FIG. 191.—The tent of preparation and the dancing lodge.
§ 175. Capt. J. G. Bourke has a wand that was used by one of the heralds, or criers, during the sun dance. It was about 5 feet long, and was decorated with beadwork and a tuft of horse hair at the superior extremity. Whenever the crier raised this wand the people fell back, leaving an open space of the required area.
CEREMONIES AT THE DANCING LODGE.
§ 176. On reaching the dancing lodge, the candidates pass slowly around the exterior, starting at the left side of the lodge and turning towards the right. They do this four times and then enter the lodge. They stretch their hands towards the four quarters of the heavens as they walk around the interior of the lodge. They sit down at the back part of the lodge, and then they sing.
Between them and the pole they cut out the soil in the shape of a half-moon, going down to virgin earth, and on this bare spot they place all the buffalo skulls. After this they paint themselves anew with red paint, on completing which they are lifted to their feet by their attendants. Again they walk around the interior of the lodge, stretching out their hands towards the four quarters of the heavens.
§ 177. A song of the sun dance is started by one of the candidates, and the others join him, one after another, until all are singing. Meanwhile the men who have been selected for the purpose redden their entire hands, and it devolves on them to dance without touching anything, such as the withes connected with the sun pole or the buffalo skulls; all that they are required to do is to extend their hands towards the sun, with the palms turned from them.
At this time all the candidates are raised again to their feet, and brought to the back part of the lodge, where they are placed in a row. They soon begin to cry, and they are joined by the woman who has taken the place of her elder brother.
§ 178. It is customary, when a man is too poor to take part himself in the sun dance, for a female relation to take his place, if such a woman pities him. She suffers as the male candidates do, except in one respect—her flesh is not scarified. This woman wears a buckskin skirt, and she lets her hair fall loosely down her back. She carries the pipe of her brother or kinsman in whose place she is dancing.