348 OMAHA SOCIOLOGY

"° '^^^^'1

THE BUFFALO DANCE,

ETC.

349 Wolf

Dance. Tbese

men

caunot danceexcept withthe buffalodancers, and with the consent of the latter.

Two Crows

has seen

them

dance but twice.

He and

J.

La

Fleche do not

know much

aboutthem.

la this dancethere are no

women,

_{and none} are doctors,accordingto

La

Flfeche

and Two

Crows.

No

shooting is done, though the dancers actmysteriously.

They wear

wolf skins, and redden the tips of the wolves'noses, according to ja^i° -na° i)aji and

Frank La

Flfeche (butde- niedby

Two

Crows).

They

painttheir bodiesin imitation of the ^"blue wolves, ca''4aflga-}u-ma 6ga° -ma-fa° ." Those

who have

held enemies, or have cut

them

up, paint the

hands

and wrists red,as if they were bloody. Others whiten their hands, wrists, ankles,

and

feet.

Some

go barefoot. All wliiten their faces from theright ear to the

comer

of the

mouth

; then from the opposite corner of the

mouth

to the left ear.

They

dancein imitation oftheactionsof wolves.

§ 262. The Grizzly beardance.—

MaHau^ae^i-ma,

Those tcho have su- pernatural comnmnications with f/rizzly bears, also called Ma-tcu-gAxe watcigaxe. The dance in which theypretend to be (jrizzly bears. This hasnotbeen dancedfor aboutten years, so

La

Flfeche

and Two Crows

caunottell

who

belongto the society. In former diiys there were wo-

men

that belonged, but in

modern

timesnone have been members.

This danceis spokenofby

La

Flfeche

and Two Crows

asan ^"iickade,"

asport or play,

and

an " ivjigaxe,"a game. Itis danced at anyseason oftheyear that the

members

decide

upon

;

and

all the peoplecan wit- nessit.

During

the day, ^ittakes place out of doors, but atnightit is

held in a lodge.

The man who

receivesthe

drum

calls on others to help him, speak- ingto each one by name.

Then

while thefirst

man

beats the drum, the two, three, or fourhelpers sing

and

therest dance as grizzly bears, and imitatethe

movements

of those animals.

Paintinganddress.—

They make

thewhole

body

yellow,wearinguocloth- iugbut thebreech-cloth.

They

rubyellowclay on thebacksandfronts of their fingers

and

hands,

and

sometimesover thewholeofthelegs. Some- times theyredden the whole ofthe legs.

Some

whiten themselves here ajid there;

some

rub Indian red on themselves in spots.

Some

wear very whiteplumes in theirhair,

and

others wear red ])lumes (hi° qp6).

One man

wears the skin of a grizzly bear, pushing his fingers into the places ofthe claws.

Some

wear necklaces of grizzly bears' claws.

§ 263.

The

r[a^i° -wasabe or Witcita «Za»ce.—j4(f;i"was4be watcigaxe

ikiigeki^g, Thesocietyof ^the Witcita or jd(;;i° -wasAbe(Black bear

Paw-

nees).

The members

ofthis society havea medicine which theyuseinthree

ways

: they rub itontheir bodies beforegoing into battle; they rub it

onbullets to

make them

kill thefoe,

and

they administerit to horses,

making them

smell it

when

they are abouttosurrounda buffalo herd.

If horses are

weak

they

make them

eat

some

ofthe medicine,and smell therest. Similarcustoms are found

among

the

Pawnees and

Ponkas.

350 OMAHA

SOCIOLOGY.

A man

thinks, "I will boil,"

aud

beinvites to afeast those

who

have the ^nieilicine of the Witcita ^society.

On

^their arrival be says,

"on

such a day

we

^will dance."

Two

or three

men

boil for the least to be held in connection with thedance.

It takes threedaystoprepare the candidate,aud thisisdonesecretly.

On

the fourth day there^is a publicceremonyin an earth lodge, during which the candidate ^is shot with the red medicine. Fi-ank

La

Fleche haswitnessed this,

and

says that it closely resembles the public cere-

mony

ofthe

Wacicka

society.

§204. P,ii)it and dress.

— ^The

breech-cloth is the oulj' regular gar- ment.

Two Crows aud La

Flfechesay thatall whiten theirbodies

and

legs all over- but ja((^i"-ua"pnji says that

some draw

white linesover theirlimbs

aud

bodies.

Some

paint as deer, putting white stripes on theirlimbs

and

bodies; others appear as bald eagles, with whitened

faces.

Some

wear caps of the skin of the "4ikaqude"' or gray fox.

Some

wearnecklaces of the skin of that animal; and others have ou necklaces of the tail of a black-tailed deer

aud

that of an ordinary deer, fastened together.

Some

carry a ";ikaqnde" skin on the arm, while otherscarry the skin ofthe "ma"(j;iii'kaceha," orred fox,ofwhich thehairis veryred,

aud

the legs

aud

ankles are black.

Some

wear feathersofthe great owl around the wrist;

aud

others carry fans

made

of the feathers of that bird. "Maka^'-jide ha nfaha baqttlqta uusi- aqfa-hna^i"

—

Theredmedicine withtheshin adhering to it (being about three inches long) is tied up in a bundle, tchich is worn ^" iHisi-aq((;a,"

likea coiled lariat, withone endover theleftshoulder,and theother under therightarm.

Each

of the four siugei'S has a gourd ^rattle, abow,

and

au arrow.

He

holdsthe bow. which is whitened,in his left hand,

and

the rattle and arrowin his right.

He

strikes the arrow against the bow-string as heshakes the rattle.

Allthe

members have

whistles or flutes,

some

of which are a foot long, and others are about half a yard inlength.

The

dancers blow theirsin imitationof the "qajja."

Members.

— ^Only

^one

^woman

^{belongs to this society; but the male}

nienibers are thefollowing: G(f!eda° -naji° , ^jacjji^-gahige, Muxa-naji", j,e- uj[a"-ha,Za"zi-mande, AVajiuga,gni-ti(J;a° ,Qi^a-gahige,j^euuga-ja^-cjiiuke, Zizika-jiuga, 3;axe-na° p'i'', Cage-duba, Eoua° -hafiga, Ag^i° -duba, Jiu- ga-gahige,

and

Waji"-^icage.

The members

of this society would eatno green corn, fruit, etc., till

consecratedby thedance.

A

few earsof cornweredivided

among

the dancers.

Then

they could eatas they pleased.

§265. Watci-wa^upi.

—

^{This society has not had adance for about}

thirtyyears

among

the

Omahas.

It is like thedance of the Wasejide a^i^ma, whichhas a medicine that resembles that of the

ja^i° wasabe

in its use.

During

the

day women

danced with the

men

; but atnight

DORSET.

I

DANCES:

WITCITA,

WATCI-WACUPI,

ETC. 351 the luen danced ^aloue. This is said to be oue of the aucieiit tribal dauces.

§26G. Was^-jide a^i^'ma, Those

who

harethe

Red

Paintor Medicine.

—

This is asociety of

womeu

dancers.

They

seldom meet. Their dance

islike that of theWatci-wafiipi. ja^i^-na^paji says thatthedauce is sacred.

La

Flfeche and

Two Crows

have never seen^it.

They

invitethe

members

toafeast,as dothe

Wacicka

a^i° -ma; butnoshootingisdone.

The men

act as singers, while the

women

dance. All the

women

are allowed tojoin in this dance, which ^is held

when

the grassis green in thespring. Sometimes a

man

joins in the dance, but thatisthe ex- ception. [Frank

La

Flfecbesays that

men

do take part inthis dance,

and

that the

women

do not carry the medicine.]-'

Thissociety hasa medicineconsistingofthebottomsofseveral joints or stalksof acertain kindofgrass, which are tied

up

inbundles.

One man

carries a bundlein his belt, and the rest areputin asafe place.

This is the medicine, accordingto ja^'.i° na° paji, which warriorscarry.

Ifthey meetan

enemy

theyopenthebundles

and

rub themedicine over theirbodiestoprotect

them

fromthe missilesoftheenemy.

They

think that this medicinewill cause the enemy's guns to miss fire, orelsethe balls,

when

sent, will nothit them.

The

only iiaiuting isred, which is

on the cheeks, chin,

and

chest of the dancer.

A

^{line is}

drawn

from each corner of the

mouth

back to the cheek,

and

there isone

made

from thelowerlip

down

underthe chin, and it is continued

down

the chest untilitis about aslowasthe heart.

§ 267.

The

Ha° 'he watci (xoiwere, Ha° 'he waci) is not

"The

Night Dance,"as its

name

implies. It is an ancient dance, which is

not used now. According to ^jacfi^-na^paji, it is ''qub6 dta," very sacred (for persons),

and

it is danced in the later fall,

when

the people havekilled a great manj- deer,or

many

ofthe enemy.

Two Grows

and

La

Fl^che say that itis "uwah^haji, nua^d^ica", a bravery dance, per- taining to

men

^{;^^} butthey do not

know

all theparticulars.

During

the day

women

danced,

and

the

men

sang ^for them. Occasionally a

man

joinedin the dance.

At

night the

men

danced aloue.

But

only those

who had

beencaptains, or had killed foes,or

had

broughtbackhorses, orhad been warriors,

had

a right to take partin the dauce.

Mr. J.

La

Fi^che said that there

was some

connection between this societyand the Ifig(fa° i^'.ae(fe-ma.

The

H6de-watci

was

a "nikie dance," which occurred on a festival,

and in which thewhole tribeparticipated. (See§153.)

The

We-watci,or Scalp dance, isthe women'sdauce,inwhichalljoin

who may

so desire. (See

War

Customs, § 215.)

The

Mij[asi watci, or Coyote dance, is described in thechapter on

War

Customs, § 203.

-TheKansas havetheMata"jiidje,RedMedicine,andtheOsagestheMaka"oiijse watsi", RedMedicine Dance. The ^leaderofthe latterisa man. The Kansas used tohavetheWasejide a^;i° -ma.