Francis La Flesche (1857-1932), Omaha Indian and anthropologist with the Bureau of American Ethnology, published an enormous body of work on the religion of the Osage Indians, all gathered from the most knowledgeable Osage religious leaders of their day. Yet his writings have been largely overlooked because they were published piecemeal over the course of twenty-five years and never adequately collected or analyzed. In this book, Garrick A. Bailey brings together in a clear, understandable way La Flesche's data for two important Osage religious ceremonies--the ""Songs of Wa-xo'-be,"" an initiation into a clan priesthood, and the Rite of the Chiefs, an initiation into a tribal priesthood. To put La Flesche's work into perspective, Bailey offers a short biography of this prolific Native American scholar and an overview of traditional Osage religious beliefs and practices.
- ISBN13 9780806131320
- Publish Date 30 March 1999 (first published 15 December 1995)
- Publish Status Active
- Publish Country US
- Imprint University of Oklahoma Press
- Format Paperback
- Pages 340
- Language English