Bowers] HIDATSA SOCIAL AND CEREMONIAL ORGANIZATION 333 



whose sacred bundles contained buffalo skulls, were invited to 

 feast and to receive gifts. The sacred songs were sung and each 

 gift recipient prayed for the success of the giver. At the close of the 

 feast three ash poles were set in the ground outside of the village to 

 represent Sun, Moon, and Woman Above. Two mounds were con- 

 structed with sage at the top and human skulls were placed in circles 

 surrounding the image of Woman Above. Fasters frequently went 

 to these shrines to fast. 



Since Sun and Woman Above were believed to be cannibals, offerings 

 of flesh and the tips of fingers were often made to them. There were 

 doctoring rites to cure those manifesting mental disorders, also rites 

 to cause an enemy to "lose his mind" so that he wandered about 

 aimlessly on the prairies to be killed by Hidatsa war parties and to be 

 "eaten" by Woman Above. Since the ashwood stick was a part of 

 the sacred equipment, those who suffered injuries from falling trees 

 called in a bundle owner to set broken bones and repair their injuries. 



Old-Woman-Who-Never-Dies and Related Ceremonies 



After providing the traditional setting for the NaxpikE ceremony 

 (Sun Dance) and the Holy Women society, the Sacred Arrows myth 

 introduces incidents leading to the adoption of another group of other 

 closely related ceremonies. Because Grandson or Old-Woman- 

 Who-Never-Dies, or both, participated in certain supernatm'al events 

 during the sacred mythological period, the rites having traditional 

 origins at that time are believed to be related. Thus, individuals 

 possessing sacred bundles representing these experiences were entitled 

 to attend rites performed for one of the related bundles. No individual 

 owned complete rights in all of the related bundles. 



The Sacred Arrow myth, which provides the mythological and 

 traditional origin of the bundle rites of the complex, begins at the point 

 where Two Men terminate their instructions to Unknown Man in the 

 NaxpikE rites and inform him that he is the first to make the Sun 

 Dance brought down from above. The Sacred Arrow myth in 

 abbreviated form from that point follows: 



Three young women out in the trees gathering wood discover a porcupine. 

 They select the youngest one to climb the tree and shake the animal down. The 

 tree grows as she climbs until she reaches the world above when she is taken 

 to Woman Above's lodge where two sons, Sun and Moon, live.^^ 



Moon is in the lodge with his mother for he was the one who had decided to 

 marry the girl. Sun comes in at sunset and announces that he has married a 

 Toad Woman. Toad fastens herself to Moon's back when he teases her, a right 

 he has since he is her brother-in-law. 



" This Woman Above is not to be confused with her daughter also named Woman Above to whom rites 

 were performed. 



