CHAPTER XV. 
CUSTOMS. 
The notes given under this heading are divided into (1) cult socie- 
ties; (2) daily life and habits; (3) games. 
SECTION 1. 
CULT SOCIETIES. 
Voluntary associations, to be distinguished from those of an exclu- 
sively religious character, have flourished among most Indian tribes 
and are still found among those least affected by contact with civiliza- 
tion. Maj. Powell, the Director of the Bureau of Ethnology, has 
named them cult societies. Their members are designated by special 
paintings and marks entirely distinct from those relating to their clans 
or gentes and their personal names. Travelers have frequently been 
confused by the diversity of such designations. 
The translated names of some of these societies found among the 
Sioux are “Brave Night Hearts,” “Owl Feathers,” and ‘Wolves and 
Foxes.” They control tribes in internal affairs and strongly influence 
their policy in external relations, and may be regarded as the substitute 
both for regular soldiery and for police. It is necessary that a young 
man proposing to be a warrior should be initiated into some one of 
these societies. But in distinguishing them from the purely shamanistic 
orders it must not be understood that their ceremonies and ties are 
independent of the cult of religion, or that they disregard it, for this 
among Indians would be impossible. 
The following account of these societies among the Blackfeet or 
Satsika and their pictorial or objective devices is condensed from 
Maximilian of Wied’s Travels (e) : 
The bands, unions, or associations are found among the Blackfeet as well as all 
the other American tribes. They have a certain name, fixed rules and laws, as well 
as their peculiar songs and dances, and serve in part to preserve order in the camp, 
on the march, in the hunting parties, etc. Seven such bands or unions among the 
Blackfeet were mentioned to me. They are the following: (1) The band of the 
mosquitos. This union has no police business to do, but consists of young people, 
many of whom are only 8 or 10 years of age. There are also some young men among 
them and sometimes even a couple of old men, in order to see to the observance of 
the laws and regulations. This union performs wild, youthful pranks; they run 
about the camp whenever they please; pinch, nip, and scratch men, women, and 
children in order to give annoyance like the mosquitos. The young people begin 
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