THE GA-HI'-GE O-K'O", KITE OF THE CHIEFS 



The title Ga-hi'-ge O-k'o", freely translated, means the Rite of the 

 Chiefs. To understand its significance in the tribal development the 

 following statement is necessary: 



The ancient No°'-ho°-zhi°-ga (The Little-Old-Men) who formulated 

 the organization of the people made it religious in character and based 

 it upon the duality they observed throughout nature. These thought- 

 ful seers had arrived at the conception that all life issues which take 

 on manifold forms result from the combined influence of two great 

 physical forces — namely, the Sky, including all the heavenly bodies, 

 and the Earth, including the waters distributed over it. This 

 duality they represented in the tribal organization, the Tsi'-zhu 

 great division representing the Sky, the Ho°'-ga great division the 

 Earth. The duality was also reflected in all the tribal rites, those 

 which pertained to war and those which related to peace and civil 

 government. During the early stages of the tribal life it appears 

 that the Osage were mainly under a military form of goverimaent, 

 which had passed through certain experimental stages, all of which 

 occupied a long period of time. Although this form had served the 

 tribe well in defending it against external dangers, yet it was not 

 considered as a completed form of government, for it lacked the civil 

 branch necessary for the welfare of the people as a whole. 



It is this stage of the tribal organization that is dealt with in the 

 following story of the Rite of the Chiefs. The first part of the story 

 as told by four different members of the No°'-ho°-zhi°-ga is alle- 

 gorical in form and about the same in substance, from which the 

 element of time and the details of many experiences are omitted. 

 The story is as follows : 



Allegorical Story of the Organization 



In the beginning the peoples of the Wa-zha'-zhe, the Ho°'-ga, and 

 the Tsi'-zhu came from the sky to the earth. After these three 

 groups of people had descended they started forth to wander over 

 the earth, observing, as they marched, the sequence in which they 

 had reached the earth; first the Wa-zha'-zhe, then the Ho"'-ga, and 

 la«t the 'Tsi'-zhu. One day, after thej^ had wandered for a great 

 length of time, the Wa-zha'-zhe suddenly lialted, and the leader 

 looked back over his shouliler to his followers, who had also halted, 

 and in an undertone said: " We have come to the village of a strange 

 people." (See chart, fig. 2.) The leader of the Ho°'-ga looked back 



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