Prairie Smoke, A Collection of Lore of the Prairies Part 5

The p.a.w.nee had very elaborate ceremonies and traditions connected with the earth-lodge. The earlier star cult is recognized in the signification attached to the four central posts. Each stood for a star--the Morning Star, and the Evening Star, symbols of the male and female cosmic forces, and the North and South stars.

In the rituals of the p.a.w.nee the earth-lodge is made typical of man's abode on the earth; the floor is the plain, the wall the horizon, the dome the arching sky, the central opening the zenith, the dwelling-place of Tirawa, the invisible power which gives life to all creatures.

In the poetic thought of the p.a.w.nee the earth was regarded as Mother and was so called because from the earth's bounty mankind is fed. To their imagination the form of the earth-lodge suggests the figure of speech by which these human dwellings symbolised the b.r.e.a.s.t.s of Mother Earth; for here man is nourished and nurtured, he is fed and sheltered and blessed with tenderness of life. Here he knows love and warmth and gentleness.

Herewith is given a metrical translation of an ancient p.a.w.nee ritualistic hymn. This hymn is extracted from the ritual of a ceremonial of great age in the p.a.w.nee nation, and there were similar ceremonials among all the tribes and nations of the Plains area. The full ritual from which this is taken is published in the Twenty-second Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology, part 2.

Having given the description of the structure of the earth-lodge, the allusions in the following hymn will be readily understood:

HYMN TO THE SUN

I

Now behold: hither comes the ray of our father Sun; it cometh over all the land, pa.s.seth in the lodge, us to touch, and give us strength.

II

Now behold: where alights the ray of our father Sun; it touches lightly on the rim, the place above the fire, whence the smoke ascends on high.

III

Now behold: softly creeps the ray of our father Sun; now o'er the rim it creeps to us, climbs down within the lodge; climbing down, it comes to us.

IV

Now behold: nearer comes the ray of our father Sun; it reaches now the floor and moves within the open s.p.a.ce, walking there, the lodge about.

V

Now behold where has pa.s.sed the ray of our father Sun; around the lodge the ray has pa.s.sed and left its blessing there, touching us, each one of us.

VI

Now behold: softly climbs the ray of our father Sun; it upward climbs, and o'er the rim it pa.s.ses from the place whence the smoke ascends on high.

VII

Now behold on the hills the ray of our father Sun; it lingers there as loath to go, while all the plain is dark. Now has gone the ray from us.

VIII

Now behold: lost to us the ray of our father Sun; beyond our sight the ray has gone, returning to the place whence it came to bring us strength.

DESCRIPTION OF THE TIPI

The temporary dwelling used for traveling was a conical tent made from buffalo skins erected on a frame of poles. It commonly had about twenty poles averaging twenty-five feet in length. The poles were set in a circle about fifteen feet in diameter, held together above by a hide rope wound round the whole set of poles about four feet from the upper ends. Three poles were first tied together, then the others were laid in the forks of these, then the rope was pa.s.sed round all of them and tied. The cover was from fifteen to eighteen buffalo hides cut and fitted so that when sewn together with sinew thread, they formed a single large sheet nearly semi-circular in shape. This was lifted into place by a special pole at the back of the structure, then the ends were brought around to the front and fastened by means of eight or ten small wooden pins at intervals from the door to the crossing of the poles. The bottom was kept in place by pegs about two feet apart around the circle. The door was usually a piece of skin stretched over an elliptical frame.

At the top an opening was left for ventilation and outlet for the smoke of the fire. The draft was regulated by two flaps or wings supported each on a movable pole slanted alongside the tipi with its base on the ground and its top fastened to the apex of the smoke-flap.

This held the draft open to the side away from the wind and was moved according to the changes of the wind so as always to be open to the lee side.

The beds were at the sides and the back of the tipi. Decorated curtains above the beds kept off any drops of rain which might come through the smoke-hole in rainy weather. The ground was the floor, the part near the beds sometimes cut off from the open s.p.a.ce by a hedge of interwoven twigs.

In warm weather the bottom of the tipi was raised to allow the breeze to pa.s.s through. In cold weather the bottom was banked with gra.s.s to keep out the wind.

The camp was arranged in a circle, each band of the tribe having its own proper segment of the circle, which was relatively the same through immemorial generations, and each family in each band had its proper place in the segment, so that one coming into camp after nightfall, although he might not have been in camp before, could thus unfailingly find his way to his own family.

On account of its exact adaptability to prairie life, the tipi was taken as the model of the army tent which bears the name of General Sibley, and is used now by our army.

AN OMAHA GHOST STORY

In the springtime a little child had died and was buried on the hill southeast of the village. The hill was green with the prairie gra.s.s and spangled with the beautiful wild flowers of the prairie. On the north and east the forest ascends the slope from the Missouri River valley to the crest of the hill, partly encircling the burial place with a rampart of green trees in which were numbers of happy birds, busy with their nest-building and tuneful with their joyful songs.

Not long after the death of this little child the people went upon the annual summer buffalo hunt to the Sand Hill region many miles away to the west from the village. As the people drew away from the familiar home scenes of the village the mother was strongly affected by a feeling of sadness and grief for her little one which she had to leave alone in its lone and narrow bed upon the hill. When the people made camp and the evening meal was prepared this mother was so burdened with grief for her child that she could not eat and went away to grieve alone. When she left the camp she was so drawn by yearning for her little one that she walked on and on all night toward the home village. In the morning, weak and weary, she was back in the deserted village. All was still. Not a person and not a dog was there. She went into her own house. Then she went through the village to other houses.

At some deserted fireplace she happened to find some coals; so she was able to kindle a fire and cook a bit of food. She sat in her house and wailed for her baby. After a time she heard sounds. She listened and there seemed to be whispers and murmurs all about her. And so it continued day after day. At first she saw nothing, but heard the murmurs and whispers, and gradually she could almost understand what the whispers said, especially when she fasted. She made out enough to know that it was the spirits of the departed, who, in the absence of the living, returned to occupy the houses during the absence of the people.

After a time she became able to understand more of what the ghosts said, and finally she could talk with them in their own manner. Their speech was not like the speech of living people; there was no voice, but slight whispering sounds, as one sometimes hears among the gra.s.s on the prairie when all is still, or among the leaves of growing corn, or the light rustling of the cottonwood leaves on a quiet evening.

At first the woman saw nothing, though she could hear the whispering speech like the breathing of those who sleep. Later she could see, as it seemed, feet moving about on the floor, but nothing above the feet.

As she looked she could see nothing between herself and the opposite walls of the house. Then, after a time, she seemed to see not only the moccasins but the leggings above them as far as the knees, but she never saw any more. And thus it was with her during all the time she dwelt there alone with the spirits until her people returned to the village.

This time it happened the people did not return for a year. When the woman had disappeared from the camp on their first night out the people supposed she had gone out somewhere to be alone to weep and pray, but when she did not return they sought for her, and not being able to find any trace of her they supposed some accident had befallen her and that she was dead. They were much surprised to find her at home when they returned to the village at the end of a year. But when they spoke to her they found that she was mute; she moved her lips, but no sound came. After some days she recovered speech and again took up her accustomed life with her people.

During the year in which she lived alone in the deserted village she had planted and harvested a crop and had lived by that and by what food may have been left in the storage places and from the wild products which she gathered.

AN OMAHA HERO SONG

All American tribes had many different cla.s.ses of songs. One cla.s.s of songs was in praise of tribal heroes. There were also songs of chivalry, celebrating brave and generous deeds. To this cla.s.s belongs the one given herewith. It must be said in explanation that all Indian songs are very brief. They comprise only a line or two and the meaning of the song is known by the story which is its foundation. To understand this particular song it must be explained that a common military custom among the tribes was to award certain honors for certain exploits, just as we see in our own armies the awarding of the Victoria Cross, the Distinguished Service Medal, the Military Medal, the Croix de Guerre, etc. In the Omaha tribe the highest military honor was awarded for getting near enough to the enemy to touch an enemy body, either with a lance, a bow, or any object in the hand.

There was an old warrior of this tribe, named Yellow-wood Bow, who had fought well and won many honors in his time. But he was now old and no longer able to fight for his people. But one day when an attack had been made on his people by the enemy and the young men were fighting valorously, the old man went out walking feebly toward the field of conflict to see the battle, for he was unable to sit quietly in the village while the fighting was going on. It happened that as he approached the battlefield two young men were just about to count their honors by striking with a lance the body of a slain enemy when one saw the old warrior, Yellow-wood Bow approaching. He held back and spoke to his comrade in the words "Hold! Yellow-wood Bow is coming!"

So the young men gave over the opportunity of counting the honor for themselves in order that the highly respected old warrior might have this one more chance to gain an honor, one more honor to his long list of honors. And the generosity of these two young men is praised in the song:

"Hold! Yellow-wood Bow is coming!"

In singing this song not only do the people award praise and glory to bravery and courage, but the virtue of renunciation shown by the young men also receives its measure of praise. The song has the purpose to inculcate emulation of bravery and also of generosity and unselfishness of spirit.

Stories of Plant People

SACRED TREES

A people living under natural conditions in communion with nature, will carefully note the appearance of natural objects in their environment. They become acquainted with the various aspects of the landscape and of the living things, plants and animals in their changes through the seasons, in storm and calm, in activity and in repose. Becoming thus intimately acquainted with the life about them the people will come to regard some of the more notable forms with a feeling akin to that which they have towards persons, and hence they come to have place in folk stories, in reasoned discourse and in ceremonies of religion.