Foremost among them was the sacred pipestone quarry near Big Sioux river,
whence the material for the wakanda calumet was obtained; another was the
far-famed Minne-wakan of North Dakota, not inaptly translated "Devil's
lake;" a third was the mystery-rock or medicine-rock of the Mandan and
Hidatsa near Yellowstone river; and there were many others of less
importance. About all of these places picturesque legends and myths
clustered.
The Siouan mythology is especially instructive, partly because so well
recorded, partly because it so clearly reflects the habits and customs of
the tribesmen and thus gives an indirect reflection of a well-marked
environment. As among so many peoples, the sun is a prominent element; the
ice-monsters of the north and the rain-myths of the arid region are
lacking, and are replaced by the frequent thunder and the trees shaken by
the storm-winds; the mythic creatures are shaped in the image of the
indigenous animals and birds; the myths center in the local rocks and
waters; the mysterious thearchy corresponds with the tribal hierarchy, and
the attributes ascribed to the deities are those characteristic of
warriors and hunters.
Considering the mythology in relation to the stages in development of
mythologic philosophy, it appears that the dominant beliefs, such as those
pertaining to the sun and the winds, represent a crude physitheism, while
vestiges of hecastotheism crop out in the object-worship and place-worship
of the leading tribes and in other features.
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