HIDATSA SOCIAL ORGANIZATION 



Village and Tribal Organization and Activities 



The Hidatsa employed the term "chief" to designate anyone who, 

 by virtue of his authority at any particular moment was recognized 

 as leader of a group of people, whether a segment of the village group, 

 a village group, or the entire population of the three villages and such 

 other organized groups as might be residing with the Hidatsa at that 

 particular time. Leadership was graded in much the same manner 

 as was the male and female population comprising the age-grade 

 system. The Hidatsa had, in 1932, a rather clear understanding of 

 the character of the tribal leadership prior to the epidemic of 1837 

 when the population lived in three independent villages. According 

 to my informants, these villages had had no tribal council until after 

 the epidemic of the 1780's, as the villages were widely scattered along 

 the Missouri and its tributaries and contacts were not numerous. 

 At that time, the Awaxawi were below the Knife River near Square 

 Buttes, and the Awatixa were in their old vUlage on the south bank 

 of the Knife River where they had lived for a very long time. The 

 Hidatsa-proper comprised a loose association of closely related bands 

 that ranged northward along the Missouri and Lower Yellowstone, 

 the Little Missouri, Mouse River, Turtle Mountains, and even the 

 Devils Lake region. Occasionally the wandering Hidatsa groups 

 would all move back to the north bank of the Knife River to plant 

 corn but, just as often, they remained on the prairies during the 

 summer, hunting buffaloes. These northern Hidatsa bands collec- 

 tively greatly exceeded the Awatixa and Awaxawi in numbers and 

 consistently resisted their efforts to move above the Knife River. 

 Each Hidatsa band was under the leadership of a strong chief who 

 had considerable prestige with his group. The Awatixa, who had 

 a traditional history of long residence in earth lodge villages on the 

 Missouri, had a more complex vUlage system of chieftainships based 

 on hereditary bundles and offices, "ward" leadership to supplement 

 and reinforce tribal chiefs, and clan inheritance of rights and privileges. 

 The ceremonial aspects of their village life were organized around a 

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