CHAPTER IX 



SOCIAL ORGANIZATION— SPECIFIC CLANS 



The Thunderbird Clan 



introduction 



The Thunderbird clan was unquestionably the most important of 

 all the Winnebago clans. In nimibers it seems to have equaled the 

 three other clans of its phratry, and, smce the upper phratry had 

 about as many mdividuals as the lower phratry, the Thmiderbird 

 clan must have comprised about one-fourth of the entire tribe. 

 How are we to explahi this ? Historical data are, of coiu-se, missing, 

 so that any explanation reached is entirely hypothetical, but still 

 it seems justifiable to hazard some mterpretation. The most plau- 

 sible hypothesis is to assume that the Wumebago were originally 

 organized on a village basis and that the largest of these villages 

 and the earhest to adopt the clan organization were those that took 

 the thimderbird as their totem. 



In the origm myths, the origm of the Thimderbird clan is always 

 given as Green Bay, and m contradistmction to the accounts of 

 other clans, the ancestors of the clan are supposed to have originated 

 at Green Bay and not to have traveled there from some other place. 

 How much credence is to be given to such a localization it is hard 

 to say, but assuredly it should not be dismissed as entirely worthless. 



The origm myths of the Thunderbird clan possess some mter- 

 esting features which deserve a few words of comment. In the 

 first version we have an accomit of the creation of the world which 

 is almost identical with that given m the origui myth of the Medicine 

 Dance (p. 350). None of the other clan origin myths contaui it. 

 How are we to explain this ? As a secondarj^ accretion or as an 

 original and archaic feature? On mternal evidence we suspect that 

 it is a secondary accretion and that the origmal version began with 

 the second paragraph. There seems to be no ijitelligible reason 

 for having Eartlimaker create two sets of individuals. If we sup- 

 pose that the origmal version began with the second paragraph 

 and that the general accomit of the creation was subsequently 

 added, we woiild have a satisfactory explanation of this feature. 

 Only one of the three versions obtained contams this general ac- 



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