BONE EAR PERFORATORS AND EXPANDERS
The two gentes, the Ni´-ḳa Wa-ḳoⁿ-da-gi and the Tho´-xe, are closely related, being joint custodians of the rites pertaining to war. (See 36th Ann. Rept. Bur. Amer. Ethn., pp. 64-65.) The symbolic hawks, each of which formed the central figure in the ceremonies of the war rites, were regarded as being in the special care of the Ni´-ḳa Wa-ḳoⁿ-da-gi, while all of the thirteen o-doⁿ´, military honors, to be won by each warrior of the tribe in order to secure ceremonial rank, belonged to the Tho´-xe. The war honor must be won in a fight by a war party carrying a hawk, the tribal emblem of courage. The places of these two gentes are on the Ṭsi´-zhu side of the two great tribal divisions, but they are not of the seven fireplaces of that great division.
In the Ṭsi´-zhu Wi´-gi-e recited by Moⁿ-zhoⁿ-a´-ḳi-da (36th Ann. Rept. Bur. Amer. Ethn., pp. 277-285), relating to the mythical story of the descent of the people from the upper to the lower world, these two gentes are mentioned. A paraphrase of this part is here given:
Paraphrase of Wi´-gi-e Relating to the Ni´-ḳa Wa-ḳoⁿ-da-gi and the Tho´-xe Gentes
The Messenger
Then hastened down
To the fourth division of the heavens,
Close to it he stood and paused
And lo, Ni´-ḳa Wa-ḳoⁿ-da-gi, Man of Mysteries,
Appeared before him.
The Messenger turned and said to his followers: Here stands a man,
Verily, one who inspires fear.
I truly believe his name is, Fear-inspiring.
The Man of Mysteries spake, saying: I am a person of whom your little ones may well make their bodies.
When your little ones make of me their bodies,
They shall be free from all causes of death.
They shall take the name Little-hawk,
To use as their personal name,
Then shall they be able to live to see old age.
Woman-hawk
Is also a name that I have.
Your little ones shall use it as their personal name,
Then shall they be able to live to old age.
The Messenger quickly passed on
To Tho´-xe, who appeared in the form of a buffalo bull.
Close to him the Messenger stood and spake,
Saying: O, Grandfather!
Then, turning toward his followers, he said: Here stands a man,
Verily, a man who inspires fear.
Then Tho´-xe spake, saving: I am a person of whom your little ones may well make their bodies.
Thereupon he threw himself upon the earth,
And the blazing star, a purple flower,
Sprang up from the soil and stood, pleasing to the sense of sight.
And Tho´-xe spake, saying: This plant shall be medicine for your little ones,
It shall make their limbs to lengthen in growth,
And they shall be able to live to see old age.
Again Tho´-xe threw himself upon the earth
And the poppy mallow
Sprang from the soil and stood, beautiful, in its red blossoms.
Then Tho´-xe spake, saying: Of this plant also,
Your little ones shall make their bodies,
They shall use it as medicine
And it shall make their limbs to lengthen in growth.
It is astringent to the taste,
Therefore you shall name your little ones Astringent.
When the little ones make of this plant their bodies,
They shall be able to live to see old age.
At the time this work was begun the greater portion of the Osage people had practically ceased to observe the ancient custom of cutting the hair of their children in the prescribed symbolic fashion, and those who continued the practice were reluctant to speak of it on account of its sacred and mysterious character. For this reason it was not possible to make an exhaustive study of the hair cut of the various gentes of the tribe. In the days when the rite was generally and strictly observed the girl, when she had attained the age of ten, was permitted to let her hair grow long, and the boy was allowed to wear his hair in the same style as that of all the grown men; that is, all the hair of the head cut close excepting a crest beginning at the middle of the crown and terminating with a long braided tail called he-ga´-xa, horn, that hangs down the back of the head and on the shoulder. (Pl. 11.) The braided tail is called “a´-çku” by the Omaha and the Ponca Indians.
The Ponca and the Omaha, who were at one time a part of the Osage tribe, also had the same tribal custom of ceremonially cutting the hair of the children. The ritual used in the ceremony is a supplication to Wa-ḳoⁿ´-da to favor the child with a long and fruitful life.
In the course of her ethnological work among the Omahas in the years 1881-83, Miss Alice C. Fletcher undertook to gather information about the symbolic hair cut of the children of that tribe. At first she made slow progress because the Indians were unwilling to speak of matters that form a part of the tribal rites. One day, at the house of Xo´-ga, the members of the family and some visitors were speaking of Miss Fletcher’s difficulty in gathering information about the hair cut, when the old man caught his little boy and, holding him fast between his knees, proceeded to cut his hair. The little fellow fought manfully but in a short time he stood with his head closely sheared, with locks left uncut here and there. The father swung the boy to his back and as he started to go he said: “That white woman is my friend and I am going to help her.” He carried the child to Miss Fletcher and as he put him down before her he said, “That’s the hair cut of our gens. (See fig. 5, No. 2.) It is the picture of a bison; you can’t see it [the bison] but we can. You may make a sketch of it and write about it as much as you like.” The lady looked for a moment in silence at the locks and the little shorn head, then, with a hearty laugh and a handclap, she snatched up paper and pencil to make a sketch of the locks and the shorn head, to the delight of all the Indians present. Thereafter she had no trouble in getting information about the hair cut of all the gentes.