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:
| ┴a[p]é | 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.