CULTS OF THE ELEMENTS.
§ 363. Prior to writing this paper, the author had observed what Dr. Foster stated in his Indian Record and Historical Data respecting the division of the Winnebago tribe into four groups, named after the earth, air, fire, and water, respectively, i.e., Foster claimed that the Winnebago had people named after land animals, others after birds and the winds, others after the thunder-beings, and others after the Waktceqi or water monsters.[283] (See § 96.)
FIG. 193.—The Ȼatada gentile circle.
During the year 1890 the author obtained from the three principal Ponka chiefs the classification of their gentes by phratries, and the character of the mystic songs peculiar to each phratry.
On comparing this information with that which has been related about the Dakota gods, there seemed to be good reasons for inferring that not only the Dakota tribes, but also the Omaha, Ponka, Winne-bago, and others of the same stock, divided their gods into four classes, those of the earth, wind-makers, fire, and water.
§ 364. Among the Omaha, Iowa, and cognate tribes, we find that when a gens assembled as a whole, for council purposes, they sat around the fire in the order shown in the accompanying diagram, Fig. 193:
Legend.—1, Black Bear subgens; 2, Small Bird subgens; 3, Eagle subgens; 4, Turtle subgens; 5, fireplace; 6, entrance.
Places in the circle were assigned according to kinship; thus, the Black Bear and Small Bird people are spoken of as “sitting on the same side of the fireplace,” as they are full kin, while they are only partially related to those who sit on the other side (Nos. 3 and 4). That the fireplace was sacred, there being traces of a hearth cult, has been shown in §§ 33 and 40. Furthermore, the Ȼatada circle is remarkable not only for its arrangement according to kinship, but for its symbolic character; because the Black Bear people are associated with the ground or earth, as is shown by their personal names; the Small Bird people are Thunder-beings or Fire people; the Eagle subgens consist of “Wind-maker” people; and the Turtle subgens is composed of Water people.
FIG. 194.—The four elements, etc.
§ 365. This suggests another diagram, Fig. 194, in which the author has put the names of four classes of Dakota gods, with what he suspects to be their appropriate colors, R standing for red, B for black, Y for yellow, and Bl for blue.
Earth people serve or assist Fire people (§ 35 and perhaps § 36). Do Water people ever serve Wind-maker people (see address to a stream in time of war, § 23)? The Fire powers are hostile to the powers of the Water (§§ 75, 77, 117-119); we have yet to learn whether, in any gens, a subgens named after the Thunder-being sits on the same side of the gentile fireplace with a subgens named after a power of the Water. Is there a warfare going on between the powers of the Earth and the Wind-makers? The Fire powers and Wind-makers are concerned in all kinds of suffering, including war, disease, and death (§§ 117, 119, 127, 129), and there is no hostility existing between them.[284]
The Kaⁿe gens of the Osage has several names, Wind people, South-wind people, Those who light the pipes (in council), and Fire people.
The powers of the Earth and Water are interested in the preservation of life, and so we may consider them the patrons of peace. “Peace,” in Omaha, Ponka, and ┴ɔiwere, means “The land is good,” and “to make peace” is expressed by “to make the land good.” The words for “water” and “life” are identical in some of the Siouan languages, and they differ but slightly in others.
It is interesting to note what has been said by Mr. Francis La Flesche[285] about water: “Water seems to hold an important place in the practice of this medicine society, even when roots are used for the healing of wounds. The songs say: ‘Water was sent into the wound,’ ‘Water will be sent into his wound,’ etc.” The mystic songs of the doctors of the order of buffalo shamans tell of the pool of water in a buffalo wallow where the wounded one shall be treated.
But we must note some apparent inconsistencies. While the Unkteḣi created the earth and the human race (§ 112), they are believed to feed on human spirits or ghosts; though ghosts are reckoned among the servants of the Unkteḣi! And while the powers of the Fire and Water are enemies, one is surprised to observe that in the war gens of the Omaha as well as in the two war gentes of the Kansa, there is the sacred clam shell as well as the war pipe! (See § 36 and Om. Soc., p. 226.)