An Omaha Indian is a member of the Omaha Tribe , a Native American tribe that is based in Nebraska and whose name means "against the current. The tribe has its own government made up of elected tribal members, and it has its own police and other services. For many years, members of the Omaha Tribe were hunters and planters, depending on the season. The responsibility of a Omaha Indian men was to clear fields so that the women could do the planting.
The basic Omaha Indian crops consisted of maize, melons, squash and beans. The men did the hunting, killing bears, buffalo, deer and small mammals as well as fish and birds. The geography of the region in which they lived dictated the lifestyle and culture of the Omaha tribe.
The Omaha settled in Nebraska and Iowa Land: Grass covered prairies with streams and rivers Climate: The climate was hot summers and cold winters Animals: The animals included the Bison Buffalo , deer, cougars, elk, bear, beaver, porcupine, antelope, prairie dogs, eagles and wolves Crops: The crops grown in the area were corn, beans, sunflower seeds and squash. They also enjoyed melons. Fish: Various fish including sturgeon, crayfish and mussels What did the Omaha tribe live in?
The Omaha tribe originally lived in fortified villages of thatched bark Longhouses. When the tribe migrated to the Great Plains they adopted the Tepee as a convenient shelter for summer hunting trips. They also built Earth lodges , similar to those built by the Pawnee. What language did the Omaha tribe speak? The Omaha tribe spoke the Dhegihan dialect of the Siouan language, closely related linguistically to the Ponca tribe.
What food did the Omaha tribe eat? The food that the Plains Omaha tribe ate included fish and meat from Buffalo, elk, deer venison , black bear and wild turkey. This food was supplemented with roots and wild vegetables such as spinach, prairie turnips and potatoes and flavored with wild herbs. Food in the form of dried buffalo meat called pemmican was stored for use when food was scarce.
What weapons did the Omaha use? The Omaha lived under the protection of the powerful Pawnee, who claimed the whole Platte region. Though Two Crows belongs to the Buffalo society, he never had any communications with a supernatural buffalo.
His work in the society was confined to the practice of surgery. La Fleche and Two Crows heard the following spoken of as an ancient custom. It was told them in their youth by some of the old men, who had received it from their elders as having been practiced by the tribe from time in memorial. When old men had sons, nephews or grandsons, who approached manhood, they used to command these youths to fast and put clay on their faces, saying, "Walk ye in remote places, crying to Wakanda.
Neither eat nor drink for four days. Even though you are qube mysterious, sacred , Wakanda will aid you. If you act as poor men, and pray as you cry, He will help you. When they had completed their fasts, they went home, being very much emaciated. They could not eat solid food, so they had to subsist on mush mixed with much water, till by degrees they became able to eat what they pleased. Many thought that this fasting enabled them to have supernatural communication with Wakanda.
In modern times it has fallen into disuse. Ancestors are not worshiped. They are addressed reverently when alive, and when they are dead it is not against any custom to refer to them by name. Demons or Devils. They never had any idea of a bad spirit till they met the white man. Now they have adopted the term, "Wakanda piaji," the bad Wakanda, or "Wanaxe piaji," the bad spirit. Hero Worship , the worship of demi-gods, and phallic worship are unknown.
Two Crows and J. La Fleche were surprised to hear that the latter was the custom in any tribe. Inanimate objects are not worshipped, though there are some who consider as sacred the skins of animals, and the skins and feathers of such birds as are used for their sacred bags. Among these are the eagle, sparrow-hawk, yellow-backed hawk, green-necked duck, great owl, martin, otter, flying-squirrel, mink, mika-ska white raccoon?
Totems have not been worshiped, though there is a sacredness associated with what are called nikie or ancient tribal names, the sacredness of antiquity, such names having been transmitted from the earliest ages of the existence of the tribe, and containing references to the mythical orgin of the people. La Fleche and Two Crows say there is no distinct order of sacred persons, and that the holding of such an office is regulated by the tribe, not being heredity.
Altars or altar-stones are unknown. Incense, too, is not used. Peculiar customs of the gens. I give two examples. The Kansas Wind people flap their blankets to and fro, to raise a wind that will drive away the mosquitoes. When the corn-fields of the Ishtasanda gens are troubled with a certain species of worm, the men proceed as follows: They beat some grains of corn, and then pound up with this, a number of the worms.
They make a soup of the mixture, and when that is eaten, they imagine that they will have no more trouble. The Elk sub-gentes are: 1. Thunder; and 4, one whose name is unknown to me.
The Black-shoulder, subgentes are: 1, Keepers of the Pipe Eagle people , or They who eat no red corn. Foremost sub-gentes: 1, They who eat not the sacred buffalo meat; 2, Real Foremost, they who eat no buffalo tongues; 3, Servants of the Sacred-Tents; and 4, They who touch not "Blue-skins. Two of the Kansas sub-gentes are 1, Keepers of the Pipe and 2, Wind people. Earth-Lodge sub-gentes: 1. Names not obtained. Deer-head sub-gentes: 1, Keepers of the Pipe Eagle and Thunder people; They who touch not charcoal, blue clay, and he skin of the wild-cat; 2, They who touch not charcoal, and the fat of a deer, and who can not wear deer skin moccasins; 3, Deer; 4, Thunder people.
The names of the four Red dung gentes have not been gained, though I have the names of their heads. Ishtasanda sub-gentes: 1, Keepers of the claws of the wild-cat Thunder people; 2, Real Ishtasanda, Reptile people ; 3, Keepers of the clam shell, Thunder people , 4, Keepers of the Pipe.
Origin of the sub-gentes. The Eagle people found that they were slighted, and started away in anger, determined to abandon the tribe. But the old men pursued them, and handed them a bladder filled with tobacco, and also a buffalo skull, saying, "Keep this skull as a sacred thing. Rights and duties of sub-gentes. The members of the first sub-gens of the Hanga or Foremost, keep the Sacred Bark-lodge, the most sacred of the three, which contains the sacred pole of the Ponkas and Omahas.
While they can not eat the sacred buffalo meat, they can eat the tongues. Real Hanga keeps the sacred lodge made of the skin of a white buffalo. This lodge regulates the buffalo hunt. These people can eat the sacred buffalo meat, but Page not the tongues. The members of the Bear sub-gens assist the Elk people in the worship of the Thunder-god.
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