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Man dressed in buffalo skin

Ethnographic Notes

A Buffalo Dreamer Ceremony (Bad Heart Bull, 1967: 277-78). In order to demonstrate a mystical connection to the Master Spirit of buffalo, Black Road has dressed in the full skin of the animal, and allowed himself to be shot in public with an arrow. Apparently coughing blood, he would later be “healed” by another shaman, and thereafter be considered qualified to treat injuries related to buffalo hunting, broken bones and puncture wounds. He depicts his own bare feet as leaving actual buffalo tracks, an ability also attributed to other Buffalo Dreamers ( Wissler, 1912: 91-92). In a memoir filled with hunting scenes, this is the only drawing in which blood---his own---is shown. Compare Plate 61, which depicts the interior altar of the “preparations tipi” shown here.


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Provenance

Private owner. Provenance provided by 3rd generation descendants of Charles A. Wilkins on a typed note taped ...

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Document Info
Plate No: 33
Page No: --
Media: pencil and colored pencil
Dimensions: 6.5 x 7.25 inches
Custodian
Personal Collection
Artist
Black Road
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