A Móra Ferenc Múzeum Évkönyve: Studia Historiae Literarum et Artium, 1. (Szeged, 1997)

Nagy Imre: „The Black Came over the Sun...” Lame Bull’s spiritual oeuvre

tent" ritual of the Northern Algonkians, and the Sacred Arrow ceremony of the Cheyennes (Schlesier 1987: 58-62). During the last day of the Arrow ceremony, one of the Arrow priests undergoes a variant of this conjuring ceremony (Powell 1969, 1979, II: 889-890), and the fact that Lame Bull knew the secret of this ritual demonstrates, that the mention of his name by Hoistah in connection with the „ancient order of the Sacred ArrowMedicine" could not be accidental. We might surmise that his father or uncle - also called Lame Bull - was an Arrow priest, and he probably inherited the skill, as well as the right to perform such a ceremony. It is an individual feature in this rite, that Lame Bull transformed himself into a buffalo, and according to the story he had this ability already in his younger years. The most explicit information, for our discussion, is that Lame Bull had a lizard skin and a large snapping turtle shell as his medicines, which he could bring to life by spitting medicine on them. Snapping turtles and lizards are depicted on two shield covers that I attribute to him, because they show strong stylistic similarities to the painting of the Lame Bull shield in the European collection. Finally, because of their yellow background, these three shields are related to the „Yellow Tipi" of both Lame Bull and White Shield. We have every reason to recognize these shield designs as ones dreamed and probably prepared by Lame Bull, the noted Cheyenne medicine man, since we have gleaned evidence supporting this assumption from written sources, and objects of material culture. Conclusion The story collected by Truman Michelson identifies Lame Bull as one of the mostpowerful Cheyenne medicine men, and not without reason. As we have learned from various sources, he was the leader of the Fire Dance, a conjurer who could transform himself into a buffalo, a dreamer of painted tipis and elaborate war shields, and a successful war leader. His spirit helpers included the buffalo and the buffalo spirits (the horned „beasts" on the tipi of White Shield), the panther, the snapping turtle, the male and female collared lizard, the otter, butterflies, the blue dragonfly and several species of birds. Definitely, he was a strong religious person, who exhibited his shamanic power and creative ability in very talented ways, introducing ceremonies, tipi paintings, unique shield designs, his own family badge and probably parfleche paintings. None of the sources state explicitly that he made or painted any of these objects. Very probably, according to the tribal rules he only gave outlines and instructions, for example, in the beading of his lizard images, or the painted flat case, all of which were certainly made by women. The same might be true of the tipi and shield paintings. In selecting a well-known artist of the community, Lame Bull only sanctified the actual artwork by his sacred motions, and the recitation of his vision. The three shields discussed above form the only group of objects that exhibit stylistic similarities, and imply the possibility of Lame Bull's actual craftsmanship in their preparation. However, in the eyes of the Cheyennes he was the originator and the owner of all these designs and objects, and he had special rights - to duplicate, renew, sell or give them away. In this way, we can identify all these objects and images as pieces belonging to the „spiritual oeuvre" of Lame Bull, and thereby bring our ideas about tribal art closer to the original Native American concept of art, and artistic creation. The „artist" in Plains Indian society was the person who originated design rather than necessarily the craftsman (or craftswoman) who painted it. To distinguish between the two types of artist we might call them the creative agent and the technical producer. 72