Bowers] HIDATSA SOCIAL AND CEREMONIAL ORGANIZATION 73 



misdeeds be committed by members of their own clan. Had the 

 stealing continued, it would have been the right of others to demand 

 payment of any member of the thief's clan. Probably more important 

 for the peace of the village, this practice of punishing a clan member 

 kept conflicts localized and confined within a segment of the total 

 village group and limited the duties of the organized village police 

 to matters involving the population at large. 



One's clansmen played an important role in directing and super- 

 vising the fasting of its younger members. When a number of young 

 clansmen had reached the age of 12 to 14, older people of the clan would 

 say that it was now time for them to take fasting seriously. Several 

 related households would discuss the matter and decide to send the 

 boys to some secluded spot under the direction of an older clansman 

 where they would be supervised and instructed in fasting. A fasting 

 shelter would be erected where the director could eat and smoke and 

 those who wished to could sleep. Each faster would select a spot on 

 the side of a clay bank, beside a pile of rocks, or near a bush too small 

 to offer shade or protection from the hot sun, where he would stand 

 during the day and far into the night. He was taught how to cry to 

 the gods for successful dreams; afterward he would be recommended 

 for a chance to join some war leader to secure from the enemy that 

 which the holy ones had promised him in the dream. During the 

 time the boys fasted, the leader observed their behavior and watched 

 to see that food or water was not being taken on the sly. Those who 

 pursued extreme measures to induce good dreams were publicly praised 

 in the village and were told that they would surely live good lives. 



The clan further assisted its young men by encouraging fasting and 

 participation in all ceremonies providing opportunities for public 

 fasting. The most popular rites in this class were the NaxpikE 

 (Sun Dance) and the Wolf ceremonies which emphasized warfare. 

 The clan furnished goods and horses for a younger member to give 

 during the ceremony to certain "fathers" and others in exchange for 

 customary services relating to the acquisition of supernatural powers. 

 When the young clansman endured unusual suffering during the 

 ceremony, the clan would voice its approval and bring goods to the 

 ceremony in such quantities as to embarrass the other clans whose 

 members had endured less suffering or had shown fear during the 

 torture featiu-e. 



The clan protected its members from outside attack, whether by a 

 member of the village or by an outsider, and resented infringement by 

 another in the disciplining of a member. Because of these important 

 functions of the clan, the father's role as a disciplinary officer was 

 exceedingly unimportant. Had the father scolded his son or hit him, 

 he would have been severely criticized by both his son's and his own 



