IŊYAŊ ŚA.
§ 135. Rev. Horace C. Hovey says:[144]
“It was the custom of the Dakotas to worship bowlders when in perplexity and distress. Clearing a spot from grass and brush they would roll a bowlder on it, streak it with paint, deck it with feathers and flowers, and then pray to it for needed help or deliverance. Usually when such a stone had served its purpose its sacredness was gone. But the peculiarity of the stone now described is that from generation to generation it was a shrine to which pilgrimages and offerings were made. Its Indian name, ‘Eyah Shah,’ simply means the ‘Red Rock,’ and is the same term by which they designate catlinite, or the red pipe clay. The rock itself is not naturally red, being merely a hard specimen of granite, symmetrical in shape, and about 5 feet long by 3 feet thick. The Indians also called it ‘waukon’ (mystery) and speculated as to its origin. * * * The particular clan that claimed this rude altar was known as the Mendewakantons. Although being but 2 miles below the village of the Kaposias, it was to some extent resorted to by them likewise.[145] The hunting ground of the clan was up the St. Croix, and invariably before starting they would lay an offering on Eyah Shah. Twice a year the clan would meet more formally, when they would paint the stone with vermilion, or, as some say, with blood, then trim it with flowers and feathers, and dance around it before sunrise with chants and prayers. Their last visit was in 1862, prior to the massacre that occurred in August of that year. Since that date, the stripes were renewed three years ago. I counted the stripes and found them twelve in number, each about 2 inches wide, with intervening spaces from 2 to 6 inches wide. By the compass, Eyah Shah lies exactly north and south. It is twelve paces from the main bank of the Mississippi, at a point 6 miles below St. Paul. The north end is adorned by a rude representation of the sun with fifteen rays.”
§ 136. Bushotter writes thus:
“Sometimes a stone, painted red all over, is laid within the lodge and hair is offered to it. In cases of sickness they pray to the stone, offering to it tobacco or various kinds of good things, and they think that the stone hears them when they sacrifice to it. As the steam arose when they made a fire on a stone, the Dakotas concluded that stones had life, the steam being their breath, and that it was impossible to kill them.”