Section 5

"Soon after Has-No-Name rejoined the Crow camp, he had the misfortune to lose his wife and one of his children named Bull. The child was killed by the enemy. The Crow camp moved toward the mouth of Bad Creek near the Red Lodge Mountains. There a sun dance lodge was erected. But instead of participating in the ceremony Has-No-Name went to the top of a nearby mountain, mourning for the loss of his family.
"For three days and nights he continued his fast. And on the morning of the fourth day his efforts and sufferings were rewarded. He saw some people dancing and heard them singing. They were standing on one of the peaks of the Wolf Mountains. Gradually they came nearer, until at last they appeared in the abandoned sun dance lodge below, where the Crows had recently ended their ceremony. Has-No-Name saw four men and women distinctly. Backward and forward they danced. One of the man held both hands in front of his face, palms inward, carrying a sun dance doll. He recognized one of the women as a person of his tribe, and after his return to the Crow camp he married her.
"Later that year Holds-the- Young-Buffalo-Tail, whose brother had been killed by the enemy, approached Has-No-Name, having heard of the latter's dream, and asked him to help him to avenge his brother's death. Then Has-No-Name decided to make the sun dance doll as it had appeared to him in his dream.
"He chose a beautiful sunny day and a place in the open within the camp circle to make the effigy. A fine buffalo robe was spread on the ground and everyone was invited to witness the ceremony. A piece was cut from the center of a white- tailed deer skin. This was the only skin permitted to be used in the making of a sun dance doll.
"Then men were called upon to sew the effigy. This was always men's work, as no woman was permitted to touch a sun dance doll. Only virtuous men were allowed to do this work. The ones chosen on this occasion were Holds Back and Young Curlew. After taking a sweatbath and purifying themselves in the smoke of pine needles these men seated themselves on the buffalo robe, with three medicine men on either side of them. The sewing was done with the
28 CROW INDIAN MEDICINE BUNDLES
sinew of the white-tailed deer. (No other sinew was permitted). And before each stitch was taken four songs were sung. With each song the sewer pretended to start his stitch, but three times he feinted, and only after the fourth song was sung did he actually make the stitch.
"Before the effigy was entirely sewn, it was stuffed with sacred sweetgrass and white-pine needles, mixed with hair taken from the temples and chin of a mountain sheep and the mule deer (be- cause of their ability to climb and to run over the most dangerous places) .
"After the sewing was completed, owl feathers were attached to the head of the effigy. The owl is a sacred bird because it can see at night, and its power will assist the warriors to see things which are hidden from other people.
"The painting of the effigy was done with a birch twig, one end of which was chewed to make a brush. Again, four songs were sung before the painter actually applied paint to the doll. Although the materials used in constructing and stuffing sun dance effigies are the same, all of these dolls are not painted alike. The character of the painting depends upon the vision experienced, and therefore is made to represent the counterpart of the effigy seen in the taster's dream."
In this case (Fig. 2), the effigy was painted red and yellow to represent the early morning sky with its varicolored clouds. The red semicircle on its forehead indicates the rainbow, and the two streaks beneath its eyes, the marking under the eyes of the screech owl, symbolizing the sacred powers of vision. The broad blue stripe down the body indicates the sky, and the smaller horizontal stripes represent, on one side, the wrinkles of old people, insuring for the owner health and long life, and on the other side, eagle plumes, symbolic of fog. The little black spots around the neck of the effigy represent hail and rain, indications of sudden storms. In event that the owner found himself at any time pursued by the enemy, he thus was endowed with the power to call forth a sudden storm between himself and his pursuer, thereby retarding the enemy's progress. This sun dance doll measures 6" in height.
After the effigy was entirely finished, the bundle was provided with a kilt to be worn by the dancer. Such kilts were always made from the skin of a male black-tailed deer. (See Fig. 3, upper left).
Included in the bundle is a necklace of skunk skin, worn by the dancer in the sun dance. The skunk is thought of as a foolish
SUN DANCE BUNDLES 29
animal, living mostly underground, and with its assistance the dancer is made to go mad. The skin is painted with white clay, representing the earth. (Fig. 3, right). Owl feathers usually are attached to the necklace to aid the wearer in seeing objects which are hidden from others.
Finally there are included in this bundle a buffalo-hide rattle, a hair-lock attachment, and a whistle made from the wingbone of an eagle. (Fig. 4). The hair-lock attachment, which s5mibolizes fog, was worn tied to the hair on the top of the whistler's head. It was hoped that fog might surround the enemy when a Crow war party bent on revenge was closing in on them, thereby preventing the Crows from being observed.
The rattle also was painted. The red lines represent the clouds of early dawn ; the yellow lines indicate the radiating streaks sent forth by the sun before it appears above the horizon, and both symbolize that early period just before sunrise when the most successful medicine dreams were experienced. The face painted on the rattle represents the face of the person who showed the originator of the medicine the sun dance effigy in his vision.
When the bundle is not in use its contents are covered with a black wrapper, symbolizing night. The whole is encased in a boat-shaped container of buffalo rawhide which is painted to represent the mountains, the earth, the sky and the rainbow. (See Fig. 3, lower left).^^
This bundle was used in at least four sun dance ceremonies; those of Holds-the-Young-Buffalo-Tail, Puts-Earth-on-the-Top-of- His-Head, Shows-His-Face, and Sees-the-Living-Bull.^^
SEES-THE-TENT-GROUND S SUN DANCE BUNDLE PLATE 2 AND FIGURE 5
This bundle, cat. no. 11/6627, was collected in 1923. It was once owned by Sees- the-Tent- Ground, the oldest Crow woman living at that time. Although she was reputed to be 103 years of age, she was still of excellent memory. She informed the writer
1" This container, 14^/4'' long and 61/4" high at the ends, is painted in red, yellow, blue and green. The symbolic designs are all geometric ones. The rattle in this bundle is of the familiar bulbous type with an inserted stick handle. The bone whistle measures 7^/4" long.
11 A condensed description of this bundle was published in Indian Notes. (Wildschut, 1926a. pp. 99-107).
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that this bundle once was owned by her grandmother, who was not its first possessor.
The five small effigies contained in this bundle are all relatively simple in form. Not only are there no arms or legs portrayed (as is common in other sun dance dolls), but the heads are not sharply set off from the bodies. The body of each doll is painted green and decorated with dark brown symbols of the moon and the morning star. Owl feathers are attached to each head.
This bundle also contains four bone whistles of different lengths, two braids of sweetgrass, two skunk-skin necklaces, fragments of commercial plug tobacco, a bunch of small feathers, a tied frag- ment of trade cloth, and a small packet of medicine. (Fig. 5). Nevertheless, the contents probably are incomplete. These objects are carefully wrapped in trade cloth and are contained in a rectan- gular rawhide case bearing painted designs on one side and measuring 22" long by 10" high.^^
OTHER SUN DANCE EFFIGIES FIGURES 6 THROUGH II
[The other sun dance bundles collected by Wildschut are accompanied by very little field information. However, the dolls in these bundles, the major sacred articles associated with the Crow sun dance, are of particular interest for comparison with those in the better-documented bundles previously described.
Fig. 6 portrays two effigies in the sun dance bundle of Shows- his-Face. This bundle (cat. no. 12/6426) was forwarded to the museum by Wildschut on December 31, 1923. The head and body of the larger doll (at left) measures gf" in height. It is painted blue, yellow and red. The smaller doll is 8|" high. It has a back- ground of dark blue paint and designs in green and red. Both dolls are of the generalized stuffed-buckskin type, with owl feather pendants at base and head, and screech owl streaks painted below the eyes as well as semicircles over the foreheads.
Two sun dance dolls contained in separate bundles, both of which Mr. Wildschut obtained from Kills- With-His-Brother, are variants of the stuffed buckskin type. They are alike in possessing
12 It is unfortunate that more is not known about the origin and history of this bundle. It has the appearance of being of considerable age, and it probably is the oldest sun dance bundle collected by Wildschut or any other Crow investigator.
SUN DANCE BUNDLES 31
relatively large heads in proportion to the sizes of their bodies, in having skunk skin pendants from the bases of the bodies, and in the additions of bead necklaces. Fig. 7 is the effigy in a bundle forwarded by Wildschut on October 4, 1923. (cat. no. 12/3102). The head comprises 4" of the total 10^" height. The elaborate paintings are in red, yellow and some green. The necklace is of dried seeds. Fig. 8 portrays the effigy in the bundle forwarded by Wildschut on August 2, 1924. (cat. no. 13/2312). The head alone makes up 4J" of the total doll height of 11". The painting is done in blue, red and green. The necklace is composed of trade beads with a small piece of abalone shell pendant.
Fig. 9 depicts the first sun dance doll collected by Wildschut. It was forwarded to the museum on November 9, 1921. (cat. no. 10/9764). It differs markedly from the sun dance effigies previously described in being both more realistic and much more detailed. Although this figure is of stuffed buckskin, as are the others, it is much more realistically proportioned, includes arms and legs, and is costumed. The buckskin head, painted yellow and red, has a crown of white seed beads, eyes of blue and white seed beads, and a mouth of blue seed beads. The body, painted yellow with red accents, has a piece of black cloth wrapped around the waist and extending to the feet. Total height of head and body is y\" . The elaborate accessories also appear to be atypical. They include an upright yellow-painted plume flanked by small black feathers above the head, a short scalp lock. Strips of weasel skin attached to the neck and a coiled rope of braided horsehair attached at the waist. This so-called sun dance effigy, obtained from Old White Man, resembles the secular dolls of the Crows more closely than do the other sun dance dolls. Its fresh appearance and the extensive use of seed beads in its decoration both suggest that it is not old. Probably it was made during the Reservation Period, possibly within the present century. It is improbable that it ever saw service in a Crow Indian sun dance. ^^
1^ Lowie (191 5. pp. 12, 49) mentioned spurious sun dance effigies based upon pretended revelations, which brought misfortune when used in a sun dance. This specimen hardly can be considered one of them for it probably was made since the traditional Crow sun dance was discontinued some forty or more years before this specimen was collected.
Lowie saw only two sun dance effigies on the Crow Reservation. He purchased one of them from Pretty Enemy for the collections of the American Museum of Natural History, (cat. no. 50.1 /4011a). It is of the generalized stuffed buckskin type, small-headed, armless and legless, with owl feather head pendant. (See Lowie, 191 5. Fig. i and pp. 15-18).
32 CROW INDIAN MEDICINE BUNDLES
Two carved wooden effigies were contained in other sun dance bundles collected by Mr. Wildschut. Fig. lo shows an effigy 13!" high obtained from Three-Fore-Top and forwarded to the museum on September 21, 1922. (cat. no. 11/6466). This effigy appears to resemble the general description of a carved sun dance doll with stuffed buckskin body contained in Two Legging's account, supra, of the origin of the Crow sun dance. This doll is made of a single piece of wood comprising a semi-realistic carved head and a long, cylindrical shaft (f" in diameter). The nose and mouth are defined by carving, and trade beads are inserted in the eye depressions. A stuffed buckskin body is constructed around the greater part of the length of the wooden shaft. This body is painted red with black meandering vertical lines. Although characteristic sun dance accessories were lacking in this bundle, it did contain an interesting tubular pipe, shown in Fig. 16. The short bowl (2" long) is of catUnite, and is inserted unto an undecorated, tubular willow stem only 9J" long. It seems possible that this effigy and its accompanying pipe comprised a war medicine rather than a sun dance one.
Fig. II portrays a wood carving appearing in a sun dance bundle, which was definitely a war medicine. Wildschut 's corre- spondence at the time this bundle was shipped to the museum (October 16, 1923) stated that this bundle originally contained a buckskin sun dance effigy as well as this wood carving, but that the wooden effigy "was said to have been used on the warpath, because if it should get wet, it would not spoil as easily as the buckskin one."
This rare example of Crow Indian wood carving stands 11'' high. It is a conventionalized carving of a nude man. The entire surface appears to have been rubbed, rather than painted, with red color. The curved brow and crosses on the chest are painted in green. The eyes are inset with trade beads and the necklace is composed of a string of alternate black and white pony beads. This wood carving, even though it was part of a sun dance bundle, should properly be considered a warpath medicine. However, it is of particular interest for comparison with Crow sun dance effigies, and as a demonstration that all three-dimensional Crow represent- ations of the human figure were not sun dance dolls.
Wildschut rendered the Crow name for the sun dance effigy, Mareo- Miraxpakah. He found that Miraxpakah meant a plurality of undefined human beings and that anything might be Mareo, or
SUN DANXE BUNDLES 33
consecrated. His translation for the Crow sun dance effigy name was, therefore: consecrated beings — JCE].
CONJECTURAL HISTORY OF THE SUN DANCE BUNDLE
Mrs. The Trail claimed that certain songs are the common property of all sun dance bundles and that from the first effigy (mentioned in Two Leggings' origin legend, supra) all others originated. This would seem to imply that in early times these effigies did not necessarily originate in dreams, but were handed down from one owner to the other.
If we review the information obtained by the writer in the field and examine the specimens he collected, we find that many sun dance effigies have important characteristics in common — the heads and bodies are stuffed and covered with the same materials, they have headgear of owl feathers, two streaks painted under the eyes representing the sacred vision of the screech owl, and a painted semicircle over the forehead. Perhaps only the more recent bundles contain effigies painted to represent the supernaturals seen in the taster's visions.
Unlike all other Crow ceremonies, the sun dance always has been a tribal one. All of these factors suggest to the writer that in ancient times the sun dance bundle of the Crows may have been a tribal one.
WAR MEDICINE BUNDLES
Asa background for my descriptions of the individually owned l\ war bundles, I should like to consider briefly the subjects of U^ jL leadership and war customs among the Crows. Most of my information on these subjects was obtained from Plenty Coups, the only surviving camp chief among the Crows (1927) and from Chief Two Leggings (now deceased) . My findings differ materially from those already in print.
CROW LEADERSHIP
Bravery was greatly admired among the Crows and the warrior with many coups to his name acquired a prestige not enjoyed by men of lesser fame. However, the possession of war honors alone could not make a Crow Indian a chief or even a pipe-holder.
Four types of coups, viz: striking an enemy first, cutting a picketed horse from in front of an enemy tipi, taking a gun from an enemy, and successfully acting as the leader of a war party, were generally regarded as the requirements for chieftaincy only in so far as the estabUshment of eligibility for purchase of such a chieftaincy was concerned. By themselves they never automatically made the performer of such deeds a chief. A very important distinction also was made between the ranks of chiefs.
The Crows translate in the white man's language both the office of pipe-holder and that of chief by the name of "chief." Yet the latter office is the only real chief. A literal translation of the two names will make this clearer. The name for pipe-holder in the Crow language is Akdoochia-Aketchkan, meaning: "The-One-Who- Manages- (or Owns) the-War-Party." The name for chief is Asheahke-Mafsetse, which means: "The-One-Who-Owns-the- Camp."