Blessing for a long time
Subtitle: the sacred pole of the Omaha Tribe
By: Robin Ridington, text and Dennis Hastings (inʼaska) illustrations and documentation.
Contributors: Hastings, Dennis.
Publisher: University of Nebraska Press
Published: 1997
Place of publication: Lincoln
Language: eng
Number of pages: 259
Subjects: Sacred Pole (Omaha rite); Omaha Indians -- Religion; Omaha Indians -- History; Omaha Indians -- Material culture
Description: Robin Ridington and Dennis Hastings ingeniously adopt the conventions of Omaha oral narratives to tell the story and significance of the Sacred Pole. Portions of classic anthropological texts (particularly Fletcher and La Flesche's The Omaha Tribe), Omaha narratives, and other historical and contemporary accounts are repeated - each time in a different, more enlightening context - in a circle of stories seamlessly woven around Umon'hon'ti.

The result is an innovative account that effortlessly glides between past and present. The distinct personality of Umon'hon'ti emerges and becomes the principal actor in the drama of its history and return. This unique blend of ethnography, ethnohistory, and Omaha poetics promises to make a significant contribution to our understanding of the religious life of Native Americans.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. [243]-247) and index.