"...and then the camera zooms out and he has no arms and no legs and his head is wrapped in cracked white leather. I hear someone behind me say 'blunt force trauma'. I turn around and I'm in pre-war Vienna. Then I thought I woke up but really I was dead."

The ceremony opened with a Bison Dance followed by a variety of torturous ordeals through which warriors proved their courage and gained the approval of the spirits. The Okipa began with the young man not eating, drinking, or sleeping for four days. Then they were lead to a hut, where they had to sit with smiling faces while the skin of their chest and shoulders was cut off and wooden skewers were thrust behind the muscles. Using the skewers to support the weight of their bodies, the warriors would be suspended from the roof of the lodge and would hang there.The elder, or "The First Man" poked them with a long stick to begin them rotating. They were rotated slowly until they couldn't be silent any longer and called out the Great Spirit. Then the elder began to spin them faster and faster until they passed out. To add agony, heavy weights were added to the initiates legs and arms by the skin of their knees and elbows. After fainting, the warrior would be pulled down and the men (women were not allowed to attend this ceremony) would watch the warrior until he awoke, proving the spirits' approval. After awakening, the warrior would crawl to a buffalo skull and sacrifice the little finger on both hands, each finger being severed by the initiate with a hatchet. Finally, the warrior would be taken outside where he would run around the central plaza of the village a number of times until they passed out at which point they were dragged until the skin holding them to their medicine bags and weapons tore off. Then the women took them to their hut to recover. Those finishing the ceremony were seen as being honored by the spirits; those completing the ceremony twice would gain everlasting fame among the tribe. Chief Four Bears, or Ma-to-toh-pe, completed this ceremony twice. CBT is meeting this weekend for go number 12 or something like that. It's fun.