84 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 68 



TRIBAL RITES OF OSAGE INDIANS 

 In the month of January. 1917, Mr. Francis La Flesche of the 

 Bureau of American Ethnology, visited the band of Osage Indians 

 known by the members of the Osage tribe as the Pagiugthi", 

 freely translated, " Those-who-dwelt-on-the-hilltop." Most of these 

 Indians belong to that subdivision of the Ho"'ga tribal division 

 called Wazhazhe, a name which the tribe as a whole bears to-day. 

 For religious and ceremonial purposes the Osage tribe is divided 

 into two great parts, one, the Tsi'zhu, representing the sky and the 

 celestial bodies, and the other, the Ho"'ga, representing the earth. 

 The Ho"'ga division is subdivided, one to represent the dry land, 

 the other, called Wazhazhe, the water (the seas, lakes and rivers). 

 Each of these divisions and subdivisions has its own version of the 

 great and complex tribal rites by which the people, from an unknown 

 length of time, have been governed, and to which the older people 

 still cling with the old-time reverence and superstitious awe, although 

 these rites are now becoming disintegrated. 



The visit of Mr. La Flesche to the " Hilltop " people was prin- 

 cipally for the purpose of securing, if possible, a complete version 

 of the tribal rites as practiced by the Wazhazhe subdivision, or to 

 secure whatever parts of these rites the members of the Wazhazhe 

 might be willing to give. Owing to the conservatism of the members 

 of the Wazhazhe subdivision no direct information could be obtained 

 from them concerning their version of the tribal rites. When the 

 men who are versed in the rites were approached on the subject, they 

 simply remarked that the tribal rites are not to be discussed at all 

 times and on every occasion, that the mysteries of the rites are only 

 for those who are duly initiated, and then they become silent or take 

 up for conversation a subject of everyday life. While these " Hill- 

 top " people are consistent in their conservatism, as far as the rites 

 themselves are concerned, they appear not to place as much impor- 

 tance upon the ceremonial paraphernalia, for they have disposed of 

 many sacred objects to curio-hunters or to representatives of muse- 

 ums. The sale of a waxobe (portable shrine, with its sacred hawk) 

 resulted in a curious and pathetic incident. Five or six years ago 

 a " Hilltop '' man transferred his waxobe (which is always equiva- 

 lent to an ofifer of initiation into the tribal rites) to another member 

 of his gens, but retained possession of it, although the transfer was 

 formally accepted and the first fees were paid by the candidate. The 

 keeper of the shrine, after waiting several years and not hearing 

 further from his candidate, yielded to the persistent offers of a 



