§ 19. Though it has been said that hero worship was unknown among the Omaha and Ponka, it has been learned that Omaha mothers used to scare their unruly children by telling them that Icibajĭ (a hero of the ┴e-sĭnde gens) or his friend ┴exujaⁿ (a hero of the [K]aⁿze gens) would catch them if they did not behave. There was no worship of demigods, as demigods were unknown. Two Crows and Joseph La Flèche said that phallic worship was unknown, and they were surprised to hear that it had been practiced by any tribe. (See § 132, 164.) As the Ponka obtained the sun-dance from their Dakota neighbors, it is probable that they practiced the phallic cult. § 20. Totems and shamans were not worshiped, though they are still reverenced. Altars or altar-stones were unknown. Incense was not used, unless by this name we refer to the odor of tobacco smoke as it ascended to the Thunder-being, or to the use of cedar fronds in the sweat lodge. There were no human sacrifices, and cannibalism was not practiced. OMAHA, PONKA, AND KANSA BELIEF IN A WAKANDA. § 21. According to Two Crows and Joseph La Flèche, the ancestors of the Omaha and Ponka believed that there was a Supreme Being, whom they called Wakanda. “Wakanda t‘aⁿi tĕ eȼegaⁿi, they believed that Wakanda existed.” They did not know where He was, nor did they undertake to say how He existed. There was no public gathering at which some of the people told others that there was a Wakauda, nor was there any general assembly for the purpose of offering Him worship and prayer. Each person thought in his heart that Wakanda existed. Some addressed the sun as Wakanda, though many did not so regard him. Many addressed Wakanda, as it were, blindly or at random. Some worshiped the Thunder-being under this name. This was especially the case when men undertook to go on the war path. [7] Mr. Say recorded of the Kansa: “They say that they have never seen Wakanda, so they cannot pretend to personify Him; but they have often heard Him speak in the thunder. They often wear a shell which is in honor or in representation of Him, but they do not pretend that it resembles Him, or has anything in common with his form, organization, or size.” SEVEN GREAT WAKANDAS. § 22. Ԁaȼiⁿ-naⁿ-pajĭ said that there were seven great Wakandas, as follows: “Ugahana[p]aze or Darkness, Maxe or the Upper World, ┴ande or the Ground, Iñgȼaⁿ or the Thunder-being, Miⁿ or the Sun, Niaⁿba or the Moon, and the Morning Star. The principal Wakanda is in the upper world, above everything.” (This was denied by Joseph La Flèche and Two Crows; see § 93.) The author thought at first that these were the powers worshiped by Ԁaȼiⁿ-naⁿpajĭ and the members of his gens or subgens; but subsequent inquiries and statements occurring in the course of texts furnish cumulative evidence favoring the view that some or all these powers had many believers among the Omaha and the cognate tribes.