The Great Plains is the huge area in the central portion of the North American continent which stretches from the Canadian provinces in the north, almost to the Gulf of Mexico in the south, from the Rocky Mountains in the west to the Mississippi River in the east. With regard to American Indian culture areas, the Great Plains is generally divided into three sub-areas: Northern Plains, Central Plains, and Southern Plains. The boundary between the Southern Plains and the Central Plains is the Arkansas River valley. One of the Southern Plains tribes is the Osage.
As with many American Indian tribes, the name Osage is not what they called themselves. They called themselves Ni-U-Ko’n-ska meaning “children of the middle waters.” The name Osage was given to them by the French and it came from Wazhazhe, the name of one of the largest Osage bands.
The Osage language is a Siouan language, and within this language family belongs to the Mississippi Valley Group. The Osage language is most closely related to Omaha, Ponca, Kansa, and Quapaw. At one time, these tribes were probably one people.
Like most of the Southern Plains tribes, the Osage were both farmers and hunter-gatherers. They lived in farming villages along wooded river valleys most of the year. In addition to farming, they conducted several hunts every year. There were three primary hunts during the year: (1) a hunt in February or March for bear; (2) a summer hunt for buffalo and deer; and (3) a fall hunt, also for buffalo and deer.
Southern Plains tribes, such as the Osage, hunted the buffalo on foot before they acquired horses. By using fire, the buffalo would be driven into a confined area where they could be easily killed. Another buffalo- hunting strategy was to use a buffalo jump – a cliff over which the buffalo were stampeded. In using a buffalo jump, the hunters would line piles of stones about 15 feet apart in a V-formation for about two miles. A medicine man would then approach the herd, annoy the bulls, and lead them into the entrance of the V. The hunters, standing near the piles of stones, would shout and wave blankets at the buffalo to stampede them. The panicked buffalo would then topple over the edge of the cliff.
At the bottom of the cliff, the buffalo would be butchered, with the meat cut into thin strips for drying and smoking. Describing the Osage hunt, John Joseph Matthews, in his book The Osages: Children of the Middle Waters, reports:
“When they were through with the butchering, the men would carry the ribs up to the camp, and they immediately set about cooking them. They were busy cooking the ribs as the long line of old men, women, and boys, and dogs, formed an antlike procession, carrying the meat to the camp out of the canyon.”
Prior to the acquisition of the horse, the meat and hides from the buffalo hunt were transported on the backs of the people and on dog travois.
In addition to hunting, the Osage women grew corn, squash, pumpkins, and beans on plots that averaged about one-half acre per family. According to historians Gilbert Din and Abraham Nasatir, in their book The Imperial Osages: Spanish-Indian Diplomacy in the Mississippi Valley:
“Horticulture and gathering served primarily to supplement and vary the Osage diet, which was largely dependent on game.”
The Osage, like most Southern Plains tribes, were not nomads but had permanent villages. The multifamily lodges in the permanent villages were rectangular and measured 31-41 feet long and 15-22 feet wide. They were made from posts stuck in the ground. Long poles were then fastened to the posts and bent over to form the frame of the roof. The lodge was then covered with reed mats, bark, and skin.
Each Osage village had a peace chief and a war chief. In his book Encyclopedia of Native American Tribes, Carl Waldman reports:
“A council of elderly men, called the Little Old Men, made tribal laws and settled tribal disputes.”
For hunting trips, the Osage made wigwams from flexible green poles which were stuck in the ground and then bent over. The wigwams, like the village lodges, were covered with reed mats, bark, and skin.
After the acquisition of the horse, the Osage began using the tipi. Since the horse is considerably larger than the dog, this meant that longer tipi poles could be carried. The Osage tipi was constructed on a framework of 13 poles which were about 18 feet long. This allowed for a lodge about 15 feet in diameter. The frame was covered with buffalo hides which had been sewn to fit the frame. Two women could set up a tipi in about 15 minutes.
The sides of the Osage tipis were often covered with designs reflecting the clan totem or which showed important events in the history of the tribe.
When traveling, the Osage carried water in buffalo paunches. They also carried with them fire in a buffalo horn. An ember, together with a piece of fungus punk, was placed in this horn which was lined with rotten wood. The horn was then sealed with a wooden plug. At the end of the journey, the punk was then used to start the fire. In this way there was a continuity of fire from one camp to the next.
The Osage often used a stone-boiling method for cooking meat. A small, bowl-shaped hole would be dug in the ground and lined with skins. This bowl would then be filled with water, meat, and edible plants. Stones heated red-hot by the fire were then picked up with sticks and placed in the water, bringing it to a boil.
Among the Osage, both men and women decorated their bodies with tattoos. In her book Encyclopedia of American Indian Costume, Josephine Paterek reports:
“Common designs were horizontal lines on the chest, concentric circles on the shoulders, and vertical lines on the face.”
Men who counted coup in war had the right to wear certain tattoos and they could give this right to their wives and daughters. Some Osage warriors had tattoos that covered most of their bodies.
Some of the Southern Plains tribes divided their society into moieties – two distinct and named groups. Writing about the Osage, Terry Wilson, in his entry on the Osage in the Encyclopedia of North American Indians, reports:
“The tribespeople were divided between the Tzi-sho, Sky People, who descended to earth from above, and the Hunkah, Earth People.”
One of the functions of the moiety system was to regulate marriage: people could not marry within their own moiety. If a man belonged to the Sky People moiety, he would have to find a wife among the Earth People moiety.
The ideal Osage marriage was arranged by the families, and it was considered preferable if the couple did not know each other prior to marriage. Individuals were not allowed to marry someone who belonged to one of their four grandparents’ clans. The marriage ceremony included an exchange of gifts between the two families. Polygyny (the marriage of one man to multiple women) tended to be sororal as the husband of the oldest daughter had marriage claims on the younger sisters.
Among the Osage, Wakonda (Wah’Kon) is the mysterious power that gives life to all things, that resides in all things, and that is the center of Osage spirituality. According to historians Gilbert Din and Abraham Nasatir:
“At a later time Americans mistakenly concluded that Osage belief in the Wakonda made them monotheistic. They were, however, pantheistic, for they had many gods, goddesses, such as those of the sun, earth, moon, day, night, and cloudless days.”
At dawn, as the sky signaled the approach of the sun, the Osage would stand in the doorways of their homes and pray. They would pray again as the sun reached the midpoint in the day and once again as the sun set.
Indians 101
Twice each week—on Tuesdays and Thursdays—this series presents American Indian stories. More tribal profiles from this series:
Indians 101: A Very Brief Overview of California's Achumawi Indians
Indians 101: A Very Short Overview of the Caddo Indians
Indians 201: A very short overview of the Chickasaw Indians
Indians 101: A Brief Overview of the Creek Indians
Indians 201: A short overview of the Duwamish Indians
Indians 101: A Brief Overview of the Illinois Indians
Indians 101: A short overview of the Makah Indians
Indians 101: A Short Overview of the Ute Indians