Bowers] HIDATSA SOCIAL AND CEREMONIAL ORGANIZATION 291 



the recovery of the corn from the Mandan and the ensuing close 

 relations of the Hidatsa-proper and the other Hidatsa groups and 

 Mandan villages. It is from this sacred tradition that the Hidatsa 

 have drawn in the reconstruction of the early history of two groups: 

 the Hidatsa-proper and the Awaxawi. The myth also provides the 

 basis for the meaning of numerous customs, ceremonials, and features 

 of the natural environment. 



In contrast to the traditional experiences of the Hidatsa-River 

 Crow and Awaxawi, part of which can be substantiated with archeo- 

 logical evidence on the Missouri River and elsewhere, the myths of 

 the Sacred Arrows provide quite contradictory accounts of the 

 creation of the earth and its occupation by certain Hidatsa groups. 

 In this myth, which provides traditional accounts of the origin of 

 most formal tribal bundle rites, the earth was prepared for occupation 

 by First Creator and other supernatural beings for the future home 

 of the Hidatsa but the details of its creation are generally passed over 

 lightly. Instead, the people later making up the 13 clans resided in 

 the sky in earth lodge villages extending from the zenith to each 

 horizon and lived much as those who came down to the earth did in 

 later years except that the society above was better regulated with 

 no death or evil spirits to bother the people. Charred Body discovered 

 this land below and came down from the sky as an arrow, for the 

 people above were "at heart" arrows because of their methods of 

 travel. He found the earth occupied by many evil spirits who 

 resisted intruders from above. Recognizing that life below would 

 be difficult, he selected 13 young married couples to accompany him 

 below where each established a separate household from which the 

 13 clans were ultimately derived. Each household was symbolically 

 represented by some part of the arrow (fig. 1). 



They reached the earth at Charred Body Creek, a few miles down- 

 stream from the present town of Washburn, N. Dak., where they 

 immediately encountered numerous evil beings who resisted their 

 efforts to settle there. Because Charred Body had the spirit of the 

 Sacred Arrows with which to protect the people, the population 

 increased and 13 villages representing the 13 clans were later estab- 

 lished from the descendants of the 13 unnamed household groups. 



Meanwhile, unborn twins were torn from their mother by an evil 

 monster who threw one into a spring nearby and the other to the 

 inner edge of her earth lodge. With the help of First Creator and 

 Charred Body, the two boys, now named Spring Boy and Lodge 

 Boy, grew quickly and undertook to annihilate the evil spirits which 

 surrounded them. Since Spring Boy was the leader in destroying 

 these evil spirits, he was captured and taken above to be tortured by 

 Long Arm — at this point the Sun Dance (NaxpikE) began. The 



