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Wichita and Affiliated Tribes - Oklahoma (U.S.)

Native American

image by Donald Healy, 1 February 2008

The band
The flag

See also:

The Band

map image by Peter Orenski based on input from Don Healy

Wichita and Affiliated Tribes - Oklahoma

Located in west central Oklahoma is the "Historic Trust Area" of the Wichita Nation. This land of some 68,000 acres is shared with the Western Delaware and Caddo Nations (NAA, 284). The Wichita, themselves are really composed of several Tribes, the Wichita, the Keechi, the Tawakoni and the Waco. The three other Tribes united, or merged, with the Wichita Tribe in the late 1800s (ENAT, 249-250). Their official title is "The Wichita and Affiliated Tribes".

The Flag

The flag of the Wichita and Affiliated Tribes is royal blue and bears their tribal seal in white in the center. That seal (sample seal provided by the Wichita and Affiliated Tribes) begins at the base with a depiction of the traditional style house of the Wichita from their days as Indians of the Plains, the Wichita grass house. The house is depicted in white with brown accents. These homes that formed permanent villages were constructed of long poles arranged in a circular pattern that were bent so that the poles met together in the center of the circle (ENAT, 249). The framework was tied together with slender branches or reeds called "wattles" This completed shell was then covered with dried buffalo grass. In the grass house shown on the flag, a fire can be seen burning inside.

Above the grass house is a white disk recalling both the circle of life, so important to the beliefs of the Native American and the moon, a powerful celestial body in traditional Native American lore. Inside the disk of the white "moon" there is a line drawing of a warrior holding an ear of corn in one hand and a warrior's staff in the other. Corn was a staple food of the Wichita in their days as a Tribe of the Great Plains. Above the "moon" is an six-pointed white star, while to the left of the grass house is a white antelope and to the right is a white bison. The house, antelope and bison all rest upon a narrow black baseline.

Surrounding the logo is the Tribe's name Wichita on top, "Tribe" on bottom. In smaller font are the names of the three affiliated Tribes. The "Keechi" appear to the left of the seal, the "Waco" to the right and the "Tawakoni" between the seal and the word "Tribe". All lettering on the flag is in orange.

The new seal now has the grass house with the fire inside centered on a navy blue field arching around the house are seven four-pointed stars. Below the house is a peace pipe bearing four feathers, one for each of the four Tribes composing the modern Wichita Nation. The seal is now edged with a dark-blue ring, bearing the inscription "Seal of the Wichita and Affiliated Tribes". This ring is edged, both inside and out, with a narrow gold band, and all letters within the ring are also gold.

[Thanks to Harry Oswald for providing photographs of the Wichita flag.]

© Donald Healy 2008
information provided by Peter Orenski, 1 February 2008