Soldier Dance Song I

Stand up soldiers!

Hotcâk Text

Soldier Dance Song II

Soldier Dance Song III

Soldier Dance Song IV

Commentary. "Mânâpe Hakóhi-rukânâ´na" -- Radin has mánanp'e hak'óhiduk'onóna. The first word denotes soldiers. The term hakóhi means "assistant". Miner records tukâ´nâ [= dukâ´nâ] as meaning, "I manage; I woo, court". The notes used for Radin's discussion of this dance are obviously among the earliest ones that he collected, and like everyone before him, he had some trouble with the phoneme /r/, which is variously rendered as /l/, /n/, or /d/. This is simply a case of mishearing the phoneme /r/ as /d/ at a time before he could see that this was a mistake. This may also occur in one of the songs, where the word húnagirera is rendered as húnagiredra (see above). For the word duk'onó [= dukâ´nâ], the correct form, also recorded by Miner, is rukânâ.

"those spirits that have claws" -- in the Bear Clan Origin Myth, v. 8, Blue Bear comes forward to join the assembly of totem animals that will evolve into the Hotcâk nation. "As they tread the earth, it shook, and the leaves with spiny edges changed to men, and so too the thorns and briars, the serpents with sharp fangs, and the birds of prey with the sharp talons -- all these became men under the charge of Blue Bear. ... Blue Bear announced that Earthmaker had made these men to be spiritual guardians to ward off evil from the Hotcâgara, for they were all soldiers among the living things of this world." [2]

"the sick are freed from all their maladies" -- the Bear or Soldier Clan had power over sickness, as it says in the Bear Clan Origin Myth, v. 5, "... and if you call upon your Soldiers to combat sickness, you shall be made well." [3] When sickness spread sufficiently through a village, the Thunderbird Chief would be notified, who in turn would say to the Bear Clan Chief, "My Soldier, I am offering you tobacco, for our people have been stricken with disease." Then certain clansmen, both male and female, were selected to perform a dance under their chief's direction. They went around the village four times, and if a dog crossed their path, they were required to kill it. After the fourth circuit, they reentered the village from where the sun rises. They would visit each sick person in turn, dancing the Soldiers' Dance and laying their hands upon them. When all this had been accomplished, they went to the village chief's lodge where members of his clan had prepared a feast for them. The next day, it was expected that those who fell sick will have been made well. [4]

"namâxínixini" -- the only form close to xini that can be found is xînî, "growling", yielding nâ-mâ-xînî, "growling earth-stick" or "growling wooden arrow". [5] However, this construal of xinixini seems doubtful, given the mâ ru-xinixini. Radin tells us, "In shooting fish a long arrowlike stick (mânuxînixîni) with a pointed end, whittled and frayed at the base like the ceremonial staff of the Bear Clan, discharged from an ordinary bow in shooting fish." [6] The prefix ru- is a locative prefix meaning, "by hand, pulling toward the body" (Lipkind, Marino), leaving xinixini to refer, almost certainly, to the whittling at the base. The word xi, for instance, may mean "to fall away in flakes" (Marino), which is part of the process of whittling. The next syllable could be nî, meaning "to take, have, bring" (Marino). In the arrow (mâ), this whittling seems to take the place of the vanes, and may have something to do with its use in water as a fishing arrow. The namâxinixini shares this same whittled base, but its significance is obscure. Perhaps it immitates the ru-xinixini arrow in order to bring to mind the fishing prowess of the bear. It would give some plausibility to the idea that the baton is nâ-mâ-xinixini, "wooden whittled arrow". For other references to the n, see the Bear Clan Origin Myth (1, 2).

"soldiers" -- the word mânâ´pe is conventionally translated as "soldier", but the mânâ´pe, who are members of the Bear Clan, are in fact police, enforcing as they do the traditional rules of society, in some cases by the use of force.

Songs. Bladder, Song about the Older Brother, v. 2, Bladder, Song about the Older Brother, v. 3, Buffalo Dance Songs, Clan Songs, Bear Clan, Clan Songs, Bear Clan, Song for Returning, Clan Songs, Bear Clan, Song for Starting Out, Clan Song, Bear Clan, Song of the Youngest, Clan Songs, Buffalo Clan, Clan Songs, Buffalo Clan, The Four Songs of Hodjanoka, Clan Songs, Deer Clan, Clan Songs, Wolf Clan, Clan Songs, Wonághire Wâkcik Clan, The Crawfish's Song, Duck Song, Farewell Songs, The Four Services Songs, Grandfather Sparrow's Rain Songs, Grizzly Bear Songs), Hare's Song to Grasshopper, Hare's Song to the Wâgepanîgera, Hare's Song to Wildcat, Hawk's Song, Herok'a Songs, Holy Song, Little Fox's Death Song, Little Fox's Death Song (for the Warpath), Little Fox's Tail Song, The Mouse Song, Nightspirit Songs, The Quail's Song, Redman's Song, Slow Song of the Herok'a, Song for Calling the Buffalo, Song from the Water, Song from the Water (King Bird), The Song of Bluehorn's Sister, The Song of Sun Caught in a Net, The Song of the Boy Transformed into a Robin, Song of the Frog to Hare, Song of the Thunder Nestlings, The Song of Trickster's Baby, The Song to the Elephant, The Song to the Elephant, v. 3, The Sun's Song to Hare, Turtle's Call for a Warparty, v. 1, Turtle's Call for a Warparty, v. 2, Turtle's Four Death Dance Songs, Twins, Ghost's Song, v. 1, Twins, Ghost's Song, v. 2, Twins, Ghost's Song (The Two Brothers), Twins, the Songs of Ghost and Flesh, Twins, Song of the Father-in-Law, Victory Song, What a Turtle Sang in His Sleep, Wolf-Teasing Song of the Deer Spirits.