Bowers] HIDATSA SOCIAL AND CEREMONIAL ORGANIZATION 65 



During mythological times, these groups were named for incidents 

 involving them. Of the 13 original groups, 8 received names which 

 still designate existing clans. Of the other five lineages, nothing 

 is remembered, and it is assumed by the Hidatsa that these groups 

 died out or united with other named groups. 



The Hidatsa-proper and the Awaxawi informants claim never to 

 have had more than seven clans. Genealogies of the three Hidatsa 

 groups indicate that the eighth clan, the Xura, was found only at 

 Awatixa. They also claim short residence on the Missouri, coming to 

 this river as large village groups without clans. It is to be presumed 

 that they had matrilineal lineages, in view of the method whereby 

 clans were introduced into the village population; when a clan name 

 was adopted from some incident involving a group of males, the name 

 was extended to include the mothers, sisters, and sisters' children. In 

 this manner, according to mythology, every person in the tribe in time 

 became a member of a named clan. This system of extending clan 

 membership obviously is acceptable to the Hidatsa, for they show that 

 whenever a considerable number of female prisoners were taken, in a 

 few years all were incorporated into the clan system by the same 

 methods as nonclan Hidatsa were integrated when the clan system 

 was adopted. 



Native concepts of clan origin are of two kinds: (1) the origin of the 

 clan from a single female of a household group coming down from the 

 sky with Charred Body; and (2) a local group accustomed to living 

 together. We shall see that numerous bundles were inherited by 

 clans of the former group but less characteristically by those of the latter. 



The clan names with two exceptions are nontotemic and refer 

 to incidents involving a few people. The Maxoxati clan receives 

 its name from maxoxi, which refers to the dry dust that formed 

 from the decaying of the earth lodge rafters and dropped down 

 continuously, and ati meaning "lodge." The MEtsiroku clan means 

 literally "knife people" and refers to an instance of wife-purchase 

 with a stone knife. The Apukawiku clan receives its name from 

 apuka meaning cap or article of clothing worn above the eyes to shade 

 them from the sun and wiku meaning "low." The clan name was 

 derived from the supernatural experiences of Packs Antelope with 

 the Thunderbirds and the Grandfather snake of the Missouri who 

 killed by means of hghtning which flashed from his eyes. When he 

 returned from his exploits with the supernatural, he shaded his eyes 

 to protect the people. The three clans listed above are grouped 

 together and are known today as the Three-clan Moiety. 



