The diameter of the
circle (figure 34) represents the road traveled by the tribe when going on
the buffalo hunt, numbers 1 and 10 being the gentes which were always in
the van. The tribe was divided into half tribes, each half tribe
consisting of five gentes. The sacred tents of the Omaha and all the
objects that were kept in them are now in the Peabody Museum of
Archaeology and Ethnology at Cambridge, Massachusetts.
[Illustration: FIG. 34.--Omaha camping circle.]
FIG. 34.--Omaha camping circle.
The two groups of gentes forming the half tribes or phratries, sometimes
composed of subgentes or sections, are as follows:
_Hangacenu gentes_--1, Wejincte, Elk. 2, Inke-sabe, Black shoulder, a
Buffalo gens; the custodian of the real pipes of peace. 3, Hanga or
Ancestral, a Buffalo gens; the regulator of all the so-called pipes of
peace and keeper of two sacred tents. 4, catada, meaning uncertain; in
four subgentes: _a_, Wasabe hit'aji, Touch-not-the-skin-of-a-black-bear;
_b_, Wajinga cataji, Eat-no-small-birds; Bird people; _c_, {~LATIN SMALL LETTER TURNED T~}e-*d*a it'aji,
Touch-no-buffalo-head; Eagle people; _d_, {~LATIN SMALL LETTER TURNED K~}e-'in,
Carry-a-turtle-on-the-back; Turtle people.
Pages:
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53