At one time the Omahas and the Poncas lived as one people in the Ohio River valley. They moved onto the eastern portion of the Central Plains in the late 1600s. Ethnographers Alice Fletcher and Francis La Flesche, writing in their 1911 book The Omaha Tribe, put it this way:
“The primordial habitat of this stock lies hidden in the mystery that still enshrouds the beginning of the ancient American race; it seems to have been situated, however, among the Appalachian Mountains, and all their legends indicate that the people had knowledge of a large body of water in the vicinity of their early home. This water may have been the Atlantic Ocean.”
According to George Will and George Hyde, in their 1917 book Corn Among the Indians of the Upper Missouri:
“The traditions of these tribes tell of their migration northward through the State of Iowa to the vicinity of the pipestone quarry; then west to the Big Sioux River, where they were attacked by enemies and forced to remove to the Missouri River, in South Dakota.”
When the Poncas, (who had probably been an Omaha clan) left the Omahas, they left behind all of the sacred objects. One of the most important of these was the Venerable Man (also called the Sacred Pole). The Venerable Man has been with the Omaha for several centuries: he signifies the unity of the Omaha people.
The Anointing of the Pole ceremony gives thanks for the buffalo and was traditionally held following the fourth successful buffalo hunt. In their book The Encyclopedia of Native American Religions, Arlene Hirschfelder and Paulette Molin report:
“It was conducted annually during the summer, although it was customary to anoint the pole twice a year. The ceremony, including preliminary activities, lasted several days.”
The pole was set up at a 45-degree angle facing the north star. The pole was anointed with a mixture of buffalo fat and red paint symbolizing abundant life.
There are two parts to the ceremony. In the first part, officiated by a man, the pole symbolizes the unity of the people and the governing authority of the tribe. In the second part, officiated by a woman, the pole symbolizes men as protectors and providers.
The ceremony includes ceremonial songs which must be sung in the proper sequence (if a mistake is made, there must be a ceremony of contrition), the smoking of the pipe which belongs to the pole, and ceremonial offerings.
Arlene Hirschfelder and Paulette Molin report:
“With the decimation of the buffalo, essential to the religious observance, the ceremony became more and more difficult to continue.”
In 1888, ethnologists Alice Fletcher and Francis La Flesche (Omaha) persuaded Yellow Smoke, the keeper of the sacred pole of the Omaha – the Venerable Man – to send the sacred object to the Peabody Museum in Massachusetts for safekeeping.
Recognizing that the ethnographic significance of the Venerable Man would be greatly reduced without a precise and detailed account of the ritual songs and sacred stories associated with it, they also persuaded Yellow Smoke to speak of these things and to allow the story to be recorded. Yellow Smoke was hesitant to speak of these things as this was punishable by the supernatural. However, Joseph La Flesche (Iron Eye), the father of Francis La Flesche, agreed to accept for himself any penalty that might occur following the revealing of these sacred traditions. After Yellow Smoke finished telling the story, Iron Eye became ill and died two weeks later.
Joseph La Flesche had opposed traditional ceremonies and advocated assimilation into American culture. As the principal Omaha chief, he had refused to support the annual renewal ceremony (Anointing the Pole) for the Venerable Man. Following this he developed an infection in his leg which resulted in its amputation. Traditional Omahas feel that this was a result of his refusal to participate in the ceremony.
A century after the Venerable Man left the Omaha people to live in a museum basement, he returned to them. In 1989, Doran Morris and Edward Cline, the representatives of the Omaha tribe, visited the Harvard’s Peabody Museum to bring the Venerable Man home. As the museum officials brought the Venerable Man outside to meet with the Omahas, the elevator refused to respond to their commands and took them back and forth between the bottom and top of the building. Then it stopped on the first floor. Joe Johns (Creek artist-in-residence at the Peabody) carried the Venerable Man to the waiting Omahas. In their book Blessing for a Long Time: The Sacred Pole of the Omaha Tribe, Robin Ridington and Dennis Hastings describe the scene:
“Tears began to stream down the face of Doran Morris as his hands touched the Pole that his great-great-grandfather, Yellow Smoke, had placed in the hands of Francis LaFlesche a hundred years before.”
The Venerable Man returned to the Omaha tribe at the tribal powwow in Macy. The Omahas brought him back hoping that his return to the tribal circle would bring all his relations “blessings for a long time to come.”
More American Indian stories
Indians 201 is a revision/expansion of an earlier essay.
Indians 101: Tribal medicine bundles among Northern Plains tribes
Indians 101: A very short overview of Mandan religion
Indians 101: Traditional Shawnee religion
Indians 101: Shamans in the Arctic Culture Area
Indians 101: A very short overview of Inuit religions
Indians 101: Outlawing the potlatch in Canada