LITMIR.BIZ

      Chapter II.

       Definitions

       Table of Contents

Alleged Belief in a Great Spirit

       Table of Contents

      § 4. It has been asserted for several hundred years that the North American Indian was a believer in one Great Spirit prior to the coming of the white race to this continent, and that, as he was a monotheist, it was an easy matter to convert him to Christianity. Indians have been represented as speaking of “The Great Spirit,” “The Master of Life,” etc., as if the idea of the one and only God was familiar to our aborigines during the pre-Columbian period.

      While the author is unwilling to commit himself to a general denial of this assertion, he has been forced to conclude that it needs considerable modification, at least so far as it refers to the tribes of the Siouan stock. (See §§ 7, 15, 21-43, 72-79, 92-99, 311, 312, 322-326, 341-346.)

      On close investigation it will be found that in many cases Indians have been quick to adopt the phrases of civilization in communicating with white people, but in speaking to one another they use their own terms. The student of the uncivilized races must ever be on his guard against leading questions and their answers. The author has learned by experience that it is safer to let the Indian tell his own story in his own words than to endeavor to question him in such a manner as to reveal what answers are desired or expected.

      § 5. In 1883 the author published an article on “The Religion of the Omahas and Ponkas,” in The American Antiquarian of Chicago. Since then he has obtained additional data, furnishing him with many undesigned coincidences, which lead him to a broader view of the subject.

Phenomena Divided into Human and Superhuman

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      § 6. In considering the subject from an Indian’s point of view, one must avoid speaking of the supernatural as distinguished from the natural. It is safer to divide phenomena as they appear to the Indian mind into the human and the superhuman, as many, if not most natural phenomena are mysterious to the Indian. Nay, even man himself may become mysterious by fasting, prayer, and vision.

      One fruitful source of error has been a misunderstanding of Indian terms and phrases. It is very important to attempt to settle the exact meanings of certain native words and phrases ere we proceed further with the consideration of the subject.

Terms for “Mysterious,” “Lightning,” Etc.

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      § 7. The attention of the author having been called to the article on “Serpent Symbolism” of the Iroquoian languages, by Mr. Hewitt1 of the Bureau of Ethnology, a similar investigation of the Siouan terms was made, the results of which are now presented. In connection with the terms for “serpent,” Mr. Hewitt showed how they are related in the languages with which he was familiar with other terms, such as “demon,” “devil,” “wizard,” “witch,” “subtile,” “occult,” “mysterious,” and “supernatural.”

      In Dakota we find the following: Wakaⁿ, mysterious, wonderful, incomprehensible, often rendered “holy” by the missionaries; wakaⁿ-hdi (in Santee), wakaⁿ-kdi (in Yankton), lightning, perhaps containing a reference to a zigzag line or forked lightning; wakaⁿ etcoⁿ, to practice sleight of hand; and waⁿmducka, serpent. There are many derivatives of wakaⁿ, among which are, Taku Wakaⁿ, literally “something mysterious,” rendered “some one mysterious,” or “holy being,” and Wakaⁿ-tañka, literally, “Great mysterious (one),” both of which terms are now applied to God by the missionaries and their converts, though Wakaⁿ-tañka is a name for the Thunder-being.

      In Riggs’s alphabet (Contr. N. A. Ethn., Vol. VII), these words are thus written: Wakaŋ, wakaŋhdi, wakaŋkdi, wakaŋ ećoŋ, waŋmduśka, Taku Wakaŋ, and Wakaŋtaŋka. One of the Dakota words for “aged” is kaⁿ (kaŋ in Riggs’s alphabet); but though this refers to persons we can not tell whether it is related to wakaⁿ (or wakaŋ).

      In the Ȼegiha, the language spoken by the Ponka and Omaha, Wakanda means “the mysterious” or “powerful one,” and it is applied in several senses. It is now used to denote the God of monotheism. Some of the old people say that their ancestors always believed in a supreme Wakanda or Mysterious Power. It sometimes refers to the Thunder-being. On one occasion, a Ponka shaman, Cramped Hand, said to the author: “I am a Wakanda.” Wakandagi, as a noun, means a subterranean or water monster, a large horned reptile mentioned in the myths, and still supposed to dwell beneath the bluffs along the Missouri River. With this term compare the Dakota Uñkteqi (Uŋkteḣi, of Riggs) and the Winnebago Waktceqi, the latter having given a name to the Water Monster gens (Waktceqi ikikaratcada). Wakandagi is sometimes used adverbially, as, si wakandagi, he is wonderfully stingy! E wakandagi, he (a small child) speaks surprisingly well (for one so young)! ┴aⁿȼiⁿ wakandagi, he runs very well (for one so young)! Maⁿȼiⁿ wakandagi, he (a small child) walks very well! Wakandiȼe, to be in great haste, perhaps contains the idea of putting forth a great effort in order to accomplish something speedily. Wĕs‘ă, a serpent, is not related to the others just given. Nor can the word for “wizard” or “conjurer” be found related to them. In Kansa, Wakanda is used of superhuman beings or powers, as in Omaha and Ponka, but the author never heard a shaman apply the term to himself. Wakandagi has another meaning, mysterious, wonderful, incomprehensible, as, nika wakandagi, mysterious man, shaman, juggler, doctor; nanüŭⁿba wakandagi, mysterious or sacred pipe; wakandagi wagaxe, the sleight-of-hand tricks of the mysterious men and

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