§ 187. Torture of owner of horse.—The man whose horse has taken part in the dance is tied to the tail of his horse, and his chest is pierced in two places and fastened by thongs to the sun pole. Some of the attendants whip the horse several times, making him dart away from the pole, thereby releasing the man, as the thongs are broken by the sudden strain (see § 29).
§ 188. The devotees dance through the night, and when it is nearly midnight they rest. Beginning at the left side of the dancing lodge, every devotee stops and cries at each post until he makes the circuit of the lodge. By this time it is midnight, so the attendants make them face about and stand looking towards the east, just as in the afternoon they had made them face the west.
Bureau of Ethnology. | Eleventh Annual Report. Plate XLVIII |
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GAST LITH. CO. | |
THE SUN-DANCE. | |
END OF THE DANCE.
§ 189. At sunrise they stop dancing and they leave the dancing lodge. As they come forth, they pass out by the right side, and march four times around the exterior of the lodge. After which they proceed directly to the lodge of preparation, around which they march four times prior to entering it.
§ 190. When the devotees emerge from the dancing lodge, one of their attendants places more gifts on the line of sticks between the two lodges, and after the procession has moved on there is considerable disputing among the small boys of the camp for the possession of the gifts.
§ 191. After leaving the lodge of preparation, the exhausted devotees are taken back to their own tents, where each one is given four sips of water and a small piece of food, and by the time that he gets accustomed to food after his long fast, he eats what he pleases, enters the sweat lodge, rubs himself with the wild sage, and thenceforward he is regarded as having performed his vow.
§ 192. The spectators scramble for the possession of the blankets and long pieces of calico left as sacrifices at the dancing lodge, and some of them climb to the top of the sun pole and remove the objects fastened there. The sun pole is allowed to remain in its place. The author saw a sun pole at Ponka Agency, then in Dakota, in 1871. It had been there for some time, and it remained till it was blown down by a high wind.
At the conclusion of the dance the camp breaks up and the visitors return to their respective homes.
§ 193. All who participate in the dance must act according to rule for if one slights part of the rites they think that he is in great danger. The men selected as overseers or managers are the persons who act as the attendants of the candidates.