36 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BULL. 80 
Tue OFFICE or Corn Priest 
The corn and the buffalo were the chief subsistence of the Plains 
tribes, and the extent to which the procuring of these entered into 
their worship is an interesting study. The Omaha appear to have 
had the most highly developed rituals and beliefs relating to the corn 
and its cultivation.** There are corn origin myths among many 
Indian tribes and a wealth of corn legends in the southwest, while 
the Pueblos have many clans named for varieties of corn. Among 
the Mandan and Hidatsa the Corn Priest and the rites associated 
with him constituted the agency for securing an abundant supply of 
corn; and buffalo dances were held by the people as a means of ob- 
taining these animals for food. Such dances were distinct from 
dances of the Buffalo Society (p. 138) and formed part of a cere- 
mony known as the Okeepa. The Buffalo dance is described by Maxi- 
milian*® and by Catlin®® in connection with the Okeepa. Boller 
mentions a similar ceremony called the “ Bull Medicine,” having for 
its object the securing of buffalo and also success in war and in the 
capture of horses.®* | The origin of the Dance Society is given on 
pages 84 and 85. 
Since the food supply was a constant source of anxiety to primi- 
tive people, it is not strange that a man who claimed to control that 
supply was regarded as a man of supernatural power. It is impos- 
sible to translate into English the religious concepts of an alien race 
without using words which are associated with the religion of the 
white race. In preceding works it is explained that the Sioux word 
wakay’ and the Chippewa manido’ are purely native terms and that 
their significance must be largely inferred from the connection in 
which they are used. (See Bull. 61, Bur. Amer. Ethn., footnotes, 
pp. 85, 88.) The Mandan word of this character is fo’pinis, which 
is somewhat imperfectly expressed by the English word “holy.” 
Instances of its use in the present work are as follows: He who was 
qualified to perform certain rites and to fructify the seed of corn or 
vegetables was called kohé pinkus, freely translated “ priest;” the 
mysterious beings who brought the Little River Women Society and 
its songs to the Mandan were called malio’ pinimi, translated “ spirit 
women”; the old man who made a wand for a novitiate of the Stone 
Hammer Society offered a petition to ma’hopaikti’a, literally “ great 
medicine,” the word fo’pa meaning “charm or spell.” The word 
‘malio’pinidé, occurring in song No. 4, is translated “I am holy.” 
When the Corn Priest purified the seed, he was called ko’hayté 
(corn) kaka’naka (purifier), the latter word meaning literally “to 
48 See Fletcher and La Flesche, The Omaha Tribe, pp. 261—269. Similar rites among 
the Osage have been intensively studied by Mr. La Flesche. 
#9 Maximilian, Travels, pt. 11, pp. 324-333. 
50 Catlin, ‘“‘ O-kee-pa,’’ pp. 16—25. 
51 Boller, Among the Indians, pp. 100—111. 
