Section 3

The morning star has as its chief helper the Gros Ventre bird (said to be a yellow bird with black and white feathers, but not
INTRODUCTION II
the meadowlark) . The evening star has the buffalo for a helper. The sky's servant is the thunder, and thunder's helpers are the bald and spotted eagles (which are also the servants of the sun) .
The eagles have as their first servant a certain unidentified hawk, while this hawk has as its servant, in turn, three other hawks, from which it chooses according to its own preference — which is revealed in the vision of the Indian. All birds have as their chiefs the lightning, the wind, and the rain. They frequently appear in bundles which have a bird as their principal medicine object. This is especially apparent in shield paintings which com- bine symbolic representations of lightning, rain, and clouds (the latter taking the place of a storm or wind) , along with birds.
Earth is considered the chief and mother of all four-legged animals. It is also the chief of the trees and the elements. Earth has as its helpers rats, mice and snakes.
Water is usually represented in the medicine bundles of the Crows by a strip of otter skin, the otter being the chief of all the water animals. The otter is also a servant of the morning star and a vision of that supernatural would require the inclusion of the otter in a bundle.
The chief of the underwater animals is called the "Long Bug." This mythological creature is thought to possess the body of a huge snake; and it is double-headed. One of its heads resembles that of a cow, with two long horns and eyes as large as sunflowers. The other head looks like that of a human being, with a long Roman nose and a single eye, also as large as a sunflower, in the center of its forehead. Protruding above the single eye is one large horn.
Although the Crows believe in evil spirits, even these have good qualities mixed with the evil ones. Most feared are the mouse, spider, frog, hzard, and the snakes. Any of these, however, may appear to the seeker of visions and by adopting him become his lifelong benefactor.
The mouse is probably the most feared of all supernaturals. It is rarely found in any bundle other than those used for witch- craft. The frog, according to Crow tradition, is the originator of the camp police. The Uzard, represented in some bundles collected from the Crows by the writer, is believed to have the power to make rain.
The snake is recognized as the chief of all the "insects." It is never a war medicine, but the snake is the medicine par excellence
12 CROW INDIAN MEDICINE BUNDLES
used in doctoring, particularly in the dangerous and severe cases. Old Man, Bear Teeth, Flat Dog, Goes Ahead, Slippery Eyes, Bull Snake, Bear-Gets-Up, and Sharp Horn are said to be the only Crows who had the snake for a medicine. All of them used this medicine in doctoring severe cases. Rides-the-Horse also had a snake medicine used for doctoring. But he obtained it in transfer from the Hidatsa Indians.
In nearly all snake medicines the otter is represented also be- cause the Crows believe they belong to the same clan of the "With- out Fires." The snake is an earth animal, the otter a water animal. They are thought to be two powers necessary for doctoring, hence their presence together in a medicine bundle. Besides the snake and otter, the wolf and the buffalo are frequent givers of medicines used in doctoring.
TESTING THE MEDICINE BUNDLE
After a new medicine bundle was made it was desirable to test it to see if it would really protect or aid its owner. A young warrior who had just completed his bundle might ask permission to join a war party under the leadership of a noted warrior. When close to the enemy each member of the party took his medicine from its cover. If the young warrior passed through the subsequent conflict without a scratch and perhaps counted coup on an enemy, he had confidence that his bundle was powerful and that its sacred Maxpe powers had enabled him to go through the battle unhurt. If this good fortune followed him through several con- flicts his medicine became recognized as a strong one and he, himself, acquired a status among his fellows that could not be obtained in any other way. Continued good luck would enable him to advance to the role of scout, then to leader of scouts, and, finally, to the coveted position of leader of his own war party. By then his medicine would have become famous. Many men who had been less fortunate would come to him with presents seeking a duplicate of his bundle or some small part of it.
Although this was particularly applicable to war medicines, almost all types of bundles increased in sacredness and power in proportion to the success they brought to their owners.
Once a bundle was considered really successful, its owner be- came more circumspect in all his undertakings. He jealously guarded the esteem in which his bundle was held and feared that
INTRODUCTION I3
any rash act on his part might cause some misfortune which would decrease its prestige. When on the war path, he carefully considered and interpreted all signs and events, whether they betokened good or evil. If the latter, he abandoned the raid and his party returned to their homes. Such actions naturally made the owner of a highly respected bundle a man of mystery who was venerated by the inexperienced younger men.
However, even the most sacred bundles were in danger of loss of prestige through bad luck befalling their owners. When, for instance, the Crows experienced misfortune after the sun dance of White-on-the-Neck, the bundle used in that ceremony was dis- carded.
Standing Bull, a famous warrior and owner of a bundle, con- taining a pipe-holder's (war leader's) pipe, claimed the power of lighting his pipe without the use of fire, and successfully demon- strated this wonderful medicine on several occasions. One time, when his party was surrounded by the enemy. Standing Bull opened his bundle, performed the necessary ritual and held the bowl of his pipe toward the sun, expecting it to light. Unfortunately, the pipe did not light. Standing Bull and his party were attacked and suffered some casualties. After this failure the pipe was dis- carded and never used again.
Many new bundles which brought bad luck rather than success to their owners were discarded. .The owner of such a bundle might seek another vision hoping for greater success with it, or he might approach the owner of a renowned medicine bundle with the re- quest that he make him a copy of part or all of his bundle.
Thus it happened that an Indian who had received several dreams or visions which entitled him to make bundles, would still purchase another from some great medicine man. Sometimes, too, the power of a purchased bundle was overshadowed by a later vision, adding still another bundle to the owner's possessions. In such cases the original bundles usually were abandoned, but they were seldom destroyed. So some Indians came to possess a number and variety of bundles, each differing from the others in its content and often, also, in the purpose for which it was used. Undoubtedly this is the principal reason why the number and variety of Crow medicine bundles probably exceeds that of other Plains tribes.
14 CROW INDIAN MEDICINE BUNDLES
TRANSFER OF BUNDLES
The transfer of a copy of part or all of a medicine bundle con- stituted a very important ceremony among the Crows. The first requirement was that the Indian who wished to obtain such a bundle should acquire the relationship of "son" toward the owner of the desired bundle. This relationship could only be had by adoption in the tobacco dance. It was necessary, therefore, for the petitioner to gain the good will of the bundle owner so completely that the latter would invite him to join the tobacco society as his candidate. Many presents and acts of kindness were required to accomplish this end. Even after the coveted invitation was receiv- ed, the "son" had to attend four different tobacco society cere- monials before the desired bundle transfer could take place. A period of a year or more invariably elapsed before all the cere- monial preliminaries were accomplished and the final transfer made. Thus, the owners of the most sacred bundles held a power which approached that of priests among other tribes. By refusing to transfer their power to another, by refusing to interpret certain visions of other men as belonging to the class of pipe-holder or camp chief, they could prevent undesirable individuals from ob- taining a status which those in power did not wish them to possess.
In the case of a war medicine transfer the owner of the sacred bundle coveted by a younger man generally had reached an age when his personal participation in war parties had ceased. Yet his bundle had been tested so often, and had been so successful, that it was recognized as a powerful war medicine. The owner of the bundle, or, rather, of its duplicate, instructed the younger man in its ritual, and taught him the medicine songs and the particular steps to be taken in opening and using the bundle. The owner's relationship to the receiver was that of "medicine father" to "medicine son," a bond even closer than that between natural parent and child.
When transferring or duplicating a bundle, the original owner rarely parted with or duplicated every article in the bundle. Since the owner and all the supernaturals represented in the bundle are thought to form one clan, by retaining one object from the bundle in his possession the owner retained his identity with the super- naturals of that clan.
Arapaho, an old Crow Indian living near Hardin, told the
INTRODUCTION I5
writer that his medicine consisted of the trees and twelve different species of birds. He was empowered in his vision to make four different copies of his bundle. He made these, but he left out two bird skins which he never transferred. To the retention of these articles he attributed his living to a ripe old age. He is now (1927) over seventy. Furthermore, he stated that more than one of the Indians to whom he had transferred his bundle had redreamed his vision and made other duplicates which they transferred to others, so that more than 20 copies of his bundle were to be found among the Crows.
Part or all of a famous bundle might be borrowed for a special occasion. However, the borrower always gave the owner valuable presents consisting of four different articles. If a war medicine was borrowed, and it brought the borrower success in capturing enemy horses, he gave a number of the horses to the owner of the bundle after his safe return from the war expedition. This gift was in addition to the four presents donated.
Upon the death of a Crow Indian his nearest relatives took whatever bundles they wished to secure. The most powerful bundle usually passed into the possession of the nearest surviving direct male relative of the deceased.
CLASSIFICATION OF CROW MEDICINE BUNDLES
IT is not possible to classify the great variety of Crow Indian sacred bundles on the sole basis of either (i), similarity of contents, or (2), similarity of functions. Many bundles which served the same general functions differ markedly in their content. Other bundles containing sacred objects of similar appearance served a variety of uses. Nevertheless, it is possible to divide Crow medicine bundles into a limited number of meaningful categories which can be briefly characterized as follows:
1. Sun Dance Bundles. These were the only individually owned bundles employed in a ceremony in which the entire tribe par- ticipated. The Crow sun dance was never given as a tribal act of adoration of the sun. It was essentially a ceremony in which the participants hoped to receive visions which would enable them to gain revenge upon their enemies. The sun dance bundle, therefore, may be considered the principal war medicine bundle of the Crows. However, unlike other war medicine bundles, it was seldom if ever taken on war expeditions.
2. War Medicine Bundles. These sacred bundles were employed to bring success in warfare and in horse stealing. They contain the material representations of the original makers' visions and are, therefore, of many varieties. Of these, the hoop medicines and arrow medicines might be considered subclasses.
3. Shields. Painted and decorated shields, formerly numerous among the Crows, were important war medicines.
4. Skull Medicine Bundles. The principal article in each of these bundles is a human skull. These bundles approximated the sun dance bundles in sacredness, but they were used for many purposes. At one time they were numerous, but they are now (1927) very scarce because they have usually been buried with their last owners. The younger generation is afraid to handle them or to keep them in their tents or cabins.
5. Rock Medicine Bundles. These bundles each contain as their most vital object some kind of sacred rock. They served many dif- ferent purposes. Some of them were used as war medicines.
6. Medicine Pipe Bundles. The principal articles in these
16
CLASSIFICATION OF CROW MEDICINE BUNDLES I7
bundles are pipe stems or stems and bowls. Some of these bundles were employed in the Medicine Pipe Ceremony which was of foreign origin. Others were carried by leaders of war expeditions.
7. Love Medicine Bundles. These bundles contain sacred ob- jects which were credited with the power to attract such members of the opposite sex as their owners desired.
8. Witchcraft Bundles. These bundles were used to gain revenge upon or to do harm to personal enemies of their owners. Great secrecy surrounded their use.
9. Healing Medicine Bundles. These bundles contain various articles used in doctoring the sick or healing the wounded.
[10. Hunting Medicine Bundles. These bundles contain sacred objects used to bring success in hunting buffalo or other wild game— JCE]2
2 Wildschut did not list this tenth class of medicine bundle. However, one of them which he collected is described on p. 146 of this monograph. Lowie (1922. pp. 354-359) described Crow medicines used for charming buffalo and deer.
THE COLLECTION OF CROW MEDICINE BUNDLES
A LARGE number of Crow sacred bundles collected by the writer l\ are now in the collections of the Museum of the American JL jL Indian, Heye Foundation. Although care was taken to ob- tain all possible data regarding these specimens, a complete ac- count of the origin, history and uses of a bundle seldom could be gotten. In many instances the original owners had died, and their surviving relatives were unfamiliar with the meanings and uses of the various objects contained in the bundles. In other cases complete information was withheld because of the prevalent belief that if this was given, the power of the bundle would pass from the owner. The contents of a bundle can be replaced. They are but the material representations, sometimes symbolic, of the objects re- vealed to the dreamer or visionary by the supernatural visitant. The songs and rituals belonging to powerful bundles were the media through which the mystic relationship was established between the bundle owner and the Maxpe power of the super- natural visitant. The Indians believe that the mystic power with which each of these bundles is imbued does not manifest itself to its full extent until reanimated by the singing of songs and the performance of the appropriate ceremonies. Only in the ceremonial transfer performed for the creation of a second bundle, a duplicate of the first, were these songs and rituals transferred by a Crow bundle owner. Such transfers among the Crows were by no means rare. But they were impossible between these Indians and a white man. This is another reason why complete information regarding these bundles has not become known. ^
3 The editor encountered a similar belief among the Blackfoot Indians in the 1940's. Owners of sacred articles who sold or gave them to other Indians or to collectors believed they retained the right to duplicate these objects at a later date unless ownership had been ceremonially transferred. I have known of several sacred objects sold to white collectors which were duplicated by their Indian owners. Indeed, one ceremonial shirt, sold to the Museum of the Plains Indian, was remade by its Indian owner at least twice since that sale. When Makes-Cold-Weather, an elderly Piegan sold his medicine pipe to the Museum of the Plains Indian he was in mourning for his dead wife, and he decided that ownership of this bundle was no longer
18
THE COLLECTION OF CROW MEDICINE BUNDLES IQ
Finally it must be remembered that complete information regarding a sacred bundle could not be obtained, in many cases, during a single visit with the Indian owner. More than one visit was required. This was not always possible, and it is another reason for our imperfect knowledge of some of these medicine bundles.*
important to him. He insisted that this bundle be ceremonially transferred to me, as curator of the museum, so that he could relinquish all title to it and never be tempted to remake the bundle. Nor would any other Indian have the right to duplicate this bundle.
* The discussion of lo types of Crow medicine bundles which follows includes: (i), field data, descriptions and museum photographs of a number of the bundles collected by Wildschut for the Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation, (2), descriptions and photographs of a few especially significant bundles (such as the famous Rotten Belly shield and medicine pipes) which Wildschut purchased from Crow Indians for the museum, but about which he was unable to obtain detailed field information, and (3), field accounts of a few important medicine bundles obtained by Wildschut even though he was unable to purchase these bundles from their Indian owners.