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Išnati awicalowan....Girl's Puberty Ritual
At the onset of a girl's first menstruation, a puberty rite called Išnati awicalowan, 'they sing over her first menses', was performed. Išnati literally means 'to dwell alone' (from išnala, 'alone' and ti, 'to dwell'), and refers both to the act of menstruation and the isolation in which women lived during their menstrual period. The ritual has also been referred to as the Buffalo Ceremony inasmuch as the buffalo supernaturals guard over a woman's chastity and fecundity. It marks the passage from adolescense to womanhood, and during the performance the girl is instructed by a sacred person, before a large congregation, in her responsibilities to her family and people. The ritual also establishes her relationship with the sacred White Buffalo Calf Woman. Within several days after the girl's menstrual period, her father requests a sacred person to conduct the ritual. The other and her female relatives erect a new tipi, and the girl is instructed to place her menstrual bundle in a plum tree to safeguard it from the evil influences of Iktomi. a new altar is constructed, and a buffalo skull, pipe, prayer wands, bowl, and sweet-smelling grasses are place on it. The sacred person in his role of conductor dresses in a buffalo headdress and wears behing him a buffalo tail. All outstanding men and women are invited to the tipi, but women who are having their menstrual periods are not permitted to enter lest they ritually pollute the sacred paraphernalia or render the ritual inefficacious. When all have been seated, the girl is instructed to sit between the altar and the fireplace, cross-legged like men and children. The sacred person fills and smokes the pipe and blows smoke into the orbital and nasal orifices of the buffalo skull. He then applies red paint to the forehead of the skull, from which a red line runs perpendicularly back to the occipital region. He then instructs the girl to be industrious like the spider, silent and wise like the turtle, and cheerful like the meadowlark. If she heeds those words, men will pay bride-price for her and she will bear many children. The sacred person then cautions her about evil influences. He tells her that she is now a buffalo cow and he is a bull. The singing begins, and he dances toward her, lowing like a bull during the rutting season. As he dances up to her, he sidles up to her just as buffalo do in their mating ritual. Each time he sidles up to her, the girl's mother places sage under her arms and in her lap. The sacred person then places the bowl filled with water and chokecherries on the ground and tells the girl that this is a buffalo watering hole on the prairie, whereupon the girl bends over and drinks from it in imitation of a buffalo. Once she has consumed some of the water and chokecherry mixture, the remainder is passed around so that all may drink. The girl is then isstructed to sit in the sacred place in the manner of a woman, with both legs to one side of her. She is instructed to take off her dress. The sacred person places it over the buffalo skull, saying that the girl now gives her dress to the buffalo woman and any needy person may come and get it. A needy woman from outside the tipi enters and takes the dress. The mother then parts the girl's hair, permitting it to fall to the shoulders and hang in front, rather than behind, which is the hairstyle of children. The sacred person paints her forehead red, with a red line extending through the part of her hair. The mother is directed to remove the binding which secured the girl's menstrual bundle. At this juncture she is told that she is now a woman and may leave the lodge. All the people then leave the tipi and take part in a feast in the girl's honor.
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