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,

[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.

[Transcriber's note: the hyphen in “gü´aⁿyakiyé-daⁿ” was at the end of a line; the word may be “gü´aⁿyakiyédaⁿ”]

“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, but [18] 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 turned [19] (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.

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.”