Jesting at the expense of a guest, provided he is not a distinguished man, is regarded as proper. Oft-times very rude jokes are thus played upon strangers. A show of timidity or resentment is sure to stimulate such acts. The usual procedure is for a number of men to gather, some of whom begin to make indecent remarks concerning the guest while the host and a few others pretend to speak against such proposals. Further indignities may be offered but the host prevents the affair from going too far. We mention this extreme of jesting to emphasize the large place it plays in Blackfoot social life. Notwithstanding all this, the victims whatever their rank, are extremely sensitive to such jests.
| [37] | The ownership of certain medicines may determine the seat. Thus, as guests, the medicine pipe men are given a seat opposite the host and must give way to no one. Should they go out for an interval, no one should occupy the seat. As the penalty will be disease, we have here what may be considered a taboo. |
Amusements and Games.
In former times, there was a good deal of merriment in the Blackfoot camps. We have just characterized some of the jokes often perpetrated and may mention others strictly for amusement. One Piegan band was noted for its pranks. One of their favorites was to annoy visitors by a mock family row. The host would begin a quarrel with his wife and then to fight. The neighbors would rush in and with mock indignation take the woman’s part. The result was a general mêlée in which they took care to fall upon the guest and wallow him about as much as possible without serious injury.
As a rule, jokes were between band and band. Thus it is related that one time a band drove off the horses of another and herded them in the brush near by. Then they innocently offered to join the war party for pursuit. When all was ready they suggested that they look in the brush as the horses might have been overlooked. Again, a band dressed one of their men in white man’s clothes and painted his face black. Then while his confederates were at the camp of the victim band he came up and in plain view caught two horses, going off slowly. The confederates were careful to call attention to it. Some young men pursued but when they were near the man took aim at them. So they hesitated. Finally, the thief disappeared over a hill. Then he whipped up, returned by another route and left the horses in their places again to the confusion of the pursuing party on their return.
Such pranks afforded amusement to all and served to brighten the life of the camps.[[38]] While there were always a number of persons adept at chaffing and pranks there seems to have been no clown or buffoon, not even in ceremonies. There were, and are now, certain dances that may be termed social in which there are features expressly for amusement, but as these also contain ceremonial features they may be passed by at this writing. Games, on the other hand, seem to have no ceremonial associations and may, therefore, be considered under this head. We shall, however, make a distinction between amusement and gambling. The first are indulged in by children and youths, rarely by adults.
Children had a great many games similar to those of white children, from whom they may have been learned. Among these are tag, hide-and-seek, jumping the rope, stilt-walking, slings, tops, dolls, hobby-horses, coasting, ball games, shooting contests, racing, and follow-the-leader.
The hobby-horse seems to have been peculiar to girls. A stick was selected with a natural bend between two parallel ends. A miniature saddle was sometimes placed in the crook and other trappings added. Girls coasted on pieces of rawhide, squatting at the rear and holding up the front with the hands. In summer, this contrivance was used in sliding down steep hills and cut banks. Boys usually coasted by sitting on a kind of toboggan made of buffalo ribs lashed to cross sticks, though they were not averse to using the more comfortable rawhide sheet.[[39]] Small boys often played at owning, stealing and tending horses, using rude images of mud or selected stones of appropriate form. When buffalo were represented, their foot-bones were usually used. The buzzer of bone and the bull roarer were known as children’s toys, but the winged bones of the Teton and the snow snake were not recognized by our informants. A toy called “whizzing bone,” has not been identified by us, but was described as a contrivance for throwing. Some of our informants had seen the cup-and-ball, but rarely among their own people.
