Dreaming of hawks, elk and thunder brought good fortune to the Omaha. Visions of snakes portended trouble. But among the Omaha and other tribes, a man who dreamed of the moon courted true disaster, for if he awoke at the wrong moment, he would be forever doomed to give up his manhood and take up the ways of a woman. Some young men committed suicide after experiencing such dreams. Others accepted their fate and lived the rest of their lives as mixuga, which means "instructed by the moon." A mixuga man was obligated to dress like a woman, speak like a woman, and perform the female duties of cultivating the soil, braiding buffalo hair, and embroidering moccasins and clothing. Instead of the warrior's shaved head and decorative roach, the mixuga wore his hair long and parted down the middle.
A few mixuga men crossed back and forth between female and male roles. In 1898 an Osage named Black Dog told a white visitor about a young man who had always insisted that he had received a warrior's vision. After leading a war party on a successful raid, the young man was dancing in honor of his victory when an owl hooted and announced to the Indians that their leader was a mixuga. "The people listened in amazement," Black Dog related, "and the leader protested: 'I have done that which a mixuga could never do!' However, on reaching his home, the young leader dressed as a woman and spoke as a woman. He married and had children. He was a successful warrior, but when about to go to war, he discarded his woman's clothing and dressed himself as a man."
Excerpt from: "The American Indians: Cycles of Life" 1994
