Section 7

A rope of twisted horsehair of different colors with a small sack of herbs or a quantity of horsehair tied to each end of it indicated the desire to obtain many kinds of horses. The rope often was tied around the neck of a captured horse in the belief that the horse would readily follow the owner of the medicine and
42 CROW INDIAN MEDICINE BUNDLES
could not be recaptured by the enemy. There was thought to be still less chance of recapture if the horse was given a small pinch of the herb medicine in the small sacks attached to the rope, and which would insure its fleet ness and long-windedness.^'
Various kinds of bird feathers are frequently found in these bundles. They are members of the clan which appeared in the bundle owner's vision and they are thought to aid him in fl5dng over the country and easily locating enemy horses. Or they may convey to the captured horses the fleetness of foot equivalent to the movement of birds in flight.
Because these horse-stealing medicines had their origins in dreams and visions, and because they were used on the warpath, I have classified them with the individual war medicine bundles.
Scout medicines, also originating in visions, consist of wolf or coyote skins. However, not all those men selected for scout duty with a war party owned these medicines. If a Crow man who did not have the wolf or coyote for his supernatural helper was chosen as a scout, he borrowed one of these medicines from a man who possessed wolf or coyote power.^^
1' It is obvious that Wildschut here is not describing common war medicines but medicines associated with the powerful and secret Horse Medicine Cult. Lowie (1924. pp. 329-334) found this to be a "loose associ- ation" among the Crows of a stronger organization among the Assiniboin, from whom the Crows acquired the Horse Dance ceremony. The Horse Medi- cine Cult of the Assiniboin is described in Ewers (1956). A detailed description of the Blackfoot Horse Medicine Cult and data indicating the cult's existence among many other western tribes appears in Ewers (1955b. pp. 257-284).
18 Lowie (1922. pp. 359-371) recorded numerous Crow informants' accounts of the uses of war medicines.
WAR MEDICINE BUNDLES 43
HOOP MEDICINE BUNDLES
One of the most sacred war medicine bundles among the Crow Indians was the hoop medicine, of which a number of copies were made.
ORIGIN OF THE HOOP MEDICINE BUNDLE
Foolish Man related to me the story of the origin of the hoop medicine in the dream of Blows Down, as follows :
"Blows Down's younger brother was killed in a Sioux surprise attack upon a Crow camp at a time when most of the younger warriors were away. Many women and children were killed in the same action. Shortly thereafter the Crow camp moved to the vicinity of Long Mountain, a peak in the Big Horn Range west of the present town of Sheridan, Wyoming.
"While encamped there one of the chiefs. No Rain, sent his crier around the camp calling upon the young men to go fasting on Long Mountain. This was an unusual action on the part of a chief. It was taken in the hope that some of the tasters might be blessed with a vision and receive a medicine so strong that it would enable the Crows to gain revenge against the Sioux.
"Blows Down, who had sought a vision on several occasions without success, joined the group of vision seekers. All of them took sweat-baths, washed themselves thoroughly, rubbed their bodies with different herbs and finally purified their bodies in the smoke of pine needles before they left camp. After climbing Long Mountain each young man selected a fasting place. Blows Down chose a spot and there built a small platform of stones wide enough and long enough to accomodate his body. He covered the platform with ground cedar. Then he stood facing the sun, pointed his finger at it, and prayed.
"'Father I am offering you a piece of my flesh, and for your sake will I shed my blood. May the 'Without Fires' eat it and drink it. I pray to you, father, that you may favor me with a strong vision. I am poor and humble before you, father. I have sought your help before, but for some reason you gave me no dream. Now,
44 CROW INDIAN MEDICINE BUNDLES
once more, I pray to you to give me a vision. Let the 'Without Fires' come to me. I have lost a brother and I feel grieved over his loss. I implore your aid. I seek strong medicine so that I can avenge the death of my brother. I place my whole being in your care. Father, do not let me suffer long.'
"Blows Down then placed the index finger of his left hand on a stick, took a knife and chopped off the end of this finger. He held up the piece of severed flesh toward the sun and, with a second short prayer, offered it as a sacrifice. Then he placed it upon an exposed rock nearby. He shed much blood which he sprinkled on the ground as he walked around the rock. FeeUng weak and tired, he laid down on his prepared couch and fainted.
"When Blows Down awoke it was early morning and the sun was already far above the horizon. But in spite of the heat of the sun and his covering of a buffalo robe (painted for the occasion with white clay), he felt cold and he shivered. He rose from his couch and began to cry. He prayed and pleaded with the sun and the 'Without Fires' to give him a powerful vision. When he could stand no longer he sat down and offered a smoke to the sun and the earth. Thus the day passed.
"That night, being tired, he slept soundly without the least suggestion of a dream. When he awoke next morning he felt uneasy. He feared that he would fail again in his quest for a vision. Yet he repeated his crying, praying, and smoking throughout the day. As darkness approached he returned to his resting place. During the night he dreamed of different things and awoke several times feeHng happier. But still he obtained no dream of power.
"Once again, during the 'darkface period' just before dawn he awoke. He was wide awake and was gazing toward the east when the first faint streaks of dawn began to color the horizon. Then suddenly, in the clouds overhanging the sky, a man appeared. He came nearer and nearer. Finally he appeared to step out of a cloud upon the toes of Blows Down. Yet Blows Down did not feel any weight. The man then stepped down beside his couch. As his feet touched the ground a blaze of fire issued from the points of con- tact. The earth seemed to be aflame and a column of smoke ascend- ed skyward.
"Then the man spoke. 'My child, arise from your bed of torture. I have come to adopt you as my son.' He grasped Blows Down by the hand and said, 'On you I will bestow my power.'
"Then, apparently from nowhere, he produced a hoop. Holding
WAR MEDICINE BUNDLES 45
it in front of Blows Down he told him to look through it. When Blows Down did so he saw all the enemy tribes just as if they were close to him. The spirit man then told Blows Down that he was the Morning Star, that he had pitied him for a long time, and had finally decided to come to him, adopt him, and give him his medicine. It would become, in time, one of the most powerful medicines among the Crows.
"Morning Star told Blows Down to make a hoop medicine for himself. Furthermore, he might make three copies of this medicine, but no more than four of these hoop medicines should ever be in existence among the Crows. He told Blows Down that whenever any enemy war party approached the camp in which he was staying this medicine would warn him of their coming before their arrival. This medicine would also help Blows Down to see the enemy's location and the strength of their attacking force.
"Finally Morning Star told Blows Down, Tf you will pray to me, your people (the Crows) will increase in numbers. Go home now. Upon your arrival have the members of the camp build you four sweat-lodges, each with the opening facing east toward the rising sun. You enter the last of the four, and while you are inside tell those who are with you of the visit and the instructions which I, the Morning Star, have just given to you.'
"The vision disappeared. Blows Down again fell asleep and did not waken until the sun was high in the heavens. Then he dressed and started on his return journey. Approaching the camp he met some members of the tribe. When they asked him if he had obtained a vision, he repUed, 'Build me four sweat-lodges with the openings facing east. Spread sweet-smelling sagebrush inside, and scatter powdered charcoal around the center pit.'"
His friends were happy because they knew that he must have received a powerful vision. When the sweatlodges were prepared. Blows Down entered the fourth one and told of his vision. "Never again will the enemy come upon us by surprise, for I shall know of their coming," he promised.
The happy Crows moved their camp toward the Yellowstone Valley. A few days later Blows Down made his medicine — a hoop made of willow and wrapped with otter skin. This first medicine was rather crudely made but it was said to have possessed extra- ordinary powers. At night it was suspended from a pole at the rear of the tipi where, it is said, it shone like a star.
Later, when the Crows moved into winter quarters near the
46 CROW INDIAN MEDICINE BUNDLES
present town of Big Timber, Blows Down, who was unmarried, asked his relatives to make him several pairs of moccasins for he was going on the warpath. He told them that they must keep this information secret. Then he invited about fifteen warriors to join him. Among them were Sits-in-the-Middle-of-the-Earth, Wolf Car- rier, Crow Head, and He-Drank-Himself. Blows Down was to be the war party leader, the pipe-holder.
Long before sunrise one morning the party stole out of camp. After six days of travel they reached the Wolf Mountains. Here Blows Down told his men to build him a brush shelter, leaving only an opening at the top. Inside a fire was built. Then he asked one of his men to bring him the dirt from fresh mole holes. It was brought to him on a blanket. Blows Down, seated at the rear of the shelter, emptied the dirt on the ground in front of him. Then he unwrapped his hoop medicine, held it in one hand, and prayed :
"Father, when I fasted there on Long Mountain I gave you a piece of my flesh. You appeared and told me to pray to you when I needed help. I need you now. I want to know what success I shall have."
Then he made a smudge, placed some sweetgrass on the embers, and held the hoop in the ascending smoke. He purified his hands in the smudge, and holding the hoop with both hands, pressed his medicine to his breast. He repeated this four times. Then he dropp- ed the hoop in the mole dirt. Looking into the hoop he saw a vision of many horses, which he knew were those he was about to capture from the enemy. He called his friends to look into the hoop and they also saw the horses. Then, led by Blows Down, all sang a song of joy.
Very early the next morning the scouts started out and they located a Sioux camp. When they brought word of their discovery to Blows Down, he ordered his men to approach the camp and wait until night before attempting to run off the horses of the enemy.
Many horses were captured that night. But the enemy heard the Crows and followed them. Next morning, while crossing the Big Horn, the Crows saw their pursuers in the distance. Once more Blows Down made his medicine, this time to make a storm come between him and his pursuers. Soon the wind started to blow. It increased in fury and a fine snow began to fall. But the storm struck with greatest violence between the fleeing Crows and their Sioux pursuers. The Sioux had to give up the pursuit. Blows
WAR MEDICINE BUNDLES 47
Down and his party reached their home camp safely \vith over 100 horses.
From that time onward Blows Down's hoop medicine proved successful. He received many requests for copies of his famous medicine. But, strictly adhering to the instructions received in his dream, he never made more than three copies of it."
BULL shows' hoop MEDICINE BUNDLE FIGURES 12 AND I3
[On October i6, 1923, William Wildschut forwarded to the museum a hoop medicine bundle obtained from Bull Shows, (cat. NO. 12/3100). The bundle is encased in a rawhide container com- posed of two circular pieces of rawhide, each 12" in diameter, tied together with rawhide thongs after the wrapped hoop is inserted between them. These rawhide discs are painted in green, yellow and red, the central motive being a large four-pointed star. The case is carried by an otter-skin strap. (Fig. 12).
The hoop itself is wrapped in seven successive pieces of trade cloth. The hoop is 9 J" in diameter, made of wood but entirely covered by a wrapping of otter skin, hair side out. The upper portion of it is further wrapped with strung blue and white pony beads, the old style embroidering beads among the Crows. Other decorations include brass buttons, and long scalplock and otter skin pendants (the latter having feather plume appendages), a short braid of sweetgrass, and a bone whistle 5f" in length. (See Fig. i3).-JCE]i9
WHITE shirt's hoop MEDICINE BUNDLE FIGURE 14
[This hoop medicine, forwarded to the museum by Wildschut on October 22, 1925, in loj" in diameter, (cat. no. 14/3609). It is covered with buckskin which is painted a Ught green. Like the Bull Shows hoop it has a bone whistle (6 J" long) and a braid of sweetgrass tied to it. The other appendages are different. They include a piece of deerskin with 7 eagle feathers attached to it,
1* Lowie (1922. p. 420) mentioned a "hoop wrapped with otterskin and decorated with eagle feathers" which was owned by Bull-all-the-Time and was used by him as a war medicine with great success. He may have had reference to this bundle.
48 CROW INDIAN MEDICINE BUNDLES
a whole winter weasel skin, and thin strips of the same skin, four brass bells and a small buckskin sack containing green paint.
This medicine is contained in an undecorated case of soft- tanned buffalo hide, hair outside — JCE].
ARROW MEDICINE BUNDLES
In his monograph on Crow Indian religion Dr. Lowie has given an interesting account of arrow medicine bundles in general, and has described the bundle owned by Flathead Woman. (Lowie, 1922. pp. 390-401). He related the story of the origin of these bundles as told to him by Hillside. The writer obtained from Plain Feather, who was also the owner of an arrow medicine bundle, an origin account that differs from that given by Hillside.
ORIGIN OF THE ARROW MEDICINE BUNDLES
Plain Feather's account is as follows :
"A long time ago the Crows were camped near the junction of the Rosebud and Yellowstone rivers. In this camp there was a a young man, an orphan, named Bear-in-the-Water, later known as Takes-Back-Twice. He was a very poor boy, had no one to care for him, and often felt that life was nothing but misery.
"While the Crows were encamped there, Takes-Back-Twice often turned toward a small peak on the north side of the river. He contemplated fasting there in the hope obtaining a medicine which might help to make his life a happier one. He realized, also, that the time would come shortly when he would have to go on the warpath, and that he needed a sacred helper to aid him in over- coming the many dangers he would encounter there. Takes-Back- Twice finally decided to fast close to that peak which had fascinated him whenever he looked in its direction.
"That evening he took a sweat-bath, and early the next morn- ing he went to the river, washed himself thoroughly, crossed the stream, and walked toward the peak. On his way he made up his mind that he would torture his flesh, hoping thereby to secure the sympathy of some powerful spirit.
"As the sun began to appear above the horizon Takes-Back- Twice arrived at the foot of the butte. In front of him he saw the skull of a buffalo. He stood there for a while, facing the sun, un-
WAR MEDICINE BUNDLES 49
decided what to do. Finally he determined to cut off the end of his index finger. But before doing so he prayed to the sun, saying:
'"Sun have pity on me, a poor orphan boy. I want a powerful helper who will give me a medicine which will protect me during the remainder of my life. Yet, Sun, if you will but give me a small, real dream and vision I shall be satisfied.'
"Then he placed his index finger on the buffalo skull and cut off the tip of it. As soon as this was done he began to walk around the base of the peak. When evening came he reached his starting point where he had left his covering. Faint from loss of blood and from the exertion of the day, Takes-Back-Twice fell down and finally went to sleep.