The Hé-de Wa-chi

AN OMAHA FESTIVAL OF JOY


INTRODUCTORY NOTE.--For centuries the home of the Omaha tribe has been in
the region now known as the State of Nebraska, north of the city which
bears their name. There they dwelt in permanent villages, surrounded by
their garden plots of corn, beans, squashes, etc. From these villages every
year in June all the tribes except the sick and infirm went forth to follow
the buffalo herds in order to obtain their supply of meat and pelts. As
this tribal hunt was essential to the needs of the life of the people, it
was a very serious affair, initiated with religious ceremonies and
conducted under strict rules enforced by duly appointed officers. It was at
the close of this great tribal hunt, when food and clothing had been
secured, while Summer lingered and the leaves had not yet begun to fall, so
that brightness was still over the land, that this Festival of Joy took
place. Like all Indian ceremonies, the Hé-de Wa-chi embodied a teaching
that was for the welfare of the tribe, a teaching drawn from nature and
dramatically enacted by the people. The Omaha tribe was made up of ten
distinct groups, each one having its own name, a set of names for those
born within the group, and certain religious symbols and ceremonies
committed to its care. By tribal rites and regulations these ten distinct
groups were welded together to form the tribe, whose strength and
prosperity depended upon internal harmony and unity.

The Hé-de Wa-chi taught the people what this unity really stood for. The
central object of the ceremony was a tree, which was the symbol of the
tribe; its branches were as the different groups composing the tribe, the