What was the Mandan buffalo dance all about?
The Mandan buffalo dance was designed to bring the herds in to the area where the Mandans lived so they could go out and hunt them. And it was a elaborate ceremony, extraordinarily colorful. It involved having the old men come into these great earthen lodges that the Mandans lived in, with dozens, if not even hundreds of Indians gathered around a fire. And the oldest men in the tribe would be lead by the young warriors to the warrior’s wife. Some of these guys were just tottering old men, they could hardly move. And the girl would be there, half dressed or not dressed at all. And the brave would offer the wife to the old man, who was supposed to go outside the lodge in the terrible cold North Dakota winter and have a sexual intercourse which would transfer power to the young man and help bring back the buffalo. Some of these old men weren’t up to it. The brave would then be on his knees, begging, “You’ve got to do it.” The men of the expedition were a part of that, too. They also were
