330 OMAHA SOCIOLOGY. 



All who had parts of scalps were told to wear <4ahi n -wag£a n ou their 

 heads. 



§ 215. The scalp dance (of the women). — One of the women had to 

 carry the scalp around on a pole during the dance. This act is aifa- 

 baju. 



When a man killed a foe with a knife, gun, hatchet, etc., it was taken 

 by his wife, who held it as she danced. Such women dressed them- 

 selves in gay attire, decorated themselves with various ornaments, 

 wore head-dresses of ;eji n hi n de, painted their cheeks, and reddened the 

 deaigdza" or parting of the hair of the head. 



This scalp-dance is the women's dance; the men take no part but that 

 of singing the dancing songs for the women and beating the drums. 

 When any of the Omahas had been killed by the enemy, this dance could 

 not be had; but when the Omahas were fortunate enough to kill some 

 of the foe without losing any of their own party the men said, " W6watei 

 an'ki^etai," Let them dance the scalp-dance. Then the men went first 

 with one, two, or three drums to a place bare of undergrowth, and began 

 to beat the drums. By and by the women would hear it, and assemble. 

 There was no feast and no invitations were made by criers. Any women 

 and girls who wished to dance could do so. The ouly men allowed to 

 sing the dancing songs for the women were those who had killed foes, or 

 had taken hold of them. 



The women did not dance in a circle, but "ki&qpaqpag^a" (moving in 

 and out among themselves) and "iki^ib^a 11 " (mixed, in disorder), as they 

 pleased. Sometimes they danced all night till the next morning; some- 

 times they continued the dance for two or three days. This wewatci 

 has not been danced by the Omaha women for about fourteen years. It 

 is not considered a sacred dance, but one of rejoicing. 



§ 216. The He^ucka dance (of the men). — The corresponding dance for 

 the men is the Heif ucka. 18 The only members of the He^ucka dancing 

 society are such as have distinguished themselves in war, and boys whose 

 fathers are chiefs. When Frank La Fleche was a boy he was admitted 

 to the Hefucka solely because his father was a chief. 



"The first four to take hold of the foe were decorated with the jahi n - 

 wag^a" head-dress, the 'crow' in the belt, and garters of otter-skin. 



"He who had killed a foe with a gun reddened the barrel for about 

 nine inches or a foot from the muzzle, wore the 'crow,' and stuck several 

 swan feathers around the muzzle. He also wore a feather in his hair. 



"Those who struck some of the foe, but did not inflict fatal blows, 

 made on their bodies the signs of blows; having blackened their hands, 

 they put them here and there on their bodies, leaving black impressions. 

 Sometimes they blackened the whole body, and over the black they made 

 white hands, after rubbing white clay ou their own hands. They wore 

 feathers in their hair, as did all except the four who were the first to 

 take hold of the foe. 



19 Known among the Kansas as the Ilucka, and among the Osages as the In5[ifu"cka. 



