308 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 194 



Now Unknown Man was ready to give the Hidebeating Ceremony for he was 

 mature, had a good record, and had a wife to help him. Then Two Men came to 

 the village and directed him in the performance of the rites as Long Arm had 

 instructed them when they brought the sacred ax with the watching eyes down 

 from the land above. 



Hidebeating Ceremony 



This ceremony, performed in order to acquire the father's ceremonial 

 rights, is called Nax'pikE' by the Hidatsa. This is an abbreviation of 

 nax'pi meaning 'hide,' ni'ki which means to strike, and hs mean- 

 ing 'this act or event.' The ceremony generally has been known and 

 described as the Smi Dance. The Hidatsa think of these rites as 

 directed to the "people above" but more particularly to the Moon, 

 since a different ceremony with a different set of officers was performed 

 to the Sun. The rites were theoretically a dramatization of Spring 

 Boy's suffering when he was taken above and tortured under the 

 supervision of Long Arm. At this time, Long Arm instructed Two 

 Men to have the ceremony performed by their son in order that the 

 supernatural powers for success in hunting and warfare possessed by 

 Two Men would be transmitted to the Hidatsa by means of the sacred 

 arrows and sacred ax. 



The bundle rights were transmitted from father to son, all bundles 

 originating traditionally with Unknown Man who first bought from 

 his ceremonial fathers. Spring Boy and Lodge Boy. A father could 

 sell his rights in the ceremony four times. However, there was no 

 evidence that more than one sale had been made within the memory 

 of the oldest informants nor could any informant recall an instance of 

 multiple sales. It made no difference whether the father was living 

 or not when the ceremony was pledged since a member of the father's 

 clan prepared duplicate bundles for all except the fourth sale. Per- 

 formance was not limited by clan membership although, because of 

 the small number of bundle lines in existence, all clans were not 

 represented. Since the father and son were of different clans, clan 

 membership of bundles changed with each succeeding sale. Due to 

 the predominantly matrilocal residence custom, new bundles were 

 continually being established in different households. In addition to 

 the NaxpikE sacred bundles owned by the givers of the ceremony, 

 persons ineligible to perform the rites, due to inheritance, would 

 frequently make up somewhat similar personal bundles according to 

 visions received. 



There is no evidence that the performance of the rite was an annual 

 event. It was probably held most years prior to the epidemic of 1837. 

 Its occurrence, however, was based on bundle purchases of which 

 there were only seven lines after 1837: four from Hidatsa village and 

 three from Awatixa. Due to the limited number of bundle lines after 



