OMAHA NIKIE CUSTOMS.
§ 54. Among the nikie of the Omaha, the following may be mentioned: The Wajiñga-ȼatajĭ, or “Blackbird people,” had a curious custom during the harvest season. At that time the birds used to devour the corn, so the men of this sub-gens undertook to prevent them, by chewing some grains of corn which they spit around over the field.[60] During a fog, the [K]e-‘iⁿ men would draw the figure of a turtle on the ground, with its head to the south. On the head, tail, middle of the back, and each leg, were placed small pieces of a (red) breechcloth with some tobacco. They imagined that this would make the fog disappear very soon.[61] The [K]aⁿze gens, being Wind people, flap their blankets to start a breeze when mosquitoes abound.[62] The ┴a-[p]a gens have a form for the naming of a child on the fifth morning after its birth, according to Lion, one of the chiefs of that gens.[63] In the feast on the hearts and tongues,[64] the Hañga men who belong to the sub-gens keeping the sacred pole, eat the buffalo tongues, though the buffalo is their “grandfather” and the eponym of their gens; but they can not eat the “ʇa” or buffalo sides. However, the other Hañga men, who can not eat the tongues, are allowed to eat the consecrated buffalo sides, after the ceremonies connected with the thanksgiving and anointing of the sacred pole.[65] No Omaha child had its hair cut until it had been taken to an old man of the Ictasanda gens, to have the first locks cut, the first moccasins put on the child’s feet, and prayers to be said over it. Sometimes the old man said
| “┴ucpáha, | Wakan´da | ȼa‘éȼiȼé-de | ʞáci | maⁿȼiñ´ka | sí | áȼagȼé | tate,” |
| O grandchild, | Wakanda | pity you when | a long time | soil | foot | you set it erect on | shall, |
i.e., “O grandchild, may Wakanda pity you, and may your feet rest a long time on the ground!” Another form was sometimes used—“Wakanda ȼa‘eȼiȼe tate. Maⁿȼiñka si aȼagȼe tate. Gudihegaⁿ ne tate,” i.e., “May Wakanda pity you! May your feet tread the ground! May you go ahead (or, live hereafter)!”[66]
§ 55. When there is a “blizzard,” the other Kansa beg the members of the Tcihaciⁿ or Kaⁿze gens to interpose, as they are Wind people.
| “[M]i´tcigu-e´, | haⁿ´ba | ya´li | kŭⁿ´bla | eyau´. | Ciñ´gajiñ´ga | yi´ta | kik’ŭⁿ´yakiye´ | tce | au´[64], | a´be | au´.” | i.e., “They say, |
| O grandfather, | day | good | I desire | indeed. | Child | your | you cause him to be decorated (or painted) | will | . | they say | . |
‘O grandfather (said to one of the Kaⁿze gens), I wish good weather. Please cause one of your children to be decorated!’” Then the youngest son of one of the Kaⁿze men, say one over 4 feet high, is chosen for the purpose, and painted with red paint (I´gamaⁿ jü´dje i´kik’ŭⁿ´kiya´be au). The youth rolls over and over in the snow and reddens it for some distance all around him. This is supposed to stop the storm.