PRAYER TO WAKANDA.
§ 24. Prayer to Wakanda, said La Flèche and Two Crows, was not made for small matters, such as going fishing, but only for great and important undertakings, such as going to war or starting on a journey. When a man wished to travel he first went alone to a bluff, where he prayed to Wakanda to help him and his family by protecting them during his absence and by granting him a successful journey. At a time when the Ponka were without food, Horse-with-yellow-hair, or Cañge-hiⁿ-zi, prayed to Wakanda on the hill beyond the Stony Butte. The latter is a prominent landmark in northern Nebraska (in what was Todd county, Dakota, in 1871-’73), about 7 miles from the Missouri River and the Ponka Agency (of 1870-’77)[8]. Several Omaha said that the places for prayer were rocks, high bluffs, and mountains. “All Omaha went to such places to pray, but they did not pray to the visible object, though they called it Grandfather.”—(Frank La Flèche.) They smoked towards the invoked object and placed gifts of killickinnick, etc., upon it. Compare with this the Dakota custom of invoking a bowlder on the prairie; calling it Tŭñkaⁿcidaⁿ (Tuŋkaŋśidaŋ), or Grandfather, symbolizing the Earth-being.[9] Though it has been said that a high bluff was merely a place for praying to Wakanda, and that it was not itself addressed as Wakanda, the author has learned from members of the Omaha and Pouka tribes that when they went on the warpath for the first time, their names were then changed and one of the old men was sent to the bluffs to tell the news to the various Wakandas, including the bluffs, trees, birds, insects, reptiles, etc.[10]
ACCESSORIES OF PRAYER.
Among the accessories of prayer were the following: (a) The action called ȼistube by the Omaha and Ponka, riçtowe by the three ┴ɔiwere tribes, and yuwiⁿtapi (yuwiŋtapi) by the Dakota, consisting of the elevation of the suppliant’s arms with the palms toward the object or the face of the being invoked, followed by a passage of the hand downward toward the ground, without touching the object or person (see §§ 28, 35, 36). (b) The presentation of the pipe with the mouthpiece toward the power invoked (see §§ 29, 35, 40). (c) The use of smoke from the pipe (See §§ 27, 36), or of the odor of burning cedar needles, as in the sweat lodge. (d) The application of the kinship term, “grandfather,” or its alternative, “venerable man,” to a male power, and “grandmother” to a female power (see §§ 30, 31, 35, 39, 59, 60, etc.). (e) Ceremonial wailing or crying (Xage, to wail or cry—Dakota ćeya. See § 100).[11] (f) Sacrifice or offering of goods, animals, pieces of the suppliant’s flesh, etc. In modern times the Kansa have substituted the lives of animals, as deer, grouse, etc., for those of human enemies (see §§ 28, 33, etc.).
OMAHA AND KANSA EXPRESSIONS ABOUT WAKANDA.
§ 25. Samuel Fremont said that before the advent of the white race the Omaha had certain expressions which they used in speaking of Wakanda. When an Indian met with unexpected good fortune of any sort the people used to say, “Wakanda has given him some assistance.”[12] Or they might say, “Wakanda knows him.”[13] Sometimes they said, “Wakanda has planned for his own (i. e., for his friend, relation, or subject).”[14] If a Kansa prospers, he says, “Wakan´da aká aⁿmaⁿ´yüxü´dje aka´ eyaú,” i. e., “Wakanda has indeed been looking at me!” And in speaking of the success of another, he says, “Wakan´da aká níka yiñké uyü´xüdje aká eyaú,” i. e., “Wakanda has indeed been looking at the man.”
Samuel Fremont said that when an animal detected the approach of the hunter and consequently fled from him, the man prayed thus:
| Hau´ | Wakan´da, | wani´ta | wiⁿ | aⁿȼá‘i | éiⁿte | cĭ | iⁿȼégȼize | égaⁿ. | Cĭ | wiⁿ´ | waȼíɔnaaⁿȼákiȼe | kaⁿbȼégaⁿ, |
| Ho, | Wakanda, | quadruped | one | you gave to me | perhaps | again | you take yours back from me | somewhat | again | one | you cause to appear to me | I hope |
i. e., “Ho, Wakanda, you may have given me an animal, but now it seems that you have taken it from me. I hope that you will cause another to appear to me.” But if the hunter shot at an animal and missed it, he said nothing.