The is a ceremony in use among all the Plains Indians, some of whom observe it as an annual event in the tribal life, while among others it is resorted to only on some special occasion. It lasts from one to 8 or 10 days and is generally held about the time of the summer solstice. The first days of the ceremony are devoted to the rites of the sacred (secret) tepee and the others to public ceremonies in which all the members of the tribe take part, in varying capacities according to their rank, age and relationship to the tribal traditions and ceremonies. The sacred tepee rites commemorate and repre sent the acts originally performed by their inventor on the Sacred Mountain. The Sun Dance of the Plains Indians had its origin in days of famine now long past. An Indian with his wife went into a mountain, where he fasted, prayed and met a great medicine man itou from whom he learned the sacred cere monies of the Sun Dance. Returning to his tribe he performed these ceremonies and the famine ceased, for the buffalo came in vast herds covering all the plains. At the time of the holding of the Sun Dance the rank of the chiefs was renewed, the young chiefs were singled out for their bravery and publically commended, and the dead were remembered. Often, too, it was a season for renewing tribal friendships. The ceremonies included a ven eration of the Four Earth Quarters; special honor was paid to the Sun as the Great Mystery and the °Very Great Medicine Man Above.° He was represented by symbolical characters painted upon the centre pole of the tepee. In the dance ceremonies four old men represented the four wind gods of the four quarters of the world while all the dancers wore wreaths symbolical of the Sun, the Moon, the Morning Star and the Four Wind Gods. Whistles were frequently used to symbolize life (the wind in its active mood), and the call of the Thunder Bird from out the clouds driven by the winds, the Cloud Pushers. The whole dance ceremony formed a great aboriginal dramatic representation, a far-reaching and wide-influencing myth de veloped under the influence of the priestly class to keep vividly alive the tribal traditions em bodied in the acts of the several days of the dance.
The Thunder Bird, which was symbolically represented in the ceremonies of the Sun Dance, is a personification of the thunder and the lightning. The myths relating to it cover a vast extent of territory stretching from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Sometimes the myth presents one great bird, sometimes several, in the latter case all of different colors. In gen eral the Thunder Bird was the helper of man, and in this, respect he may be classed with the culture heroes; for to him the culture gods of the Pacific were beholden, on several notable occasions, for the things which they taught mankind. Wakiash, the great hero god of the Kwakiutl, made his memorable journey down the Pacific coast countries on the back of the Great Thunder Bird whom he met in the mountains after a long fast, prayers and other observances preparatory to becoming a med icine man; and it was with the aid of this same supernatural agent that he was enabled to bring back with him the first totem pole and house known in the land of the Kwakiutl. See also FOLK-TALES AND MYTHS OF THE AMERICAN INDIANS.
Bancroft, H. H.,
Barratt, Joseph,