rally falls, he will most accurately catch the spirit of the poem and of the original situation which I have sought to express.
THE SQUAW-DANCE
"The Squaw-Dance," or "Woman's Dance," often called the "Give-Away Dance," is a poem written from the point of view of the "outsider" and descriptive of a very common Chippewa social dance in which both men and women may participate. In the United States, bands of Indians often gather at some reservation village to celebrate the Fourth of July with a big "war-dance" to which white men are invited. Generally, however, the "war-dance" is really the rollicking, social "Squaw-Dance""; the celebration is called a "war-dance" often for the benefit of the gullible, thrill-hunting tourist to whom all Indian music is alike.
In the course of the dancing it is customary for the Indian to present a gift—a bit of tobacco, a trinket, a pair of moccasins,—to some friend, either a man or a woman. Whereupon the recipient must dance with the friend thus complimenting him, and return the honor with a gift of equal value. And thus with these frequent interruptions due to the "giving away" of presents, the celebration continues all day with much vigorous dancing, loud laughter, and lusty singing. The Squaw-Dance celebration has no place for a melancholy, moribund person, or for a dour, dyspeptic misanthrope.
