Of greater comparative interest is the gwudan´ke, War Singing. The night before starting on a war expedition the whole company of warriors assembled and any woman might join, but men only if they intended to go along. They got a big buffalo rawhide, then all participants took hold of it, and beat it with sticks, at the same time singing a war song and marching through the entire camp. After they had passed through camp, they halted to smoke, then continued the parade, possibly until daylight. My informant stated that this performance was shared by the Comanche. As a matter of fact I recorded it among this people,[27] as well as in other tribes. Battey observed an apparently related performance in connection with the sun dance, after the lodge had been erected:—
In the afternoon, a party of a dozen or more warriors and braves proceeded to the medicine house, followed by a large proportion of the people of the encampment. They were highly painted, and wore shirts only, with head-dresses of feathers which extended down the backs to the ground, and were kept in their proper places by means of an ornamented strap clasping the waist. Some of them had long horns attached to their head-dresses. They were armed with lances and revolvers, and carrying a couple of long poles mounted from end to end with feathers, the one white and the other black. They also bore shields highly ornamented with paint, feathers, and hair.
They took their station upon the side opposite the entrance, the musicians standing behind them.
Many old women occupied a position to the right and near the entrance, who set up a tremulous shrieking; the drums began to beat, and the dance began, the party above described only participating in it.
They at first slowly advanced towards the central post, followed by the musicians several of whom carried a side of raw hide (dried), which was beaten upon with sticks, making about as much music as to beat upon the sole of an old shoe, while the drums, the voices of the women, and the rattling of pebbles in instruments of raw hide filled out the choir.
After slowly advancing nearly to the central post, they retired backward, again advanced, a little farther than before; this was repeated several times, each time advancing a little farther, until they crowded upon the spectators, drew their revolvers, and discharged them into the air.
Soon after, the women rushed forward with a shrieking yell, threw their blankets violently upon the ground, at the feet of the retiring dancers, snatched them up with the same tremulous shriek that had been before produced, and retired; which closed this part of the entertainment. The ornamented shields used on this occasion were afterwards hung up with the medicine.[28]
When a war party returned with a scalp, there was rejoicing and the women came to take part in the scalp dance. Both sexes might either go round in a circle for this performance or face each other in rows. A scalp was divided into four parts, each of which was put on a stick and carried by one of the women. The dance was danced every day for about a month, then the scalps were stowed away in medicine bags.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] See Methvin.
[2] Battey, 185-186.
[3] Indian Sign Language, 355.
[4] Methvin, 165-168.
[5] Especially Mooney, (b), and in Handbook, article "Military Societies."
[6] Of red color when ripe and salty taste.