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BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 



[Bull. 194 



Spectators 



Robes 



Figure 3. — Ceremony to the Sun, Moon, and Woman Above. (Drawn by Wolf Chief.) 



mothers after dreaming of the Holy Women. In this sense the 

 organization differed from the White Buffalo Cow and Goose societies 

 which, although religious in character, were group-purchased. Mem- 

 bership was composed chiefly of daughters of women possessing 

 rights in the Holy Women organization and wives or sisters of Woman 

 Above bundle owners. All individuals meeting these requirements 

 did not, at least in early historic times, seek membership. This was 

 due, according to native interpretations, to the failure to obtain 

 appropriate dreams or the inability to amass the required property 

 to complete the purchase. There was, however, an increase in 

 popularity of the White Buffalo Cow society, the members of which 

 were women of about the same age; it is possible that the Holy 

 Women organization suffered from this competing society. 



The leader of the society was the Village-Old- Woman impersonator 

 and the other members represented Holy Women of the groves of 

 the four sacred directions. They selected a male singer who met 

 with them. In historic times Cherry Necldace was singer until his 

 death. When no one offered to buy his rights, the women performed 

 without a male singer. The singer bought his rights from the society 

 but particularly from the ViUage-Old-Woman impersonator. Since 

 Village-Old-Woman created all of the other female deities, the singer 

 occupied a ceremonial position superior to aU male owners of Woman 



