§ 317. The Daḣpike.—According to Matthews, the most important ceremony of the Hidatsa is that of—
The Daḣpike or Naḣpike, which formerly took place regularly once a year, but is now celebrated every second or third year only. On the day when it is determined to begin this ceremony, some of the men, dressed and mounted as for a war-party, proceed to the woods. Here they select a tall, forked cottonwood, which they fell, trim, and bark; to this they tie lariats, and, by the aid of horses, drag it to the village. In the procession, the man who has most distinguished himself in battle, mounted on the horse on whose back he has done his bravest deeds, takes the lead; others follow in the order of the military distinction; as they drag the log along, they fire guns at it, strike it with sticks, and shout and sing songs of victory. The log, they say, is symbolical of a conquered enemy, whose body they are bringing into the camp in triumph. [See §§ 28, 42, 160.] When the log is set up, they again go to the woods to procure a quantity of willows. A temporary lodge of green willows is then built around the log, as the medicine lodge, wherein the ceremony is performed [see § 168.] The participants fast four days with food in sight, and, on the fourth day, submit to tortures which vary according to the whim of the sufferer or the advice of the shamans. Some have long strips of skin separated from different parts of their bodies, but not completely detached. Others have large pieces of the integument entirely removed, leaving the muscles exposed. Others have incisions made in their flesh, in which raw-hide strings are inserted; they then attach buffalo-skulls to the strings and run round with these until the strings becomes disengaged by tearing their way out of the flesh. Other have skewers inserted in their breasts, which skewers are secured by raw-hide cords to the central pole, as in the Dakota sun dance; the sufferer then throws himself back until he is released by the skewers tearing out of the flesh. Many other ingenious tortures are devised.[225]
§ 318. In the narrative of Long’s expedition to the Rocky Mountains, we find an account of the latter part of this ceremony, prepared, as Matthews thinks, from the statements of Mr. Dougherty or Mr. Lisa, as the expedition did not go near the Minnetaree country. All the torments there described, and more, are inflicted to this day. That account is as follows:[226]
Annually in the month of July the Minnetarees celebrate their great medicine dance. * * * On this occasion a considerable quantity of food is prepared. * * * The devotees then dance and sing to their music at intervals for three or four days together in full view of the victuals without attempting to taste them. But they do not, even at this time, forego their accustomed hospitality. And if a stranger enters, he is invited to eat, though no one partakes with him. On the third or fourth day, the severer * * * tortures commence. * * * An individual presents himself before one of the * * * magi, crying and lamenting, and requests him to cut a fillet of skin from his arm, which he extends for that purpose. The operator thrusts a sharp instrument through the skin near the wrists, then introduces the knife and cuts out a piece of the required length, sometimes extending the cut entirely to the shoulder. Another will request bands of skin to be cut from his arm. A third will have his breast flayed so as to represent a full-moon or crescent. A fourth submits to the removal of concentric arcs of skin from his breast. A fifth prays the operator to remove small pieces of skin from various indicated parts of his body. * * * An individual requests the operator to pierce a hole through the skin on each of his shoulders, and after passing a long cord through each hole, he repairs to a burial ground at some distance from the village, and selects one of the bison skulls collected there. To the chosen skull he affixes the ends of his cords, and drags it to the lodge, around which he must go with his burden before he can be released from it. No one is permitted to assist him, neither dare he to put his hands to the cords to alleviate his sufferings. If it should so happen that the horns of the skull get hooked under a root or other obstacle, he must extricate it in the best manner he can by pulling different ways, but he must not touch the cords or the skull with his hands, or in any respect attempt to relieve the strain upon his wound until his complete task is performed.
Some of the penitents have arrows thrust through various muscular parts of their bodies, as through the skin and superficial muscles of the arms, leg, breast, and back.
A devotee caused two arrows to be passed through the muscles of his breast, one on each side near the mammae. To these arrows cords were attached, the opposite ends of which were affixed to the upper part of a post which had been planted in the earth for the purpose. He then threw himself backward into an oblique position, his back within about 2 feet of the ground, so as to depend with the greater part of his weight by the cords. In this situation of agony he chanted and kept time to the music of the gong (sic), until he fainted from long abstinence and suffering. The bystanders then cried out, “Courage! courage!” After a short interval of insensibility, he revived and proceeded with his self-tortures as before, until nature being completely exhausted he again relapsed into insensibility, upon which he was loosed from the cords and carried off amidst the acclamations of the whole assembly.
Another Minnetaree in compliance with a vow he had made, caused a hole to be perforated through the muscles of each shoulder. Through these holes cords were passed, the opposite ends of which were attached as a bridle to a horse which had been penned up three or four days without food or water. In this manner he led the horse to the margin of the river. The horse, of course, endeavored to drink, but it was the province of the Indian to prevent him, and that only by straining at the cords with the muscles of the shoulder, without resorting to the assistance of his hands. And, notwithstanding all the exertions of the horse to drink, his master succeeded in preventing him, and returned with him to his lodge, having accomplished his painful task.
§ 319. In describing the Hidatsa, Prince Maximilian says:[227]
They likewise celebrate the Okippe (which they call Akupehri), but with several deviations. Thus, instead of a so-called ark, a kind of high pole with a fork on it, is planted in the center of the open circle. When the partisans (i. e. war captains) intend to go on some enterprise in May or June, the preparations are combined with the Okippe (i. e., Okipa) of several young men, who wish to obtain the rank of brave. A large medicine lodge is erected open above, with a division in the middle, in which the candidates take their places. Two pits are usually dug in the middle for the partisans, who lie in them four days and four nights, with only a piece of leather around the waist. The first partisan usually chooses the second, who undergoes the ceremony with him. There are always young people enough to submit their bodies to torture, in order to display their courage. They fast four days and nights, which leaves them faint. Many of them begin the tortures on the third day; but the fourth day is that properly set apart for them. To the forked pole of the medicine lodge is fastened a long piece of buffalo hide, with the head hanging down, and to this a strap is fastened. An old man is then chosen, who is to see to the torturing of the candidates, which is executed precisely in the same manner as among the Mandans. The sufferers often faint. They are then taken by the hands, lifted up, and encouraged, and they begin afresh. When they have dragged about the buffalo skull long enough, * * * a large circle is formed, as among the Mandans, in which they are made to run round till they drop down exhausted, when they are taken to the medicine lodge. The medicine man receives from one of the spectators the knife with which the operation is to be performed. The partisan is bound to build the medicine lodge.
During the ceremony the spectators eat and smoke; the candidates take nothing, and, like the partisans, are covered all over with white clay. The latter, when they dance during the ceremony, remain near their pits, and then move on the same spot, holding in their hands their medicines, a buffalo tail, a feather, or the like. None but the candidates dance, and the only music is striking a dried buffalo hide with willow rods. There have been instances of fathers subjecting their children, only 6 or 7 years of age, to these tortures. We ourselves saw one suspended by the muscles of the back, after having been compelled to fast four days. No application whatever is subsequently made for the cure of the wounds, which leave large swollen weals, and are much more conspicuous among the Hidatsa than among the Mandan. Most of the Hidatsa have three or four of these weals in parallel semicircular lines almost an inch thick, which cover the entire breast. There are similar transverse and longitudinal lines on the arms.
Referring to Maximilian’s description just given, Matthews observes:
At this time, the Hidatsa call the Mandan ceremony akupi (of which word probably akupehi is an old form); but they apply no such term to their own festival. Maximilian did not spend a summer among those Indians, and, therefore, knew of both ceremonies only from description.[228] If the Minnetaree festival to which he referred was, as is most likely, the Naḣpike, he is, to some extent, in error. The rites resemble one another only in their appalling fasts and tortures. In allegory, they seem to be radically different.
CULT OF THE YONI.
§ 320. An account of the great buffalo medicine feast of the Hidatsa (“instituted by the women”) has been recorded by Maximilian. Prayers are made for success in hunting and in battle. When the feast had continued two hours, the women began to act the part, which bore a slight resemblance to what Herodotus tells of the women in the temple of Mylitta.[229]