Bowers] HIDATSA SOCIAL AND CEREMONIAL ORGANIZATION 159 



Fishhook in 1845, the Mandan and Hidatsa clan systems were so 

 completely equated that marriages between them were generally 

 disparaged. Although no objections were raised to marriage within 

 the Three-clan moiety, the Hidatsa have recently come to disapprove, 

 according to my genealogies and native observations, marriages 

 between certain clans of the Four-clan moiety. It was improper for 

 one of the Waterbuster clan to marry either a Xura or Itisuku, or for 

 a Prairie Chicken to marry a Speckled Eagle. 



Marriage of a woman to one of the father's clan was as uncommon as 

 with one of the same clan. The genealogies show that this reluctance 

 to marry into the father's clan was of long standing. This was in 

 sharp contrast with the Mandan who commonly and preferably had 

 a clansman as father-in-law with whom he talked freely and without 

 the restraints normally shown a Hidatsa father-in-law. The 

 genealogies show a higher frequency of marriage to men of the father's 

 clan for the Awatixa women than for the other Hidatsa village groups. 

 This was also the village group that transmitted some sacred bundles 

 through the clan. In the few cases of marriage to a man of the 

 father's clan observed by my informants, the father-in-law taboo was 

 less rigid; they had common clan interests and the father-in-law felt 

 obliged to assist his son-in-law in society and ritual purchases. This 

 did not, however, in any sense alter the mother-in-law taboo relation- 

 ships. 



Marriage of blood brothers to women classified as sisters and of 

 the same household must have been exceedingly uncommon although, 

 by the extension of the kinship system, males married to sisters were 

 classified as "brothers." Cases of the sororate were numerous. The 

 levirate operated only when the deceased husband's famUy so de- 

 sired, after observing that the widow had mourned long. 



The basic economic unit was the household or extended matrilinear 

 family based on matrilocal residence. The older daughters invariably 

 brought their husbands to their lodge. If there were a number of 

 daughters, the younger ones commonly lived with the husband's 

 people, particularly when his services were needed at home to provide 

 for his parents. If, however, her older sisters died, she would take 

 her husband to her own lodge to care for her parents. If her husband 

 died or divorced her, she would return to the mother's lodge. The 

 household would normally consist of the old parents, old men and 

 women of the clan, daughters with their husband or husbands, un- 

 married daughters and sons, and usually a few orphans belonging to 

 the clan of the females. A few households would also have a berdache 

 either reared in the household or brought to it by marriage. With 

 the exception of those households where, for want of a daughter, 



