Bowers] HIDATSA SOCIAL AND CEREMONIAL ORGANIZATION 303 



Missouri. Speaking of the village groups of Hidatsa and Awatixa, 

 Lewis and Clark wrote, on November 21, 1804: 



The Mandans say that this people came out of the water to the east and settled 

 near them in their former establishment in nine villages ; . . . The Minnetarees 

 [Awatixajproper assert, on the contrary, that they grew where they now live. . . . 

 They also say that . . . the Minnetarees of the Willows [Hidatsa], whose lan- 

 guage with very little variation is their own, came many years ago from the 

 plains and settled near them. Perhaps the two traditions may be reconciled by 

 the natural presumption that these Minnetarees [Hidatsa] were the tribes known 

 to the Mandans below, and that they ascended the river for the purpose of re- 

 joining the Minnetarees proper. . . . [Lewis, 1893, vol. 1, pp. 198-199.] 



These two traditions recorded by Lewis and Clark are essentially 

 the same as those which Hidatsa informants gave in 1932. For our 

 study it is important to note that the Hidatsa-proper-Awaxawi 

 sacred myth, although providing the traditional basis for numerous 

 simple household rites and beliefs, did not account for more than a 

 few of the formal tribal ceremonies. Corn was considered sacred 

 because it was brought above ground by the performance of certain 

 magical acts; corn was lost to the Hidatsa while escaping the flood; 

 thunder and snakes are mentioned and one bundle is believed to be 

 derived from the Thunderbirds at that time; the four buffaloes pro- 

 vided traditional hunting grounds east of the Missouri; Buffalo was 

 considered holy but none of the specific rites originated during that 

 time; tobacco and pipes were introduced for rituals. 



SACRED ARROWS MYTH 



The myth given above records traditional Hidatsa-proper and 

 Awaxawi legends of an Eastern origin. The second legend, accounting 

 for most of the formal rites, enumerates incidents on the Missouri 

 River, chiefly upstream from the mouth of the Heart River. This 

 myth is identified with the earliest Hidatsa population on the Missouri, 

 the Awatixa, who traditionally were agriculturalists during their 

 entire residence there. According to the myth, they were formerly 

 most closely related to a group of Crow Indians who separated at an 

 early time to become nomadic hunters west of the Missouri, and to 

 the Awaxawi, Hidatsa, and River Crow because of linguistic ties. 



The second sacred myth complex could more properly be called the 

 "Myths of the Sacred Arrows" since culture heroes possessing the power 

 of flight like the arrow are so prominently mentioned. This complex 

 accounts for the origin of many ceremonies, most of which began on 

 the Missouri in a restricted area between the Knife and Heart Rivers. 

 Informants compare the ceremonies to knots on a string; all are inde- 

 pendent ceremonies just as each knot is independent of the other 

 knots but, at the same time, they are connected and related in the same 



