Sweet Medicine

The Continuing Role of Sacred Arrows, Sun Dance, and Sacred Buffalo Hat in

by Peter J Powell

Sweet Medicine is the most comprehensive record ever made of the ceremonies of the Northern Cheyennes. Volume One recounts tribal history against the background of the two great spiritual tragedies in Cheyenne life, the loss of the Sacred Arrows and the desecration of the Sacred Buffalo Hat. Volume Two records the contemporary Sacred Arrow and Sun Dance ceremonies in their entirety. Father Peter J. Powell, who has observed and participated in the rites many times, was given special permission by the Keepers of the Two Great Covenants, the Chiefs, the Headmen, and the Priests to record them in words and photographs.

Father Peter J. Powell was founder and first director of St. Augustine's Center for American Indians, Chicago. He is also the author of the two-volume People of the Sacred Mountain. He is an Honorary Chief of the Northern Cheyenne People. Since 1972 he has been a Research Associate of The D'Arcy McNickle Center for American Indian History, The Newberry Library, Chicago.

994 pp ~ illustrated — ©1998