Chapter V: Dakota and Assiniboin cults 431

Alleged Dakota belief in a Great Spirit 431
Riggs on the Taku wakan 432
Meaning of wakan 433
Daimonism 433
Animism 433
Principal Dakota gods 434
Miss Fletcher on Indian religion 434
Prayer 435
Sacrifice 435
Use of paint in worship 438
The unkteḣi, or subaquatic and subterranean powers 438
Character of the unkteḣi 438
Power of the unkteḣi 439
Subordinates of the unkteḣi 439
The mystery dance 440
The miniwatu 440
The Wakiⁿyaⁿ, or thunder-beings 441
The armor gods 443
The war prophet 444
The spirits of the mystery sacks 445
Takuśkaŋśkaŋ, the Moving deity 445
Tunkan or Inyan, the Stone god or Lingam 447
Iŋyaŋ śa 448
Mato tipi 448
The sun and moon 449
Nature of concepts 449
The sun dance 450
A Dakota’s account of the sun dance 450
Object of the sun dance 451
Rules observed by households 451
The “u-ma-ne” 451
Rules observed by the devotee 452
Tribes invited to the sun dance 452
Discipline maintained 452
Camping circle formed 453
Men selected to seek the mystery tree 453
Tent of preparation 454
Expedition to the mystery tree 455
Felling the tree 456
Tree taken to camp 457
Raising the sun pole 457
Building of dancing lodge 458
The Uuȼita 458
Decoration of candidates or devotees 458
Offerings of candidates 459
Ceremonies at the dancing lodge 460
The dance 460
Candidates scarified 460
Pieces of flesh offered 462
Torture of owner of horse 462
End of the dance 462
Intrusive dances 463
Captain Bourke on the sun dance 464
Berdaches 467
Astronomical lore 467
Day and night 467
The dawn 468
Weather spirit 468
Heyoka 468
The concepts of Heyoka 468
Heyoka feast 469
Story of a Heyoka man 469
Heyoka women 471
Iya, the god of gluttony 471
Ikto, Iktomi, or Unktomi 471
Ćaŋotidaŋ and Hoḣnoġića 473
Anuŋg-ite 473
Penates 475
Guardian spirits 475
Beliefs about the buffalo 475
Prevalence of the beliefs 475
Origin of the buffalo 476
The Tataŋgnaśkiŋyaŋ, or Mythic buffalo 477
The bear 477
The wolf 477
Horses 479
Spiders 479
Snake lore 479
The double woman 480
Deer women 480
Dwarfs or elves 481
Bogs 481
Trees 482
Customs relating to childhood 482
Puberty 483
Ghost lore and the future life 484
Meaning of wanaġi 484
Assiniboin beliefs about the dead 485
Ghosts not always visible 485
Death and burial lore 485
Why the Teton stopped burying in the ground 486
Importance of tattooing 486
Ceremonies at the ghost lodge 487
Good and bad ghosts 489
Intercourse with ghosts 489
Ghost stories 489
The ghost husband 489
The solitary traveler 489
The ghost on the hill 489
The Indian who wrestled with a ghost 489
The man who shot a ghost 492
Assiniboin beliefs about ghosts 492
Prayers to the dead, including ancestors 493
Metamorphoses and transmigration of souls 493
Exhortations to absent warriors 493
Mysterious men and women 493
Gopher lore 496
Causes of boils and sores 496
Results of lying, stealing, etc. 497
Secret societies 497
Fetichism 498
Public or tribal fetiches 498
Private or personal fetiches 498
Ordeals, or modes of swearing 499
Sorcery and jugglery 499
Omens 500
Bodily omens 500
Animal omens 500
Omens from dreams 500