The History and culture of the Spirit Lake Dakota
This Message is not about Clowns as we think of them in our modern context. I am talking about men who dream of the Thunder (Wakinyan), who are guided by the Thunders in a dream, what they must do. If they did not do what they were told by the Thunder Beings, they would be killed with Lighting (Wakanhdi) during a thunderstorm (Wakinyan bdoza). I was able long ago to interview two men who were Clowns (Heyoka). I was not bold enough to ask them details of their dreams, so this account is through their interviews, watching their performances, and with other added accounts. I also read about the Dakota Heyoka in books which are listed in the bibliography.
The Heyoka perform crazy anticks and dress according to their dream (Heyoka Kaga). One man (Louis Jackson) dressed in a bedsheet with leafy branches worn about himself, the other (John Greywind) wore a buffalo headdress. On two different occasions each came out at a pow-wow, dancing. As soon as the other dancers perceived their presence, the dancers moved off to the side and let them dance until the singers ended the song. They danced to a common Grass Dance Song (Pejiwaci Odowan). At the completion of their performance, they disappeared into the crowd of on-lookers. They didn’t do special dance steps or body movements. Another account relates how a Heyoka stood atop of a hill in Wood Lake and with raised arms praying to split a storm directing it go around the camp at a pow-wow.
These Clowns are to be pitied; they were deathly afraid of a thunderstorm. Some would cry and hide at the approach of a storm. Most written and verbal accounts report them doing things backward, such as saying, ‘Go away”, “I hate you”, “I am not hungry” and of course walking and dancing backwards. They were contraries, talking backwards. One account says the Heyoka would splash around in mud puddles pretending to swim in deep water. W. D. Wallis says there are Clown Women.
The most reported performance was Clowns being able to plunge their hands into a boiling kettle of soup to retrieve the meat, usually a dog. They also splashed the boiling soup on each other as children at play. This was made possible by their use of Heyoka Ta Pejuta (Clowns Their Medicine) [Malvastrum coccine], a plant identified by its red flowers. The Heyoka would mash the roots of this plant and coat their hands and arms with its paste, thus protecting from the hot blistering soup.
(to be continued on March 18, 2025)
