164 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 194 



The Hidatsa showed great respect for age. They recognized 

 that each person was an individual with his or her own distinctive 

 characteristics and achievements. The rules dealing with the care 

 of the aged and unfortunate of the clan, and the special respect 

 shown to people of the father's clan, largely set patterns for the care 

 of the aged within one's own immediate family. There was no such 

 thing as abandonment of the aged and the infirm, for young people 

 were taught early in life to respect the aged; even the least dis- 

 tinguished old people ought not to be neglected. There are many 

 references in Hidatsa mythology dealing with this matter. A promi- 

 nent theme of Hidatsa mythology told how some old people with 

 little visible evidence of wealth or supernatural powers brought 

 misfortune upon others by magical means when they were neglected 

 — or unusual good fortune when they were treated well. The Hidatsa 

 associated age with wisdom. They spoke well of those middle-aged 

 people who were caring for a number of their old relatives. People 

 would say that those lodges were occupied by generous and wise 

 people. There, old people of the lodge, both men and women, would 

 tell their young grandchildren of times as they used to be, teach them 

 the sacred and traditional myths, and advise them in various matters 

 so that when they grew up they would be of great help to the people. 



An old woman without meat would go out to the edge of the village 

 to await the return of the hunters. It was her right to demand meat 

 of any man, regardless of his age, if he stood in the grandson-grand- 

 mother relationship to her. By the numerous extensions of the 

 Hidatsa kinship system, a woman would normally have many grand- 

 sons in the community and none should deny her meat or hides if she 

 so requested. Old men would not customarily do this. Instead, an 

 old man would attend ceremonial and social functions, sitting in the 

 honored section of the lodge, and receive gifts of many sorts from 

 those performing the rites. In the Northern Plains where the Hidatsa 

 lived, largely surrounded by the nomadic tribes such as the Crow 

 and Assiniboin, they had an opportunity to observe the care of the 

 old people of those tribes. They were well aware that both the 

 Crow and the Assiniboin sometimes abandoned their old people 

 when traveling. It was possible under the semisedentary life of 

 the Hidatsa to provide much better care for their old people than 

 those wandering tribes living near them. The result was that 

 Hidatsa households frequently cared for the aged, widowed mothers 

 and very young orphans from these and other nomadic tribes which 

 came to the villages to trade for corn. The Hidatsa never seemed 

 to have considered caring for these unfortunate people an undue 

 hardship and my Hidatsa informants spoke highl}^ of people who 

 cared for the unfortimate of other tribes. 



