RADiN] THE CLAN WAR-BUNDLE FEASTS 435 



among the Winnebago, and that was the strong development of clan 

 consciousness among them. A man was first and foremost a member 

 of liis clan, and whatever he did redounded to the credit of his clan. 

 This clan consciousness was due to the strong individuality the more 

 important clans possessed. They had their own traditions, func- 

 tions, and customs, and each clan was quite ignorant of the customs 

 of the other. This clan organization was extremely old and, for that 

 reason, it is not very likely that the war bundle developed before the 

 clan organization had matured, and from being originally the private 

 possession of a family, became subsequently associated with the clan. 

 It is more likely that the war bundle developed after the clan organi- 

 zation had fully matured, but that it remained personal property. 

 However, owing to the fact that the possessor was always an im- 

 portant man, there must always have been a consciousness of a certain 

 proprietary ownership on the part of the clan in the particular war 

 bumdle within its midst. This perhaps accounts for the fact that 

 while the bundle can pass out of the hands of a certain family, it can 

 not pass into the hands of another clan. Subsequently the idea de- 

 veloped that a family was merely the custodian of the bundle for the 

 clan. Such seems to be the popular conception among the Winnebago 

 to-day, and it may have represented the popular conception when the 

 Winnebago cultiu'e was still intact. I do not believe, however, that 

 such a view would have been accepted by the family in possession of 

 the war bundle or by the learned class in general. 



The fact that there was as a rule but one war bundle in each clan 

 does not mean that it was developed originally through the influence 

 of clan consciousness, although there is reason to believe that some of 

 the war bundles arose in this way, in imitation of " clan " bundles that 

 already existed. The reason for the small number of war bundles is 

 to be sought in the fact that there was a very small number of indi- 

 viduals possessed of the necessary qualifications, and that it was 

 probably originally associated with villages or groups of villages.^ 

 Whatever were the reasons for the limitation in the number of war 

 bundles in each clan, it unquestionably strengthened the idea of clan 

 ownership. This idea must have been powerfully reinforced again by 

 those war bundles that actually arose out of a clan-owiiership impulse. 

 If, therefore, the actual owners resent this claim of clan proprietorship 

 both by reason of actual possession, of inheritance and consciousness 

 of the sacrifices and expense they and their ancestors have incurred 

 in maintaining the ceremonies connected with these bundles it is 

 nevertheless a fact that their viewpoint is probably wrong in so far 

 as it is supposed to represent the entire truth, either now or in the 

 past. The actual unit of organization found at the feast is the clan 

 and there, at any rate, the war bundle is a clan palladium. Perhaps 



* This statement is made provisionally. 



