George Catlin participated in a Sioux Indian ceremony of friendship at which a meal of dog meat was the center of the festivities.
He explained the significance of this meal in his journal: “This feast was unquestioningly given to us as the most undoubted evidence they could give of their friendship. Knowing the spirit in which it was given, we could not but treat it respectfully, and receive it as anything but a high and marked compliment. The dog feast is truly a religious ceremony. The Indian sees fit to sacrifice his faithful companion to bear testimony to the sacredness of his vows of friendship.”
“Some few days after the steamer had arrived, it was announced that a grand feast was to be given to the great white chiefs, who were visitors amongst them; and preparations were made accordingly for it. The two chiefs . . . brought their . . . tents together, forming the two into a semi-circle, enclosing a space sufficiently large to accommodate 150 men; and sat down with that number of the principal chiefs and warriors of the Sioux nation . . . while the rest of the company all sat upon the ground, and mostly cross-legged, preparatory to the feast being dealt out . . . In the centre of the semi-circle was erected a flag-staff, on which was waving a white flag, and to which also was tied the calumet, both expressive of their friendly feelings towards us. Near the foot of the flag-staff were placed in a row on the ground, six or eight kettles, with iron covers on them, shutting them tight, in which were prepared the viands for our voluptuous feast.” (Catlin, Letters and Notes, vol. 1, no. 28, 1841; reprint 1973)
From Catlin - "A DOG FEAST (Sioux). This feast was offered by the Sioux chiefs of the Upper Missouri, in 1832, to Mr. Sanford (the Indian agent), Pierre Choteau, K. McKenzie, and the author. The greatest pledge of respect and friendship which the Indians can give to strangers in their country is given in the “Dog Feast,” in which the flesh of their favorite dogs must necessarily be served."
