WINTER 1833—34
D'ä´-p'é'gyä-de Sai, "Winter that the stars fell." This winter takes its name from the memorable meteoric display which occurred shortly before daylight on the morning of November 13, 1833. It was observed throughout North America, and created great excitement among the plains tribes, as well as among a large part of our own population; the event is still used as a chronologic starting point by the old people of the various tribes. It is pictorially represented on most of the Dakota calendars discussed by Mallery in his valuable work on the Picture Writing of the American Indians. Set-t'an was born in the preceding summer, and the small figure of a child over the winter bar indicates that this is his first winter or year; the stars above his head represent the meteors.
Fig. 64—Winter 1833—34—The stars fell.
The Kiowa say it occurred in the winter season, when they were camped on a small tributary of Elm fork of Red river, within the present Greer county, Oklahoma. The whole camp was asleep, when they were wakened by a sudden light; running out from the tipis, they found the night as bright as day, with myriads of meteors darting about in the sky. The parents aroused the children, saying, "Get up, get up, there is something awful (zédălbe) going on!" They had never before known such an occurrence, and regarded it as something ominous or dangerous, and sat watching it with dread and apprehension until daylight. Such phenomena are always looked upon as omens or warnings by the ignorant; in Mexico, according to Gregg, it was believed to be a sign of divine displeasure at a sacrilegious congress which had recently curtailed the privileges of the church, while in Missouri it was regarded by some as a protest from heaven against the persecution of the Mormons then gathered near Independence (Gregg, 5).
Fig. 65—The star shower of 1833 (from the Dakota calendars)