N0.'^41]^ WIND RIVER SHOSHONE SUN DANCE SHIMKIN 459 White opinion of him is not high: he is reputed to be an alcohoHc

N0.'^41]^

WIND

RIVER

SHOSHONE SUN DANCE SHIMKIN 459

460 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY

^{[Bull. 151}

ability.

"We have

justpassedthrougha greatdesert."

He was

glad that therain

had

come.

And,

despite thefactthat

no

one

had

fainted or

had had

visions, he

seemed

satisfied

and

thoughtthe

Sun Dance had

been very successful.

His

own

account of his visions

and

supernatural experiences gives particularly

good

insight both into the

norms

of such affairs

and

his deviations therefrom.

Almost

verbatim, it is as follows:

ThefirstSunDanceIattendedwasatFort Hallin1908. Iknewnothing about

itthen. Ihad justreturnedfromschool, where Ihadgothurt playingfootball.

The doctorspronounced ^it heart disease; theydidnot expect

me

tolive. Iwas sent home, verysick. The old-timers told

me

to trythe Sun Dance ... I was goingto die anyway.

It lasted 4 days; by the second, Ifelt very bad; better the third, and by the nightofthethird day,normal.

AfterthatItook noticeofthe dance, and wentintothree others, nearlyevery year.

My

heartnever bothered me. Isawseveralothercures.

On

thefifth time,Ifainted. Ididn'tfeelweak

—

somethingjustbatted

me

on thehead. IdidnotknowwhetherornotIhadfainted.

Some kind ofa

human —

^{it floated} about afoot and a halfabove the earth

—

drew

my

attention. Itfloatedlikeafog. Then^Itriedtorunitoutofthedance hall. Then it made a dive at me, hitting

me

with its shoulder and head. It

knocked

me

headoverheels,and wenton beyond,leaving

me

^lyingthere.

AfterIhitthegroundIknewnothingforan houroran hourandahalf. They

carried

me

to

my

stall.

Then^InoticedIwasnotinthedance^hall. Ifound myself on a high mountain, one half ofit white lava [sic]. It was a ridgerunning to thewest. The lower halfwas green with grass, sprinkled with flowers. Looking the country over, I

sawitwasstrange to me, countrythatIhadneverseen before.

Evenwith

me

wasalittlestream,withtallweeds growingbyit. Itwasarun- ningstream, with clear water. I knelt down to drink. I was going to drink.

But, justas

my

mouthwas nearing the water, something

—

^{inside of}me?

—

^said,

"Wait." Again^Ibentdown,andagainithappened. Thethird time,justas

my

mouth touchedthe water, I looked up.

It hadbeen the Buffalothat spoke,the Buffaloofthecenterpole. It kindof circledaroundme. Then ^itturnedinto a

human

being. Ilooked atit,wonder- ing.

Why

wasitstaring atme? Iknewthenthatitwasthesame

man

whohad knocked

me

over.

He

tookthree orfour stepstowardme, then hestopped.

He

seemedafraidof me.

He

said tome, "Thefirstdrinkyou take:don'tholditdown. Ifyoudo,it will kill you. The next time the water will be purer. The first drink will be poisonedinyour body. Ifyou drinkit, youwon'tlivelong.

"Thesecondtimeitwillbringupdiseasesandblood. Thethirdtimeitwillbe purewater,withjustalittlebloodinit. Thefourth time,drinkallthewateryou want. That is

why

Istopped you."

He

circledaround

me

again, andleft.

Iput

my

handsintothewater

—

^{thatfar[Compton}gestured to points halfway up to his elbows].

And

I drank anddrank. Iwas bloated worse than a toad when I got throughfinally.

Itwaswellalongintheafternoonthen, 3 o'clock orso. Isatdownandlooked around.

Way

outtothenorth-east,inasortof desert, IsawaSun Dancehall.

It was 2or 3 miles away, outontheflats.

ANTHROP.Pap. -^ji^d riveR

SHOSHONE SUN DANCE — ^{SHIMKIN 461}

Itseemed asthough I hadbeen ona long journey fromthe west. It seemed asthough Ihadbeen dry andthirsty, tired. Irestedforan hourbythe spring.

When

Igot up, Iwasperfectlysatisfied.

And

Igot up. Inoticed Itook two or threesteps. ThenIknewnothingoftheother stepsuntil I was 15 or20 feet

awayfrom thehall

—

Ijustseemed to float.

Now

Iwalked aroundthesouthside ofthehall,tothedoorfacingtheeast. I

couldseethepeople lookingthrough the bushesofthewalls,watchingthe dance.

They did not see me. They were jammed together. I squeezed through and slipped to thefront.

Ilookedaroundand,inthenorthofthehall, Isawa vacantplace. There wasa niceshadethere,whereabody waslying,asleep. Imadeup

my

mindtogothere andrest, and watchthedancers. Istarted, and walkedrightacrossthehall. I satdownrightatthebody'sfeet. Ilookedatthedancers. Prettysoon,Ibegan toliedown. Itseemedasthough Ihad beguntowake up.

Ididn'tknowwhetherIhadsleptornot.

Now

^Iheard thedrumandthesingers, heardthe old

men

urgingthedancerson. Iwaspuzzled.

How

hadI first come

in? I tried to figure out

how

it was: it seemed so true that I had gotten this drink. RightthereItriedtofigureitout.

Ifinallythought: "Ihadstartedtorunhimout.

He

hitme." Itracedmyself fromthere tothemountain,drinking. ButIwasasdryas before. Ihad seemed stuffedwith waterwhen Ihadleftthespring. Iseemeddry when Iawoke. It

seemedjust likea dream.

Ipushedthecoveroff

my

head. ThentheDance^chiefandanotherfellowcame over

—

somebody hadtoldhimIhad awakened.

He

askedme, "Haveyou awak- ened? Haveyouseen anything? Have you hadyour drink?"

"Yes," Isaid, "butI

am

asdryasIwasbefore."

"Whatdidthisto you?"

"Idon'tknow. Itwas somekindofaspiritthatknocked

me

out."

"From nowon you won'thaveto suffer,"theysaid. Theyasked

me

ifIhad seenanything more. ItoldthemoftheSpirit'sorders.

Theysaid,"In timeyou

may

get sothatyou

may

knowsomethingoftheDance.

Somedayyou

may

^handleityourself."

Afterthe leader askedme, he seemedto be gladthat I had beenhelped. At thattimeIdidn'tunderstand. Itseemedthattheleaderwasmorepleasedthan^I.

He

was Woodpecker (A'saba), a medicine man.

Ididn'trealize themeaning ofthis. Ididn't care. Iwasyoung. I believed intheSun Dancebecause Ihadbeen curedby itofheartdisease.

Ijustwenton, gotalong thebestIcoulduntil Imarriedandstartedafamily.

Two

or three years after the first vision the samespirit knocked

me

out again.

It told

me

to go into another Sun Dance. Nothing happened that time, but I couldsee differentthings: spiritsofthe Sun Dance. Then^Igotagreaterbelief inthe Sun Dance, began to study it over,took more notice ofit. I gota good line-uponitanditsmeaning fromtheold-timers. Itraceditback. Itgave

me

moreinterest afterIlearnedofChristandHisfast. Igotsome meaning fromit. . .

Up

tonowIhavebeenin13SunDances. Thiswillbe

my

fourteenth, andthe thirdoneIhaverun. Theotherswerein1929and 1932.

I

am

not a medicine

man

oranythinglikethat. But Ibegantohaveastrong beliefinit. Ibeganto thinkit over

—

^{andhavingthis Spiritknock}

me

over. . .

Itbeganto talk to

me

andtocometo

me

at night. Ifanyof

my

relativeswassick, theSpiritwouldcometo

me

at night, tell

me

what todo,what kindofprayerto useforthesickperson.

FromthenonIbeganto believeintheSpirit. Igotsuccessonseveral occasions.

462

Since then, Ihavehelped

many

sickpeople. I

am

not adoctor, Ijustusewords andprayer,thenameofGod,andtheSpiritoftheSunDance.

Since then,Ihaveseen otherspiritsintheSunDancethatcameandgaveorders, towhich I paidno attention because

my

firstSpiritwas

my

main one.

And

it

told

me

nottoheed them. Inthe longrun theywould domoreharmthan good to

me

andthoseI triedto help.

This one Spirittold

me

that theothers are descendantsofthe Devil. In the longrun they would kill you. Evil spirits exist as well as good ones, andthey tempt youto do wrong. ThemainSpirithas kept

me

fromfollowing theothers.

Seeingspirits^isnotlikea dream. They'llcometoyou

—

^{you cantalktothem}

during thenight. You'llbeasleepbutyou'llneverforgetwhat wastold toyou.

In dreaming, you forget next morning what you have dreamt.

When

a spirit

comestoyou,youdon't forget nothing.

And

another thinginthespiritline: the spirit will directyoutotheGodabove,andgiveyouacertainwaytocallforhelp, to helpthesickonearth. Thespiritwilltellyoutodothese things to help thesick.

Youread inthepaperofan Indian doctorholleringanddancing.

My

^partis

notlikethat.

My

^powerinorder to helppeopleisaspiritualpower.

What

help IgetisfromGodAlmighty. WheneverIcallonOurFather,Isee that theperson

I

am

helping getsrelief. Notbydancing,norby anymedicine,butjustbya few wordsI relieve themof their sickness,helpthem. Ihavebeen doing thisfor 12 years. Ihavealways beensuccessfulbecauseIknewwhattodobeforeIwentin.

IfIdidnothelp thefirsttime, theSpiritcomesto

me

thenextnight. Ittells

me

whetherornotIcanhelp thesickperson. Ifnot, there'snouse. Then ^{it is}

his time togo; God hashim already in hispower. I'llgojust so^far. But ifa morepowerfulspiritthanminehas him,Iwouldjustnottry.

I don'tknowifthey'll call

me

an Indiandoctor, orwhat. I'm differentfrom theothers. Theywill use songs. AllI use arethefourprayer songs oftheSun Dance. I still usethem. Iuseno medicine, I justusethispower, theSpirit of theSunDance. Itdirects

me

to theGreatSpiritabove;throughthatIcanhelp peopleon earth.

When my

Spiritfirstknocked

me

over,itwasjustablur,thoughIsawa

human

form in theblur. After 2 or 3 years ^it became more clear; I couldsee it more.

Itbeganto give

me

ideasandways tohelp thesick,andhowtohandlethingsin thespirit line. Then hecameout clearly: heis a Spirit,notofGod, but of the Sun Dance. Still, he

may

be intouch with the Great Spirit above. If not, I don't thinkIcould help people. Otherspirits

—

whenever youseethem,youcan

tellthem: theyare altogetherdifferent. They'llcometoyouasananimal,anelk,

a lion, awolf, or abear. They'llkeep changing fromone to the other, drawing your ^attention. That's not a helping spirit. The Devil is sending him to do wrong,harmthesick. I'vealwaysbeengladIlearned themainSpiritandgotso I could protectmyself from theothers.

Today, I don't have to suffer in a Sun Dance. I can go for 7 days without eating or drinking. IhavethePowerbehind

me

todoit. Green hands, the be- ginners, aretheones thatneedhelp. You'vegotto helpthem. They'vegotno Powerofanykind;there'sno spiritbehind them.

A

personwith Power^isthere to helpthem. Inorder to helpthemyou've got to callon theSpirittorelievethem. For5 or 10minutes afterthat theboysor

men

findrelief; they then are as fresh as when theywentin. Butitwon'tlast;

itwillwearoff,for they'llgotoofastand wearthemselvesout. They'llsufferas

much asbefore. Usually you've gotto helpthem two or threetimes beforethe danceis over. Otherwise, they'll suffer greatly.

In theolddays they usedtogothroughthissufferinguntiltheywereknocked

out. Nowadays,it's notthatwayunlessa spirit comes and lays you out No-

Anthrop.Pap.

-^ij^u riveR

SHOSHONE SUN DANCE SHIMKIN 463

bodyurgesyoutokeep ongoing until you fall. The old

men

used to urge the youngto keep on goinguntil theysaw things.

It's[the Sun Dance]thesameasachurch,onlyit'sheldonce ayear. It'sput oninthesame formasanychurch. Thesongsare just tunes, but theymeanthe same. They'refromwayback; they'venever been changed. In the SunDance

thereisnoworship oftheSun. Itisthrough the Sun.

Comp

ton's account ^is exceptionally detailed

and

vivid, particularly inregardto

motor

sensations. Itisalmostpoeticinitsimagery.

Yet

in a highly symbolic fashion, it clings rigidly to the tribal pattern.

The

ceremonial

number

four, the butting

by

a visionary power, the buffalo,itstransformationintoaperson,

and

thesensationofdrinking water are obviously stereotyped.^{°^}

Even

further, the scenery he de- scribesapproaches thatofthelandofthe

dead

if

we

^notewith Brackett that . . .

"Wlien an

old

man

^is dying he finds himselfnear the top of ahighhillon the

Wind

River

Mountains

[whichis thelocale of

Comp-

ton's description], and, as the breath leaves his body, he reaches the top ofit,

and

^there,in frontofhim, thewholemagnificentlandscapeof eternity isspread out,

and

theSun-Father is there to receive

him and

to do everything in his

power

to

make him happy"

(Brackett, 1880, p.330)^. Thisalso clears

up Comp

ton'smysteriousallusion toworship through the Sun, for

we may

note that "they believe in

Tamapah (dame

a'p:e.

Our

[incl. pL] Father, orSun-Father,

who

^is the Father ofthe

Day ^and

^{Fatherofus all,}

and

livesinthe

sun"

(Brackett, 1880, p. 330; Russel, 1921, p. 144).

Stylistically too, a few features are patterned in his account.

An

example

is the directionsgiven

him by

his Power.

The

^initial nega-

tive, the final antithetical positive are typical of the tribal literature (Shimkin, 1947c).

It is clear that

Compton

is

an

intelligent

man,

introspective

and

highly imaginative,

who

sensitivelyelaborates

new

permutations

—

^like

his "Spii'it of the

Sun Dance" —

^{of a rigid pattern. I believe he is}

unquestionably sincere,

moved by

drives, fantasies,

and

traditions largely outside his control.

But

a certain

amount

of sophistication

and an

inherently

good

sense of

humor

inhibitexaggeratedmysticism.

At

the

same

time, his personality isnot completelyadjusted. Pos- sibly his relation toward his white father

and

certainly his difficulties in being accepted ina strange

community,

infighting the established interestsof thePeyotists,

have

contributed to this. In

any

case, the transparently hysterical character of his early illnesses, the ambi- valenceof his

dreams

withtheir

good and

evil spirits,

and

hisoccasional di'unkenness

and

cruelty are

symptomatic

ofemotionalstrain. Never- theless,

Compton

^is one of the

most

gifted

and

sanest

Wind

River

«'ComparetheCrowIndians(Lowie,1922, p.324fl.);inthe typicalDakotavision,onthe contrary,a persontui-nsintoananimal. (Cf.Wissler,1916, p. 81.)

464

Shoshone

I

know. He

^is not inhibited to the point of dead

pragma-

tism.

He

^does not alternate

between

jovial expansiveness

and

sharp suspicion.

He

^isnota

dreamer

so preoccupied withhis fantasies that

all else is of little

moment.

Thus

the leader^of the

Sun Dance

in 1937

had an

outstanding per- sonality, a type of personality the little-formalized, fluid character of

Wind

River society tends to placein positions ofprominence.

SOCIAL

AND PSYCHOLOGICAL FACTORS

In

what ways have

the changes in the culture of the

Wind

River Shoshone since the

nomadic

days ofthemidnineteenth century modi-

fied the attitudes influencing the

Sun Dance

or altered thesocial

and

psychological functions ofthe

ceremony?

Shoshone

attitudes appear largely to

have

remained constant.

Egalitarianism is still strong. Individualrestraint

and

psychological inhibitiongenerally appear to

have

increasedsincetheShoshone

have become more aware

^{of their} poverty

and

social isolation

from

their white neighbors.®"

On

the other hand, schooling, the Episcopal

and

Catholic churches

and

thePeyote Cult

seem

^to

have

reducedhabitsof extreme individualism,

and

to

have

increased receptivity

toward

a

common

religious

dogma.

It is noteworthythat

many

individualistic elements of old

Shoshone

culture, such as the vision quest, medicine bundle, personal tabus,

and

individual curing

shamanism have

van- ished or

been

greatly

weakened

since the turn of the century, while elements involving group participation

have

survived

more

success- fully. Thus,

Wind

River

Shoshone

world outlook, while basically unchanged,

may have become

^lessdisinclined toformalism

and

stereo-

typy

thanbefore.

What

^is therelation

between

the

Sun Dance and

thesocialstructure of the

modern Wind

River

community? As

in the old

Sun Dance,

formal ties are lacking, but actual informal correlations are signifi- cant. This

problem

is

worth

examination in detail, with reference to the dancers, leaders.

Sun Dance committeemen, and

old

men and

warriors, respectively.

The

dancers represent nearly every

male

group in the

community;

their principal difference

from

nonparticipants appears to be psycho-

logical. Geographically, the distribution of the dancers is uniform, with only the marginalBurris

and

Ethete districtsshowing

markedly

low

numbers

of dancers (figs. 22

and

24).

The

degree of blood ad- mixture is but alittle toward the full-blooded side ofthe

mean

^ofthe

community

profile, with a

mean

of0.75 Indian blood, a range ^of0.25 to 1.00. Economically, there is a corresponding picture.

The mean

«oBasedupon185Rohrschachtestsandother psychological data(cf.Shimkin,1947aandn.d.).

Anthrop.Pap.

NO. 41]

WIND

RIVER

SHOSHONE SUN DANCE — ^{SHIMKIN 465}

466