When the sage bed is prepared the Mentor should place the Candidate's cedar tree, or rack. This should be of cedar because the cedar is favored by Wakinyan, the Winged God, and he will not visit one protected by it, nor cause such a one to act foolishly.

Anthropological Papers of the American Museum of Natural History, Vol. 16, Part 2, The Sun Dance and Other Ceremonies of the Oglala Division of the Teton Dakota, p. 70