wawaN (Re: More regarding "wa")

[Tom Leonard]

> I make this wa'waN (referring to the pipe dance adoption ceremony), with
> wa wa and varients being less satisfactory transcriptions that neglect the
> nasalization.  This also occurs in Dorsey in various places.  Stucturally
> it is wa + a'waN 'to sing on (or over) people; to make an adoption in the
> pipe dance' from a'waN 'to sing on (or over) someone; to adopt someone
> with the pipe dance'.  The translations with "people" and "someone" are at
> best awkward and conventional ways of expressing the transitivity of the
> verbs in question.  The expression "pipe dance" itself is also a somewhat
> awkward and conventional translation, though I believe it's standard.

I think you are correct in stating wa'waN has a conventional translation as
"pipe dance". My dad Joe Rush (Ponca) always said "wa'waN" meant "to sing
over (a person or group)" (Right again, John!). He also said the WaWaN never
used a pipe at all. From a tape I made with him in 1977:

".....they used that calumet wand. That wasn't a pipe. It doesn't have a
pipe bowl on it at all. That wand was used sort of like a pass to travel
among different tribes.  Way back there....pahunga'
the.....ukhi'te.....other tribes ....when they saw that wand....why, they'd
leave you alone. It's a holy thing. People started calling that wand a pipe
in English and I guess the name just stuck. But if you understand Ponca you
know that's not what they're saying.