Bowers] HIDATSA SOCIAL AND CEREMONIAL ORGANIZATION 93 



Crow, Sioux, Assiniboin, and Chippewa, commonly occmred. Visit- 

 ing between related people of the Hidatsa villages and groups of 

 relatives of other tribes was of common occurrence. 



In the event of the separation of a couple with children and the 

 subsequent remarriage of the wife, an additional set of relatives was 

 acquired. The wife would no longer recognize her former husband's 

 relatives based on marriage but would classify them according to the 

 various categories employed previous to their marriage. The former 

 husband would do likewise with the woman's relatives. The children 

 would recognize the stepfather's relatives as though they were their 

 own father's as long as the stepfather performed his social and 

 economic duties as a father. Whether the biological father and his 

 relatives were ever recognized would depend on the assistance that 

 they gave in rearing the children and the attitude of the stepfather. 

 Should the stepfather fail to perform his duties as a father, the 

 children's affections were usually transferred to one of the mother's 

 sisters' husbands. This was an important matter to a young person 

 who must make a decision as to the "father" he would recognize 

 when participating in the social and sacred rites of the community. 

 Since the father, the stepfather, and the mother's sisters' husbands 

 were frequently of different clans, the decision had an important 

 bearing on the selection of ceremonies in which he would participate. 

 Should a young man, however, distinguish himself in warfare we 

 find, from a study of genealogies and case histories, that the father 

 invariably began showing new interest in a neglected son. 



Members of an age-grade society treated each other as related kin 

 of sibling grouping although all of the clans of the village were 

 generally represented in the membership. Members assisted each 

 other in warfare, ceremonial functions, and on any other occasion 

 when such group action would enhance the prestige of the society. 

 Although age-grade purchase was a group action, instruction and 

 preparation of the symbols of the society were individual in nature 

 and involved intimate personal relations between the seller and one 

 to foiu- "sons" by the extension of the kinship system. Each organized 

 men's society thought of the next higher society collectively as 

 "fathers" and the next lower one as "sons." Women of an organized 

 women's society likewise thought of each other as "female siblings." 

 The clan principle was not closely followed by females, the sale being 

 made to "daughters" who were daughters of female members of the 

 clan or of the father's sister's clan. Either group, however, addressed 

 a woman as "daughter" and the collective transfer was considered a 

 "mother-to-daughter" transfer. The comrade or pal relationship 

 (irakuu) that existed between individuals was extended to men's 

 societies in their relationship to the women's societies. Each of the 



