Bowers] HIDATSA SOCIAL AND CEREMONIAL ORGANIZATION 417 



and Sunset ceremonies, analysis of the visions usually was necessary 

 in order to determine which rites were to be performed. There are 

 instances of indecision on the part of the older men, the "fathers," 

 when vision recipients came to them for advice, and additional fasting 

 was recommended to learn which ceremony was to be performed. The 

 Hidatsa reluctantly approved the performance of the rites by one 

 whose father or a close relative standing in that relationship had not 

 performed the rites. When, however, the father owned rights in both 

 ceremonies and the initial visions were not sufficiently clear to indicate 

 which performance was to be given, individual feasts were generally 

 given to the father's bundle or additional fasting was endured to secure 

 additional instructions. When the father owned rights in only one 

 ceremony, either the Sunrise or the Sunset Wolf, mere dreaming of 

 the wolves was considered sufficient. 



Efforts to secure authority to perform the rites was further con- 

 tingent on the vision recipient's capacity to secure the necessary 

 goods and endure the traditional inconveniences and ordeals of fasting 

 during the performance of the ceremony. Since the performance 

 demanded intimate cooperation between the giver, his family, clans- 

 men, and age-grade group, as well as the confidence of the older 

 people, individuals rarely undertook to have the rites performed 

 until they were married and had shown some military distinction 

 under recognized war leaders. Once a man pledged the performance, 

 he was accepted as a potential military leader. It was customary for 

 one, immediately after making the vow, to undertake a small-scale 

 military mission to steal horses. It would appear that not a great 

 deal was expected at first. Informants thought the mere fact that the 

 leader had not lost any men, even though he had won no significant 

 military honors, was adequate proof that the young leader had already 

 acquired supernatural powers. 



No vow was made until approval was given by someone whose 

 bundle included a buffalo skull. There seems to have been no special 

 effort to select a Wolf bundle owner. Rather, he might consult any 

 man of the father's clan to whom he had gone for advice on other 

 occasions. Black Owl, son of Four Bears whose father owned rights 

 in both the Sunrise and Sunset Wolf, gave Bears Arm this account 

 of his instructions to perform the vow: 



Black Owl said that he had been sick in bed for quite a while and was still very 

 weak. There were many people at his lodge. They made so much noise that he 

 decided to move to his brother's [William Bell] lodge while he was ill. Black Owl 

 wanted his "mother," Eagle,^^ to doctor him while he was there by pressing his 

 bowels, which she did. Black Owl's own mother was Not Mink; Eagle was Four 

 Bear's young wife. 



*' His mother's "siater" by extension of the kinship system. 



