Howard] THE PONCA TRIBE 69 



Fletcher and La Flesche describe symbolic haircuts for boys repre- 

 senting the various Ponca clans (1911, pp. 42-46). PLC, OK, and 

 JLR stated that this had not been the custom during their lifetimes. 



According to PLC and Dave Little-cook, all hairdressing was 

 done by members of the Nikapdsna clan. Hairbrushes were made 

 of needlegrass awns tied in bundles (Gilmore, 1919, pp. 42-46). 

 PLC still knows how to make these hairbrushes. Monarda Jistulosa 

 var. was used in a compound for dressing the hair (Gilmore, 1919, 

 p. 111). 



At the present time all of the Northern Ponca men cut their hair 

 short in the style of the major "White" culture and dress in the same 

 style as their White neighbors. Most of the Southern Ponca men do 

 so as well, though in 1954 there were still three or four old men who 

 wore moccasins and dressed their hair in braids. Younger women 

 and girls in both bands follow current White styles in hairdress and 

 clothing. Some of the older women in the Southern band, however, 

 wear their hair parted in the middle and fastened in a bun at the 

 back of the head, and they wear an "Indian style" dress. This 

 consists of a loose blouse, worn outside the skirt, and a skirt of some 

 dark material worn with many heavy petticoats. 



Face and body painting v/ere practiced by Ponca men in the 19th 

 century, and male dancers still paint their faces. The common face- 

 paint design for a straight dancer is a red line extending back from 

 the corner of each eye for about 2 inches. Certain kinds of clay and 

 plant juices supplied the coloring for this paint in aboriginal times, 

 and buffalo fat formed the base. In 1954, PLC and I attempted to 

 locate an old Ponca paint mine said to be in the bluffs just west of 

 Niobrara State Park. Although some rather good yellow clay was 

 found, the principal vein, which PLC remembered visiting as a boy, 

 could not be located. 



Yucca root was used as soap by the Ponca, particularly for washing 

 the hair (Gilmore, 1919, p. 71; also PLC). Pieces of the root were 

 chopped fine, a small amount of water was added, and the mixture 

 was rubbed into suds between the palms. 



PLC mentioned four plants used as perfumes by the Ponca, pref- 

 erably in combination: Pez%-h4aska or "flat leaves," Cogswellia 

 daucifolia; Pezi-inubdq-wazide, rose petals; Inubdq-kide or "blue 

 perfume," perhaps Thalictruin purpurascens ; and Makq-inubdq-kide- 

 sdbe or "black medicine perfume," Aquilegia canadensis L. or wild 

 columbine. Gilmore (1919, p. 115) mentions that Galium triUorum 

 Michx. was used as a perfume by the Ponca. Sweetgrass was used 

 as a perfume and fumigant as well. Braids of it were sometimes 

 worn around the neck, under the clothing. 



Perfumes were pounded and mixed in small mortars made of 

 elmwood (ibid., 1919, p. 75). Usually they were dampened to 



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