326 



BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 



[BULL. 61 



VOICB J =104 



No. 121. Song of the Badger Society (b) (Catalogue No. 554) 

 SungbyGuAY Hawk 



Drum 



104 



Drum-rhythm similar to No. 19 



fi' fifi^, ' lit f; f: f:* f:^ ^ r^T^ 



Analysis. — This song is distinctly major in tonality, yet one-third 

 of the intervals are minor tiiirds. Five renditions were recorded, 

 the song being sung three times without a break in the time, then a 

 short pause being made, after which it was sung t\\'ice. Tliese repeti- 

 tions are uniform throughout. The tonic triad forms the basis of 

 the melody, but the accented A makes it necessary to classify the 

 song as melodic with harmonic framework. The triplets of eighth 

 notes were clearly enmiciated. This count-ch vision is frequently 

 found in dancing songs. About two-thirds of the progressions are 

 do\\Tiward. The drum shghtly preceded the voice, though the metric 

 imit of tlie two is the same. 



miwa'tani 



The Miwa'tani was an important military society among the Teton 

 Sioux, the members of which were exempt from aki'cita duty. Charg- 

 ing Thunder said that he belonged to this society, that it was originated 

 long ago by a man who dreamed of an owl, and that the society was 

 sometimes erroneously called the Owl society. The word miwa'tani 

 is not fully explainable, as it is not found in the common speech of 

 the Sioux. Two informants said it is not aSioux word, and that they 

 thought it meant ''owl feathers." Wissler says:^ 



According to one informant, this society, which by the way, is regarded as a very 

 ancient one, was so named because an owl-being in conferring the ritual said. "My 

 name is Miwa'tani." . . . Our informants are all agreed that the term is associated 

 with no concept other than that of a particular societj'. It is also their name for 

 Mandan, the tradition being that the latter were named because of some resemblance 

 to the Miwa''tani society. 



The Omaha word for Mandan is Mawa'dani,^ and a "Mandan dan- 

 cing society" among the Omaha is mentioned and one of its feasts 

 described by Rev. J. Owen Dorsey.^ 



' Societies and Ceremonial A.ssociations in the Oglala Division of tlie Teton-Dakota, op. i.'it., p. -12. 



* Fletcher and I-a Flesche, The Omaha Tribe, op. cit., p. 102. 



3 Omaha Sociology, Third Rep. Bur. Ethn., p. 273. See also Dorsey, Eleventh Rep. Bur. Elhn., p. 463. 



