330 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 194 



Woman Above rites began much later than the Holy Women rites because the 

 Holy Women were represented by Village-Old- Woman who went back to the 

 beginning of time, while all the others were created by her. 



In the mythology, Woman Above is usually associated with her 

 brother the Sun because both were believed to be vindictive and 

 jealous, sending good luck to the enemy when offerings were not 

 made to them; both were cannibals and arranged battles in order to 

 eat the victims; both consumed the flesh of dead animals; and both 

 were responsible for hot winds that destroyed the crops. For this 

 reason, when offerings are made at the mounds adjacent to the scaf- 

 folds and graves, both Sun and Woman Above were usually represented 

 by poles and offerings. 



The Woman Above was considered opposite in character to the 

 Holy Women. Whereas the Holy Women were thought of as benev- 

 olent spirits, the Woman Above was thought;^ of as an evil-disposi- 

 tioned spirit to whom curing rites with Woman Above bundles were 

 directed chiefly to avoid misfortunes such as miscarriages, premature 

 births, insanity, and paralysis. Men dressed in women's clothing 

 and "renounced their sex" as a result of frequent visions sent by her 

 and coils of sweetgrass placed in their paths by this mysterious 

 woman or one of the Holy Women. Of the four berdaches remem- 

 bered by Plidatsa informants aU were sons either of a Woman Above 

 Bundle owner or of a member of the Holy Woman fraternity. For 

 that reason, the berdache was considered holy because Woman 

 Above had "captured" him. He was considered a "prisoner" of 

 the Woman Above and was authorized to participate in all ceremonies 

 pertaining to the Holy Women with whom he was classified. Since 

 women were barred from actual participation in certain rites, he 

 was their representative when heavy work was required. 



In view of the apparent absence of Woman Above rites or, at 

 most, their slight formal organization in Hidatsa village on Knife 

 River, it would appear that the berdache had there a ritualistic 

 role stemming from the Holy Women rather than with Woman 

 Above. The Awatixa group, however, with both Holy Women and 

 Woman Above ceremonies, was organized in the same manner as 

 the Mandan where many formal bundle lines and rites survived to 

 the present day. In detail, the Mandan and Awatixa rites are so 

 similar as to indicate the diffusion of the complete complex from 

 one tribe to the other even to the skull circles which were ceremonial 

 grounds established by the Woman Above bundle owners. Appar- 

 ently, only the Awatixa of the three Hidatsa village groups on the 

 Missouri had definite Woman Above bundle lines although the Small 

 Ankles -Wolf Chief line may have come from Hidatsa through Small 

 Ankles' own father. In any event, there is little evidence that the 



