern Dakotas the medicine dance appears to have taken the place of these more barbarous ceremonies (i. e., the self-tortures of the hanmdepi, piercing of the flesh, etc.)--among the Winnebagoes entirely.”

The Omaha do not have the sun dance, but the wacicka aȼiⁿ, answering to the Dakota mystery dance, is said to be of ancient use among them.

“Indeed, the medicine dance, though an intrusive religious form, may be considered as an elevating and enlightening religion in comparison with the hanmdepi.”[113]

THE MINIWATU.

§ 114. The Teton Dakota tell of the Miniwatu, Wamnitu,[114] and Mini waśiću, all of which are probably names for the same class of monsters, the last meaning “Water God or Guardian Spirit.” These powers are said to be horned water monsters with four legs each. “They make waves by pushing the water toward the lowlands; therefore, the Indians prefer to encamp on or near the bluffs. They fear to swim the Missouri River on account of the water monsters, who can draw people into their mouths.” Can these be the Unkteḣi, whom the Teton call Uŋkćeġila?

§ 115. “Long ago,” according to Bushotter, “the people saw a strange thing in the Missouri River. At night there was some red object, shining like fire, making the water roar as it passed upstream. Should any one see the monster by daylight he became crazy soon after, writhing as with pain, and dying. One man who said that he saw the monster described it thus: ‘It has red hair all over, and one eye. A horn is in the middle of its forehead, and its body resembles that of a buffalo.’[115] Its backbone is like a cross-cut saw, being flat and notched like a saw or cog wheel. When one sees it he gets bewildered, and his eyes close at once. He is crazy for a day, and then he dies. The Teton think that this matter is still in the river, and they call it the Miniwatu or water monster. They think that it causes the ice on the river to break up in the spring of the year.”[116]

The Teton say that the bones of the Uŋkćeġila are now found in the bluffs of Nebraska and Dakota.

THE WAKIᴺYAᴺ (WAKIŊYAŊ), OR THUNDER-BEINGS.

§ 116. The name signifies the flying ones, from kinyan, to fly. The thunder is the sound of their voices. The lightning is the missile or tonwan of the winged monsters, who live and fly through the heavens shielded from mortal vision by thick clouds. By some of the wakan men it is said that there are four varieties of the form of their external manifestation. In essence, however they are but one. One of the varieties is black, with a long beak, and has four joints in his wing. Another is yellow, without any beak at all; with wings like the first, except that he has six quills in each wing. The third is scarlet, and remarkable chiefly for having eight joints in each of its enormous pinions. The fourth is blue and globular in form, and it is destitute of both eyes and ears. Immediately over the places where the eyes should be there is a semicircular line of lightning resembling an inverted half moon from beneath which project downward two chains of lightning diverging from each other in zigzag lines as they descend. Two plumes like soft down, coming out near the roots of the descending chains of lightning, serve for wings.[117]

These thunderers, of course, are of terrific proportions. They created the wild rice and a variety of prairie grass, the seed of which bears some resemblance to that of the rice. At the western extremity of the earth, which is supposed to be a circular plain surrounded by water, is a high mountain, on the summit of which is a beautiful mound. On this mound is the dwelling of the Wakinyan gods. The dwelling opens toward each of the four quarters of the earth, and at each doorway is stationed a sentinel. A butterfly stands at the east entrance, a bear at the west, a reindeer [sic, probably intended for a deer.--J. O. D.] at the north, and a beaver at the south [the beaver seems out of place here as a servant of the Wakinyan gods, for, judging from analogy, he ought to be the servant of the Unkteḣi (see § 108)--J. O. D.].

Except the head, each of these wakan sentinels is enveloped in scarlet down of the most extraordinary beauty.[118]

§ 117. The Teton texts of Bushotter state the belief that “some of these ancient people still dwell in the clouds. They have large curved beaks resembling bison humps, their voices are loud, they do not open their eyes except when they make lightning, hence the archaic Teton name for the lightning, Wakinyan tunwanpi, “The thunder-beings open their eyes.” They are armed with arrows and “maza wakan” or “mysterious irons” (not “guns”), the latter being of different kinds. Kaŋġitame, stones resembling coal, are found in the Bad Lands, and they are said to be the missiles of the Thunderers. When these gods so desire they kill various mysterious beings and objects, as well as human beings that are mysterious. Their ancient foes were the giant rattlesnakes and the prehistoric water monsters (Uŋkćeġila: see §§ 108, 114, 115).

§ 118. Long ago the Teton encamped by a deep lake whose shore was inclosed by very high cliffs. They noticed that at night, even when there was no breeze, the water in the middle of the lake was constantly roaring. When one gazed in that direction, he saw a huge eye as bright as the sun, which caused him to vomit something resembling black earth moistened with water, and death soon followed. That very night the Thunderers came, and the crashing sounds were so terrible that many people fainted. The next morning the shore was covered with the bodies of all kinds of fish, some of which were larger than men, and there were also some huge serpents. The water monster which the Thunderers had fought resembled a rattlesnake, but he had short legs and rusty-yellow fur.

§ 119. The Thunderers are represented as cruel and destructive in disposition. They are ever on the war path. A mortal hatred exists between them and the family of the Unkteḣi. Neither has power to resist the tonwan of the other if it strikes him. Their attacks are never open, and neither is safe except he eludes the vigilance of the other. The Wakinyan, in turn, are often surprised and killed by the Unkteḣi. Many stories are told of the combats of these gods. Mr. Pond once listened to the relation, by an eyewitness (as he called himself), of a story in substance as follows: A Wakinyan measuring 25 to 30 yards between the tips of his wings was killed and fell on the bank of the Blue Earth river (Minnesota).

From the Wakinyan the Dakota have received their war implements, the spear and tomahawk, and many of the pigments, which, if properly applied, will shield them from the weapons of their enemies.[119]

§ 120. When a person dreams of the Thunderers, it is a sign that he and they must fight. The Wakinyan are not the only gods of war; there are also the Takuckaⁿckaⁿ (Takuśkanśkan) and the Armor gods. (See §§ 122-3, 127-9.)

Of the circle dance, Riggs says (in Amer. Antiq., II, 267): “They cut an image of the great bird from bark and suspend it at the top of the central pole, which is shot to pieces at the close of the dance.” (He probably means that the image of the great bird, a Thunder bird, is shot to pieces, not the pole.) Sacrifices are made to the Wakinyan and songs are sung both to the Wakinyan and the Unkteḣi.

§ 121. There seems to be some connection between the Heyoka gods and the Wakinyan; but it is not plain. The Heyoka god uses a small Wakinyan god as his drumstick. (See § 218.) The Wakinyan songs are sung by members of the Heyoka dancing order.

Smet was told that the Dakota--

Pretend that the thunder is an enormous bird, and that the muffled
sound of the distant thunder is caused by a countless number of
young (thunder) birds. The great bird, they say, gives the first
sound, and the young ones repeat it; this is the cause of the
reverberations. The Sioux declare that the young thunderers do all
the mischief, like giddy youth who will not listen to good advice;
but the old thunderer or big bird is wise and excellent; he never
kills or injures any one.[120]

Next to the Sun, according to Smet, Thunder is the great deity of the Assiniboin. Every spring, at the first peal of thunder, they offer sacrifices to the Wakinyan.[121]

The Assiniboin, according to Maximilian, ascribed the thunder to an enormous bird.[122]

THE ARMOR GODS.

§ 122. As each young man comes to maturity a tutelar divinity, sometimes called “Waśićuŋ” (see § 236), is assigned to him. It is supposed to reside in the consecrated armor then given to him, consisting of a spear, an arrow, and a small bundle of paint. It is the spirit of some bird or animal, as the wolf, beaver, loon, or eagle. He must not kill this animal, but hold it ever sacred, or at least until he has proved his manhood by killing an enemy. Frequently the young man forms an image of this sacred animal and carries it about with him, regarding it as having a direct influence upon his everyday life and ultimate destiny. Parkman says (in his “Jesuits in North America,” p. LXXI, note) that the knowledge of this guardian spirit comes through dreams at the initiatory fast. If this is ever true among the Dakota, it is not the rule. This knowledge is communicated by the “war prophet.”[123] (See §§ 120, 127, 129, 305, etc.)

Ashley tells us that among the Sisseton and Wahpeton Dakota the warrior, as such, was forbidden by custom of law to eat the tongue, head, or heart of many beasts. There were other animals of which the heads might be eaten, but not the tongues. A warrior about to go on the war path could not have intercourse with women, but must go through the purification of the inipi or sweat bath, which lasts four days. A married warrior could not touch his own weapons until he had thus purified himself.[124]

§ 123. The Armor god and the Spirit of the mystery sack are sometimes spoken of as if they were individual and separate divinities; but they seem rather to be the god-power which is put into the armor and sack by consecration. They should be regarded as the indwelling of the Unkteḣi or of the Takuśkanśkan. A young man’s war weapons are wakan and must not be touched by a woman. A man prays to his armor in the day of battle. In the consecration of these weapons of war and the hunt a young man comes under certain taboo restrictions. Certain parts of an animal are sacred and must not be eaten until he has killed an enemy.[125]

THE WAR PROPHET.

§ 124. The war prophet has been referred to. In this capacity the wakan man is a necessity. Every male Dakota 16 years old and upward is a soldier, and is formally and mysteriously enlisted into the service of the war prophet. From him he receives the implements of war, carefully constructed after models furnished from the armory of the gods, painted after a divine prescription, and charged with a missive virtue--the tonwan--of the divinities. From him he also receives those paints which serve as an armature for the body. To obtain these necessary articles the proud applicant is required for a time to abuse himself and serve him, while he goes through a series of painful and exhausting performances which are necessary on his part to enlist the favorable notice of the gods. These performances consist chiefly of vapor baths, fastings, chants, prayers, and nightly vigils. The spear and the tomahawk being prepared and consecrated, the person who is to receive them approaches the wakan man and presents a pipe to him. He asks a favor, in substance as follows: “Pity thou me, poor and helpless, a woman, and confer on me the ability to perform manly deeds.” The prophet gives him the weapons and tells him not to forget his vows to the gods when he returns in triumph, a man. The weapons are carefully preserved by the warrior. They are wrapped in cloth, together with the sacred pigments. In fair weather they are laid outside of the lodge every day. They must never be touched by an adult female.[126]

§ 125. Lynd’s account is slightly different, though in substantial accord with the preceding one:

When a youth arrives at the age proper for going on the warpath he
first purifies himself by fasting and the inipi or steam bath for
three days, and then goes, with tears in his eyes, to some wakan
man whose influence is undoubted, and prays that he will present
him with the wotawe or consecrated armor. This wakan man is
usually some old and experienced zuya wakan or sacred war leader.
After a time the armor is presented to the young man, but until
it is so presented he must fast and continue his purifications
incessantly. It is a singular fact that nothing but the spear of
this armor is ever used in battle, though it is always carried
when the owner accompanies a war party. At the same time that the
old man presents the armor he tells the youth to what animal it is
dedicated, and enjoins upon him to hold that animal wakan. He must
never harm or kill it, even though starvation threaten him. At all
times and under all circumstances the taboo or wohduze is upon it,
until by slaying numerous enemies it is gradually removed. By some
the animal is held sacred during life, the taboo being voluntarily
retained.[127] (See §§ 101, 127.)

THE SPIRITS OF THE MYSTERY SACKS.

§ 126. These are similar to the armor gods, in that they are divinities who act as guardian spirits. Each of these powers is appropriated by a single individual, protecting and aiding him, and receiving his worship. These spirits are conferred at the time of initiation into the order of the Mystery Dance, and of course are confined to the members of that order.[128] Each spirit of the mystery sack is not a separate god, but a wakan power derived from the Unkteḣi, according to a later statement of Riggs.[129]

TAKUŚKAŊŚKAŊ, THE MOVING DEITY.

§ 127. This is a form of the wakan which jugglers, so-called mystery men, and war prophets invoke. In their estimation he is the most powerful of their gods; the one most to be feared and propitiated, since, more than all others, he influences human weal and woe. He is supposed to live in the four winds, and the four black spirits of night do his bidding. The consecrated spear and tomahawk (see § 124) are its weapons. The buzzard, raven, fox, wolf, and other animals are its lieutenants, to produce disease and death.[130] (Compare this with some of the pictographs on the war chart of the Kansa tribe: Fig. 4, Wind songs; the connection between the winds and war is shown in § 33. Fig. 8, Deer songs. Fig. 9, an Elk song. Fig. 10, seven songs of the Wakanda who makes night songs. Fig. 11, five songs of the Big Rock. This is a rough red rock near Topeka, Kans. “This rock has a hard body, like that of a wakanda. May you walk like it.” Fig. 12, Wolf songs. The wolf howls at night. Fig. 13, Moon songs. Fig. 14, Crow songs. The crow flies around a dead body which it wishes to devour. Fig. 18, Shade songs. There is a Wakanda who makes shade. Fig. 20, song of the Small Rock. Fig. 22, songs of the young Moon. Fig. 23, songs of the Buffalo Bull. Fig. 27, Owl songs. The owl hoots at night.[131])

§ 128. Miss Fletcher has given us a very interesting account of “The Religious Ceremony of the Four Winds or Quarters, as observed by the Santee Sioux.” “Among the Santee (Sioux) Indians the Four Winds are symbolized by the raven and a small black stone, less than a hen’s egg in size.” “An intelligent Santee said to me: ‘The worship of the Four Winds is the most difficult to explain for it is the most complicated.’ The Four Winds are sent by the ‘Something that Moves.’”[132] There is a “Something that Moves” at each of the four directions or quarters. The winds are, therefore, the messengers or exponents of the powers which remain at the four quarters. These four quarters are spoken of as upholding the earth,[133] and are connected with thunder and lightning as well as the wind.[134] * * *

“My informant went on to tell me that the spirits of the four winds were not one, but twelve, and they are spoken of as twelve.”[135] (See § 42.)

§ 129. In Tah-koo Wah-kon, pp. 64, 65, Riggs says:

This god is too subtle in essence to be perceived by the senses,
and is as subtle in disposition. He is present everywhere. He
exerts a controlling influence over instinct, intellect, and
passion. He can rob a man of the use of his rational faculties,
and inspire a beast with intelligence, so that the hunter will
wander idiot-like, while the game on which he hoped to feast his
family at night escapes with perfect ease. Or, if he please, the
god can reverse his influence. He is much gratified to see men
in trouble, and is particularly glad when they die in battle or
otherwise. Passionate and capricious in the highest degree, it
is very difficult to retain his favor. His symbol and supposed
residence is the bowlder (see Big Rock and Small Rock, § 127), as
it is also of another god, the Tunkan.

Pond assigns to him the armor feast and inipi or vapor bath (called steam or sweat bath). He says:[136]

The armor feast is of ordinary occurrence when the provisions
are of sufficient abundance to support it, in which the warriors
assemble and exhibit the sacred implements of war, to which they
burn incense around the smoking sacrifice.

§ 130. In October, 1881, the late S. D. Hinman read a paper before the Anthropological Society of Washington, entitled “The Stone God or Oracle of the Pute-temni band of Hunkpati Dakotas.” He said that this oracle had been seen by him while on an expedition with some Dakotas across the James River valley in Dakota Territory. A Hunkpati man of the party gave the history of the stone and an account of its miraculous movement from the Sacred Hill to the old dirt lodge village. This oracle was called the Takuśkaŋśkaŋ.

§ 131. But the Takuśkaŋśkaŋ assumed other shapes. Said Bushotter, in one of his Teton texts:

The Lakotas regard certain small stones or pebbles as mysterious, and it is said that in former days a man had one as his helper or servant. There are two kinds of these mysterious stones (i.e., pebbles, not rocks). One is white, resembling ice or glass (i.e., is probably translucent; compare the translucent pebbles of the Iⁿ-ʞugȼi order of the Omaha, see Om. Soc., p. 346); the other resembles ordinary stones. It is said that one of them once entered a lodge and struck a man, and people spoke of the stones sending in rattles through the smoke hole of a lodge. When anything was missed in the village the people appealed to the stones for aid, and the owner of one of the stones boiled food for a mystery feast, to which the people came. Then they told the stone of their loss and the stone helped them. It is said that the stones brought back different messages. If anyone stole horses the stones always revealed his name. Once the Omahas came to steal horses, but the stones knew about them and disappointed their secret plans; so that the Lakotas learned to prize the stones, and they decorated them with paint, wrapped them up, and hung a bunch of medicine with each one.

It is very probable that the Assiniboin also worshipped the Takuśkaŋśkaŋ; for they reverenced the four winds, as Smet tells us.[137]

TUNKAN OE INYAN, THE STONE GOD OR LINGAM.

§ 132. It has been said by Lynd[138] that the western tribes (probably the Teton, Yanktonai, Yankton, etc.), neglect the Unkteḣi, and pay their main devotion to Tunkan or Invan, answering to the Hindoo Lingam.

Tunkan, the Dakotas say, is the god that dwells in stones and
rocks, and is the oldest god. If asked why he is considered the
oldest, they will tell you because he is the hardest--an Indian’s
reason. The usual form of the stone employed in worship is round,
and it is about the size of the human head. The devout Dakota
paints this Tunkan red, putting colored swan’s down upon it, and
then he falls down and worships the god that is supposed to dwell
in it or hover near it.[139] The Tunkan is painted red (see § 136)
as a sign of active worship.[140] In cases of extremity I
have ever noticed that they appeal to their Tunkan or stone god,
first and last, and they do this even after the ceremonies of the
medicine dance have been gone through with. All Sioux agree in
saying that the Tunkan is the main recipient of their prayers; and
among the Tetons, Mandans, Yanktons, and Western Dakotas they pray
to that and the spirit of the buffalo almost entirely.[141]

§ 133. Riggs says:[142]

“The Inyan or Toon-kan is the symbol of the greatest force or
power in the dry land. And these came to be the most common
objects of worship. Large bowlders were selected and adorned with
red and green (sic) paint, whither the devout Dakota might go
to pray and offer his sacrifice. And smaller stones were often
found, set up on end and properly painted, around which lay
eagles’ feathers, tobacco, and red cloth. Once I saw a small dog
that had been recently sacrificed. In all their incantations and
dances, notably in the circle dance, the painted stone is the god
supplicated and worshipped with fear and trembling.”

§ 134. Long tells of a gigantic stone figure resembling a human being, which he found on the bank of Kickapoo Creek. The Indians made offerings to it of tobacco and other objects.[143]

IŊYAŊ ŚA.

§ 135. Rev. Horace C. Hovey says:[144]