Bowers] HIDATSA SOCIAL AND CEREMONIAL ORGANIZATION 165 



A few old couples or a single old woman who preferred to get along 

 alone usually were to be found in all the Hidatsa villages. In some 

 instances they were left without younger sons, daughters, or grand- 

 children, or they might have been childless themselves. If the old 

 couple or old woman, as the case might be, were the survivors of a 

 large household once living in the usual-sized earth lodge, the task of 

 keeping the lodge in repair would be too great for them as years 

 passed. In this instance, when the lodge needed extensive repairs, 

 it was customary to tear down the old lodge, preserving the stronger 

 timbers, and erect on the same ground a much smaller one built on a 

 four-post foundation without the peripheral posts. This lodge, when 

 covered with earth, resembled the tipi made of hides and was identical 

 to those constructed at the eagle trapping sites. Surface outlines of 

 ancient villages of the Hidatsa along the Missouri River frequently 

 reveal the location of these little lodges. 



Hidatsa informants were in agreement that some older couples prac- 

 ticing special arts and crafts found it more convenient to live apart 

 from their extended relatives. An example of this would be an old 

 couple, man and wife or wives, specializing in pottery making. Pot- 

 tery making for the Hidatsa was a secret and sacred activity. The old 

 woman who had bought rights in pottery making, usually from her 

 mother's or father's sisters, would practice her skills more energetically 

 as she grew older. She bought this right from one having ceremonial 

 rights coming to her from the snakes. It was believed by the Hidatsa 

 that only the snakes made pottery in former times. One day the 

 snakes took an old couple out on the prairie where they had been 

 working. They showed this old couple piles of dirt scattered about 

 and explained to them that in making pottery one must mix certain 

 clays with sand or the grit produced by crushing certain stones long 

 used around the fires. The husband would assist his wife in the heavier 

 operations of pottery-making such as securing the clay and pad- 

 dling out the vessel forms. There were many exposed clay banks in 

 the neighborhood of the various Hidatsa villages. The potters would 

 test the clay to find those deposits that had the proper qualities. Near 

 Fishhook Village, about 4 miles to the northwest, there was an exposed 

 vein of lignite coal. The potters of Fishhook Village secured aU their 

 pottery clay from the beds immediately above and below this coal 

 layer. The men would sack up the clay and either carry it on their 

 backs or pack it on horseback to the village. The old men would also 

 gather the fired stones from about the village and take them to their 

 lodges. 



Pottery making was a secret rite and one should not visit or stand 

 around talking with those making vessels. It was customary to 

 perform secret rites directed to the snakes and sing the appropriate 



710-195—65—12 



