Section 14

It would be impossible to accept the theory that certain rocks inspired certain visions. A rock believed to resemble a human head, an eagle, or a horse might influence the mind of the Indian to such an extent that he indeed acquired such a vision. On the other hand, so many of the supposed resemblances are of such an imaginary nature that it seems far more likely that the Indian was inspired by his vision to imagine a likeness in the rock which corresponded with the spirit seen in his dream.
ORNAMEN TATION OF ROCK MEDICINES
Nearly all Crow rock medicines are more or less ornamented. The decorations are fastened to the buckskin fringes attached to the deerskin wrapping in which the rock itself is encased. Usually only a very small part of the rock is left exposed. The deerskin is painted with the sacred red paint and the rock rubbed with castoreum. In most rock medicines the bead decoration predom- inates. Yet, some have few or no beads attached to them, but rather a variety of feathers, weasel skin strips, horsehair, etc. The latter were said to have been primarily pipe-holder's bundles and were really war medicines. The weasel skin strips were attached to them in the hope that their owners might become chiefs. Horse- hair expressed the hope for acquisition of horses, and buffalo hoofs the hope that wherever these bundles were taken plenty of meat
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might be obtained. Beaver nails, or a beaver foot attached to a rock medicine expressed desire for success in trapping ; deer hoofs, for success in hunting.
Frequently an Indian would take some part of another bundle and give it to a famous rock medicine bundle in the hope that he might thereby receive better dreams from his own bundle. Thus an Indian who had bear for his medicine might present a rock medicine with a bear claw, trusting that he would secure better visions from his bear medicine.
Those rock medicines which were decorated only with beads were used, as a rule, to obtain for the owner and his family good luck and good health. These were also bundles used in doctoring, the patient giving one or more beads, besides other fees, to the bundle owner at each administration.
Nevertheless, rock medicines cannot be definitely classified on the basis of their decoration alone. The vision or visions (many rock medicines appeared at different times to their owners) as- signed the powers the bundles were believed to possess. The vision might also impose restrictions upon the bundle's decoration. Thus some rock medicines were not allowed to have feathers attached to them ; others were forbidden hair, hoof, or even bead decorations.
A general taboo forbade all rock medicine owners to eat any part of the head of an animal or to deliberately break a rock or a stone. Other taboos were imposed by the instructions received in dreams by the bundle owners. They were as varied as were the number of rock medicines themselves.
When a rock medicine was taken on the warpath the owner wore it suspended from a thong around his neck and underneath his shirt. As soon as the enemy was sighted the medicine was taken out and worn around the neck above the shirt or on the warrior's bare chest.
Some rock medicines have an extra piece of buckskin attached to them in which the medicine is wrapped when not in actual use.
ORIGIN LEGENDS
With the exception of Arrow Rock, the writer has heard of no immovable rock held sacred by the Crows. Arrow Rock is a large butte near the lower end of Pryor Gap, about five miles south of Pryor Agency. In the spring of each year the Crows congregated
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there, and made sacrifices to this rocky hill, depositing in its crevices beads and other gifts and shooting arrows into its higher clefts.^^ According to the origin tradition told by Mrs. Medicine- is-Her-Medicine, it was here, that the Crows received their first rock medicines, hence the sacredness of Arrow Rock :
Long before the white people came to the Crow country a group was moving camp from what is now the northwestern part of the State of Wyoming to the southeastern part of present Montana. It was late summer and the Crows were going to hunt game along the Yellowstone River.
An Indian boy and girl, having gradually fallen behind, found themselves, when night came, at a pass through the Pry or Moun- tains now known as Pry or Gap. Looking for a shelter for the night, the young couple chanced upon a cave under some over- hanging rocks. There they decided to remain until morning. But toward midnight they were awakened by the sound of voices and they saw some children approaching.
These children invited the boy and girl to come and play with them. After walking for some Uttle time they came to a very large buffalo tipi. This tipi stood at the place now known as Arrow Rock, a few hundred yards from the lower entrance to Pryor Gap. The boy and girl were invited inside the tipi. When they entered they found themselves in the midst of a number of very old Indians who, as they discovered later, were assembled for a meeting of the rock medicine owners. The leader asked the children who had guided the young Crow couple to the tipi, "Where did you find these two poor Indians?'*
The child guides replied that these were Crows who had been left behind while the rest of their hunting party was moving toward the plains in search of game. They said they had felt sorry for them and had thought there would be no harm in bringing them into the tipi.
Then the leader asked, "What is your wish in bringing this couple to our tipi?"
The children repUed: "We had no special desire. But we thought this young couple would Hke to meet you older men. And we thought you could help them."
The old men then talked together for a time, trying to decide what they could do for the young couple. At last one of them
^* Marquis (1928. p. 189) referred to the Crow practice of making sacrificies to this rock and shooting arrows at it.
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suggested that they should be given rock medicines so that the Crows would leam about this great power through which their numbers might increase from generation to generation. He pro- posed that the young couple be instructed in all the details of the ceremony. Then they could carry them back to the Crows who could then meet together as they were doing that night.
The other old men agreed to this. So during the night the two Crows were shown and told everything about the rock medicines and the many powers a rock medicine might possess. They were instructed in the ritual, taught the songs that rock medicine owners sing, and shown the complete ceremony which came to be known among the Crows as "the singing of the cooked meat."
The next day the two young people started out, reached their camp, and told their parents what had happened to them during the previous night. Following the insistence of the leader of the old men they asked their parents to give a large feast and call a meeting of all the older Indians. This was done. At the meeting the children told the old people all they had learned from the old men. At first the old people were filled with fears and anxiety. Then the children told them that the old rock medicine men had said, "We give you this rock medicine for the purpose of bringing to the Crows plenty of food and horses and to help the tribe to increase. The opening ceremony will bring the Crows food and prosperity for the coming season.
The rock medicines are created male and female. The female rocks will have children, and the more children they have, the more will the tribe increase in numbers, the more horses the owners will have, and the healthier their famiHes will be. When a male and female rock are wrapped in the same bundle and the bundle is not disturbed for a time children will be bom to these rocks. Future owners of rock medicines will have visions in which they will be told the power of the rock medicine given to them, whether it is male or female, the songs to be sung when the bundle is opened, how often to open it, what it is to be used for, whether it is to be kept inside or outside of the tipi, and the bundle taboos which must be observed strictly."
This is the legend of the origin of the rock medicines which is commonly related by the Crows at the present time (1927). However, the writer is convinced that it is not the original Crow legend of the rock medicine. Their true sacredness is expressed in an older legend, as follows :
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"When the earth was created by First Worker the first people on earth were Old Man Coyote and a man called Batseesh, the Rockman, the living spirit of all the rocks. He wandered all over the earth in search of a mate, but could not find one. When he met Old Man Coyote and told him his troubles, Old Man Coyote advised him to go to the tobacco plant. He said there were seeds inside the husk of that plant that were females, but they could not leave the husk without assistance. So Batseesh went to the tobacco plant, entered the husk and found a mate whom he married and took with him.
"Old Man Coyote built a tipi. There Batseesh, the Rockman, and his wife, the tobacco plant, as well as Old Man Coyote and a mouse, who was the personification of Old Grandmother, the Moon, all Uved together. One day Old Man Coyote told his com- panions he would have to play a shinny game with two strangers who were coming their way. He also said that if he lost this game they all would be killed; if he won they would continue to live together. Old Man Coyote won the game. So Batseesh, the Rock- man, and the tobacco plant continued to live on together. They mated and from their progeny descended the people who now live on this earth."
OPENING OF ROCK MEDICINE BUNDLES
According to Mrs. Medicine-is-Her-Medicine the rock med- icine owners formed a separate society. This statement was con- firmed by several informants but denied by others. A ceremony in which a number of individual rock medicine owners partici- pated, each one bringing to this assembly and opening his own bundle, is known among the Crows as Erokah Oeshea Maraxxua (Hterally, "meat burned sing"). It is often referred to as the "Pemmican Festival", or as "Feast of the Dry-meat Eaters", or more properly, "Singing of the Cooked Meat".
Practically all informants agree that the "Singing of the Cooked Meat" ceremony was held in early spring and in the fall of the year. This time corresponds with the opening of all im- portant war medicines, i.e. every spring, as soon as possible after the first thunder has been heard, and again in the fall at the first signs of winter. During the spring opening ceremony of all bundles prayers are offered to the Great Above Ones asking for success in war, health, and plenty of food during the coming summer
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season. In the fall the same ceremony is held with prayers for similar success during the approaching winter season.
A distinction should be made between the ceremony of the "Singing of the Cooked Meat", during which each of the assembled bundle owners opened his rock medicine bundle, and the opening of an individual bundle within the circle of the owner's own family and invited guests. The opening of an individual bundle may take place at almost any time, provided sufficient inducement is offered to the owner. In acquiring rock medicines from the Crows, the writer has never experienced serious objections to the opening of a bundle.
CEREMONY OF THE SINGING OF THE COOKED MEAT
The details of this ceremony were obtained chiefly from Mrs. Medicine-is-Her-Medicine, daughter of Big Forehead, who in his day was one of the most powerful medicine men of the Mountain Crows; from Coyote Runs, another Mountain Crow; from The Trail, an old River Crow woman of excellent memory; and from Chief Two Leggings. All of them were owners of rock medicine bundles, and all were elderly people of 70 or more years of age.
In the old days the "Singing of the Cooked Meat" was con- sidered one of the most important Crow ceremonies. Although a Hmited number of persons actually participated, they were chosen from the most powerful medicine men and warriors. It was a cer- emony in which the most sacred and powerful medicine songs were sung, therefore large numbers of people gathered around the outside of the ceremonial tipi and listened to those sacred songs. The ceremony was always held after sunset and lasted until late at night or until early morning. (The writer attended one of these ceremonies on October 21, 1926, which began at 8:30 P.M. and ended after 3:30 A.M. the next morning).
Although this ceremony was generally held in fulfillment of a vow or as the result of a dream, it most commonly took place at the beginning of a new moon in fall and in the spring of the year.
Two Leggings told how he once determined to give this cere- mony, how his plan was announced, and how the guests were invited :
"One day while we were camped along the Big Horn River, our chief. Two Belly, invited a number of his friends to come and
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smoke with him. I was one of the party. I felt particularly happy. Meat had been plentiful, chokecherries were abundant, no enemies had been reported for some considerable time, and harmony reigned in the camp. I had received no dream, but a desire which I had had for some time to give the ceremony of the "Singing of the Cooked Meat" finally became so strong that when I went to Two Belly's tipi to participate in the smoke gathering, I decided to announce there and then that I would give a feast for the purpose. At that time I owned a rock medicine which I had re- ceived from my brother, who in turn had inherited it from his mother-in-law.
"Two Belly asked me, when he heard this announcement, whether I had any cause for giving the ceremony. I told him, of course, that I had not except an overwhelming desire to do so. The chief seemed to hesitate for some time, but finally he said, 'I see no reason why you should not have this ceremony. Give it and pray that no sickness may befall our camp, that enemies may not come near us, and that we may continue to enjoy an abund- ance of food. Buffalo are plentiful around us. Choose your hunters and tell them to bring you the necessary meat and bones.*
"During this gathering, I chose thirteen members of our tribe whom I intended to invite and who were to bring me the meat and bones needed. After selecting these men, Buries-Himself- with-the-Wolf, who acted as camp crier, went out and proclaimed that I would give the ceremony of the 'Singing of the Cooked- Meat' in about four days, at the time when the moon would be full. He further announced the names of those whom I would in- vite, and reminded them to bring me plenty of meat and bones on the appointed day.
"During the remaining days I hunted buffalo with those Indians I had invited. Together we killed between forty and fifty head. We took only the choicest part of the shoulders for the ceremony, and gave the remainder of the meat away. All of the hunters brought me the bones of the buffalo to boil, so as to obtain the fat from them. Whenever one of the hunters brought me the bones of a carcass I would pretend to strike these three times with my bone crusher. Each time I did so I sang. 'I know how bones are struck.' The fourth time I sang a different song with the words. T know the different seasons. I know the different seasons.' As I finished the last words I struck the bones with my crusher and prepared them for boiling.
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'Then I instructed my brother-in-law, He-Charges-on-the- Enemy, to bring me some willows. He returned quickly, and from these branches I cut fourteen sticks, each three hands and four finger widths in length. One stick I kept myself, and I handed him the other thirteen with instructions to visit in turn each of thirteen invited members of the tribe, call them outside their tipis, hand them one of the sticks, and say nothing except, 'I have sung for you.' This is the usual method of extending a formal in- vitation to attend the 'Singing of the Cooked Meat.' If the person thus addressed accepts the stick he is obliged to attend the cere- mony. Only illness might prevent him from doing so."
The office of carrying the invitation sticks is one of great importance. In return for this service each of the invited Indians was obliged to give the stick-carrier one of his most important dreams. Thus, when He-Charges-on-the-Enemy handed a stick to White-Clay-on-the-Forehead, the latter said, "In my dream I saw the green grass grow. May you live until then." One of the other recipients said, "I saw in my dream an old man with gray hair. May you live to see old age."