BERDACHES.
The Omaha believe that the unfortunate beings, called “Miⁿ-qu-ga,” are mysterious or sacred because they have been affected by the Moon Being. When a young Omaha fasted for the first time on reaching puberty, it was thought that the Moon Being appeared to him, holding in one hand a bow and arrows and in the other a pack strap, such as the Indian women use. When the youth tried to grasp the bow and arrows the Moon Being crossed his hands very quickly, and if the youth was not very careful he seized the pack strap instead of the bow and arrows, thereby fixing his lot in after life. In such a case he could not help acting the woman, speaking, dressing, and working just as Indian women used to do. Louis Sanssouci said that the miⁿ-quga took other men as their husbands. Frank La Flèche knew one such man, who had had several men as his husbands. A Ponka child once said to the author, “Miⁿjiñga-ma nujiñga ama ʇi-gaxe-nandi, miⁿquga, ai,” i.e., “If boys make a practice of playing with the girls they become (or are called) miⁿquga.” This term may be rendered “hermaphrodite” when it refers to animals, as “ʇe miⁿquga,” a hermaphrodite buffalo. It must have been of this class of persons, called “Miⁿ-quge” by the Kansa that Say wrote when he said:
Many of the subjects of it (i.e., sodomy among the Kansa) are publicly known, and do not appear to be despised or to excite disgust. One was pointed out to us. He had submitted himself to it in consequence of a vow he had made to his mystic medicine, which obliged him to change his dress for that of a woman, to do their work, and to permit his hair to grow.[22]
After giving an account of the Miⁿquga which agrees with what has been written above, Miss Fletcher[23] tells of “a man who had the misfortune to be forced to this life and tried to resist. His father gave him a bow and some arrows, but the penalty of his vision so wrought upon his mind that, unable to endure the abnormal life, he committed suicide.” (See §§ 212, 353.)
STARS AS WAKANDAS.
§ 31. That the Omaha and Ponka regarded the stars as Wakandas seems probable from the existence of nikie names and the personal mystery decorations. (See §§ 45, 47, and 52.) There are star names in the Night gens of the Kansa, and they point to the mythical origin of the gens. The Kansa made offerings to the morning star. Among the Osage the traditions of the Tsiɔu Wactaʞe and Bald Eagle people mention several Wakanʇas among the stars. These are as follows: Watse ʇuʞa, a “grandfather;” Watse miⁿʞa, a “grandmother;” Miⁿkak’e peȼŭⁿ[p]a, the Seven Stars (Pleiades?), a “grandfather;” the constellation Ta ȼa[p]ȼiⁿ or the Three Deer, a “grandfather;” the morning star, Miⁿkak’e tañʞa (literally, large star), a “grandfather;” the small star, a “grandfather;” the bowl of the Dipper, called “Wa[p]aha ȼiñkce; the Funeral Bier,” a “grandfather,” and the Female Red Bird, a “grandmother,” the eponym of the Tsiɔu Wactaʞe or “Red Eagle” gens. She, too, was probably a star.[24]
| § 32 | Gaⁿ | edádaⁿ | ȼiⁿ´ | ctĕwaⁿ | ȼahaⁿ´-naⁿi | ni´aciⁿ´ga | ama´, | [p]ahe´ | ʇañga´ | ȼiⁿ, | ctĕwaⁿ´. | “Wakan´da |
| And | what | the col. ob. | soever | usually | Indian | the pl. sub. | hill | large | the col. ob. | soever | Wakanda |
| bȼu´gaqti | wi´ʞai | ă,” | e´-naⁿi. | “Hau, | ┴an´de | niñkĕ´ | cĕ, | ʞa´ci | jiñ´ga | e´gaⁿ | a´witaⁿ | te´ | ă,” | ai´ |
| all | I ask a favor of you (pl.) | ! | they said usually | Ho | Ground | you who | sit | some time | little | so | I tread on you | will | ! | say |
| ni´kaciⁿ´ga | ama´. | ┴ade´ ui´ȼĕ | du´baha | tĕ´ | ctĭ | ȼahaⁿ´-naⁿi. | “┴ade´ ui´ȼĕ | du´baha | nañka´cĕ, |
| Indians | the pl. sub. | Whence the wind is sent hither(?) | in four places | the | too | they usually pray (to) | Whence the wind is sent hither(?) | in four places | ye who are |