326 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 194 



stick, made of ash and decorated with white sage, about 4 feet long 

 in her right hand, using it as a cane. Their red-painted robes were 

 rolled up and carried under the left arm. The singer carried a simi- 

 larly painted robe under his left arm and red drumsticks, using his 

 robe as a drum whenever the group sang. Although the four directions 

 were represented in the total membership, no distinctive dress or 

 painting distinguished members of the various directions. The mother 

 sold rights only in the direction which she represented and could sell 

 four times before relinquishing her rights. In the purchase of singer 

 rights, males seeking to join the organization secured the assistance of 

 a clan father as instructor, following the same pattern indicated for 

 the purchase of NaxpilcE rights. 



The organization met whenever a tribal ceremony was being per- 

 formed; their role differed between ceremonies. They also met and 

 danced whenever a successful war party returned. In aboriginal 

 times they represented an important group, in fact, the only group 

 that could claim some rights of participation in every ceremony. This 

 was by virtue of the fact that the organization was associated with 

 every ceremony that involved deities created by the Village-Old- 

 Woman impersonator. Of aU the ceremonies, the Holy Women were 

 considered to be related most closely to the Woman Above rites al- 

 though, according to native concepts, this ceremony was established 

 very late after Grandson had founded the Stone Hammer society and 

 some time before the first horses were acquired. 



The customs of the berdache were based on native concepts that for 

 a man to dream of Village-Old-Woman or a loop of sweetgrass was an 

 instruction to dress as a woman and to behave as a special class of 

 "females." It was believed that when a man saw a coil of sweetgrass 

 in the brush he should look away, otherwise the Village-Old- Woman 

 or the female deities whom she created would cause his mind to weaken 

 so that he would have no relief until he "changed his sex." Often a 

 man would tell of his experiences, how everywhere he looked he would 

 see the coiled sweetgrass and how hard he was trying to keep from 

 changing over. Those who made the change and assumed feminine 

 attire and activities were pitied by others. The people would say 

 that he had been claimed by a Holy Woman and therefore nothing 

 could be done about it. They were treated, until recently, as mys- 

 terious and holy. Since they had been "claimed" by a Holy Woman, 

 they met Avith the organization and performed many tasks other^vise 

 too difficult for the women, such as raising the posts for the NaxpikE 

 ceremony. They dressed and painted in the same way as the Holy 

 Women for ceremonial occasions. Inasmuch as the organization of 

 Holy Women was considered to be a benevolent group, doing much to 

 assist the people in time of starvation, berdaches were well thought of, 



