I have a vague memory of reading somewhere about some group or groups of “Native Americans” that had this “coming-of-age” sort of ritual: the young men would cut thick slits in their chests and tie rawhide tethers to their skin and the other end to a stake/lodge pole /etc… then dance and jump and jerk around until their flesh broke.
I’d like to verify specifically who did this, when, and what the particulars were–if this is a true story. On the other hand, if “whites” made it up to show just how “savage” the natives were, I’d like the particulars of that instead. Can anyone point me in the right direction???
My source here is “Modern Primitives,” certainly not a scholarly text, but in any case a fellow in it talks about the “Sun Dance” that he reports that some Sioux peoples did; Lakota, Minatari, and Mandans (it’s illegal now). There were variations-- some did this 'man against himself" thing where they used fleshhooks in the chest attached to trees and rip themselves free; then there is the Ogala Sioux “Okeepa”, which was of a suspension ala “A Man Called Horse.” The guy in the book cites a couple of 19th c works (George Caitlin, "O-Kee-Pa: a religious ceremony, and other customs of the Mandan, 1867) that he says document it. Sorry for the indirect narration here-- covering my scholarly butt.
Thanks for he quick reply. Sounds like a good place to start looking, anyway. And you’ve helped narrow it down further than “native american rituals” which was forcing me to wade through miles of new age weddings and arguments for the legal use of peyote.