E 51 .N42Z CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE MUSEUM OF THE AMERICAN INDIAN V. 17 HEYE FOUNDATION NMAIREF VOL. XVII CROW INDIAN MEDICINE BUNDLES BY WILLIAM WILDSCHUT Edited by JOHN C. EWERS NEW YORK MUSEUM OF THE AMERICAN INDIAN HEYE FOUNDATION 1960 wildschut: crow medicine bundles Frontispiece CHIEF ROTTEN BELLY S SHIELD THE MOST FAMOUS CROW INDIAN WAR MEDICINE CAT. NO. 11/7680. DIAM 24 IN. CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE MUSEUM OF THE AMERICAN INDIAN HEYE FOUNDATION VOL. XVII GROW INDIAN MEDICINE BUNDLES BY WILLIAM WILDSGHUT Edited by JOHN G. EWERS NEW YORK MUSEUM OF THE AMERICAN INDIAN HEYE FOUNDATION 1960 B0source Cent§r NATIONAL MUSEUM OF THE AMOICAN lflO!AN 3753 Broodway at 155fh Street New York, NY 10032-1596 PRINTED IN GERMANY AT J. J. AUGUSTIN, GLUCKSTADT . CONTENTS PAGE Foreword vii Introduction i Concepts of the Diety and of Supernatural Powers . i Origins of Medicine Bundles 4 Dreams 4 The Vision Quest 6 Medicine Bundle Covers and Contents 9 Testing the Medicine Bundle 12 Transfer of Bundles 14 Classification of Crow Medicine Bundles 16 The Collection of Crow Medicine Bundles 18 Sun Dance Bundles 20 Origin of the Sun Dance Bundle 20 Number of Crow Sun Dance Bundles 25 Two Leggings' Sun Dance Bundle 26 Sees-the-Tent- Ground's Sun Dance Bundle 29 Other Sun Dance Effigies 30 Conjectural History of the Sun Dance Bundle 33 War Medicine Bundles 34 Crow Leadership 34 War Honors and Insignia 37 Acquisition of War Medicine Bundles 39 Types of War Medicine Bundles 40 Hoop Medicine Bundles 43 Origin of the Hoop Medicine Bundle 43 Bull Show's Hoop Medicine Bundle 47 White Shirt's Hoop Medicine Bundle 47 Arrow Medicine Bundles 48 111 iv CONTENTS PAGE Origin of the Arrow Medicine Bundles 48 Arrows from Arrow Medicine Bundles 51 Individual War Medicine Bundles 51 Two Leggings' War Medicine Bundle 51 Fat's War Medicine Bundle 53 Big Shoulder's War Medicine Bundle 54 Long Otter's War Medicine Bundle 55 Iron Fork's War Medicine Bundle 56 Big Forehead's War Medicine Bonnet 58 Buffalo Bull's War Medicine Shirt 60 Sees-the-Living-BuU's Moccasin Bundle 61 No Tears' Wolf skin War Medicine 63 Shields 65 Hump's Shield 67 Red Woodpecker's Shield 68 Yellow Brow's Shield , 70 Rotten Belly's Shield 71 Miniature Shields 73 Skull Medicine Bundles 76 The Braided Tail Skull Medicine Bundle ']'] The White Child Skull Medicine Bundle 79 Other Skull Medicine Bundles 80 Skull Bundle of Takes-Back-Twice 80 Skull Bundle of Never Dies 81 Pretty Blanket's Skull Medicine Bundle ^-^ Strike's-the-Hat's Skull Medicine Bundle 84 The Rotten Belly Jaw Medicine 86 Tooth and Hair Medicines %"] Rock Medicine Bundles 90 Powers Attributed to Rock Medicines 91 Ornamentation of Rock Medicines 93 Origin Legends 94 Opening of Rock Medicine Bundles 97 Ceremony of the Singing of the Cooked Meat 98 CONTENTS V PAGE Opening of Individual Rock Medicine Bundles 104 Little Nest's Rock Medicine Bundle 105 Smells' Rock Medicine Bundle no Big Sky's Rock Medicine Bundle 112 Pretty Coyote's Rock Medicine Bundle 113 Medicine Pipe Bundles 114 Origin of the Medicine Pipe Society 114 Ceremony of the Medicine Pipe Society iig Rotten Belly's Medicine Pipe Bundle 120 Pipe-holders' Pipe Bundles 121 Standing Bull's Medicine Pipe 122 Pretty Coyote's Medicine Pipe 122 Love Medicine Bundles 123 Weasel Moccasin's Love Medicine Effigies 123 Travels' Love Medicine Robe of Elkskin 123 Fog's Love Medicine Robe of Elkskin 125 Standing Elk's Love Medicine Flute 126 Flat Lip's Love Medicine Flute 129 Long Tail's Love Medicine Flute 129 Long Tail's Love Medicine Effigy and Headdress .... 130 Old Crow's Love Charming Belt 130 Elk Love Medicine of Short's Wife 130 Antelope Love Medicine Power 131 Witchcraft Medicine Bundles 133 Healing Medicine Bundles 136 Slippery Eyes' Snake Medicine Bundle 136 Long's Buffalo Medicine Bundle 139 Buffalo Tail Wound-Treating Medicines 140 Buffalo chip Medicine of Big Ox 141 Medicine for Treating Barren Women 142 Medicine for Treating-Women's Diseases 142 Big Forehead's Wolf Medicine 143 Dream Origins of Herb Medicines 143 Stomach Kneaders 144 VI CONTENTS PAGE Buffalo Hunting Medicines 146 Historical and Comparative Survey. By John C. Ewers .... 147 The Prehistoric Crow Indians 147 Evidence of Medicine Bundles in the Prehistoric Period 149 The Archeological Evidence 149 The Evidence of Mythology 151 Crow Medicine Bundles in the Early Historic Period . 152 Medicine Bundles Among Other Upper Missouri Tribes 155 Sun Dance Bundles 155 War Medicine Bundles 157 Arrow Medicine Bundles 158 Shields 158 Skull Medicine Bundles 159 Rock Medicine Bundles 160 The Medicine Pipes 161 Pipe-holders' Pipes 162 Love Medicines 163 Witchcraft Bundles 164 Healing Medicine Bundles 165 Hunting Medicine Bundles 166 Adoption of "White Men's Magic" as Crow Medicines 167 Conclusions .^ 169 Editor's Bibliography 174 ILLUSTRATIONS Plate I. frontispiece Plate II. facing page 30 Plate III. facing page 80 Plate IV. facing page 120 Figures follow bibliography FOREWORD The late Robert H. Lowie, foremost student of the Crow Indians, has defined Crow medicine bundles simply as "wrapped-up aggregations of sacred objects." To the average white man, the miscellaneous assortment of strange-appearing objects contained in many of these bundles is meaningless. But to the student of American Indian culture these same materials are rich in sym- bolism. They are the objective expressions of the traditional religious beliefs and practices of a vigorous and deeply religious people. Scattered references to the sacred bundles of the Crow Indians have appeared in the writings of white men for more than 150 years. In fact, Frangois Larocque, who traveled with the Crows during the summer of 1805, mentioned their medicine bundles in his Journal, the earliest known account of the life of these Indians. However, the systematic study of the role of medicine bundles in Crow Indian religion was not initiated until the first decade of the present century. In the year 1907, Dr. Robert H. Lowie of the American Museum of Natural History commenced intensive field studies among the Crow Indians during which he directed his attention primarily to the social and religious aspects of their culture. These studies culminated in the publication of a series of excellent technical papers on various aspects of traditional Crow life. Three of them dealt with medicine bundles. The Sun Dance of the Crow Indians (Lowie, 1915), described the sun dance bundle. The Religion of the Crow Indians (Lowie, 1922), described a number of different types of medicine bundles. And Minor Ceremonies of the Crow Indians (Lowie, 1924), included an account of the medi- cine pipe ceremony. Nevertheless, Lowie collected very few of the Crow medicine bundles he described in his writings. In the year 191 8, William Wildschut, a business man of Billings, Montana, near the Crow Reservation, began to take a serious interest in collecting ethnological materials among the these Indians. As had Lowie before him, Wildschut became espec- ially interested in Crow religious life. Probably Lowie's publica- tions furnished valuable leads in his collecting, for we know that Wildschut read Lowie's works and that he purchased for the col- vii Vlll FOREWORD lections of this museum some of the most important medicine bundles described by Lowie. From the owners of the bundles he collected, as well as from other Indians who possessed knowledge of them, Wildschut ob- tained information about the origin, history and uses of these sacred objects. Among his informants he numbered two of the most highly respected Crow chiefs, Plenty Coups and Two Leg- gings. Jasper Long of St. Xavier, on the Crow Reservation, served as Wildschut's interpreter during the nine years he spent in field research. Wildschut was very patient in his work with the older Indians. His correspondence with the late George G. Heye, during the period of his Crow fieldwork, repeatedly mentioned his satisfaction at being able to purchase a particular bundle for this museum's collection after two or even three years of negotiation with its Indian owner. Even so, there were Indians who were unwilling to part with their sacred bundles for the reason that they were still very important to them in their religious life. By 1927 William Wildschut had collected more than 260 Crow Indian medicine bundles. This is by far the largest and most representative series of such bundles preserved in any depository. It probably is the largest single collection of medicine bundles from any Plains Indian tribe. Over the years Wildschut learned of and collected examples of types of medicine bundles which were not reported in Lowie 's writings on the Crow Indians. Among them were the dramatic skull bundles which were not mentioned in the writings of any other student of Crow Indian culture. He also collected from Indian informants, not alone a large body of information regarding medi- cine bundles in general, but, more importantly, data on the origin, history and uses of particular bundles. A small portion of this information appeared in six short, illustrated articles written by Wildschut and published in this museum's Indian Notes series during the years 1925 and 1926. (See the bibliography at the end of this monograph). In 1927 William Wildschut wrote for this museum a lengthy manuscript on the Crow Indians the greater part of which dealt with the subject of medicine bundles. William Wildschut passed away in 1955. Two years later I asked John C. Ewers, formerly Associate Curator of Ethnology at the U. S. National Museum, who had engaged in extensive field work among the Indian tribes of the Upper Missouri region, to FOREWORD IX read Mr.