| [8] | Mooney (Fourteenth Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology, p. 790). |
THE HOOP.
The circle, or more properly the hoop, is a very important religious symbol among the Dakota. One form of it appears in the great hoop-game described by Louis Meeker,[[9]] and later by Dr. J. R. Walker.[[10]] This hoop is usually about two feet in diameter, and notched so as to divide the circumference into quadrants. While this hoop-game seems to be a true gambling game, it could be and was sometimes played as part of a ritualistic ceremony the object of which was to bring the buffalo. It is interesting to note that this large hoop is similar to the sacred wheel used by the Arapaho in the sun-dance. At the time of the ghost-dance outbreak among the Dakota of Pine Ridge Reservation, Mr. Mooney saw the hoop and the two pairs of sticks used with it carried in the ceremonies connected with the ghost-dance religion. He states:—
“It is said that the medicine-man of Big Foot’s band carried such a hoop with him in their flight from the north, and displayed it in every dance held by the band until the fatal day of Wounded Knee. A similar hoop was carried and hung upon the centre tree at the dance at No Water’s camp near Pine Ridge. To the Indian it symbolizes the revival of the old-time games.”[[11]]
The last line of the above quotation implies that the hoop was a part of the paraphernalia used in the ghost-dance ceremonies, because it symbolized the ancient games. On another page of the same article occurs the following:—
“As it was the favorite game with the men in the olden times, a great many of the songs founded on these trance visions refer to it, and the wheel and sticks are made by the dreamer, and carried in the dance as they sing.”[[12]]
It should be remembered, however, that the game was formerly played to restore the buffalo when they were temporarily absent from their range; and, as one of the great objects of the ghost-dance religion was the return of the buffalo as in the olden times, the reason for the use of the hoop in the ceremonies described by Mooney is apparent. In Mooney’s account, a number of songs pertaining to the hoop-game are given as sung by the various tribes practising the ghost-dance religion. Among these is a Dakota version, as follows:—
| “The holy (hoop) shall run, | “Come and see it, |
| The holy (hoop) shall run, | Come and see it, |
| The swift hoop shall run, | Says the father, |
| The swift hoop shall run.” | Says the father.”[[13]] |
A mythical account of the hoop-game is given by Dr. J. R. Walker, which indicates one of the probable conceptions upon which this religious use of the hoop rests.[[14]]
The hoop-symbol occurs in graphic form, sometimes upon garments. The writer secured a shirt that was used by one of the leaders in ghost-dances; and which seems to have been a type of the so-called “bullet-proof shirt.” This garment is daubed with red about the neck and on the shoulders, but in addition bears four circular designs, also in red, with large dots at their centres (Fig. 16). One of these designs is placed upon the right breast; another, directly opposite, upon the back of the garment; one upon the right shoulder; and one upon the left. These are so arranged, that, no matter from what point you see the wearer, one of the circular designs will be visible. These designs were recognized as symbols of the medicine-hoop, and were supposed to have the power to protect the wearer from all harm. The idea of placing the designs so that one of them should always be between the wearer and the source of danger may be original with the owner of this shirt; but the number of them (four), and their arrangement according to the four directions, correspond to the common explanation of religious symbols.