§ 152. The sham fight.—After the pole was anointed, the chiefs spoke of pretending to engage with enemies. So a member of the [K]anze gens (in modern times Mitcáqpe-jiñga or Majan´ha-¢in held this office) was ordered by the keeper of the pole to summon the stout-hearted young men to engage in the combat. Mitcaqpe-jiñga used to go to each brave man and tell him quietly to come to take part in the fight. According to some he proclaimed thus: "Ye young men, decorate yourselves and come to play. Come and show yourselves." Then the young men assembled. Some put on head-dresses of eagles' feathers, others wore ornaments of crow feathers (and skins of coyotes) in their belts. Some decorated their horses. Some were armed with guns; others with bows and arrows. The former loaded their weapons with powder alone; the latter pulled their bow-strings, as if against foes, but did not shoot the arrows.
The flaps of the skins in front of the long tent were raised from the ground and kept up by means of the isag¢e or forked sticks. Within the long tent were seated the chiefs (ten of them?—see above) and the two keepers of the sacred tents. The chiefs had made four grass figures in the shape of men, which they set up in front of the long tent.
After the young men assembled they rode out of the circle and went back towards a hill. Then they used to send some one on foot to give the alarm. This man ran very swiftly, waving his blanket, and saying, "We are attacked!" All at once the horsemen appeared and came to the tribal circle, around which they rode once. When they reached the Wejincte and Ictasanda tents they dispersed, each one going wherever he pleased. Then the occupants of the long tent took the places of the horsemen, being thenceforth regarded as Dakotas. As soon as the horsemen dispersed the pursuers of the foe started out from all parts of the tribal circle, hastening towards the front of the long tent to attack the supposed Dakotas. These pursuers evidently included many of the horsemen. They shot first at the grass figures, taking close aim at them, and knocking them down each time that they fired. Having shot four times at them, they dismounted and pretended to be cutting up the bodies. This also was done four times. Next the pursuers passed between the grass figures and the place where the "ʇa" had been, in order to attack the occupants of the long tent. Four times did they fire at one another, and then the shooting ceased. Then followed the smoking of the two sacred pipes as tokens of peace. These were filled by a member of the Hañga gens and lighted by some one else. (See Sacred Pipes, § [17].) They were carried first to the chiefs in the long tent, and then over to the young men representing the pursuers. Here and there were those who smoked them. The pipes were taken around four times. Then they were consigned by the keeper of the pole to one of the men of his sub-gens, who took them back to their own tent. When he departed he wrapped around them one of the offerings made by the brave men to the sacred pole. He returned the bundle to the keeper of the pipes without saying a word.
The writer has not been able to learn whether the ʇe-san-ha was ever exposed to public gaze during this ceremony or at any other time. Frank La Flèche does not know.
After the anointing of the pole (and the conclusion of the sham fight) its keeper took it back to its tent. This was probably at or after the time that the sacred pipes were returned to the Iñke-sabě tent.
The tent skins used for the covering of the long tent consisted of those belonging to the two sacred tents of the Hañga, and of as many others as were required.
§ 153. The Hede-watci.—Sometimes the ceremonies ended with the sham fight, in which event the people started homeward, especially when they were in a great hurry. But when time allowed the sham fight was followed by a dance, called the Héde-watci[´]. When it occurred it was not under the control of the keepers of the two sacred tents, but of the Iñke-sabe keeper of the two sacred pipes.
On the evening of the day when the sham fight took place, the chiefs generally assembled, and consulted together about having the dance. But the proposition came from the keeper of the pipes. Then the chiefs said, "It is good to dance." The dance was appointed for the following day. On the morrow five, six, or seven of the Iñke-sabě men, accompanied by one of their women, went in search of a suitable tree. According to La Flèche and Two Crows, when the tree was found, the woman felled it with her ax, and the men carried it on their shoulders back to the camp, marching in Indian file. Frank La Flèche says that the tree was cut during the evening previous to the dance; and early the next morning, all the young men of the tribe ran a race to see who could reach the tree first. (With this compare the tradition of the race for the sacred pole, § [36], and the race for the tree, which is to be used for the sun-dance, as practiced among the Dakotas). He also says that when the sham fight ended early in the afternoon, the Hede-watci could follow the same day. (In that event, the tree had to be found and cut on the preceding day, and the race for it was held early in the morning before the anointing of the sacred pole.) In the race for the tree, the first young man who reached it and touched it, could carry the larger end on his shoulder; the next one who reached it walked behind the first as they bore the tree on their shoulders; and so on with the others, as many as were needed to carry the tree, the last one of whom had to touch the extreme end with the tips of his fingers. The rest of the young men walked in single file after those who bore the tree. Frank La Flèche never heard of the practice of any sacred rites previous to the felling of the tree. Nothing was prepared for the tree to fall on, nor did they cause the tree to fall in any particular direction, as was the case when the Dakotas procured the tree for the sun-dance.[14]
In the sun-dance, the man who dug the "ujéʇi" in the middle of the tribal circle for the sun-pole had to be a brave man, and he was obliged to pay for the privilege. Frank La Flèche could not tell whether there were similar requirements in the case of him who dug the ujéʇi for the pole in the Hede-watci; nor could he tell whether the man was always chosen from the Iñke-sabě gens.
When the men who bore the tree reached the camp they planted it in the ujeʇi,[15] or hole in the ground, which had been dug in the center of the tribal circle. After the planting of the tree, from which the topmost branches had not been cut, an old man of the gens was sent around the tribal circle as crier. According to Big Elk, he said, "You are to dance! You are to keep yourselves awake by using your feet!" This implied that the dance was held at night; but Frank La Flèche says that none of the regular dancing of the Hede-watci occurred at night, though there might be other dancing then, as a sort of preparation for the Hede-watci. In like manner, Miss Fletcher told of numerous songs and dances, not part of the sun-dance, which preceded that ceremony among the Dakotas.