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198. The people spake, saying: The little ones have nothing of which to make their bodies, O, younger brothers,
199. Take heed and see what can be done.
200. Then to the youngest of the brothers
201. They spake, saying: O, younger brother,
202. The little ones have nothing of which to make their bodies,
203. Take heed and see what can be done.
204. Even as these words were being spoken,
205. The messenger stood before Double-star (Theta and Iota in Orion) who sitteth in the heavens,
206. To whom he spake, saying: O, grandmother!
207. The little ones have nothing of which to make their bodies.
208. Double-star replied: I am a person of whom the little ones may well make their bodies.
209. I am a god who has power to resist death.
210. When the little ones make of me their bodies,
211. They also shall have power to resist death, as they travel the path of life.
212. Even among the gods
213. There is not one who is able to see my path.
214. When the little ones make of me their bodies,
215. Even the gods
216. Shall not be able to see their path, as they travel the path of life.
217. Even among the gods
218. There is not one who can stand in my way to prevent my going.
219. When the little ones make of me their bodies,
220. Even the gods
221. Shall not be able to stand in their way to prevent their going.
222. Moreover, I have been able to bring myself to see old age.
223. When the little ones make of me their bodies,
224. They also shall be able to bring themselves to see old age.
225. I have been able to bring myself to the calm and peaceful days.
226. When the little ones make of me their bodies,
227. They also shall be able to bring themselves to the calm and peaceful days, as they travel the path of life.

At the close of the wi´-gi-e Shoⁿ´-ge-moⁿ-iⁿ and the Sho´-ḳa are invited by the family to join them in the evening meal, after which the two men go home.

The Xo´-ḳa Ceremonially Conducted to the Child’s House

Before sunrise the next morning the Sho´-ḳa, carrying his little pipe, the badge of his office, goes to Shoⁿ´-ge-moⁿ-iⁿ’s house to conduct him to the house of the child to be named. Upon receiving the formal message from the Sho´-ḳa, Shoⁿ´-ge-moⁿ-iⁿ takes his paint pouch from a bag containing his personal belongings and puts some red paint on the inner surface of his hands. Then as the eastern clouds take from the rising sun a crimson tinge, he lifts his hands, palms outward, toward them and the sun itself. After a silent pause he withdraws his hands and reddens his face with the paint on them, as though with the color of the sun, and his messengers, the reddened clouds. When he has put upon his face the sacred color he takes from a package in which he keeps his ornamental feathers a red downy eagle feather which he fastens to his scalplock so that the red feather, the life symbol of his gens, stands firm and upright. In the days when buffalo were plentiful the Noⁿ´-hoⁿ-zhiⁿ-ga who is to act as Xo´-ḳa at the child-naming ceremony wore a buffalo robe with the hair outside, but since the extinction of that animal he substituted for the robe a woven blanket obtained from traders.

Having thus decorated himself with red paint and the red feather, symbols of the sky, and the substitute of the buffalo robe, an earth symbol, Shoⁿ´-ge-moⁿ-iⁿ, now actual Xo´-ḳa, goes forth to the house of the child to be named, following the Sho´-ḳa, who leads the way. It was explained by the old man that the manner of approach of his gens, the Ṭsi´-zhu Wa-shta-ge, to the house of the child was very simple, that it did not have the elaborate ceremonial forms described by Wa-xthi´-zhi that were followed by his gens, the Puma, and the other war gentes of the Hoⁿ´-ga great division.

Arriving at the house, the Sho´-ḳa enters without pause and leads the Xo´-ḳa to his place at the left of the father, who sits with his wife and child at the east end of the house. When the Xo´-ḳa has taken his seat the Noⁿ´-hoⁿ-zhiⁿ-ga of his gens, the Ṭsi-zhu Wa-shta-ge, enter and take their places back of the Xo´-ḳa and the parents and sit in a row occupying the entire width of the house. Then the Noⁿ´-hoⁿ-zhiⁿ-ga of the other gentes who are to take part in the ceremony enter, those of the Hoⁿ´-ga great division taking their accustomed places at the south side and those of the Ṭsi´-zhu great division at the north side of the house. (Fig. 1.) Except for the blankets of various colors, the Noⁿ´-hoⁿ-zhiⁿ-ga were decorated alike, their faces painted red, the color of the sun and the dawn, and a red downy feather fastened to the scalplock of each one.

A Life Symbol Sent to Each of the Officiating Gentes

When all the Noⁿ´-hoⁿ-zhiⁿ-ga had settled down in their places, and had exchanged with each other the usual social greetings, Shoⁿ´-ge-moⁿ-iⁿ opens the proceedings with a formal statement, setting forth the purpose of the gathering and adding some pertinent remarks concerning the ancient rite of naming the children and their formal recognition as members of the tribe. He then goes on to the ceremony of distributing the fees and the symbolic articles to be used in the rite. The distribution was made in the following order:

1. To the Wa´-ṭse-ṭsi, Star gens of the Wa-zha´-zhe subdivision of the Hoⁿ´-ga great division, he sent, by the Sho´-ḳa, cedar fronds with fee. The cedar is a life symbol of the Wa´-ṭse-ṭsi gens.