About Birth Customs of the Wichita Indians
The Wichita Indians are a Native American tribe that belonged to the Caddoan language group and historically lived in the central Plains region of the United States. As with most Native American tribes, the birth of a new member was a very significant event to the Wichita. Birth customs of the Wichita Indians were interrelated with the tribe's religious beliefs, and the rituals surrounding a Wichita baby's birth were sacred and thought to be indicative of the child's identity and future.
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History
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Spanish explorers first encountered the Wichita Indians in Kansas in the mid-1500s. The Wichita slowly moved south into Oklahoma and then to Texas by the 1700s to escape hostile neighboring tribes. Wichita Indians sparred with the Spanish and later the U.S. military in Texas in attempts to resist foreign settlement of their lands and the lands of their Indian allies. A reservation was created for the Wichita Indians in present-day Oklahoma after the Civil War. Today the Wichita Indians are a federally recognized tribe. Most of the birth customs of the Wichita Indians were practiced for centuries by the tribe, and some still are today.
Types
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There were many traditional birth customs of the Wichita Indians. The most significant of the birth customs were the naming rituals, the water blessing rituals, and the different elements involved in the creating of the baby's cradle.
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Features
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Of the birth customs of the Wichita Indians, usually the first to occur was the naming of the child. Children were often named right at birth or even before birth, and the names given to the children often were related to dreams or visions the mother had, certain respected animals, or names passed down in their families. Usually the children kept these names, but if a baby was weak or sick after birth it could be renamed. Also, men could adopt names in adulthood that dealt with brave acts of warfare they had committed.
The morning following the baby's birth, one of the important birth customs of the Wichita Indians--the water blessing ceremony--occurred. Older women of the tribe took the baby to a stream and prayed to their primary god and to the Wichita moon and water spirits, both female, asking them to help the child grow strong and healthy. The newborn was then bathed in the stream's waters, an act similar to early Christian baptisms.
The baby's father participated in the next of the birth customs of the Wichita Indians, the creation of the infant's cradle. There were many specifics the father had to adhere to when choosing the willow tree he would use to make the cradle in order to ensure that the cradle would be blessed by the spirits. While the cradle was being formed, prayers were made to the tribe's main god and to the moon spirit, asking them to bless the cradle and the baby that would soon occupy it.
Function
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All of these birth customs of the Wichita Indians served as ways to invoke their spirits' blessings on the new child in hopes that it would grow strong and be healthy. Life conditions were harsh during the centuries that the Wichita Indians were at their cultural peak, and many babies died at birth or shortly thereafter from disease or malnutrition. By practicing these birth customs of the Wichita Indians, the tribe sought to please the spirits and implore their help in keeping the child alive so it could grow to be an adult.
Time Frame
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Most of these birth customs of the Wichita Indians occurred during the tribe's height of existence, from the 1500s or possibly even before, to the mid-1800s. At that point the Wichita Indian tribe had declined to only about 500, whereas upon first contact with Europeans the tribe was believed to have numbered at least 100,000.
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