LA FLESCHE— OSAGE CEREMONIES 



divided into seven sacred fireplaces, each having a separate name 

 representing some object of nature. To the right division fourteen 

 sacred fireplaces were given — seven for the part representing the dry 

 land of the earth, and seven for the part representing the water part 

 of the earth. The twenty-one sacred fireplaces stood for groups of 

 families — divisions in a tribe that are termed gentes or clans by 

 ethnologists. 



As has been stated, the Osage of the olden time, when forming their 

 tribal organization, divided the families of the people into two parts 

 to represent the interdependent sky and earth, finally they molded 

 the two parts into an inseparable body and made it to symbolize a 

 man standing in a position facing the sun. They did not leave him 

 there like an immovable statue, but attributed to him a mind capable 

 of thinking and a body having the power of motion, as shown in the 

 movements of the people when performing the great war ceremonies. 



In organizing a war-party to include the warriors of both of the 

 two divisions, certain preliminary ceremonies are performed in con- 

 nection with the selection of the leader, the selection of a man to act 

 as ceremonial director for him, and the appointment of the com- 

 manders and other officers of the party. When these ceremonies have 

 been concluded, the people pull down their wigwams and, dividing 

 themselves into two great divisions, reset them in a ceremonial order, 

 that is, in two great squares with a dividing avenue extending east 

 and west. It is at this movement that the change of the position of 

 the symbolic man takes place: instead of facing the east he now faces 

 the west, thus bringing the Tsizhu division, which represents the left 

 half of his body, to the south, and the H6 n ga division, which repre- 

 sents the right half, to the north side. 



After setting up the wigwams in ceremonial order, other cere- 

 monies are performed — the preparation of the sacred charcoal with 

 which the warriors paint themselves when about to make an attack, 

 the making of the feathered crooks for the commanders, and the 

 making of the rawhide straps for tying the captives if any should be 

 taken: seven for the H6 n ga and seven for the Tsizhu. The straps for 

 the H6 n ga are made of the skin of the right hind leg of the buffalo, 

 and those for the Tsizhu are made of the skin of the left leg. 



On the day the warriors are to depart, they move out of the camp, 

 going westward, and when they have gone about a quarter of a mile 

 they halt for the final ceremonies. The warriors sit in two groups with 

 a space extending east and west between them, the H6 n ga at the 

 north and the Tsizhu at the south. The old men who are to remain at 

 home form two half-circles around the warriors, those of the H6 n ga 



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