64 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 194 



continuous leadership. In applying this concept to group leader- 

 ship, we find constant changing of top leadership as the situations of 

 life changed. 



The opportunities to lead enumerated above indicate only a few 

 group situations, but they represent the largest groups for which 

 leadership was provided. In this category should be included the 

 organization of the village for the purpose of corralling buffaloes near 

 the village. Since this activity had important ceremonial aspects 

 and was a part of a group of related rites, it is analyzed under "Hidatsa 

 Ceremonial Organization" (pp. 282-476). 



The Clan and Moiety System 



The clan — a named matrUineal group — was an important feature 

 of Hidatsa social, economic, and ceremonial life. At birth, the 

 child became a member of his mother's clan or, if the mother was 

 clanless because she had belonged to a different tribe, the child assumed 

 the clan of the other children of the household. In spite of the 

 traditional late arrival of the Hidatsa-proper and the Awaxawi on 

 the Missouri River, the clan names as now employed are concerned 

 with incidents or events occurring along the Missouri River and in 

 no instance reflect incidents or events relating to their former resi- 

 dences to the east or northeast. The traditions and mythology 

 indicate that two different clan systems were once in vogue: (1) the 

 13-clan system of the Awatixa; and (2) the 7-clan system of the 

 Awaxawi and Hidatsa-proper. 



ORIGINS 



Reference to the Awatixa system of 13 clans is found in the myths 

 of the Sacred Arrows which relate that when this group came down 

 from above to inhabit the earth, their culture hero. Charred Body, 

 selected 13 household groups to represent the 13 parts of the sacred 

 arrow. Each household group established a matrilineal lineage; 

 marriage within the household was prohibited. Since the population 

 of this mythological village was small, people were able to remember 

 their relatives. Because of the rich land Charred Body had found 

 below at Painted Woods, with its extensive wooded bottoms for 

 agriculture and the large herds of buffaloes on the adjacent prairies, 

 the population increased rapidly and broke up into 13 small local 

 groups of related kin. At that time the groups were exogamous and 

 lived near each other for protection from certain local evil spirits who 

 resented the occupation of the area by Charred Body's people. 



