Bowers] HIDATSA SOCIAL AND CEREMONIAL ORGANIZATION 109 



with the "sons'" wives; in return he sold sacred rites, performed 

 sacred rites, and taught tribal lore to his sons. If a son died, the 

 father or his sister must, when asked, "bring the blanket" to wrap 

 the body in, take it to the scaffold or grave, and send the spirit away. 

 A father, on request and for pay, instructed a son in the arts of 

 warfare and horse stealing but avoided taking him on his own expedi- 

 tions. He would supply objects from his own sacred bundles for 

 the son to wear until he had sacred objects of his own and the son 

 was expected to pay the father with horses taken. There was always 

 an aloofness toward the father that never entirely disappeared. 

 Although a young unmarried man would go out hunting alone with 

 his father and would be taught many things, most that one learned 

 of secular matters was taught by an older brother or one standing 

 in that relationship. The Hidatsa have a saying that if a chief's son 

 has many "older brothers" he will become a chief also, but if he 

 has no "older brothers" his father will spoil him. 



Father-Daughter 



A father's relationship with a daughter was even more distant 

 than that with his son. It was expected that he would provide meat 

 for the household but he had few other economic duties. He was not 

 present at her birth, but he did provide a name for her or he selected 

 another of his own clan to name her. He was usually consulted by 

 his wife and her brothers when a husband was being selected. He 

 might even give a horse to the other family if he thought much of his 

 daughter. A man avoided being in the lodge alone with a daughter 

 after she reached the approximate age of 10 years. Often through 

 life he offered the pipe and food to his sacred bundles, asking for her 

 continued success and good health. In later years she was expected 

 to assist in the preparation of goods and food for her brothers' cere- 

 monial purchases from the father. A daughter's attitude toward 

 the father was largely determined by the compatability of the par- 

 ents; if the parents had cooperated in the ceremonies and there was 

 good will between them, the father was highly respected as the 

 owner of important bundles. Although a daughter rarely inherited 

 important bundle rites from the father, the culture provided some 

 ceremonial rewards to the sisters assisting a young man in purchasing 

 their father's ceremonial rites. Due to the division of labor between 

 sexes, a daughter learned little from her father of the daily skills 

 and practices. In the event that the mother died, unless a sister 

 or other female replaced her through the operation of the sororate, 

 the father usually returned to his sister's household to be with people 

 of his own clan until he could remarry into another household. 



