The privilege of taking care of the children was given to the Tsiɔu
wactaʞe and the Panɥka wactaʞe, according to Saucy Chief. When a child (on
the Tsiɔu side) is named, a certain old man is required to sing songs
outside of the camp, dropping some tobacco from his pipe down on the toes
of his left foot as he sings each song. On the first day the old man of
the Tsiɔu (wactaʞe?) takes four grains of corn, one grain being black,
another red, a third blue, and a fourth white, answering to the four kinds
of corn dropped by the four buffalo, as mentioned in the tradition of the
Osage. After chewing the four grains and mixing them with his saliva, he
passes them between the lips of the child to be named. Four stones are put
into a fire, one stone toward each of the four quarters. The Tsiɔu old man
orders some cedar and a few blades of a certain kind of grass that does
not die in winter, to be put aside for his use on the second day. On the
second day, before sunrise, the Tsiɔu old man speaks of the cedar tree and
its branches, saying, "It shall be for the children." Then he mentions the
river, the deep holes in it, and its branches, which he declares shall be
medicine in future for the children. He takes the four heated stones,
places them in a pile, on which he puts the grass and cedar. Over this he
pours water, making steam, over which the child is held. Then four names
are given by the headman of the gens to the father, who selects one of
them as the name for the child. Meantime men of different gentes bring
cedar, stones, etc, and perform their respective ceremonies. The headman
(Tsiɔu wactaʞe?) takes some of the water (into which he puts some cedar),
giving four sips to the child. Then he dips his own left hand into the
water and rubs the child down the left side, from the top of the head to
the feet; next he rubs it in front, then down the right side, and finally
down the back. He invites all the women of his gens who wish to be blessed
to come forward, and he treats them as he did the infant. At the same time
the women of the other gentes are blessed in like manner by the headmen of
their respective gentes.
THE IOWA
The Iowa camping circle was divided into two half-circles, occupied by two
phratries of four gentes each. The first phratry regulated the hunt and
other tribal affairs during the autumn and winter; the second phratry took
the lead during the spring and summer. The author is indebted to the late
Reverend William Hamilton for a list of the Iowa gentes, obtained in 1880
during a visit to the tribe. Since then the author has recorded the
following list of gentes and subgentes, with the aid of a delegation of
the Iowa who visited Washington:
_First phratry_
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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