V
Among uncultured races the sacred dance in a circle, or round some sacred object, is widely spread; many illustrations of it could be given, but it will suffice if quite a few examples are offered because, as there is a great family likeness between them, a few will answer the same purpose as a large number.
Schoolcraft tells us that among the Dakotahs a feast is held every now and then at which a special dance is performed in honour of their god Ha-o-Kah. He is a giant god, but subordinate to the Great Spirit. This dance
is performed by the men only, within a wigwam, around a fire over which are kettles of meat boiling. They have no clothing except a conical cap made of birch bark with paint to represent lightning, and some strips of the same material around the loins. While hopping and singing around the kettles they will thrust in their bare hands and pull out pieces of meat and eat them while scalding hot. After the meat is all eaten they will splash the hot water over their bare backs, all the time hopping around and singing out, “oh, how cold it is!” pretending that the hot water does not scald them, and that the god will not allow any of his clan to be injured by it.
An illustration is given of the worshippers hopping round the fire[165].
Again, the Timagani Indians have a “Bear Dance” which is performed in the form of a circle led by the chief playing a drum and singing the “Bear Dance” song; the circle goes round counter-clockwise.
The leader sometimes dances backwards, turns round, stoops, and in other ways imitates the bear.... The circling keeps up until the song is finished. The idea of this dance seems to be to honour the bear by imitating him[166].
The performers in this dance do not encircle any object; it is simply a dance in the form of a circle; they do not hold hands, but go round in a follow-my-leader style. Although the dancing in honour of the bear reminds one of the Ἀρκτεία performed in honour of Artemis, it differs from this in that only men take part in it; and the Ἀρκτεία, in which the performers are only young girls is, as we have seen, an initiation ceremony. A closer parallel of the dance of the Timagani Indians is the “Bear Dance” among the Sioux Indians mentioned by Réville[167].
At the New Year festival of the Kayans of Sarāwak, to come to another part of the world, there is a great sacrifice of pigs, whose “spiritual essence is appropriately offered to the spirits, while their material substance is consumed by the worshippers.”
“In carrying out this highly satisfactory arrangement,” says Frazer, “while the live pigs lay tethered in a row on the ground, the priestesses dance solemnly round a sacrificial stage, each of them arrayed in a war-mantle of panther skin, and wearing a war-cap on her head, and on either side two priests armed with swords execute war-dances for the purpose of scaring away evil spirits...[168].”
This encirclement of the sacrificial victims seems to be a kind of consecrating act prior to the sacrifice similar to the rite of the heathen Arabs in encircling their white camel destined for sacrifice to the morning star. The same is probably the case among the Bagobos of Mindanao, one of the Philippine islands, who
perform a sacred dance round a human victim prior to his sacrifice, offered for the purpose of making the crops grow[169].
But the more usual rite for making the crops grow is the sacred dance round a tree; the propitiation of the tree-spirit is believed to be a potent means for securing this end[170]. Thus the Gallas dance in couples round sacred trees, praying for a good harvest. Every couple consists of a man and a woman, who are linked together by a stick, of which each holds one end. Under their arms they carry green corn or grass[171]. This is the underlying idea of the dances of a quasi-religious character round the May-pole, and round the “Corn-Mother[172],” of which there are such numberless instances. It is also supposed to make the cattle thrive; one instance of numbers may be given; the Wends used to attach an iron cock to an oak; they danced round this and then drove their cattle round it in the belief that by this means their cattle would increase[173].
We refrain from offering further examples, for everyone knows how common this custom was, and still is.