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COURTING: Man and Woman with Heads Covered

Ethnographic Notes

A couple stand together facing the right with their individual blankets covering their heads. They are positioned in the upper two-thirds of the page. The man, positioned on the dominant right-hand side, wears a �skunk� courting blanket of dark color (lead fill) --see Plate 9 for description of this type of blanket. His dark leggings, identical to those of Plate 8, are dark stroud cloth with a stripe of undyed selvedge running lengthwise down the seam. His red breechclout flap shows. The woman wears a blue blanket over her head and upper body. Below it her red skirt is visible. She has two stripes around her ankles. These are similar to the black line �trails� drawn around the ankles of the honored �Sacred Woman� of the Sun Dance (Powell, 1969: 642). George Dorsey describes black lines as the representation of the four directional powers: �The first, or medicine-spirit of the south, was represented by a black circular line encompassing the right ankle; the west spirit by a line around the right wrist; the north spirit by a line around the left wrist; and the east spirit by a line around the right ankle� (1905: vol. 2, 105).


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Provenance

Provenance: Drawn in 1879 by Northern Cheyenne leader Wild Hog (incorrectly denoted as "Hagetta" in the text) ...

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Document Info
Plate No: 11
Page No: 9
Media: Lead pencil outline and fill; red and blue crayon
Dimensions: 13x9 cm, single column
Custodian
The Sch�yen Collection. London and Oslo. http://www.schoyencollection.com/aboutus.html
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