HOLMES ANNIVERSARY VOLUME 



the case made of woven rush with its head toward the end having the 

 seven fastenings, and its feet toward the end having six. This bird 

 represents life and death — life for the Osage and death for all their 

 enemies. The upper side of this woven rush case represents the sky 

 and the lower side the earth. The inner part of the case, where the 

 bird-hawk lies, represents the space between the sky and the earth, 

 into which all life comes and never departs except by death. 



The portable shrine used in the initiatory ceremonies is the prop- 

 erty of the gens to which the candidate belongs, and at the close of 

 the ceremony is transferred to the keeping of the initiate, who puts 

 it in a given place in his home. This place has reference to the posi- 

 tions of the two great tribal divisions, so that on entering a house 

 in which there is a portable shrine, if it is seen hanging at the left 

 of the door, as one faces the door from within, it will be known that 

 the master of the house belongs to the Tsizhu division; if the shrine 

 hangs at the right of the door, then it will be known that he belongs 

 to the H6 n ga division. 



So also as to the sacred burden-strap of the mistress of the house, 

 which is regarded by some of the people as even greater in sanctity 

 than the sacred bird-hawk. If the gens in which the mistress of the 

 house was born belongs to the Tsizhu division, her burden-strap hangs 

 at the left of the door. Where master and mistress both belong to 

 the same division, the shrine and the burden-strap will be seen hang- 

 ing side by side on the same side of the door. Nor is this the only 

 instance in which the positions of right and left are considered with 

 reference to the sacred burden-strap. When the burden-strap is made, 

 the material is taken from the left side of the buffalo skin, if the 

 woman for whom it is intended belongs to the Tsizhu; if she be of the 

 H6 n ga, it is taken from the right. 



In one of the seven degrees of the Osage rites there is a spoken 

 part in the ritual relating to the gourd rattle used for beating time to 

 the music of the songs. There are two versions of this spoken part: in 

 one the gourd rattle symbolizes the head of a man of the enemy; in 

 the other, the head of a puma. The gravels within the gourd that is 

 shaken to make the sound, symbolize the teeth. When a H6 n ga recites 

 this spoken part, he will say, "The seeds of this rattle [meaning the 

 gravel] are the teeth of the right jaw of the man." If a Tsizhu recites 

 it, he will say, "The seeds of this rattle are the teeth of the left jaw 

 of the man." The handle of the gourd represents the right or left 

 fore-arm of the man, this being determined by the division to which 

 the man reciting the words belongs. 



When a man goes through the rite of fasting, he is forbidden to 



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