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- Herausgeber: Musaicum Books
- Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
- Sprache: Englisch
In 'The Siouan Cults (Illustrated Edition)' by James Owen Dorsey, the author delves into the religious practices and beliefs of the Siouan people. Written in a scholarly and meticulous style, Dorsey examines the rituals, ceremonies, and spiritual traditions of the Siouan tribes, offering a comprehensive look at their cosmology and mythological narratives. This illustrated edition includes visual aids that enhance the reader's understanding of the material culture associated with Siouan religious practices. The book provides a valuable insight into the cultural and spiritual world of the Siouan people, shedding light on their belief systems and values. James Owen Dorsey, a renowned anthropologist and linguist, spent extensive time studying and documenting Native American cultures, including the Siouan tribes. His expertise in ethnography and linguistics enabled him to provide a detailed and insightful analysis of Siouan religious practices. Dorsey's dedication to preserving and sharing Indigenous knowledge is evident in this work. I highly recommend 'The Siouan Cults' to readers interested in Native American religions, anthropology, and ethnography. Dorsey's thorough research and careful documentation make this book a valuable resource for understanding the spiritual traditions of the Siouan people.
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The Siouan Cults
(Illustrated Edition)
Published by
Books
Table of Contents
GAST LITH. CO. Plate XLIV
Chapter I. Introduction
Definitions of “Cult” and “Siouan”
§ 1. Cult, as used in this article, means a system of religious belief and worship, especially the rites and ceremonies employed in such worship. The present article treats of the cults of a few of the Siouan tribes—that is, with two exceptions, of such tribes as have been visited by the author.
“Siouan” is a term originated by the Bureau of Ethnology. It is derived from “Sioux,” the popular name for those Indians who call themselves “Dakota” or “Lakota,” the latter being the Teton appellation. “Siouan” is used as an adjective, but, unlike its primitive, it refers not only to the Dakota tribes, but also to the entire linguistic stock or family.
Siouan Family
The Siouan family includes the Dakota, Assiniboin, Omaha, Ponka, Osage, Kansa, Kwapa, Iowa, Oto, Missouri, Winnebago, Mandan, Hidatsa, Crow, Tutelo, Biloxi, Catawba, and other Indians. The Sapona, who are now extinct, probably belonged to this family.
The author was missionary to the Ponka Indians, in what is now part of Nebraska, from 1871 to 1873. Since 1878 he has acquired native texts and other information from the Omaha, Ponka, Osage, Kansa, Winnebago, Iowa, Oto, Missouri, and Dakota.
In seeking information respecting the ancient beliefs of the Indians the author has always found it expedient to question the Indian when no interpreter was present.
Authorities
§ 2. This study is based for the most part upon statements made by Indians, though several publications were consulted during the preparation of the fifth and sixth chapters.
The following Indians had become Christians before the author met them: Joseph La Flèche, Frank La Flèche, John Big Elk, and George Miller, all Omaha. Joseph La Flèche, who died in 1888, was the leader of the civilization party in the Omaha tribe after 1855. He was at one time a head chief. He spoke several Indian languages, having spent years among other tribes, including the Pawnee, when he was in the service of the fur company. His son, Frank, has been in the Indian Bureau at Washington since 1881. The author has obtained considerable linguistic material from the father and son. The father, with Two Crows, aided the author in the summer of 1882 in revising his sociologic notes, resulting in the preparation of “Omaha Sociology,” which was published in the third annual report of the director of the Bureau of Ethnology. John Big Elk, a full Omaha, of the Elk gens, furnished an article on “Sacred Traditions and Customs,” and several historical papers, published in “Contributions to North American Ethnology, Vol. VI.” George Miller, of the Ictasanda or Thunder gens, is a full Omaha, from whom was obtained nearly half of Chapter III, including most of the Omaha illustrations.
The following Indians were not Christians: Gahige, Two Crows, Ԁaȼiⁿ-naⁿpajĭ, and Samuel Fremont, all Omaha; Nudaⁿ-axa, a Ponka; and the Kansa, Osage, Missouri, Iowa, and Winnebago informants.
Two Crows has been connected in several ways with the ancient organizations of his people. He has been a head man, or nikagahi, being thus an ex-officio member of the class which exercised the civil and religious functions of the state. He has been a policeman during the buffalo hunt. He has acted as captain, or war chief, and he is the leading doctor in the order of Buffalo shamans, being the keeper of the “sweet medicine.”
Ԁaȼiⁿ-naⁿpajĭ, or He-who-fears-not-the-sight-of-a-Pawnee, is a member of the Black Bear subgens, and he is also one of the servants of the Elk gens, it being his duty to be present at the sacred tent of that gens, and to assist in the ceremonies pertaining to the invocation of the Thunder Beings.
Gahige was the chief of the Iñke-sabĕ, a Buffalo gens, and at the time of his death he was the keeper of the two sacred pipes.
Samuel Fremont is a member of the Eagle subgens. He came to Washington in the autumn of 1888 and assisted the author till February, 1889.
Nudaⁿ-axa is a chief of a part of the Thunder-Being gens of the Ponka. The author has known him since 1871.
The other Indian authorities need not be named, as they are in substantial agreement.
The following authorities were consulted in the preparation of the Dakota and Assiniboin chapter:
Bruyier (John), a Dakota, MS. Teton texts. 1888. Translated by himself. Bureau of Ethnology.
Bushotter (George), a Dakota, MS. Teton texts. 1887-’88. Translated by J. Owen Dorsey. Bureau of Ethnology.
Fletcher (Miss Alice C.), The Sun-dance of the Ogalalla Sioux. In Proc. Am. Assoc. Adv. Sci., Montreal Miss meeting, 1882, pp. 580-584.
Fletcher (Miss Alice C.), several articles in Rept. Peabody Museum, vol. 3, 1884, pp. 260-333.
Hovey (Rev. H. C.), “Eyay Shah,” in Am. Antiquarian, Jan., 1887, pp. 35, 36.
Long (Maj. S. H.), Skiff Voyage to Falls of St. Anthony. In Minn. Histor. Soc. Coll., vol. II, pt. 1, pp. 18, 19, 55.
Lynd (J. W.), Religion of the Dakotas. In Minn. Histor. Soc. Coll., vol. II, pt. 2, pp. 57-84.
Pond (G. H.), Dakota Superstitions. In Minn. Histor. Soc. Coll., vol. II, pt. 3, pp. 32-62.
Riggs (S. R.), Theogony of the Sioux. In Am. Antiquarian, vol. II, No. 4, pp. 265-270.
——. In Am. Antiq., vol. V, 1883, p. 149.
——. In Am. Philolog. Assoc. Proc., 3d An. Sess., 1872, pp. 5, 6.
——. Tah-koo Wah-kon, or, The Gospel Among the Dakotas, 1869.
Say (Thos.), in James (E.), Account of Long’s Exped. Rocky Mts., vol. I, Phil., 1823.
Shea (J. Gilmary), Am. Cath. Missions, N. Y. (after 1854).
Smet (Rev. P. J. de), Western Missions and Missionaries, N. Y. (n. d.).
Woodburn (Dr. J. M., Jr.), MS. Letter and Teton Vocabulary, 1890. Bureau of Ethnology.
Alphabet
§ 3. With the exception of seven letters taken from Riggs’s Dakota Dictionary, and which are used only in the Dakota words, the characters used in recording the Indian words occurring in this paper belong to the alphabet adopted by the Bureau of Ethnology.
a, as in father. ‘a, an initially exploded a. ă, as in what, or as o in not. ‘ă, an initially exploded ă. ä, as in hat. c, as sh in she. See ś. ɔ, a medial sh, a sonant-surd. ć (Dakota letter), as ch in church. ç, as th in thin. ç, a medial ç, sonant-surd. ȼ, as th in the. e, as in they. ‘e, an initially exploded e. ĕ, as in get. ‘ĕ an initially exploded ĕ. g, as in go. ġ (in Dakota), gh. See x. ɥ (in Osage), an h after a pure or nasalized vowel, expelled through the mouth with the lips wide apart. ḣ (in Dakota), kh, etc. See q. i, as in machine. ‘i, an initially exploded i. ĭ, as in pin. j, as z in azure, or as j in the French Jacques. ʞ a medial k, a sonant-surd. k’, an exploded k. See next letter. ḳ (in Dakota), an exploded k. ŋ (in Dakota), after a vowel has the sound of n in the French bon. See ⁿ. ɯ (in Kansa), a medial m, a sound between m and b. ñ, as ng in sing. hn, its initial sound is expelled from the nostrils and is scarcely heard. o, as in no. ‘o, an initially exploded o. d, a medial b or p, a sonant-surd. p’, an exploded p. q, as German ch in ach. See ḣ. s, a medial z or s, a sonant-surd. ś (in Dakota), as sh in she. See c. ʇ, a medial d or t, a sonant-surd. t’, an exploded t. u, as oo in tool. ‘u, an initially exploded u. ŭ, as oo in foot. ṵ, a sound between o and u. ü, as in German kühl, süss. x, gh, or nearly the Arabic ghain. See ġ. ź (in Dakota), as z in azure. See j. dj, as j in judge. tc, as ch in church. See ć. tc’, an exploded tc. ʇɔ, a medial tc, a sonant-surd. ts’, an exploded ts. ʇs, a medial ts, a sonant-surd. ai, as in aisle. au, as ow in how. yu, as u in tune, or ew in few.
The following have the ordinary English sounds: b, d, h, k, l, m, n, p, r, s, t, w, y, and z. A superior n (ⁿ) after a vowel (compare the Dakota ŋ) has the sound of the French n in bon, vin, etc. A plus sign (+) after any letter prolongs it.
The vowels ‘a, ‘e, ‘i, ‘o, ‘u, and their modifications are styled initially exploded vowels for want of a better appellation, there being in each case an initial explosion. These vowels can not be called “breaths,” as no aspiration is used with any of them; nor can they be spoken of as “guttural breaths,” as they are approximately or partially pectoral sounds. They have been found by the author not only in the Siouan languages, but also in some of the languages of western Oregon. In 1880 a brother of the late Gen. Armstrong, of Hampton, Va., who was born on one of the Hawaiian islands, informed the author that this class of vowel sounds occurred in the language of his native land.
Abbreviations
The abbreviations in the interlinear translations are as follows:
sub.—subject. ob.—object. st.—sitting. std.—standing. recl.—reclining. mv.—moving. col.—collective. lg.—long. cv.—curvilinear. pl.—plural. sing.—singular. an.—animate. in.—inanimate.
Chapter II. Definitions
Alleged Belief in a Great Spirit
§ 4. It has been asserted for several hundred years that the North American Indian was a believer in one Great Spirit prior to the coming of the white race to this continent, and that, as he was a monotheist, it was an easy matter to convert him to Christianity. Indians have been represented as speaking of “The Great Spirit,” “The Master of Life,” etc., as if the idea of the one and only God was familiar to our aborigines during the pre-Columbian period.
While the author is unwilling to commit himself to a general denial of this assertion, he has been forced to conclude that it needs considerable modification, at least so far as it refers to the tribes of the Siouan stock. (See §§ 7, 15, 21-43, 72-79, 92-99, 311, 312, 322-326, 341-346.)
On close investigation it will be found that in many cases Indians have been quick to adopt the phrases of civilization in communicating with white people, but in speaking to one another they use their own terms. The student of the uncivilized races must ever be on his guard against leading questions and their answers. The author has learned by experience that it is safer to let the Indian tell his own story in his own words than to endeavor to question him in such a manner as to reveal what answers are desired or expected.
§ 5. In 1883 the author published an article on “The Religion of the Omahas and Ponkas,” in The American Antiquarian of Chicago. Since then he has obtained additional data, furnishing him with many undesigned coincidences, which lead him to a broader view of the subject.
Phenomena Divided into Human and Superhuman
§ 6. In considering the subject from an Indian’s point of view, one must avoid speaking of the supernatural as distinguished from the natural. It is safer to divide phenomena as they appear to the Indian mind into the human and the superhuman, as many, if not most natural phenomena are mysterious to the Indian. Nay, even man himself may become mysterious by fasting, prayer, and vision.
One fruitful source of error has been a misunderstanding of Indian terms and phrases. It is very important to attempt to settle the exact meanings of certain native words and phrases ere we proceed further with the consideration of the subject.
Terms for “Mysterious,” “Lightning,” Etc.
§ 7. The attention of the author having been called to the article on “Serpent Symbolism” of the Iroquoian languages, by Mr. Hewitt1 of the Bureau of Ethnology, a similar investigation of the Siouan terms was made, the results of which are now presented. In connection with the terms for “serpent,” Mr. Hewitt showed how they are related in the languages with which he was familiar with other terms, such as “demon,” “devil,” “wizard,” “witch,” “subtile,” “occult,” “mysterious,” and “supernatural.”
In Dakota we find the following: Wakaⁿ, mysterious, wonderful, incomprehensible, often rendered “holy” by the missionaries; wakaⁿ-hdi (in Santee), wakaⁿ-kdi (in Yankton), lightning, perhaps containing a reference to a zigzag line or forked lightning; wakaⁿ etcoⁿ, to practice sleight of hand; and waⁿmducka, serpent. There are many derivatives of wakaⁿ, among which are, Taku Wakaⁿ, literally “something mysterious,” rendered “some one mysterious,” or “holy being,” and Wakaⁿ-tañka, literally, “Great mysterious (one),” both of which terms are now applied to God by the missionaries and their converts, though Wakaⁿ-tañka is a name for the Thunder-being.
In Riggs’s alphabet (Contr. N. A. Ethn., Vol. VII), these words are thus written: Wakaŋ, wakaŋhdi, wakaŋkdi, wakaŋ ećoŋ, waŋmduśka, Taku Wakaŋ, and Wakaŋtaŋka. One of the Dakota words for “aged” is kaⁿ (kaŋ in Riggs’s alphabet); but though this refers to persons we can not tell whether it is related to wakaⁿ (or wakaŋ).
In the Ȼegiha, the language spoken by the Ponka and Omaha, Wakanda means “the mysterious” or “powerful one,” and it is applied in several senses. It is now used to denote the God of monotheism. Some of the old people say that their ancestors always believed in a supreme Wakanda or Mysterious Power. It sometimes refers to the Thunder-being. On one occasion, a Ponka shaman, Cramped Hand, said to the author: “I am a Wakanda.” Wakandagi, as a noun, means a subterranean or water monster, a large horned reptile mentioned in the myths, and still supposed to dwell beneath the bluffs along the Missouri River. With this term compare the Dakota Uñkteqi (Uŋkteḣi, of Riggs) and the Winnebago Waktceqi, the latter having given a name to the Water Monster gens (Waktceqi ikikaratcada). Wakandagi is sometimes used adverbially, as, si wakandagi, he is wonderfully stingy! E wakandagi, he (a small child) speaks surprisingly well (for one so young)! ┴aⁿȼiⁿ wakandagi, he runs very well (for one so young)! Maⁿȼiⁿ wakandagi, he (a small child) walks very well! Wakandiȼe, to be in great haste, perhaps contains the idea of putting forth a great effort in order to accomplish something speedily. Wĕs‘ă, a serpent, is not related to the others just given. Nor can the word for “wizard” or “conjurer” be found related to them. In Kansa, Wakanda is used of superhuman beings or powers, as in Omaha and Ponka, but the author never heard a shaman apply the term to himself. Wakandagi has another meaning, mysterious, wonderful, incomprehensible, as, nika wakandagi, mysterious man, shaman, juggler, doctor; nanüŭⁿba wakandagi, mysterious or sacred pipe; wakandagi wagaxe, the sleight-of-hand tricks of the mysterious men and women. Wakanda qudje, the gray mysterious one, the elephant. Wakaⁿ does not mean serpent, but pumpkin, answering to the Omaha and Ponka, wataⁿ, and to the Osage, wakqaⁿ and watqaⁿ. ɯyets‘a (almost, Byets‘a) is the Kansa word for a serpent.
In Osage, Wakaⁿʇa answers to the Kansa Wakanda, and Waɥkaⁿ-ʇa-ʞi is the same as the Kansa, Wakandagi. Wets‘a is a serpent. In Kwapa, Wakaⁿʇaʞi seems to answer to the Kansa Wakandagi.
In ┴ɔiwere (Iowa, Oto, Missouri), Wakaⁿʇa is the same as the Kansa Wakanda. Wakaⁿ means a serpent. Wakaⁿ kiʞraʇɔe, the Serpent gens. Wa-hu-priⁿ, mysterious, as a person or animal; but wa-qo-nyi-taⁿ, mysterious, as an inanimate object.
In the Winnebago, three names for superhuman beings have been found. One is Waʞuⁿse or Waguⁿze, which can not be translated; another is Maⁿ‘uⁿ-na, Earth-maker, the third being Qo-piⁿ-ne qe-te-ră, Great Mysterious One. Qopiⁿne seems related to waqopini (with which compare the ┴ɔiwere, wahupriⁿ), a term used to distinguish people of other races from Indians, just as in Dakota wacitcuⁿ (in Riggs’s alphabet, waśićuŋ), now used for “white man,” “black man,” etc., retains in the Teton dialect its ancient meaning of superhuman being or guardian spirit. Wakawaⁿx, in Winnebago, denotes a witch or wizard. Wakaⁿ-na is a serpent, and wakaⁿ ikikaratca-da, the Serpent gens; Wakaⁿtca, or Wakaⁿtca-ra, thunder, the Thunder-Being; Wakaⁿtcañka-ra, a shaman or mysterious man.
Other Omaha and Ponka Terms
§ 8. Other terms are given as being pertinent to the subject. They occur in the language of the Omaha and Ponka. Qube, mysterious as a person or animal (all animals were persons in ancient times); but a mysterious inanimate object is spoken of as being “waqube.” Uqube means the mysteriousness of a human being or animal. Uqubeaʇaȼicaⁿ, pertaining to such mysteriousness. Wakandaʇaȼicaⁿ, pertaining or referring to Wakanda. Nikie is a term that refers to a mythical ancestor, to some part of his body, to some of his acts, or to some ancient rite ascribed to him. A “nikie name” is a personal name of such a character. Iȼa‘eȼĕ, literally, “to pity him on account of it, granting him certain power.” Its primary reference is to the mysterious animal, but it is transferred to the person having the vision, hence, it means “to receive mysterious things from an animal, as in a vision after fasting; to see as in a vision, face to face (not in a dream); to see when awake, and in a mysterious manner having a conversation with the animal about mysterious things.”
§ 9. The names for grandfather, grandmother, and old man are terms of veneration, superhuman beings having these names applied to them in invocations. (See §§ 15, 99.)
Significance of Personal Names and Kinship Terms
In a note upon “The Religious Ceremony of the Four Winds or Quarters, as Observed by the Santee Sioux,” Miss Fletcher2 remarks: “A name implies relationship, and consequently protection; favor and influence are claimed from the source of the name, whether this be the gens or the vision. A name, therefore, shows the affiliation of the individual; it grades him, so to speak, and he is apt to lean upon its implied power. * * * The sacred import of a name in the mind of the Indian is indicated in that part of the ceremony where the “Something that moves” seems to overshadow and inclose the child, and addresses the wakan man as father. The wakan man replies, calling the god, child, at the same time invoking the supernatural protection and care for the boy, as he lays at the feet of the messenger of Unseen Power the offerings of gifts and the honor of the feast. The personal name3 among Indians, therefore, indicates the protecting presence of a deity, and must, therefore, partake of the ceremonial character of the Indian’s religion.”
In this ceremony the superhuman being is addressed by the term implying juniority, and the human being, the wakan man, by that associated with seniority, an apparent reversal of the usual custom; but, doubtless, there can be found some explanation for this seeming exception to the rule.
Myth and Legend Distinguished from the Superhuman
§ 10. The Omaha, Ponka, and cognate tribes distinguish at the present day between the myth (higaⁿ, higu) and the legend or story (iuȼa, etc.) on the one hand; and what on the other hand is called “Wakandaʇaȼicaⁿ,” “uqubeaʇaȼicaⁿ,” and “iȼa‘eȼĕaʇaȼicaⁿ.” The former are told only for amusement and are called, “iusictaⁿ iuȼa,” lying tales. They are regarded as “iqawaȼĕaʇaȼicaⁿ,” pertaining to the ludicrous. With this may be compared the statements of Lang:4
“Among the lowest and most backward, as among the most advanced races, there coexist the mythical and the religious elements in belief. The rational factor (or what approves itself to us as the rational factor) is visible in religion; the irrational is prominent in myth.” * * * “The rational and irrational aspects of mythology and religion may be of coeval antiquity for all that is certainly known, or either of them, in the dark backward of mortal experience, may have preceded the other.” The author has found certain Indian myths which abound in what to the civilized mind is the grossest obscenity, and that too without the slightest reference to the origin of any natural phenomena. Myths of this class appear to have been told from a love of the obscene. Nothing of a mysterious or religious character can be found in them. Perhaps such myths are of modern origin; but this must remain an enigma.
§ 11. The Omaha and Ponka are in a transition state, hence many of their old customs and beliefs are disappearing. Some have been lost within the past fifty years, others within the last decade, according to unimpeachable testimony. The Ponka are more conservative than the Omaha, and the Kansa and Osage are more so than the Ponka, in the estimation of the author.
§ 12. Though it has been said that the Indians feared to tell myths except on winter nights (and some Indians have told this to the author), the author has had no trouble in obtaining myths during the day at various seasons of the year.
§ 13. James Alexander, a full Winnebago of the Wolf gens and a non-Christian, told the author that the myths of the Winnebago, called wai-kaⁿ-na by them, have undergone material change in the course of transmission, and that it is very probable that many of them are entirely different from what they were several generations ago. Even in the same tribe at the present day, the author has found no less than three versions of the same myth, and there may be others.
The myth of the Big Turtle is a case in point.5 The narrator acknowledged that he had made some additions to it himself.
§ 14. No fasting or prayer is required before one can tell a myth. Far different is it with those things which are “Wakandaʇaȼicaⁿ,” or are connected with visions or the secret societies. This agrees in the main with what Mr. James Mooney, of the Bureau of Ethnology, has learned from the Cherokee of North Carolina. Mr. Frank H. Cushing has found that the Zuñi Indians distinguish between their folk-lore and their cult-lore, i.e., between their legends and mythic tales on the one hand, and their dramatized stories of creation and their religious observances on the other, a special name being given to each class of knowledge. To them the mythic tales and folk-lore in general are but the fringe of the garment, not the garment itself. When they enact the creation story, etc., they beeve that they are repeating the circumstances represented, and that they are then surrounded by the very beings referred to in the sacred stories. Similar beliefs were found by Dr. Washington Matthews, as shown in his article entitled “The Prayer of a Navajo Shaman,” published in the American Anthropologist of Washington, D.C., for April, 1888.
§ 15. At the same time there seems to be some connection between certain myths and the personal names called, “nikie names.” This will be considered in detail in a future monograph on “Indian Personal Names,” now in course of preparation. One example must suffice for the present. In the ʞaⁿze gens of the Omaha there is a nikie name, Ԁasi duba, Four Peaks. The author did not understand its derivation until he studied the myth of Haxige and observed the prayers made in gathering the stones for the sweat-bath. Each stone was invoked as a venerable man (see § 9), the Four Peaks were mentioned several times, and the two superior deities or chief mysterious ones (Wakanda ʇañga agȼañʞaⁿhaⁿ hnañkace) were invoked.6
This last refers to the Wakanda residing above and the one in the ground. It is therefore possible that in past ages the Siouan tribes did not differentiate between the myth and what is “Wakandaʇaȼicaⁿ.” But we have no means of proving this.
§ 16. Most of the Omaha governmental instrumentalities (“wewaspe”) were “Wakandaʇaȼicaⁿ,” but there were things that were “Wakandaʇaȼicaⁿ,” which were not “wewaspe,” such as the law of catamenial seclusion. which were not “wewaspe,” such as the law of catamenial seclusion.
Chapter III. Cults of the Omaha, Ponka, Kansa, and Osage
Beliefs and Practices not Found
§ 17. There are certain beliefs and practices which have not been found among the four tribes whose cults are treated of in this chapter. Ancestors were not worshiped. They were addressed reverently when alive, and when they died it was not contrary to custom to refer to them by name, nor did their deaths involve the change of name for a single object or phenomenon. It was a very common occurrence for the name of the deceased to be assumed by a surviving kinsman. This is shown by genealogical tables of a few Siouan tribes, the material for which was collected by the author, and which will form part of his monograph on “Indian Personal Names,” now in course of preparation for publication by the Bureau of Ethnology.
§ 18. They never heard of Satan or the devil until they learned of him from the white people. Now they have adopted the terms, “Wanáxe piäjĭ,” “Iñgȼaⁿxe piäjĭ,” and “Wakanda piäjĭ.” The first is used by the Omaha and Ponka, the others were heard only among the Ponka. They have a certain saying, applicable to a young man who is a liar, or who is bad in some other way: “Wanáxe piä´jĭ égaⁿ áhaⁿ,” i. e. “He is like the bad spirit!” This becomes, when addressed to the bad person, “Wanáxe piä´jĭ éȼikigaⁿ´-qti jaⁿ´,” i.e. “You act just like the (or a) bad spirit.”
§ 19. Though it has been said that hero worship was unknown among the Omaha and Ponka, it has been learned that Omaha mothers used to scare their unruly children by telling them that Icibajĭ (a hero of the ┴e-sĭnde gens) or his friend ┴exujaⁿ (a hero of the ʞaⁿze gens) would catch them if they did not behave. There was no worship of demigods, as demigods were unknown. Two Crows and Joseph La Flèche said that phallic worship was unknown, and they were surprised to hear that it had been practiced by any tribe. (See § 132, 164.) As the Ponka obtained the sun-dance from their Dakota neighbors, it is probable that they practiced the phallic cult.
§ 20. Totems and shamans were not worshiped, though they are still reverenced. Altars or altar-stones were unknown. Incense was not used, unless by this name we refer to the odor of tobacco smoke as it ascended to the Thunder-being, or to the use of cedar fronds in the sweat lodge. There were no human sacrifices, and cannibalism was not practiced.
Omaha, Ponka, and Kansa Belief in a Wakanda
§ 21. According to Two Crows and Joseph La Flèche, the ancestors of the Omaha and Ponka believed that there was a Supreme Being, whom they called Wakanda. “Wakanda t‘aⁿi tĕ eȼegaⁿi, they believed that Wakanda existed.” They did not know where He was, nor did they undertake to say how He existed. There was no public gathering at which some of the people told others that there was a Wakauda, nor was there any general assembly for the purpose of offering Him worship and prayer. Each person thought in his heart that Wakanda existed. Some addressed the sun as Wakanda, though many did not so regard him. Many addressed Wakanda, as it were, blindly or at random. Some worshiped the Thunder-being under this name. This was especially the case when men undertook to go on the war path. 7 Mr. Say recorded of the Kansa: “They say that they have never seen Wakanda, so they cannot pretend to personify Him; but they have often heard Him speak in the thunder. They often wear a shell which is in honor or in representation of Him, but they do not pretend that it resembles Him, or has anything in common with his form, organization, or size.”
Seven Great Wakandas
§ 22. Ԁaȼiⁿ-naⁿ-pajĭ said that there were seven great Wakandas, as follows: “Ugahanadaze or Darkness, Maxe or the Upper World, ┴ande or the Ground, Iñgȼaⁿ or the Thunder-being, Miⁿ or the Sun, Niaⁿba or the Moon, and the Morning Star. The principal Wakanda is in the upper world, above everything.” (This was denied by Joseph La Flèche and Two Crows; see § 93.) The author thought at first that these were the powers worshiped by Ԁaȼiⁿ-naⁿpajĭ and the members of his gens or subgens; but subsequent inquiries and statements occurring in the course of texts furnish cumulative evidence favoring the view that some or all these powers had many believers among the Omaha and the cognate tribes.
Invocation of Warmth and Streams
§ 23. Ԁaȼiⁿ-naⁿpajĭ said that Macte or Warmth was a good Wakanda. Ni ȼiⁿ, the flowing Stream, according to him, was thus addressed by a man who wished to ford it: “You are a person and a Wakanda. I, too, am a person. I desire to pass through you and reach the other side.” Two Crows denied this, saying that his people never prayed to a stream; but George Miller said that it was true, for his father, Little Soldier, prayed to a stream when he was on the war path, and that such invocations were made only in time of war.
Prayer to Wakanda
§ 24. Prayer to Wakanda, said La Flèche and Two Crows, was not made for small matters, such as going fishing, but only for great and important undertakings, such as going to war or starting on a journey. When a man wished to travel he first went alone to a bluff, where he prayed to Wakanda to help him and his family by protecting them during his absence and by granting him a successful journey. At a time when the Ponka were without food, Horse-with-yellow-hair, or Cañge-hiⁿ-zi, prayed to Wakanda on the hill beyond the Stony Butte. The latter is a prominent landmark in northern Nebraska (in what was Todd county, Dakota, in 1871-’73), about 7 miles from the Missouri River and the Ponka Agency (of 1870-’77)8. Several Omaha said that the places for prayer were rocks, high bluffs, and mountains. “All Omaha went to such places to pray, but they did not pray to the visible object, though they called it Grandfather.”—(Frank La Flèche.) They smoked towards the invoked object and placed gifts of killickinnick, etc., upon it. Compare with this the Dakota custom of invoking a bowlder on the prairie; calling it Tŭñkaⁿcidaⁿ (Tuŋkaŋśidaŋ), or Grandfather, symbolizing the Earth-being.9 Though it has been said that a high bluff was merely a place for praying to Wakanda, and that it was not itself addressed as Wakanda, the author has learned from members of the Omaha and Pouka tribes that when they went on the warpath for the first time, their names were then changed and one of the old men was sent to the bluffs to tell the news to the various Wakandas, including the bluffs, trees, birds, insects, reptiles, etc.10
Accessories of Prayer
Among the accessories of prayer were the following: (a) The action called ȼistube by the Omaha and Ponka, riçtowe by the three ┴ɔiwere tribes, and yuwiⁿtapi (yuwiŋtapi) by the Dakota, consisting of the elevation of the suppliant’s arms with the palms toward the object or the face of the being invoked, followed by a passage of the hand downward toward the ground, without touching the object or person (see §§ 28, 35, 36). (b) The presentation of the pipe with the mouthpiece toward the power invoked (see §§ 29, 35, 40). (c) The use of smoke from the pipe (See §§ 27, 36), or of the odor of burning cedar needles, as in the sweat lodge. (d) The application of the kinship term, “grandfather,” or its alternative, “venerable man,” to a male power, and “grandmother” to a female power (see §§ 30, 31, 35, 39, 59, 60, etc.). (e) Ceremonial wailing or crying (Xage, to wail or cry—Dakota ćeya. See § 100).11 (f) Sacrifice or offering of goods, animals, pieces of the suppliant’s flesh, etc. In modern times the Kansa have substituted the lives of animals, as deer, grouse, etc., for those of human enemies (see §§ 28, 33, etc.).
Omaha and Kansa Expressions about Wakanda
§ 25. Samuel Fremont said that before the advent of the white race the Omaha had certain expressions which they used in speaking of Wakanda. When an Indian met with unexpected good fortune of any sort the people used to say, “Wakanda has given him some assistance.”12 Or they might say, “Wakanda knows him.”13 Sometimes they said, “Wakanda has planned for his own (i. e., for his friend, relation, or subject).”14 If a Kansa prospers, he says, “Wakan´da aká aⁿmaⁿ´yüxü´dje aka´ eyaú,” i. e., “Wakanda has indeed been looking at me!” And in speaking of the success of another, he says, “Wakan´da aká níka yiñké uyü´xüdje aká eyaú,” i. e., “Wakanda has indeed been looking at the man.”
Samuel Fremont said that when an animal detected the approach of the hunter and consequently fled from him, the man prayed thus:
Hau´
Wakan´da,
wani´ta
wiⁿ
aⁿȼá‘i
éiⁿte
cĭ
iⁿȼégȼize
égaⁿ.
Cĭ
wiⁿ´
waȼíɔnaaⁿȼákiȼe
kaⁿbȼégaⁿ,
Ho,
Wakanda,
quadruped
one
you gave to me
perhaps
again
you take yours back from me
somewhat
again
one
you cause to appear to me
I hope
i. e., “Ho, Wakanda, you may have given me an animal, but now it seems that you have taken it from me. I hope that you will cause another to appear to me.” But if the hunter shot at an animal and missed it, he said nothing.
Ponka Belief About Malevolent Spirits
§ 26. About eighteen years ago, the author was told by the Ponka, whose reservation was then in southern Dakota, that they believed death to be caused by certain malevolent spirits, whom they feared. In order to prevent future visits of such spirits, the survivors gave away all their property, hoping that as they were in such a wretched plight the spirits would not think it worth while to make them more unhappy. At the burial of Mazi-kide, an Omaha, the author observed that some one approached the corpse and addressed it. In referring to this in 1888, Samuel Fremont said that the speaker said, “Wakanda has caused your death.” In telling this, Fremont used the singular. “Wakanda aka.” On repeating this to George Miller, the latter said that it should have been “Wakanda ama,” in the plural, “the Mysterious Powers,” as the Omaha believed in more than one Wakanda before they learned about the one God of monotheism.
This agrees with what was learned about the Dakota by the late missionaries, Messrs. S. R. Riggs and G. H. Pond, and by the late James W. Lynd, as stated in chapter V.
An Old Omaha Custom
§ 27. “Abicude,” said Samuel Fremont, “is a word which refers to an old Omaha and Ponka custom, i.e., that of blowing the smoke downward to the ground while praying. The Omaha and Ponka used to hold the pipe in six directions while smoking: toward the four winds, the ground, and the upper world.” The exact order has been forgotten by Fremont, but Lewis and Clarke have recorded the corresponding Shoshoni custom. Capt. Lewis tells how the Shoshoni chief, after lighting his pipe of transparent greenstone (instead of catlinite), made a speech, after which he pointed the stem of the pipe toward the four points of the heavens, beginning with the east and concluding with the north. After extending the stem thrice toward Capt. Lewis, he pointed it first toward the heavens and then toward the center of the little circle of guests, probably toward the ground, symbolizing the subterranean power.15
In addressing the four winds, a peculiar expression is employed by the Omaha:
┴adé
dúba
híȼaȼĕ
ȼáȼiⁿcé, iⁿ
wiñ´ʞaⁿi-gă,
Thou who causest the four winds to reach a place, help ye me!
Wind
four
you cause it to reach there
you (sing.) who move
help ye me.
Instead of the singular classifier, ȼaȼiⁿce, the regular plural, nañkácĕ, ye who sit, stand, or move, might have been expected. (See § 33.)
In smoking toward the ground and upper world, the suppliant had to say, “I petition to you who are one of the two, you who are reclining on your back, and to you who are the other one, sitting directly above us. Both of you help me!” “Here,” said Fremont, “the ground itself was addressed as a person.” Two Crows said that some Omaha appealed to a subterranean Wakanda when their word was doubted, saying, “Iⁿc‘áge hídeaʇa aká aⁿná‘aⁿi,” “The venerable man at the bottom hears me.” The author is unable to say whether this was ┴ande or Wakandagi. (See § 37.)
The following was recorded of the Omaha, and refers to a custom relating to the buffalo hunt.16
On coming in sight of the herd, the hunters talk kindly to their horses, applying to them the endearing names of father, brother, uncle, etc. They petition them not to fear the bisons, but to run well and keep close to them, but at the same time to avoid being gored.
The party having approached as near to the herd as they suppose the animals will permit without taking alarm, they halt to give the pipe bearer an opportunity to perform the ceremony of smoking, which is considered necessary to their success. He lights his pipe, and remains a short time with his head inclined, and the stem of the pipe extended toward the herd. He then smokes, and puffs the smoke toward the bisons, and the earth, and finally to the cardinal points successively.
The Sun a Wakanda
§ 28. In the Osage traditions the “mysterious one of day” is invoked as “grandfather.”17
He replies that he is not the only Wakanʇa. That the Kansa worshiped the sun as a Wakanda appears from the following: “On one occasion, when the Kansa went against the Pawnees, the stick was set up for the mystic attack or ‘waqpele gaxe.’ The war captain addressed the rising sun thus:
“Páyiⁿ
áqli
kŭⁿ´bla
eyaú.
Cŭñ´ge
wábliⁿ
alí
kŭⁿ´bla
eyaú.
Wayü´qpe
ckí
kŭⁿ´bla
eyaú.
Haléje
Pawnee
I stun by hitting
I wish
indeed.
Horse
I have them
I have come back
I wish
indeed.
Pulling down (a foe)
too
I wish
indeed.
Calico (shirt)
uɯíblage.
Haqiⁿ´
uɯíblage.
Haská
cki
Páyiⁿ
áqli-daⁿ´
mík’ü
tá
miñke,
Wákanda-é,
é
gü´aⁿyakiyé-daⁿ.
I tell you about it.
Robe
I tell you about it
Blanket
too
Pawnee
I stun by hitting
when
I give to you
will
I who (sit)
O Wakanda!
that
you cause me to be returning
when.
“I wish to kill a Pawnee! I desire to bring horses when I return. I long to pull down an enemy! I promise you a calico shirt and a robe. I will give you a blanket also, O Wakanda, if you allow me to return in safety after killing a Pawnee!” When warriors performed the “waqpele gaxe” or the attack on the stick representing the foe, no member of the Lṵ or Thunder gens could participate. On such an occasion the warrior turned to the east and said:
“Aⁿmaⁿ´pye
kŭⁿ´bla
aú.
Haská
uɯíblage
aú,
Wákanda-é,”
To follow me(?) or We follow it(?)
I wish
.
Blanket
I tell you of it
.
O Wakanda
i.e., I wish my party to pass along the road to the foe(?). I promise you a blanket, O Wakanda (if I succeed?).” On turning to the west he said:
“Uⁿ´hŭⁿ
uɯíblage
aú,
Wákanda-é,”
Boiling
I tell you of it
.
O Wakanda
i. e., “I promise you a feast, O Wakanda (if I succeed?).” When it was decided to perform the “waqpele gaxe,” the dudaⁿhañga or war captain made one of the lieutenants carry the sacred bag, and two of the kettle tenders took bundles of sticks, which they laid down in the road. The four remaining kettle tenders remained at the camping place. The next morning all the warriors but those of the Lṵ gens went to the place where the sticks had been laid, drew a circle around the bundles, set up one of the sticks, and attacked it, as if it were a Pawnee. This ceremony often caused the death of real enemies.
Among the Osage and Kansa prayer was made toward the rising sun in the morning and towards the setting sun in the afternoon and evening.
Among the Omaha and Kansa the head of a corpse is laid towards the east. For this reason no Omaha will consent to recline with his head towards that point. The Kansa lodges also are orientated, and so were those of the Omaha (see § 59). The east appears to symbolize life or the source thereof, but18 the west refers to death; so among the Osage the course of a war party was towards the mythic or symbolic west, towards which point the entrances of the lodges were turned19 (see §§ 83 and 384).
Gahige, the late Omaha chief, said that when he was young all the Omaha prayed to the sun, holding up their hands with the palms towards the sun and saying, “Wakan´da, ȼá‘eaⁿ´ȼa-gă,” etc., i. e., “O Wakanda, pity me!” They abstained from eating, drinking, and (ordinary) smoking from sunrise to sunset; but after sunset the restrictions were removed.20
For four nights the men who thus prayed did not sleep at home. At the end of that period the task was finished. “Íwackaⁿ gáxai,” i. e., they made or gained superhuman power. They could thus pray at any time from the appearance of grass in the spring until the ground became frozen.
The Offering of Tobacco
§ 29. In 1889 George Miller gave an account of what he called “Niní bahaí tĕ,” i. e. the offering or presentation of tobacco. Whether this phrase was ever used except in a religious or superhuman connection is more than the author is able to say. Whenever the Indians traveled they used all the words which follow as they extended the pipe with the mouthpiece toward the sun:
“Haú,
niní
gakĕ
Wakan´da,
Miⁿ´
ȼé
niñkĕ´cĕ!
Ujañ´ge
ȼiȼíʇa
kĕ
égaⁿqti
uáha
té
ă.
Ho
tobacco
that lg. ob.
Wakanda
Sun
this
you who sit
Road
your
the lg. ob.
just so
I follow its course
will
!
Iñgáxa-gă!
Edádaⁿ
ctécte
údaⁿqti
ákipañkiȼa´-gă!
Edádaⁿ
júajĭ
wiⁿ´
ĕdedíte
ʞĭ´
íbetaⁿañkiȼá-gă!
Make it for me
What
soever
very good
cause me to meet it
What
inferior
one
it is there
if
cause me to pass around it
Ȼi´-naⁿ
ámusta
waȼíɔna
ȼagȼiⁿ´,
ní-uȼan´da
ȼéȼaⁿ
ȼéȼaⁿska
édegaⁿ,
edádaⁿ
waníta
ʇan´de
Only thou
directly above (us)
in sight
you sit
island
this place
this large
but
what
quadruped
ground
uckaⁿ´ckaⁿ
ȼaⁿ
bȼúgaqti
níkaciⁿga
ȼaⁿ´
ctĕwaⁿ´
wiⁿ´
aⁿ´ba
ataⁿ´
íȼaɔni´gȼaⁿ
ʞĭ,
égaⁿ-naⁿ.
mv. on it here and there
the
all
person
the
soever
one
day
how long
you decide for him
when
always so.
Ádaⁿ
wi´ʞa-naⁿ
maⁿ´
hă,
Wakan´da”
Therefore
I ask a favor of you
alone
.
Wakanda
This may be rendered freely thus: “Ho, Mysterious Power, you who are the Sun! Here is tobacco! I wish to follow your course. Grant that it may be so! Cause me to meet whatever is good (i. e., for my advantage) and to give a wide berth to anything that may be to my injury or disadvantage. Throughout this island (the world) you regulate everything that moves, including human beings, when you decide for one that his last day on earth has come, it is so. It can not be delayed. Therefore, O Mysterious Power, I ask a favor of you.”
The Ponka Sun Dance of 1873
In the summer of 1873, when the author was missionary to the Ponka in what was Todd County, Dakota, that tribe had a sun dance on the prairie near the mission house. The scarifications and subsequent tortures and dancing lasted but three hours instead of a longer period, owing to the remonstrances of Bishop Hare, the agent, and the missionary. The head chief, White Eagle, was tied to his pony, after he had been scarified and fastened to the sun pole. Some of his policemen, armed with whips, lashed the pony until it leaped aside, tearing out the lariat that fastened the chief to the sun pole, and terminating his participation in the ceremony. (See Pl. XLVI and § 187.) For obvious reasons the author did not view the sun dance, but he was told about it by some of the spectators. As the chief, Standing Buffalo, had said to Bishop Hare in the council previous to the sun dance, “You white people pray to Wakanda in your way, and we Indians pray to Wakanda in the sun dance. Should you chance to lose your way on the prairie you would perish, but if we got lost we would pray to Wakanda in the sun dance, and find our way again.”
The Moon a Wakanda
§ 30. No examples of invocations of the moon have yet been found among the Omaha and Ponka. But that the moon is “qube” appears from the decorations of robes and tents. (See §§ 45-47.)
The moon is addressed as a “grandfather” and is described as the “Wakanʇa of night” in “Osage Traditions,” lines 55-59.21
Berdaches
The Omaha believe that the unfortunate beings, called “Miⁿ-qu-ga,” are mysterious or sacred because they have been affected by the Moon Being. When a young Omaha fasted for the first time on reaching puberty, it was thought that the Moon Being appeared to him, holding in one hand a bow and arrows and in the other a pack strap, such as the Indian women use. When the youth tried to grasp the bow and arrows the Moon Being crossed his hands very quickly, and if the youth was not very careful he seized the pack strap instead of the bow and arrows, thereby fixing his lot in after life. In such a case he could not help acting the woman, speaking, dressing, and working just as Indian women used to do. Louis Sanssouci said that the miⁿ-quga took other men as their husbands. Frank La Flèche knew one such man, who had had several men as his husbands. A Ponka child once said to the author, “Miⁿjiñga-ma nujiñga ama ʇi-gaxe-nandi, miⁿquga, ai,” i.e., “If boys make a practice of playing with the girls they become (or are called) miⁿquga.” This term may be rendered “hermaphrodite” when it refers to animals, as “ʇe miⁿquga,” a hermaphrodite buffalo. It must have been of this class of persons, called “Miⁿ-quge” by the Kansa that Say wrote when he said:
Many of the subjects of it (i.e., sodomy among the Kansa) are publicly known, and do not appear to be despised or to excite disgust. One was pointed out to us. He had submitted himself to it in consequence of a vow he had made to his mystic medicine, which obliged him to change his dress for that of a woman, to do their work, and to permit his hair to grow.22
After giving an account of the Miⁿquga which agrees with what has been written above, Miss Fletcher23 tells of “a man who had the misfortune to be forced to this life and tried to resist. His father gave him a bow and some arrows, but the penalty of his vision so wrought upon his mind that, unable to endure the abnormal life, he committed suicide.” (See §§ 212, 353.)
Stars as Wakandas
§ 31. That the Omaha and Ponka regarded the stars as Wakandas seems probable from the existence of nikie names and the personal mystery decorations. (See §§ 45, 47, and 52.) There are star names in the Night gens of the Kansa, and they point to the mythical origin of the gens. The Kansa made offerings to the morning star. Among the Osage the traditions of the Tsiɔu Wactaʞe and Bald Eagle people mention several Wakanʇas among the stars. These are as follows: Watse ʇuʞa, a “grandfather;” Watse miⁿʞa, a “grandmother;” Miⁿkak’e peȼŭⁿda, the Seven Stars (Pleiades?), a “grandfather;” the constellation Ta ȼadȼiⁿ or the Three Deer, a “grandfather;” the morning star, Miⁿkak’e tañʞa (literally, large star), a “grandfather;” the small star, a “grandfather;” the bowl of the Dipper, called “Wadaha ȼiñkce; the Funeral Bier,” a “grandfather,” and the Female Red Bird, a “grandmother,” the eponym of the Tsiɔu Wactaʞe or “Red Eagle” gens. She, too, was probably a star.24
§ 32
Gaⁿ
edádaⁿ
ȼiⁿ´
ctĕwaⁿ
ȼahaⁿ´-naⁿi
ni´aciⁿ´ga
ama´,
dahe´
ʇañga´
ȼiⁿ,
ctĕwaⁿ´.
“Wakan´da
And
what
the col. ob.
soever
usually
Indian
the pl. sub.
hill
large
the col. ob.
soever
Wakanda
bȼu´gaqti
wi´ʞai
ă,”
e´-naⁿi.
“Hau,
┴an´de
niñkĕ´
cĕ,
ʞa´ci
jiñ´ga
e´gaⁿ
a´witaⁿ
te´
ă,”
ai´
all
I ask a favor of you (pl.)
!
they said usually
Ho
Ground
you who
sit
some time
little
so
I tread on you
will
!
say
ni´kaciⁿ´ga
ama´.
┴ade´ ui´ȼĕ
du´baha
tĕ´
ctĭ
ȼahaⁿ´-naⁿi.
“┴ade´ ui´ȼĕ
du´baha
nañka´cĕ,
Indians
the pl. sub.
Whence the wind is sent hither(?)
in four places
the
too
they usually pray (to)
Whence the wind is sent hither(?)
in four places
ye who are
iⁿwiñ´ʞaⁿi-gă.”
Gaⁿ´
gage´giȼaⁿ´i
ni´aciⁿ´ga
uke´ȼiⁿ
ama´,
Wakan´da
wa´ȼahaⁿi
tĕ´di.
help ye me
and
they speak in that manner to (one)
Indian
ordinary
the pl. sub.
Wakanda
they pray to them
when
“The Indians used to invoke various objects, including the mountains, saying, ‘O, all ye mysterious powers, I ask a favor of you!’ They prayed to the ground, saying, ‘O, you who are the ground! May I tread you a little while longer!’ i.e., ‘May my life on earth be prolonged!’ When one prayed to the four winds, he would say, ‘Ho, ye four winds, help me!’ Thus did speak when they prayed to the Wakandas.”—(George Miller.)
The Winds as Wakandas
§ 33. The Omaka and Ponka invoked the winds, as has been stated in part of the preceding section. See also the statement of Samuel Fremont (§ 27).25
In preparing for the pipe dance the tobacco pouch, two gourd rattles, and the ear of corn have a figure drawn on each of them with green paint; it is the cross, indicating the four quarters of the heavens or the four winds.26
Kansa Sacrifice to the Winds
“In former days the Kansa used to remove the hearts of slain foes and put them in the fire as a sacrifice to the four winds. Even now (1882) offerings are made to every Wakanda by the Kansa, to the power or powers above, to those under the hills, to the winds, the thunder-being, the morning star, etc. As Aliⁿkawahu and Pahaⁿlegaqli are Yata men (i. e., members of gentes camping on the left side of the tribal circle), they elevate their left hands and begin at the left with the east wind, then they turn to the south wind, then to the west wind, and finally to the north wind, saying to each, ‘Gá-tcĕ, Wakan´da, mik’ü´ eyau´,’ i. e., ‘O Wakanda, I really give that to you.’ In former days they used to pierce themselves with knives and splinters of wood, and offer small pieces of their flesh to the Wakandas.”27
