Bowers] HIDATSA SOCIAL AND CEREMONIAL ORGANIZATION 295 



sented by the Sunrise Wolf, Wolf Woman, and certain Eagle Trapping 

 rites, that suggests borrowing from the Mandan during the 18th 

 century; the Goose Society is of traditional Mandan origin; the 

 White-Buffalo-Cow and Adoption Pipe rites were borrowed during 

 the first part of the 19th century; and, during the 19th century and 

 within the memory of Uving informants, the Horse rites were bought 

 from the Assiniboin. 



We have seen that the Hidatsa ceremonial system is based on a 

 series of segmented rites originating through time. Each segment 

 was preserved by formal instructions to those making the ceremonial 

 purchase. Those who had completed the preliminaries to ceremonial 

 participation and were admitted as legitimate custodians of various 

 segments of the ceremony were entrusted with the responsibility of 

 correct interpretation and performance of their parts. To deviate 

 from the ways laid down by the culture heroes was to invite bad luck 

 and to undo all of the promises the gods had made. The Hidatsa 

 speak freely of the virtues of seeking supernatural guidance but the 

 details of specific rites, practices, and songs are not freely given even 

 to individuals of their own household or village. It was believed 

 that one ought to be in a proper receptive mood to learn all of the 

 details correctly and to be able to repeat and interpret them accu- 

 rately before they were given. For that reason, the Hidatsa treated 

 all rites as sacred matter to be discussed only under prescribed situa- 

 tions. Variation from the traditional lines was to invite trouble. 



One should not be entrusted with great supernatm'al powers unless 

 he knew the proper techniques for their control. Those who had 

 gone to great efforts to obtain important sacred bundles, only to be 

 plagued with bad luck, were believed to have somehow deviated from 

 custom even though the details of their errors were unknown. But 

 an individual owning rights and possessing precise information per- 

 taining to a particular ceremony did divulge a great deal of his knowl- 

 edge from time to time so that the rites were never entirely secret. 

 There were other situations, such as ceremonial feasts to which one 

 interested in segments of the sacred lore closely related to his own 

 bundles was invited, that provided formal transmission of the sacred 

 lore. 



A man was expected to become informed in tribal lore as he advanced 

 in status. Beyond what he knew of tribal lore from the sacred bundles 

 he had bought, he was expected to give feasts frequently to those 

 possessing other important sacred lore and to have these myths 

 related. A few individuals who were unusually ambitious and pos- 

 sessed good memories frequently knew most of the sacred myths of 

 the village. This knowledge was, in turn, expressed in social behavior 

 and recognition as councilmen or peace chiefs. One did not buy 



