Show ties STILL MAKE RAIN AS lulo pat THEIR FATHERS IN THE I 1 LON G AGO of cow tails as storm producers an article of fai faith th avith W A beuchle medicine men interesting ceremony in s which indian prays for rain for his corn f i no rain no pay for performer ell be lk york the rhe government ent at fen recent recently ay permission ge gave f t v ym ou sd band of talo sioux ux to hold a s modified AD e on one of the reser reservations reserva vatIOUS tlona la t the he nored northwest west it was explained had In c resident dent agent t tb the r A to confine the ritual of the com cere till to its ita purely religious features tea fea turee turea those fanatical demon stra A designed to appeal to race poeju which have bavo worked so much in ry it ln a the past it was a sun aun dance manipulation ot of tho the de ies the clever ling sitting null bull which led to one tie the most cost frightful indian wars while alle the sun danco dance la is the best r I 1 own by name to whit walta 0 man yet it i tr by no DO m means the M moet ost important tb aboriginal original seasonal fe feasts abts when apt sam geer of Talle tallequah okla le indian nation as aa it la is still ailed d by old timers in the west ar 7 ired aired at hempstead L I 1 a few days go on a short abort visit he told how the ac accle ahle were making rain to save J als a corn s H in the southern part of the old ly areek treek reservation in what was the ina hian aban territory Is located the tha huchla pillage pilla blage gB which holds the remnants rem nanta ot of h once powerful tribe that was sub BUD bided aed by the creeks many years ago laid lid he be 1 I passed through this vil MB ceone one hot july day the weather bad freen on dry no rain had fallen for weeks ud d the grass was scorched to dust lored colored hay on the ground driving kaiang ong the road a short distance beyond tie a village I 1 saw a crowd of duchies p n the banks of a small stream there ere many squaws squads in the gathering and d wonderful to relate they were ballent Bil dent lent I 1 pulled up the horse and asked john Six shooter the creek guide who me the meaning of the assemblage aisem blage and of the silence which prevailed ile he shaded his bis eyes with his hands looked at the crowd for a afew few minutes and said reckon they Is bout to make rain min I 1 see the old medicine man an some 0 th things they use when gettin ready for a play 0 that kind do they really make rain I 1 asked well they say they do but like th white man they sometimes bay a berned lot moren they mean we drove over to the eachles Eu chles john had bad reckoned correctly rain was as badly needed in the country and the Indians had called upon their medicine man maa to provide a bountiful supply the members of the tribe were mused massed on one of the banks of tho the creek stolidly regarding the medle medicine lne man dan who stood some fifty yards away on a little grass covered knoll which wao waa clear of tree or shrub lie he was perfectly naked at his feet was a tub three quarters full of water from the adjacent stream the tub was fl a j plain wooden affair such as Is used N 4 follow faith of their fathers by y the country housewife on wash days ays on the ground near the tu tub b were two dried cow tails with the fringe ange of hair at the ends well pro pre served turning to the northwest the med cine man swept the expanse of clear blue a summer sky with a searching gaze probably lie he was looking tor for ll bluds uc lg it f go lie hg saw nono none for there waa as not lot even the seamans proverbial cloud as big as your hand in the beav a but tile the old indians face betrayed 0 sign of disappointment ile he was brave ve dignified and methodical in bearing and manner some sixty years lf age ho he was as aa erect as ae a young uck and a splendid specimen of the led roan man stepping into the tub the Ine dicine man squatted with his chin on his knees lie he sprinkled water on hs s chest on his head and over his tack nack slowly at first then more rap idla until he scooped up as fast as aos lie auld 11 as much water as his hands bands would hold soon his body was running rivulets extending hla his arms at full length before him the hands open palms upward the medicine man began EL a prayer to his sak l ta demisa the glyer giver of breath it was a muttered supplication in so BO low a tone that those who 0 o understood the language could sot dist ulan toa the words this no doubt by design it would not do for the members of the tribe to know all the medicine employed on such euch an occasion they might witness the theatrical display but without the precise form of the communication to his sak eak l ta demisa they were powerless to make medicine on their own account the prayer concluded the medicine I 1 man dosed closed his hands which all the while had been extended and drew them slowly to his hie breast he began another prayer in an undertone extended hla his hands opened them when at the full length of his reach closed them and drew them to his breast as before seems to be pulling on unseen strings I 1 remarked to john whatever hole hoa ast doln that samel same replied the guide after repeating the string pulling performance a dozen times the medicine man still muttering a prayer reached over the side of his tub and picked up the cow tails lie he shook them in the air over his head with a quick jerky motion laid them down and began agat again to pull on the unseen strings in the northwest th three ree times at regular intervals intervale the medicine man shook the tails then he stepped from the tub emptied the water on tho the ground and retired into the forest to the northwest taking tub and tails with him later 1 I asked the old chief of the J 1 N it 1 X A modern indian girt girl creeks the meaning of the porto performance rm I 1 had d witnessed at the beuchle village first began the C hiet chief let me tell you that only a few sundays ago I 1 heard a white man preacher pray for rain now what ava waa 9 the difference between the white mans appeal and that of the beuchle medicine man you dont caro care to say eh well ill tell you ou the difference and a very imbor apor tant one it Is from the indians stan d point if the medicine mart man brings bring 8 rain he saves the corn crop and I 1 in n return for his services he be receives a portion of 0 f the crop raised by oveia every indian in the tribe no rain min no crop crol P no crop no corn for the medicine man i the white man preacher gets his corn whether be brings rain or not but tell me if the medicine in man falls what excuse has he be to offer those chaps always leave a hole bole through which to crawl without d disturbing Is the popular belief in the oan cacy icy of their medicine you observe replied the chief chie f who lio was an indian of some education that hat the rainmaker rain maker seemed to be drawing on unseen strings from the northwest the rain always comes from the northwest in this country jid and those strings were attached to rain aln clouds he was sure to draw the louds clouds to himself an and d there would surely be rain unless some enemy of his or of his tribe had planted a hatchet edge up between him and the cloudel clouda it if a hatchet had been burled buried to tho the northwest why it Is perfectly plain the gsa would be cut in passing over tho the sharp edge and consequently quent ly the medicine man would lose loae his hold on the clouds then it if there should bo be no rain mr air medicine man alan would make it convenient to find a burled buried hatchet the ahe following day while it if there should he be rain he would be careful to say nothing of a hatchet or of hatchets batche well something of the kind and the cow tails that feature of the herfor performance ince I 1 have tracked back bach to tho the early days day when the creeks choctaws komir lot and the chickasaws were known as aa the eachles were a neighboring tribe and doubtless bor indian musicians rowed much of their medicine from the older and larger organization the inhabited the country east of the mississippi river but occasionally on tho the young braves crossed the big stream to hunt on the buffalo grounds some distance to the west when they got up a herd of buffalo the game on being disturbed had a habit of throw f ing their talla tails in the air preliminary to a mad gallop for safety it them the weather had been dry the h herd erd waff soon lost in a cloud of dust duat this did not bother mr air indian very much foi for he could track the beasts and ally run them down if a rainstorm should come up overnight hi however the buffalo tracks were soon wa washed shed out and the herd very likely escaped so the indiana interpreted the flirting of the tha buffaloes talla tails as an appeal to the giver of breath for rain tha medicine men incorporated the tall I 1 shaking in their medicine for that reason it was good medicine which they had learned from the 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