Show THE TES SUN DANCE the utes about all there are arc left who observe the heathen custom of the indians did you en ever er witness v ht is ebed the sun dance it is ie weird and wonderful there is no dance of the savage in all the world one half so fascino fascinating ing awe inspiring barbaroux roul hideous barbarosa barba roua doleful silly billy or useless the bear dance which takes place ch ca 3 each year in the spring time when the mating season la Is at its ita full and which ii witnessed by people from far and ne near s r sinks into insignificance when compared with the sun dance one differ from the other as 98 much as night differs ers from day as 88 much as dar darkness kneis differs from light cold from heat sickness from health heathenism from civilization the same people who went to see that dance years igo ago never tire of it as they do the bear dance they go again and again and eich each time they are as 88 deeply interested is a before with the dance in the spring ri g time when all the world is ia glad when the birds begin to sing when the grass begins to grow when nature is smiling diling or when the sky seems to have more more blue in it when the bear comes out it la im different when you see it once you have seen all there is to see but there is ia something new or there appears to be at every sun dance if this dance Is ia eo 90 wonderful to us who have seen been it so 60 often and who have been right here among the indians for so many years what would it be to those people back east who have never as much as seen an indian but the custom is fast dying out and pretty soon it will be but an unpleasant memory it has already disappeared from most moist of the reservations for various reasons but chiefly because of the intensity of feeling that it arouses among the indians indiana jt is discouraged heraram ong stev ari the dt whitest V who are trying to let in the light of religion and education hope that it will soon be among the dead things of the past those things that have retarded the advancement of the red man the sun dance for tius this year is finished and the indians have all returned to their various places of abode the tribes from montana idaho south dakota wyoming arizona colorado and southern utah are wending their ways back to their huts laden down with their many presents of blankets and belts and beads and with them they are taking the ponies given them by the utes they were royally treated while at the agency indians are always very hospitable towards each other but more oo BO than ever on such occasions as this one that has just passed this dance began a week ago last wednesday afternoon with a big sham battle and unceasingly it continued for three days and four nights it is hurd hard to describe so that the reader who has never seen it will be able to fully appreciate preci ate it it is M a religious celebration of some kind and only the bucks take part in it strength and endurance are tested and the man who comes out at the end in the best condition if is the medicine man and the medicine man to the indians is a wonderful being lie he says many words in a strange tongue over the sick and lays on hands with great violence the performance always takes place at night time and often lasts until the sun eun is far up in the heavens the relatives of the patient and many who are not relatives gather around and they chant and pow wow and go through curious motions the medicine man resorts to many tricks he picks up a stone and swallows it after awhile he belches it up and with all his might he hurla burls it cowards a star if he hits the star all right if he misses the star all right he charges all the way from a few cents to an indian pony for his services the rhe man who can accomplish such wonderful things as the medicine man can accomplish must needs be a man of great physical strength and that strength is proven at the sun dance the dance takes place in a circular enclosure sixty feet in diameter there is but one opening to the enclosure and none but the dancers and the squaws squads are allowed to enter inside of thi this s circle the indians indiana have booths covered with blankets blan keta in the center bf the circle is a pole about thirty feet high elgh surrounding the pole and a few feet feat distant are thirteen other poles ten to fifteen feet lower than the one in the middle these thirteen poles polea are supposed to represent the thirteen moons of the year the top of the high polo pole is decorated with many eagles feathers fea there the dancers are naked except for a slight covering about the loins about the head the dancer is decorated with cassels cassela and eagles feathers each dancer has a whistle made from the feather of an egle wing and this whistle he blows constantly from forty to seventy indians engage in the dance and standing on tip toe with eyes directed towards the top of the big pole they dance to and fro to and fro with a brief breathing spell every ten minutes or so in one corner of the corral to the left of the entrance are squaws squads who keep up a continual chant the lance dance as before stated lasts three days and four nights and never a bite of food nor a drink of water do the dancers touch during all those long hours one by one the weaker fall by the way side alde and those who still have plenty of strength left stand around about the exhausted and blow their whistles hoping to bring back vigor and freshness of life at the great finish there are but few who have withstood the ravages of the heat the pangs of hunger the parching thirst and the nervous strain the dance concludes conclude with a big fast f ast and the victor victoria is declared the man among the tha distinguished visitors at this sun dance was ignacio chief of the southern utes of colorado lie ile is a man about seventy years old lind and is one of the most noted leaders in the west tabby was the last chief of the mintaha Uinta Uin taha his he died about five 3 5 cars ago tecumseh who lives on the reservation is a a son of tabby |