The decorative art of the Dakota has been treated in a preceding paper, in which brief mention was made of religious art, or that art in which there was a definite, unmistakable motive on the part of the artist to represent mythical or philosophical ideas. In this more serious art, a large number of designs may be characterized as “protective designs,” because their presence or possession is in part a protection. The idea in a protective design seems to be a symbolical appeal to the source or co

The circular shield was distributed over a large part of North America. A conspicuous part of the arms of Mexican warriors was “the round, small ‘target’ worn by the ‘brave’ on his left arm, and made of canes netted together and interwoven with cotton ‘twofold,’ covered on the outside with gilded boards and with feathers, and so strong that a hard cross-bow shot could alone penetrate them;” [2] but “merely ornamental shields [were also] used and carried by warriors and chiefs on festive occasion

About the year 1890 a religious movement, generally known as the “ghost-dance religion,” infected the Plains Indians. The chief feature of this religion was the belief in a speedy return of the old time, the buffalo, and the extermination of the white race. The different tribes had various ideas of their duties with respect to this new faith, and, with the exception of the Dakota, they did not manifest direct hostility to the white race. This warlike people, however, were already greatly dissati

The circle, or more properly the hoop, is a very important religious symbol among the Dakota. One form of it appears in the great hoop-game described by Louis Meeker, [9] and later by Dr. J. R. Walker. [10] This hoop is usually about two feet in diameter, and notched so as to divide the circumference into quadrants. While this hoop-game seems to be a true gambling game, it could be and was sometimes played as part of a ritualistic ceremony the object of which was to bring the buffalo. It is inte

Fig. 18 (50-2095). Engraved Metal Cross. Collected by R. Cronau. Length, 23 cm. Fig. 19 (50-2898). Engraved Bone Object. Collected by R. Cronau. Length, 24 cm. In another place the writer has described the conception of the power of the whirlwind among some of the Dakota, but wishes at this time to refer to it again because of its relation to their system of protective designs. [17] As stated in the former publication, there seems to be in the minds of some of the Dakota an association between t

The thunder is a very important deity among all the Indians of the Plains, and is usually associated with military exploits. While the Dakota generally regard the thunder as a bird, usually symbolized by the eagle, yet they sometimes speak of it as a horse, a man, or a dog. The horse always appealed to them as a creature of mysterious origin, and in many cases was assumed to have been given by the thunder. In any event there is an association in their minds between the power of a war-horse and t

The association between the spider, the spider-web, and the thunder, is very close—so close, that it is difficult to understand the conception of the power of the spider without considering the power of the thunder. The spider is often spoken of as the “spider-man.” It is also associated with the mythical elk. It was supposed to have great power. The observed fact that a spider manufactures a web, and that this web is not destroyed by bullets or arrows (since they pass through it, leaving only a

The first point that appears in the consideration of these designs and their interpretations is the animistic basis upon which they rest. The Indian has observed nature, and singled out those qualities and situations that are not only wonderful from his point of view, but greatly to be desired as means to his own ends. He then proceeds on the assumption that these originate in and are due to some hidden agency, from which it follows, that, if he can put himself in the place of one of the favored