Nionba

Omaha · deity · Omaha traditional religion; continuing · deity

Nionba, the moon, was honored as a night-power and a manifestation of Wakonda. Fletcher and La Flesche record that a youth who beheld the moon-being during his fasting vision might be made to choose between a bow and a woman's carrying-strap; one whom the moon caused to seize the strap became mixuga, a man who thereafter took up women's work and dress. The moon thus governed the crossing of gendered roles as well as the ordering of the night. Sources differ on the precise native form recorded for its name.

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