Men who bear the names P̣i-çi´, Acorn; U-bu´-dse, Profusion; and
Noⁿ-bu´-dse, Profusion (by the treading of the eagles on the branches
of the red oak tree) know that they are members of the Ṭsi´-zhu
Wa-shta-ge (Peacemaker) gens, that the life symbol of their gens is the
red oak tree, the emblem of fruitfulness, and that the place of their
gens in the tribal organization is with the Ṭsi´-zhu, the second of
the two great tribal divisions which symbolizes the sky, including the
sun, moon and stars that move therein. (See 36th Ann. Rept. Bur. Amer.
Ethn., p. 281, lines 111 to 120.)
[Illustration:
FIG. 5.—Totemic cut of the Omaha boys’ hair.
No. 1 is typical of the head and tail of the elk. No. 2 symbolizes
the head, tail, and horns of the buffalo. No. 2a—the children of
this subgens and those of the Ni-ni´-ba-toⁿ subgens of other gentes
have their hair cut alike; the locks on each side of the bared crown
indicate the horns of the buffalo. No. 3 represents the line of the
buffalo’s back as seen against the sky. No. 4b stands for the head of
the bear. No. 4c figures the head, tail, and body of small birds. No.
4d, the bare head, represents the shell of the turtle; and the tufts,
the head, feet, and tail of the animal. No. 4e pictures the head,
wings, and tail of the eagle. No. 5 symbolizes the four points of
the compass connected by cross lines; the central tuft points to the
zenith. No. 6 represents the shaggy side of the wolf. No. 7 indicates
the horns and tail of the buffalo. No. 8 stands for the head and tail
of the deer. No. 9 shows the head, tail, and knobs of the growing horn
of the buffalo calf. No. 10 symbolizes reptile teeth. The children of
this gens sometimes have the hair shaved off so as to represent the
hairless body of snakes.]
THE GENTILE HAIR CUT OF CHILDREN
Another custom, akin to the taking of personal gentile names, was
originated by the ancient Noⁿ´-hoⁿ-zhiⁿ-ga, that of the adoption by
each of the various gentes of the tribe of a particular style of hair
cut for the young children to typify one of the life symbols of the
gens. (Fig. 5.) The style adopted by the Hoⁿ´-ga gens of the Hoⁿ´-ga
tribal subdivision for their children was that of cutting nearly all
the hair of the head close to the skin, leaving an unbroken fringe
along the entire edge. (Fig. 6.) The story of its adoption is best told
in the wi´-gi-e of the gens, a paraphrase of which is here given:
THE WI´-GI-E
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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