Part III 

 CHAPTER XII 



CEEEMONIAL ORGANIZATION 

 Inteodtjction 



The Winnebago had four types of ceremonies: clan ceremonies, 

 in which only members of the clan could participate; religious so- 

 cieties, for which only people who had obtained blessings from the 

 same spirits were eligible; the Medicine Dance, in which only initiated 

 individuals could take part; and a semipermanent organization like 

 the hok'ixe're dance, in which only individuals who were returning 

 from a war party and had counted coup could participate. In this 

 grouping we do not include ordinary feasts, such as the feasts con- 

 nected with different medicines and the pleasure dances. 



Every clan seems to have had a clan war-bundle feast (often called 

 winter feast) and also a specific clan feast. We have reason to suspect 

 that the war-bundle feasts were originally private feasts given by 

 the owner of a war bundle. Then as the war bundles became of great 

 importance to the clan to which the owners belonged, they were after 

 a while regarded as clan possessions. But even at the present time, 

 while many would contend that the war bundle belonged to the clan 

 as such and could not be alienated, everyone realizes that it is the 

 property, whether held in trust or not, of a certain individual, and 

 that he can, up to a certain point, do what he wishes with it. For a 

 detailed analysis of a winter or war-bundle feast see page 427. 



The clan feasts were specific feasts at which offerings were made to 

 the clan animal. A good description of one is that of the Snake 

 clan on page 325. 



Perhaps the most characteristic ceremonies of the Winnebago were 

 those of secret societies in which membership was dependent upon 

 blessings from one and the same spirit. There were at least fom- of 

 these — the society of those who have been blessed by the night spirits, 

 the society of those who have been blessed by the buffaloes, the society 

 of those who have been blessed by ghosts, and the society of those 

 who have been blessed by grizzly bears. 



In order to prevent any misunderstanding with regard to the buffalo 

 societies, it might be well to point out that there were three of them — 



317 



