throughout maturity, as it is all over the Plains, and is not in the Eastern Woodlands.
This one generalization—that the pursuit of visions on the Plains is an affair of maturity and not of adolescence—is probably, however, the only blanket description that is possible in the personal wakan experiences of this area. Each tribe has its own distinctive version, a pattern so distinct that any random reference to fasting and vision in the native texts could almost without fear of mistake be assigned to the one particular tribe from which it was collected—at most to two or three which are in some way closely associated.
The truth of this assertion can most readily be tested by an examination (I) of certain patterns which are rather commonly assumed to be characteristic of the vision quest of the Plains; and (II) of certain tribal patterns, which, though they have universally travelled in weakened form beyond the limits of any one tribe, are yet strongly localized.
I
Three patterns of wide distribution are sometimes taken to characterize the vision quest of the Plains: (1) The infliction of self-torture; (2) the lack of a laity-shamanistic distinction; (3) the attaining of a guardian spirit. Are these indeed integral parts of the vision-idea of the Plains as a whole; or are they rather distinct patterns existing sometimes side by side with the vision quest without ever amalgamating with it, and at all times combining with it in different proportions and with different connotations?
Let us examine first the relation in which self-inflicted torture stood to the visionary experiences. In such a typical Plains tribe as the Blackfoot, torture was of course well-known. They practiced the sun dance, and those who entered the ordeal tore loose the skewers inserted in the muscles of the back, as was done in all Plains tribes where the sun dance was observed, with the sole exception of the little known Kiowa. Self-torture was practiced also in a variety of other connections. Maximilian[1]
- ↑ Maximilian, Reise, vol. ii, p. 188.
