Man, Past and Present

by A. H. Keane

The Dakota (Sioux).

The Dakota or Sioux are universally conceded to be of the highest type, physically, mentally and probably morally of any of the western tribes. Their bravery has never been questioned by white or Indian and they conquered or drove out every rival except the Ojibway. Their physical characteristics are as follows: dark skin faintly tinged with red, facial features more strongly marked than those of the Pacific Coast Indians, nose and lower jaw particularly prominent and heavy, head generally mesocephalic and not artificially deformed. They are a free and dominant race of hunters and warriors, necessarily strong and active. Their weapons of stone, wood, bone and horn are tomahawk, club, flint knife, and bow and arrow. All their habits centre in the bison, which provided the staple materials of nutrition and industry. Drawing and painting were done on prepared bison skins and elaborately carved pipes were made for ceremonial use.

They are divided into kinship groups, with inheritance as a rule in the male line. The woman is autocrat of the home. Exogamy was strictly enforced in the clan but marriage within the tribe or with related tribes was encouraged. The marriage was arranged by the parents and polygyny was common where means would permit. Government consisted in chieftainship acquired by personal merit, and the old men exercised considerable influence.

Religion.

Religious conceptions were based on a belief in Wakonda or Manito[834], an all-pervading spirit force, whose cult involved various shamanistic ceremonials consisting of dancing, chanting, feasting and fasting. Most distinctive of these is the Sun dance, practised by almost all the tribes of the plains except the Comanche. It is an annual festival lasting several days, in honour of the sun, for the purpose of obtaining abundant produce throughout the year.

The Sun Dance.

The Sun dance was not only the greatest ceremony of the Plains tribes but was a condition of their existence. More than any other ceremony or occasion, it furnished the tribe the opportunity for the expression of emotion in rhythm, and was the occasion of the tribe becoming more closely united. It gave opportunity for the making and renewing of common interests, the inauguration of tribal policies, and the renewing of the rank of the chiefs; for the exhibition, by means of mourning feasts, of grief over the loss of members of families; for the fulfilment of social obligations by means of feasts; and, finally, for the exercise and gratification of the emotions of love on the part of the young in the various social dances which always formed an interesting feature of the ceremony[835].

Being strongly opposed by the missionaries because it was utterly misunderstood[836], and finding no favour in official circles, the Sun dance has been for many years an object of persecution, and in consequence is extinct among the Dakota, Crows, Mandan, Pawnee, and Kiowa, but it is still performed by the Cree, Siksika (Blackfoot), Arapaho, Cheyenne, Assiniboin, Ponca, Shoshoni and Ute, though in many of these tribes its disappearance is near at hand, for it has lost part of its rites and has become largely a spectacle for gain rather than a great religious ceremony[837].

The Pawnee.

The Pawnee do not differ at all widely from the Dakota, but have a somewhat finer cast of features. They are more given to agriculture, raising crops of maize, pumpkins, etc. The Pawnee type of hut is characteristic, consisting of a circular framework of poles or logs, covered with brush, bark and earth. Their religious ceremonies were connected with the cosmic forces and the heavenly bodies. The dominating power was Tirawa generally spoken of as "Father." The winds, thunder, lightning and rain were his messengers. Among the Skidi the morning and evening stars represented the masculine and feminine elements, and were connected with the advent and perpetuation on earth of all living forms. A series of ceremonies relative to the bringing of life and its increase began with the first thunder in the spring and culminated at the summer solstice in human sacrifice, but the series did not close until the maize, called "mother corn," was harvested. At every stage of the series certain shrines or "bundles" became the centre of a ceremony. Each shrine was in charge of an hereditary keeper, but its rituals and ceremonies were in the keeping of a priesthood open to all proper aspirants. Through the sacred and symbolic articles of the shrines and their rituals and ceremonies a medium of communication was believed to be opened between the people and the supernatural powers, by which food, long life and prosperity were obtained. The mythology of the Pawnee is remarkably rich in symbolism and poetic fancy and their religious system is elaborate and cogent. The secret societies, of which there were several in each tribe, were connected with the belief in supernatural animals. The functions of these societies were to call the game, to heal diseases, and to give occult powers. Their rites were elaborate and their ceremonies dramatic[838].