Similarly, the Cheyenne stuffed the eyes and nasal cavity of the buffalo skull with grass which "represents the earth's vegetation, especially that which grows near the water. Its use continues the prayer that the plants, trees, and grasses will be plentiful, in order to supply the needs of both men and animals" (Powell, 1969, vol. 2, p. 636). Symbols were applied to the skull indicating the road to the spirit world, day and night, and the sun and moon. Offerings were made to the skull along with prayers for favor and protection (Dorsey, 1905a, pp. 96-97, 113-14). The Arapaho, too, saw the buffalo skull on the sun dance altar as "the dwelling-place, during the ceremony, of Man-Above." The "various black and red dots on the skull indicate prayers, while the grass knobs placed in the eye- sockets and in the nasal cavities were said to indicate the times when the Indians used grass garments, before the appearance of the buffalo." The grass balls also represent a deity who owns the rivers and creeks. His body is represented by the water grass, or flat grass, and when these balls of grass are inserted, "the buffalo is then complete, ie., the life is restored," for "the animal lives on grass" (Dorsey, 1903, pp. 118-19).
The mentor of an Oglala sun dance candidate decorates the buffalo skull on the altar with "stripes of red paint, one across the forehead and one lengthwise on each side of the skull." At the same time, he paints a red stripe across the forehead of the Candidate. The stripes across the forehead indicate that the Buffalo God has adopted the Candidate as a hunka, or relative by ceremony. The red stripes on the sides of the skull indicate that the Buffalo God will give especial protection to the Candidate. The horns of the skull should be adorned with any ornaments that the Candidate may apply. Then the mentor should fill and light a pipe and he and the Candidate should smoke it in communion, alternately blowing the smoke into the nostril cavities of the skull, thus smoking in communion with the Buffalo God. This should be done in order that the potency of the pipe may harmonize all those communing. (Walker, 1917, pp. 69-70)
The candidate must observe many rituals with regard to the altar because "it is a sacred place occupied by the potency of the
God, the Buffalo, and should be reverenced as the God is reverenced" (Walker, 1917, p. 70).
At the end of the original Sioux sun dance, all objects such as fur, feathers, and wreaths and other symbols used in the
ceremony were piled up in the center of the lodge. "These things were too sacred to be kept and should be resumed to the
earth. Only the buffalo robes and the eagle-bone whistles were kept.... On top of the pile of sacred things the buffalo skull was placed, for this skull reminds us of death and also helps us to remember that a cycle has been completed" (Brown, 1967, pp.
98-99).
The buffalo skull served numerous functions. The Sioux dance leader, when resting, "threw himself prone on the ground, west
of the sacred place, pressing his head against the sacred buffalo skull" (Laubin, 1977, p. 288). When a Crow dancer offered a portion of himself during the sun dance by slicing off the tip of a finger, he performed this sacrifice "steadied on a buffalo skull whenever possible" (Vogel, 1984, p. 307).
In a much more dramatic way, buffalo skulls were used to implement the supreme sacrifice of the sun dance that was made in
the voluntary torture phenomenon enacted in some tribes. The practice resembles and may have originated from procedures in
the Mandan "O-Kee-pa" ceremony, as described by the artist, George Catlin, in 1832 (1967, pp. 39-100); it probably spread to
the western tribes from that locus (Hultkrantz, 1973, p. 17). In the self-inflicted torture process, participants were suspended
from the top of the lodge by thongs attached to skewers passing through back or chest muscles. Additionally, from incisions
made in various areas of their bodies, buffalo skulls were hung from skewers. In another form of this sacrifice, instead of being
suspended, a man would volunteer to "carry four of his relatives on his back, meaning he would drag four buffalo skulls." An
Oglala who made that vow spoke of it as bearing "my closest relatives, the ancient buffalo" (Brown, 1967, pp. 86, 95). Two to
eight skulls might be attached, and as the dancer moved, in addition to tearing his flesh by means of the skewers, the skull and especially the horns dug into his body.
Eastman explains that the buffalo skull that is dragged after the dancer represents "the grave from which he had escaped" (1970, p. 60).
It is relevant to the understanding of this practice that "among hunting peoples bones represent the final source of life, both human and animal, the source from which the species is reconstituted at will.... The 'soul, is presumed to reside in the bones and hence the resurrection of the individual from its bones can be expected." For hunters, "bone represents the very source of life. ... To reduce a living being to a skeleton is equivalent to re-entering the womb of this primordial life, that is, to a complete renewal, a mystical rebirth." The idea that "the inexhaustible matrix of life of the species" is found in the animal's bones is characteristic of the "mystical relations between man and his prey" that are "fundamental for hunting societies." Plains tribes such as the Dakota "believe that the bones of those bisons which they have slain and divested of flesh rise again clothed with renewed flesh, and quickened with life, and become fat, and fit for slaughter the succeeding June" (Eliade, 1974, pp. 63, 159, 160-61). Thus the theme of rebirth is expressed through the role of the buffalo skull in the sun dance and this concept of universal regeneration infuses with transcendent meaning the participants' suffering of ritual pain in association with the skull of the sacred animal.
The buffalo plays a significant role in the visionary experience that is sought in the sun dance. A Crow dancer may be guided by a buffalo during a vision. In the contemporary sun dance ceremony, "dancers challenge his [the buffalo's] attention by 'running at it,' suffering and praying that the Buffalo Person will take notice and 'run over them,' bringing a dancer what he desires and perhaps something more the gift of a power to cure" (Vogel, 1984, p. 307). A Crow who is dancing intently may see the buffalo on which he is focusing move. "The buffalo may 'chase' a dancer, knocking him down. When this happens, the dancer is said to have taken a 'hard fall.'" It has come about "with the force of the Buffalo." As a climax, "he realizes he has the ears and horns of the Buffalo; he's looking about through the Buffalo's eyes. He and the Buffalo are one." After relating these events to the medicine man, "he's told of the vision's significance, and cautioned 'never to eat of the buffalo"' (Frey, 1987, pp. 118-21, 125). Ute and Shoshone participants reach a point in the ceremony "where they believe that they are indeed 'knocked down' by Buffalo." When a dancer is unconscious for a short time, it is assumed that "he is afraid of Buffalo and has rejected his power." Elder shamans then shout encouragement, telling him "You can get what you're looking for.... If you want to be a doctor [shaman] you've got to work for it. You've got to take it away from that buffalo. He wants to give it to you, but it isn't going to be easy." The participant usually attempts to dance again, desiring to be one who "made it," who did not "collapse in front of Buffalo and then fail to muster the courage to get up to dance and again to meet Buffalo head on." It is believed that "Buffalo knocks down those who violate customs, or pursue power too fast, or who cannot withstand the hot-dry force." Those who get up and dance again after being knocked down show they "have the courage to withstand Buffalo's jolts of hot-dry power." Fellow participants may catch a falling dancer and "send him back to 'fight Buffalo"' (Jorgensen, 1974, pp. 213-14). Shoshones and Utes believe that the buffalo snorts fire out of his nostrils, that his eyes roll, and that he becomes alive, just like an enraged bull in a bull ring. He challenges those who would accept his power to come and get it. If a person goes down and is knocked unconscious but does not receive a vision, it takes great courage to face Buffalo again. It is believed that, when a person receives his vision, he is "knocked down" as if he were hit by a thunderbolt from above, and it is a foregone conclusion that the dancer will not only dance again but that his dancing will be effortless. (Jorgensen, 1974, p. 214)
During a vision, the dancer is usually unconscious for several hours, and in that interval he "may learn new songs, new curing
techniques, and a new dance step." He is in the company of the supernatural forces and may talk to the spirits and perhaps to
Buffalo. He is instructed about his power and about new aspects and interpretations of the dance. Spectators may "see
Buffalo's eyes roll and turn red" when the dancer has been "hit" (Jorgensen, 1974, pp. 214-15).
Prophetic visions regarding buffalo may be granted to sun dancers. One Sioux related that he saw "a herd of buffalo heading
north. He saw white people killing buffalo until they were all gone. So he knew what was coming, but the things foretold in a
vision could not be prevented." Later, during the great drought of 1930, with its disastrous dust storms, a more optimistic vision indicated that "the buffalo had returned to 'hook up the ground"' (Laubin, 1977, p. 293).
Interactions with animals, particularly the eagle and the buffalo, are inextricably interwoven with the sun dance of the Plains Indians. The roles assigned to them relate to the animals place in the world view of the society in which this ritual is a major event, and reflect intimate human relationships with the natural world that differ from those typical of the Judaeo-Christian tradition. The animals who share the Plains environment are viewed as wise and powerful. They possess most of the same capacities human beings have and in some ways exceed them. Beliefs about creation indicate that certain animals existed before people did, and were in communication with the Creator. They advised the Creator and helped in bringing humankind and even the earth itself into existence. Animals are intermediaries between human beings and the supernatural forces. All living creatures are part of a single interrelated community. Each one has its own part in this web of life, which is envisioned as a circle rather than as the linear hierarchy with humankind at the top that pervades western thought. Jamake Highwater, a writer of Blackfeet heritage, emphasizes the "sympathetic undertone" of the native Americans' relationship to the world around them, and explains their belief in the solidarity of life as an expression of kinship (1981, p. 69).
With this view of animals as relatives, a hunter/gatherer society that places strong valuation on obtaining animals for food generally possesses cultural resources for dealing with the inevitable inconsistencies between an attitude of mutuality and kinship with living beings and the antagonism involved in killing and eating them. In his recent study of Plains Indian religion and morality, Howard Harrod points out that the sun dance ritual is an important factor in the resolution of this conflict. Killing animals violates kinship relations, but the ceremonies of world renewal that focus on the buffalo serve to bring about a symbolic reconciliation. Through the process of elevating the buffalo to a sacred status that is not conferred upon any other animal and by showing it great respect and reverence in the sun dance ritual, the potentially disruptive practice of feeding upon its flesh is somehow mitigated. There is a resultant deepened sense of kinship that helps to restore harmony between people and the buffalo (1987, pp. 116, 133, 165, 171-72).
Members of traditional Plains Indian society define themselves not as separate entities, but as part of a whole. They see
themselves primarily as partaking of a kinship network, emphasizing their membership in family, clan, and tribe. The contrast between this mode of viewing the self as subordinate to the whole and the strong individualism of modern Western society has been well established (see Leach, 1982, pp. 139-40). In the same way that Plains tribespeople experience their broad
communal ties to other human beings, this ingrained way of relating is extended to the wider society, including non-humans
(Hughes, 1983, pp. 16-17, 61). Thus land, essential to all life animal and human could not be imagined as individually
owned.
A sense of reciprocity permeates Plains ideology. Dynamic interrelationships between people and nature require giving as well as taking. Hence the sun dance ritual includes all of nature in its scope, but places an emphasis on those creatures and forces that are most beneficially related to human welfare. The sun lodge represents the whole universe where the drama of cosmic renewal is played out, and all elements of nature including the sun, moon, and stars are praised. The strictly spiritual tie to the eagle is well represented and his ceremonial role is focused upon religious perceptions regarding his conscious awareness, his role as messenger, and his powers of flight.
Relationships with the buffalo are more complex and intricate. As the major animal represented in the sun dance, it has both
spiritual and physical ties to humankind. It is, quite simply, acknowledged as nec essary for bodily existence. Without it, there
would be death, or at least an i mpoverished life. Since humankind has a spirit as well as a body, the buffalo is seen as answering all the needs of people those manifested by the spirit as well as the flesh. When it is stated that "all the good things of Cheyenne existence are fulfilled in the buffalo" (Powell, 1969, vol. 2, p. 635), this assertion includes the full range of human experience. It has been well established that the native ethos does not include a religion separate from other aspects of daily life as in the Western concept, but rather encompasses a world in which all of life is permeated by spiritual forces (Harrod, 1987, p. 6).
Through dependence upon the buffalo for food, the animal literally becomes "flesh of our flesh" for the consumers. In this sense, as in many other important ways, the great animal entered the Plains Indians, psyche. Lame Deer extols the power and wisdom of the buffalo and explains:
We Sioux have a close relationship to the buffalo. He is our brother. We have many legends of buffalo changing themselves into men. And the Indians are built like buffalo, too big shoulders, narrow hips. According to our belief, the Buffalo Woman who brought us the peace pipe, which is at the center of our religion, was a beautiful maiden, and after she had taught our tribes how to worship with the pipe, she changed herself into a white buffalo calf. So the buffalo is very sacred to us. You can't understand about nature, about the feeling we have toward it, unless you understand how close we were to the buffalo. That animal was almost like a part of ourselves, part of our souls. (1972, p. 130)
He goes on to point out that without the buffalo, "we were nothing," enumerating the many ways its flesh, skin, horns, organs, and bones were used to benefit people. Further, "his mighty skull, with the pipe leaning against it, was our sacred altar. The name of the greatest Sioux was Tatanka Iyotake Sitting Bull. When you killed off the buffalo, you also killed the Indian the real, natural, 'wild' Indian." The natives, close identification with the buffalo is expressed by Lame Deer's praise of the animal as smart, playful, possessed of a sense of humor, hardy, and well suited to its harsh environment. The buffalo seems specially fashioned for the Indians, because Lame Deer says "White hunters used to call the buffalo stupid because they were easy to shoot, weren't afraid of a gun. But the buffalo was not designed to cope with modern weapons. He was designed to deal with an Indian's arrows" (1972, pp. 13-31). Regarding the buffalo as "the closest of all animals to human beings," Plains Indians saw parallels between the great beast and their own species. "The buffalo evidently had a religion, for they were seen to purify their 'children' by washing them and made 'offerings' of hair when they rubbed against trees" (Hughes, 1983, p. 325).
A very important consideration in understanding the Indian's perception is that the buffalo is a highly social animal, innately gregarious. That is a trait with which the Plains people could identify, finding similarities to the broad allegiances and communal relationships characteristic of their own social organization. Unlike more solitary species, the buffalo, as a herd animal, is often referred to by the natives as a "tribe" or "nation." And, as mentioned, the movements and whereabouts of that "buffalo nation" influenced Plains Indian tribal structure and location at a given season. Generally, the Plains Indian interactions with buffaloes do not involve personal contact with individual animals, but rather the whole species or population. Calling the animal "Buffalo" always implies reference to the group or at least a member who represents that group. One specific buffalo is rarely, if ever, singled out or named as is often the case in many societies with any animal who is to be eaten. This practice helps in combating the revulsion that may accompany the consumption of flesh from a familiar individual being. Thus communal ritual
reconciliation is made with the species as a whole: human society propitiates the buffalo nation.
Helping to relieve the guilt resulting from killing and eating sentient creatures, too, is the pervasive belief that animals willingly offer themselves to hunters. This idea is reflected in the observation that "the Plains Indians spoke of their hunt not as 'driving' the buffalo but as 'leading them'; not 'chasing,' but 'calling'" them. Certain men among the Cheyenne and Blackfeet possessed "the power of charming the buffalo into a corral or over a cliff." They accomplished this feat by disguising themselves in buffalo robes and imitating the animals' movements and sounds (Hughes, 1983, p. 30). The conviction that the buffalo voluntarily give themselves to be killed for the benefit of human beings is closely associated with Plains people's sense of identification with the animal and with the force of reciprocal obligations toward it. As expressed by members of one tribe, "Since buffalo allowed themselves to be used in order that the Crow people could live, it seemed fitting . . . to offer a part of themselves to the sun and other spiritual persons" (Vogel, 1984, p. 307).
Thus the sacrifice of the dancers through fasting, thirst, and self-inflicted pain reflects the desire to return something of
themselves to nature, with special reference to the life- sustaining buffalo, in exchange for past and future benefits. It is relevant that, as mentioned, the Mandan O-kee-pa (Okipa) ceremony, from which elements of the Plains sun dance are almost certainly derived, features the self-torture of participants by means of buffalo skulls. In addition to that practice, there were certain animal-oriented rituals included within the O-kee-pa that shed light on the meaning of the sun dance. For example, Catlin described a bull-dance "to the strict observance of which they [the Mandans] attributed the coming of buffaloes to supply them with food." The colorful event was enacted by men dressed as buffaloes, wearing buffalo head masks, who imitated the motions and behavior of the animals (1967, pp. 54-57). The name Okee-pa means "look alike" and refers to the bull dancers, who were all of the same stature and who were identically dressed and painted (Bowers, 1950, p. 111).
Additionally, men disguised as other animals including grizzly bears, eagles, antelopes, swans, rattlesnakes, beavers, vultures,
and wolves, imitated the sounds and behaviors of their respective species. In this spectacle, the players enacted interrelationships involving struggle between various forms of life. Animals growled and chased each other and meat-feeding
scenarios took place (Catlin, 1967, pp. 54-57). This performance represents the expression of a theme dealing with predator-prey relationships. Evidently, the ambiguities of carnivorous behavior were being explored through ritual. Early in the twentieth century, as a preliminary to the Blackfoot sun dance, similar figures dressed to resemble wolves and grizzly bears interacted with dancers in the guise of buffaloes (McClintock, 1910, p. 300), indicating a preoccupation with the same theme. Such rituals provided an overt expression of the tensions involved in the dilemma of one form of life feeding upon another that underlie the sun dance ceremony.
To a greater or lesser degree depending upon the tribe, the sun dance includes the elements of sacrifice and pain on the part of
participants. The ultimate gift is the offering of one's own body. In a deep sense, this phenomenon of undergoing physical agony relates the supplicants to the rest of nature; it is an atonement in the true meaning of "at onement," with reference to the unity of the cosmos. For all living creatures are subject to suffering and share a common capacity for pain. According to Oglala tradition, "This truth of the oneness of all things we understand a little better by participating in this rite, and by offering ourselves as a sacrifice" (Brown, 1967, p. 95).
Mircea Eliade explains the Mandan O-kee-pa as a rite of "initiatory torture" inflicted for the purpose of "spiritual transmutation of the victim." Death, represented by undergoing torture, signifies that the profane man has been killed and the participant has come to life regenerated in body and soul. The person must "die" through the ordeal of "being cut to pieces" in order to bring about his symbolic resurrection ( 1975, pp. 206, 207, 208). As Eastman analyzes the meaning of the cutting and bleeding of the Sioux dancer who is pierced, the pain that results is "the natural accompaniment of his figurative death" ( 1970, p. 61). The flesh that is tom away when the thong breaks loose "represents ignorance," which "should always be behind us as we face the light of truth which is before us" (Brown, 1967, p. 86). Thus the sun dancer is reborn, mentally and spiritually as well as physically, along with the renewal of the buffalo and the entire universe.
The great sun dance ritual establishes the tenet that there is no final death, for all living things can be renewed. Human beings, however, like all their fellow creatures, must cooperate in order to bring about universal regeneration. By feeding grass to the buffalo skull, the cycle of life is symbolically perpetuated. To appease the buffalo who gives so much to people, appreciation and good intentions must be shown, and deferential behavior is mandated. By significant acts like refraining from eating buffalo flesh after the animal has provided a vision, leaving some of the meat to propitiate the animal's spirit after a buffalo is slain, and planting a piece of sacred buffalo tongue back into the ground during the ceremonial feast (Frey, 1987, p. 121; Walker, 1917, p. 130; McClintock, 1910, p. 305), honor is given to the spiritual presence of the buffalo. Because the animal's spirit still remains when the buffalo is killed, death is not final; eternal return is assured for both buffalo and humankind through reciprocal actions that maintain the harmony of the natural world. Thus at the close of the Oglala sun dance, Wakan-Tanka is addressed: "You have taught us our relationship with all ... beings, and for this we give thanks... May we be continually aware of this relationship which exists between the four-leggeds, the two-leggeds, and the wingeds. May we all rejoice and live in peace!" (Brown, 1967, p. 98). Dorsey, G. A. (1905).
The Cheyenne: I. Ceremonial organization. Chicago: Field Columbian Museum Publication 99, Anthropological
Series. 9, 1.
Dorsey, G. A. (19O5a).
The Cheyenne: II. The sun dance. Chicago: Field Columbian Museum Publication 103, 9, 2.
Grinnell, G. B. (1923).
The Cheyenne Indians. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1, 2.
Hultkrantz, A. (1973).
Prairie and Plains Indians. Iconography of Religions. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 10, 2.
Jorgensen, J. G. (1974).
The sun dance religion. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Liberty, M. (1980).
The sun dance. In W. R. Wood & M. Liberty (Eds.) Anthropology on the Great Plains (pp. 164-178). Lincoln
University of Nebraska Press.
Mails, T. (1972).
The mystic warriors of the Plains. Garden City, New York: Doubleday.
Spier, L. (1921).
The sun dance of the Plains Indians: Its development and diffusion. Anthropological Papers of the American Museum
of Natural History, 16, 7.
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