NAMES DERIVED FROM SEVERAL HOMOGENEOUS OBJECTS OR BEINGS.
An examination of the personal name lists reveals such names as First or One Grizzly-bear, Two Grizzly-bears, Three Grizzly-bears, Four Grizzly-bears, Many Grizzly-bears; One Path, Two Paths, Four Paths Female, Many Paths; One Cloud, Two Clouds, Three Clouds, Many Clouds; One Crow, Two Crows, Three Crows, Four Crows, Many Crows. The author suspects that these names and many others of a similar character are symbolic of the four quarters and of the upper and lower worlds, and that the Indian who was named after the larger number of mystic objects enjoyed the protection of more spirits than did he whose name referred to the smaller number. This accords with the Cherokee notion described by Mr. Mooney in his article on the Cherokee theory and practice of medicine:[320] The shaman is represented as calling first on the Red Hawk from the east, then on the Blue Hawk in the north, the two hawks accomplishing more by working together. Still more is effected when the Black Hawk from the west joins them, and a complete victory is won when the White Hawk from the south joins the others.
Compare with this the Osage opinion that the man who could show seven sticks (representing seven brave or generous deeds) was of more importance than he who could show only six sticks.
RETURN OF THE SPIRIT TO THE EPONYM.
§ 395. In two of the buffalo gentes of the Omaha (the Iñke-sabĕ and Hañga) there is a belief that the spirits of deceased members of those gentes return to the buffaloes. Does the abode of the disembodied spirit differ in the gentes according to the nature of the eponymic ancestor? For instance, is there a belief among the Elk people that their spirits at death return to the ancestral Elk?
FUNCTIONS OF GENTES AND SUBGENTES.
§ 396. In several tribes there seems to have been a division of labor among the gentes and subgentes, that is, each social division of the tribe had its special religious duties.
In the Omaha tribe we find the following: the Elk gens regulated war; it kept the war tent, war pipes, and the bag containing poisons; it invoked the Thunder-being, who was supposed to be the god of war, and it sent out the scouts. The Iñke-sabĕ and Hañga gentes were the leading peace gentes; they regulated the buffalo hunt and the cultivation of the soil. The Hañga gens had the control of the peace pipes, and a member of that gens lighted the pipes on all ceremonial occasions except at the time of the anointing of the sacred pole.[321] The Iñke-sabĕ gens kept the peace pipes, and a member of that gens acted as crier on many occasions, the other crier being a member of the [K]aⁿze or Wind gens. An Ictasanda man usually filled and emptied the pipes; but a Hañga man filled them when the sacred pole was anointed. The ┴e-[p]a-it‘ajĭ keeper of a sacred pipe really kept instead the sacred tobacco pouch and buffalo skull. The Iñke-sabĕ and ┴e-[p]a-it‘ajĭ keepers carried the two pipes around the circle of chiefs. The Black bear people aided the Elk people in the worship of the Thunder-being in the spring of the year.
§ 397. The following division of labor existed in the Ponka tribe: The Wasabe-hit‘ajĭ and Hisada gentes led in the worship of the Thunder-being. The Ȼixida and Nika[p]aɔna gentes led in war. The Wacabe, Makaⁿ, and Nuqe, all buffalo gentes, regulated the buffalo hunt. The Wajaje (Reptile people) with whom used to be the Necta or Owl people, appear to have been servants of the subaquatic powers.
§ 398. In the Kansa tribe we find that the Earth Lodge and Elk gentes consecrated the mystic fireplaces whenever a new village was established; that the Earth Lodge people consecrated the corn, and regulated the buffalo hunt as well as farming; that the Elk people directed the attack on the buffalo herd; that the Ghost people announced all deaths; that the two Hañga gentes led in war and in mourning for the dead; that the Tciju wactage was a peace-making gens; that a member of the Deer gens was the crier for the tribe; that the member of the Lṵ or Thunder-being gens could not take part in the waqpele gaxe. (§ 28) and must remain in the rear of the other warriors on such an occasion; and that the Wind people, who had to pitch their tents in the rear of the other gentes had a ceremony which they performed whenever there was a blizzard (§ 55).