158 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 194 



The younger wife rarely remained a widow very long. She had 

 taken little or no part in her husband's ceremonial purchases and 

 ritual activities, and it would have been considered foolish for her 

 to vow not to remarry. The men were not afraid of her for she would 

 have little knowledge of her deceased husband's sacred lore. 



From the foregoing accounts we see that marriage was always a 

 secular activity. The bride's household, expressing their social 

 status by demanding horses or other property, tended to eliminate 

 suitors who came from poor and low status households. The return to 

 the groom's household of an equal or greater number of horses and 

 other property expressed the bride's family's estimation of the husband 

 and his household. Strictly speaking, marriage involved only two 

 clans, that of the husband and that of the wife. The husband's father 

 might speak for his wife's relatives, once they had reached a decision, 

 but his relatives had no part in the ceremony; generally they did not 

 attend and under no circumstances would the people of the father's 

 clan put up horses or contribute to the feast. This attitude on the 

 part of the people of the father's clan is consistent with a broader 

 cultural pattern that "fathers" and "father's sisters" receive gifts 

 and give "blessings." The Hidatsa did not consider marriages of 

 sufficient ritualistic importance to enlist the aid of the father's rela- 

 tives. The mother's relatives, the members of her clan, were a man's 

 principal cooperators and participants. The maternal grandmothers, 

 mothers, sisters, and brothers put up the horses and other property 

 and welcomed the new daughter-in-law into their household. It 

 was this group who made the arrangements with the bride's relatives. 

 Although the bride's father might prefer a different young man and 

 discuss the matter with his wife, the bride's mothers and brothers 

 were the ones to approve or disapprove a proposal of marriage. In 

 completing the marriage, they were the ones who made gifts to the 

 bride's husband's household. The groom's economic value to the 

 wife's household was expressed by a personal gift of a horse and 

 weapons by the bride's household with an invitation for them to live 

 in the bride's lodge. 



Marriage within the clan was strongly disapproved of but there was 

 nothing that could be done to prevent it other than indirect controls 

 such as ridicule and adverse comment when the couple persisted in 

 their plans. There was no exchange of property between households 

 and no marriage feast. Those marrying within the clan were teased 

 by their "joking relatives." Hidatsa thought that children sujffered 

 most because of conflicts in relationships, for a man would be both a 

 father and an older brother. Formerly, no objection was raised to 

 marrying one of the Mandan Prairie Chicken clan when the Mandan 

 and Hidatsa had separate villages. After they settled together at 



