Bowers] HIDATSA SOCIAL AND CEREMONIAL ORGANIZATION 327 



although pitied. Young men going to war would ask supernatural 

 aid of the Holy Women, receive a sacred object to wear, and, if suc- 

 cessful, prepare feasts for them. 



According to native beliefs, the Woman Above ceremony did not 

 reach the tribe from "above" until very late in Hidatsa history.^^ 

 Only three bundle lines were unbroken by the epidemic of 1837: 

 Twisted Wood of Awatixa sold to Crows Paunch; Seven Dogs of 

 Awatixa sold to two sons, No Tears and Dogs Urine; No Tears sold 

 to Hairy Coat; and Small Ankles sold to Red Basket, brother of Wolf 

 Chief. It is not certain whether the rights came to Small Ankles 

 from his stepfather, a Mandan, or Old-Man-Shoots-With, his own 

 father. It is suggested by Wolf Chief that it came from the Mandan 

 stepfather. If that is the case, organized bundles existed only at 

 Awatixa. In the case of the Seven Dogs bundle line, only No Tears 

 sold to his sons for Dogs Urine later showed cowardice by pushing his 

 daughter from his horse when they were pursued by the Sioux. After 

 she was kUled, he dropped all of his rites, put all of his bundles away 

 on the prairie, and no longer participated in any social or ceremonial 

 activities. He entertained no friends and avoided meeting people. 

 Although his son, Sitting Bear, tried to get ahead, he was ashamed of 

 his father and would have nothing to do with his father's rites. 



By contrast with the Hidatsa village groups, seven distinct bundle 

 lines were preserved by the Mandan with whom the rites were highly 

 developed with numerous sacred myths and skull circle shrines on 

 the adjacent prairie. The bundle rites were practically identical 

 for the two tribes and those having rights in the ceremony met to- 

 gether irrespective of tribe, a practice which it is said they followed 

 even before the two tribes united at Fishhook. The poor representa- 

 tion of bundle lineages for Hidatsa and Awaxawi village groups and 

 the highly developed rites and practices of the Mandan indicate that 

 the beliefs had been formalized into ritual performances for the 

 Mandan somewhat earlier, and that the Awatixa, who have the 

 longest traditional residence on the Missouri, had the highest de- 

 velopment of the rites and beliefs. The Hidatsa-proper and the 

 Awaxawi, who were traditionally last to take up residence on the 

 Missouri, had not gone very far in establishing these bundles. 



According to native conceptions, the following sacred tradition, 

 given in condensed form, provided the basis for the establishment of 

 rites to Woman Above: 



There were great and powerful spirits above. One household up there consisted 

 of a man and his wife, one daughter, and two sons. The older son observed the 

 Hidatsa below and, liking their habits, indicated a desire to go down there to live. 



" For matters of organization of the data, I have recorded it at this point because of its close psychological 

 ties with the Doly Women rites. For an actual bundle purchase, see pp. 405-409. 



