COLORS IN PERSONAL NAMES.
§ 382. The following shows the color combinations in a list of forty-six objects taken from the census schedules of the Dakota, Hidatsa, and Mandan tribes (U. S. Census of 1880), the lists of Dakota names given in the Fourth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology, pp. 175, 177-180, and the list of Winnebago names collected by the author. Blue or green, (chiefly blue), 26; red, 25; black, 31; yellow, 30; scarlet, 38; white, 37; gray, 18; saŋ or distant-white (whitish), 4; rusty-yellow or brown (ġi), 18; spotted, 17; and striped, 8. Objects combined with two colors, 7; with three colors, 7; with four colors, 4; with five colors, 5; with six colors, 5; with seven colors, 6; with eight colors, 6; with nine colors, 5; with ten colors, 1; with all eleven colors, none. It should, however, be remembered that the lists consulted did not contain all the personal names of the Siouan tribes which have been mentioned, and that it is probable there would be found more color combinations if all the census schedules were accessible. We can not say whether each of the colors (including spotted and striped) has a mystic significance in the Siouan mind. Perhaps further study may show that red (śa) and scarlet (duta, luta) have the same symbolic meaning, and rusty-yellow (ġi) may be an equivalent of yellow (zi).
THE EARTH POWERS.
§ 383. The Tunkan or bowlder, the Dakota name for the Earth powers, is also called the Lingam by Riggs ( § 132), as if connected with a phallic cult (§§ 164, etc.). The Earth powers (Tunkan) and the Wind-makers (Takuśkanśkan) are said by the Dakota to have a common symbol; but is not the symbol of the Takuśkanśkan a pebble (§ 376)? In the Kansa war chart (see § 127) does the large (red) rock refer to the Earth powers? And does the small rock refer to the Wind-makers? The Earth powers and the Wind-makers seem to be associated in some degree: (a) In the use of the rock symbol (if the Takuśkanśkan symbol be a true rock), and (b) in the use, among the Omaha, of eagle birth names in the social divisions called “Keepers of the pipes.” This latter rests upon the assumption that the Iñke-sabĕ is a buffalo gens which should be regarded as having some connection with the Earth cult. When the Omaha chiefs assembled in council the two sacred pipes were filled by the Ictasanda keeper (a member of a Fire and Water gens); but they were carried around the council lodge by the Iñke-sabĕ and ┴e-[p]a-it‘ajĭ keepers. The Iñke-sabĕ keeper started around the lodge with one of the pipes; when he had gone halfway (i.e., as far as the entrance) the ┴e-[p]a-it‘ajĭ keeper started from the back of the lodge with the other pipe, taking care to keep behind the Iñke-sabĕ keeper just half the circumference of the circle.[307] The ┴e-[p]a-it‘ajĭ man belonged to the Eagle or Wind-makers subgens and the Iñke-sabĕ man to one that we term provisionally an Earth gens. (See Fig. 194.) The Iñke-sabĕ, it is true, have a tradition that they came originally from the water; but the buffalo is specially associated with the earth. Among the Dakota the buffalo and the earth are regarded as one. (§ 239.)
EARTH GENTES.
The Earth gentes, as far as we can judge, are as follows: Iñke-sabĕ and Hañga (?), two Buffalo gentes, and the Wasabe-hit‘ajĭ, a Black bear subgens, among the Omaha; the Wacabe and Makaⁿ (Buffalo gentes,) among the Ponka; the Maⁿyiñka (Earth) and Wasabe (Black bear), of the Kansa; the Earth and Black bear of the Osage; Black bear, and perhaps Wolf, among the Iowa and Oto; Black bear, of the Missouri; and Black bear and Wolf of the Winnebago. The Black bear people of the Winnebago were the only men of that tribe who enforced discipline in time of war and acted as policemen when there was peace. The tradition of the Winnebago Wolf gens names four brothers that were created. The first was green [sic] and was named Blue Sky (referring to day). The second was black, and his name referred to night. The third was white and the fourth was gray. The green, black, and white wolves have remained in their subterranean abodes. They are never seen by mankind. The gray wolf was the ancestor of all the wolves which are seen above ground. (See § 90.) These four colors are evidently symbolic; but the author has not yet learned whether they have any reference to the four quarters. (See § 75.)
THE FIRE POWERS.
§ 384. Among these were the Thunder-beings and the Sun. The former were usually considered maleficent powers, as distinguished from the Sun, the beneficent Fire power; but occasionally the Thunder-beings were addressed as “grandfathers,” who could be induced to gratify the wishes of the suppliants by granting them success in war (§§ 35, 36). It was probably with reference to the Sun that the East was considered the source of light and life, the West being associated with the taking of life in the chase or on the war path (see § 28). Red among the Omaha is the color symbol of the East, but red is also symbolic of war. The “fire paint” among the Tiɔu gentes of the Osage tribe is red. It is applied when the fire prayers are said. Red is a war color among the Dakota, Omaha, Kansa, and Osage. The Tiɔu crier received in his left hand a knife with the handle painted red. The Hañʞa crier received in his right hand a hatchet with the handle reddened. On the death of a comrade the surviving Osage removed the bark from a post oak, say, about 5 feet from the ground, painted the blazed tree red, broke four arrows and left them and some paint by the tree.[308] Whenever the author saw Pahaⁿle-gaqli, one of the war chiefs of the Kansa, he noticed that the man’s face was painted red all over. In the middle of the war chart of Pahaⁿle-gaqli was a fire symbol; but the chief feared to represent it in the copy which he made for the author. It probably consisted of the four firebrands placed at right angles and meeting at a common center. The Omaha must have had such a symbol at one time (see § 33). The Osage had it, according to their tradition (see §§ 40, 365). The successful warriors among the Omaha could redden their weapons when they joined in the dance.[309]
The Dakota give the following as the sentinels for the Wakinyan: The deer at the north, the butterfly at the east, the beaver at the south, and the bear at the west (§ 116). If these were arranged to conform to the order of Fig. 194 the bear would be at the north, the beaver at the west, the deer at the east, and the butterfly at the south. But there may be a special order of grouping the servants of each class of powers differing from the order of the four powers themselves. The Dakota wakan men say that the Wakinyan are of four colors, black, yellow, scarlet, and blue (§ 116). The Thunder men of the Omaha legend had hair of different colors, the first having white hair, the second red, the third yellow, and the fourth green hair.[310]