Meaning of the word deicide? the word deity means "god." the suffix -cide comes from the latin -cida, which means "kill." the way to rainy mountain by n. scott momaday (excerpt) my grandmother had a reverence for the sun, a holy regard that now is all but out of there was a wariness in her, and an she was a christian in her later years, but she had come a long way about, and she never forgot her birthright. as a child she had been to the sun dances; she had taken part in those annual rites, and by them she had learned the restoration of her people in the presence of tai-me. she was about seven when the last kiowa sun dance was held in 1887 on the washita river above rainy mountain creek. the buffalo were gone. in order to consummate the ancient sacrifice--to impale the head of a buffalo bull upon the medicine tree--a delegation of old men journeyed into texas, to beg and barter for an animal from the goodnight she was ten when the kiowas came together for the last time as a living sun dance culture. they could find no buffalo; they had to hang an old hide from the sacred tree. before the dance could begin, a company of soldiers rode out from fort sill under orders to disperse the tribe. without cause the essential act of their having seen the wild herds slaughtered and left to rot upon the ground, the kiowas backed away forever from the medicine tree. that was july 20, 1890, at the great bend of the washita. my grandmother was there. without bitterness, and for as long as she lived, she bore a vision of .