BADIN] GENERAL SOCIAL CUSTOMS 139 



his father's lodge, where his seat had always been kept for him. 

 With his own folks he stayed as long as he wished, leaving it generally 

 as soon as he decided to live alone — a decision that was usually 

 reached as soon as he had one child or a number of children. How- 

 ever, he did not always build his own lodge, especially in the olden 

 times, when it was customary for those Winnebago who lived in per- 

 manent villages to occupy the long gable-roofed lodges, that fre- 

 quently were large enough to house as many as 40 people. In such 

 cases a man and his family generally alternated between his parents- 

 in-law and his own parents. 



Adoption 



Adoption of individuals was quite frequent in former times. As 

 far as the writer knows, however, it always took the form of replac- 

 ing of a deceased child by some other child physically resembling 

 the one lost. I do not know whether there were any additional con- 

 siderations if the child adopted happened to be a prisoner. As the 

 name for adoption {wanarjxe' rek' inayk) indicates, it is closely con- 

 nected with the conamon belief in reincarnation, meaning either the 

 exchange of one spirit for another or the replacing of the spirit. A 

 special feast could be given for adoption or it could be done at one 

 of the regular feasts. As the child adopted was often the "friend" 

 (hitcaJc' d'ro) of the deceased and in any case had parents living, 

 presents were always given to his parents. 



Perhaps a better idea of the nature of adoption can be obtained 

 from the following few words of an informant: 



When a child dies, then the father mourns I'or many years, and if during that time 

 he happens to meet a child that resembles his dead child he asks to be allowed to 

 adopt him. The parents of the child can hardly object to such a request.* 



• There is no doubt in my mind that quite a number of parents believe that such a person is really their 

 reincarnated child. 



