Introduction

Introduction

by Richard L. Dieterle

"But if we don't nurture this knowledge and teach others like this it's going to go down the 'hollow of echoes,' the hojarara. In the end it's going to disappear and no one will hear it."¹

The Winnebago, or Hocągara (ho CHUHN g(a)rah) as they call themselves, are a North American Indian nation of Chiwere Siouan speech. In their heyday they were powerful and warlike. As Evans observed in 1818, "The Puans [Hocągara] too, were not less formidable and fierce than the Iroquois."² Their native land, the Wazija or "Great Pinery," was originally anchored on Red Banks near modern Green Bay on the shores of Lake Michigan, but at the height of their power embraced a large area of Wisconsin and a portion of northern Illinois, as shown in blue against the green map of Wisconsin at left. Although they were forced to cede their lands in 1837, many families returned and have lived on their ancestral land for over a hundred years. Other members of the tribe also live on the Winnebago reservation in Nebraska. The Hocągara were surrounded by Algonquian tribes such as the Menominee, Ojibwe (= Ojibway, Chippewa, or Saulteurs), Potawatomi, Ottawa, Illini, Sauk and Fox; but on occasions made war on more distant tribes such as the Osage and Dakota. This geopolitical configuration resulted in the infiltration of significant Algonquian elements into Hocąk religion.

The Hocąk language belongs to the Siouan family, which includes Crow, Hidatsa, Mandan, Assiniboine (Stoney), Sioux, Quapah, Kansa, Osage, Omaha, Ponca, Ofo, Biloxi, Catawba, Tutelo, Assegun (?), and Chiwere. Hocąk is most closely allied to the Chiwere dialect group, which contains Oto, Ioway, and Missouria.³ The Chiwere languages separated from one another about the time of Columbus,⁴ and the tribes sharing these tongues (as well as the more distant Omaha and Ponca) view the Hocągara as the original stock, referring to them as "elder brothers."⁵ The Siouan homeland was believed to lie in the east, in North Carolina or Kentucky. It is thought that the bulk of the Siouan tribes were pushed west by aggressive Eastern Algonquian enemies.⁶ Some suggestion of this eastern origin is preserved in the "Hocąk Arrival Myth," although this evidence is open to a wide latitude of interpretation.

The Names by which the Hocągara were Known. The established English name for the Hocągara is "Winnebago," a term derived from the Algonquian tribes who surrounded them. This name comes in countless variants and in every conceivable form of spelling. It apparently became standardized in its present form after 1832 with the publication of Drake's very popular biographical book on Indians.⁷ He seems to have modernized the Winnebagoe of Charlevoix's magnum opus which he cites frequently.⁸ In 1632 Samuel de Champlain drew the earliest map of the Wisconsin region based upon information supplied by western Indians visiting Quebec. Setting down in French what these Indians had told him, he indicated the Nation des Puans to be by a lake (thought to be Lake Winnebago [map]). The French Puan(t)s means "Stinkards," and represents a translation of what the Algonquian tribes called the Hocągara.⁹ The name is said to be in origin the Ojibwe Winnibígog, Winebégok, "Polluted Waters People." This derives from winipig, "polluted water" < win, wini, wi'nat, "dirty, impure,"¹⁰ and nipi, "water." When the plural suffix -ak is added, the latter becomes by contraction, nipig, "waters." To this is added a terminal -o, indicating a person (plural, -o-ag), thus Winnipigo(a)g and its variants.¹¹ The closest version to that extant in English, and the presumed true original, is from the neighbors and allies of the Hocągara, the Menominee, who call them Winnibégo.¹² However, since Ojibwe was a lingua franca of the day, the name probably spread through the medium of that language — compare the Sauk and Fox name Winipyägohagi,¹³ and the Ottawa Winnebagoag.¹⁴ The Potawatomi call the Hocągara, WInbye'go, to which compare winsawak, "filthy," winkiwIn, or wInkayawIn, "muddy."¹⁵ To this compare the Algonkin Winipegou of the same meaning.¹⁶ The Ojibwe winipig, "polluted water," is the name of the Canadian lake Winnipeg which also lies within their immense territory. This root meaning led to a number of names for the Hocągara that are similar to "Winnipeg": Winnepeg,¹⁷ Ouinepeag,¹⁸ Ouinipigou,¹⁹ Winipegouek,²⁰ Winnipegouek,²¹ Ouinipegong.²² Names of this ilk probably led to the odd theory that the "original" home of the Hocągara is north of Lake Superior near Winnipeg.²³ The Huron (also known later as the Wyandot) have an almost unpronounceable name for the Hocągara: Aweataiwaenrrhonon, given in 1636 as A8eatai8aenrrhonon.²⁴ This name was corrupted into a number of French variants: Aoueataiouaen-hronons,²⁵ Aoueataiouaenronnons,²⁶ Aoeataioaenronnon.²⁷ [see below; and Gatschet] Ca. 1876, Nicholas Cotter, Foster's Wyandot interpreter, said the name should be Aweátsiwáirǫnǫ, which he translated as "Marsh Water People." The stem denotes bad, foul, or strong water, as in aweátsiwái, "rum."²⁸ Gatschet breaks it down in the following way: Huron áwän' water; a it (pronoun), tsíwayän sour and bitter, rúnąn people, men.²⁹ This means that the Wyandot-Huron name for the Hocągara is essentially the same in meaning as that of the Algonquian speakers. On the other hand, it is said that the Algonquian nations also call the ocean "the polluted waters," since salt water is undrinkable. This appears to be what Governor Champlain or the French authorities understood by the name,³⁰ since they sent Jean Nicollet to contact Les Gens (des Eaux) de Mer, "the Tribe (of the Waters) of the Sea."³¹ In 1634 they succeeded (depicted in the painting below), and we now know that the people Nicollet found were the Hocągara. However, the Hocągara did not live by the sea at all, but by the fresh waters of Lake Michigan. Dr. Foster, however, has a theory that would easily explain the name. He contends that the nation was named after Lake Winnebago, not the converse. He points out that besides the large Canadian Lake Winipeg, there are quite a number of other lakes of the same name. The marshy area about the upper Mississippi near the Falls of Pokeguma, the Ojibwe call winipígoshish, "Little Dirty Waters." A lake of the same name is found to the northwest of Lake Winipeg in Canada. Foster also thinks that Green Bay, the original home of the Hocągara, once carried the same name.³² To make this case, he cites the Jesuit Relations of 1659-60:

He set out in the month of June, 1658, from the Lake of the Ouinipigouek, which, properly speaking, is only a large Bay from that of the Hurons [meaning Lake Michigan], others call it the Lake of the stinkards — not because it is salt, like the water of the sea, which the savages call Ouinipeg, that is stinking waters — but because it is surrounded by grounds that are impregnated with sulphur, from whence issue many streams, which carry into this lake the malignity which these waters have contracted at their sources.³³

This is probably another in an endless series of guesses. Unfortunately, Foster's theory is actually refuted by such testimony. The Baye des Puants, or Winnipigoag, means, "Bay of the Winnebagoes," -o indicating a people, and -ag the plural. So too, therefore, with Lake Winnebago — here we find the suffix -o attached, which yields the meaning, "Lake [of the] Hocąk." Both names make reference to a people, otherwise the lake and the bay would simply have been called Winipeg. Foster himself, quoted below, says that it is the usual habit of the tribes to translate foreign names into their own tongues. Yet the Hocąk name for Lake Winnebago, Te Xetera, does not mean "Dirty Waters," but "Great Lake." In Hocąk the Baye des Puants, or Winnipigoag, was called Te Rok, "Within Lake."³⁴ Although the area where the Fox River debauches into the bay was once marshy,³⁵ the waters of Green Bay as a whole are neither brackish nor muddy. Thus Foster's theory does not seem to hold water. However, there may be a way to save this theory. The Hocągara call Lake Michigan, Te Šišik, "Bad Lake," not because it is polluted, but because its stormy weather can be fatal to people traveling in canoes. The Hocągara are said to have once lost 500 warriors while crossing the lake in a storm, and 600 on another occasion.³⁶ However, to make this theory work, we would have to suppose that the Algonquians somewhat mistranslated "Bad Waters People" as "Polluted Waters People." Furthermore, we have no record of the Hocągara calling themselves "Lake Michigan People," nor could they, since many other people lived on that lake and occupied much more of its shoreline.

Juliette Kinsie suggested another reason:

The Winnebago from the custom of wearing the fur of a polecat on their legs when equipped for war are termed "Les Puans," or to use their own euphonious appellation "Ho Tschung Rahs."³⁷

The wearing of skunk fur leg bands is a particular war honor signifying that the man has kicked a slain enemy on the battlefield. Only if he does it twice may he wear such bands on both legs.³⁸ Even though the skunk has no powerful odor in its fur, such negative associations could at least be a contributing factor in the choice of names. Another idea is that Hocąk villages were noted for extensive stocks of dried fish, which would have made them malodorous.³⁹ It is not clear, however, that they were any more or less well supplied with fish than anyone else living on Lake Michigan.

Lawson concludes that it seems more likely that "Winnebago" is just a name of insult given to them by their numerous enemies,⁴⁰ rather like calling them "those stinking bastards." As a matter of fact, the lowest caste of Nachez society is called, according to its French translation, Puan, "Stinkard," almost certainly a term of denigration.⁴¹ This practice is not at all uncommon especially among the Ojibwe, who call the Sioux, Nadowessi(w), "Little Snakes," in contrast to the Iroquois, whom they call Nadowe(k), "Adders." In Algonquian languages the Iroquois were called Iri(n)kowi, "Real Serpents," by which they meant "bitter enemies."⁴² The former are known in English as "Sioux," a French back formation of the Ojibwe name, showing that once an insulting name gets established, it is often uncritically accepted by other peoples who may not even understand what it means. Furthermore, the Ojibwe also called the Sioux, Opwanak, "Those Whom we Roast."⁴³ This same habit of derision may have inspired the Ojibwe name for the Hocągara as well. Neill in his 1858 Minnesota history, tells us that the Ojibwe called them "Filthy Water People" [see above] as a humorous reference to their alleged practice of bathing in dirty water.⁴⁴ This may explain this otherwise peculiar idea advanced by Long in his travelogue: "The fourth day we encamped at Lac les Puans, so called, I apprehend, from the Indians who reside on the banks being naturally filthy."⁴⁵ Others, having heard this theory, examined the Hocągara and found them to be perfectly clean.⁴⁶ Such theories are inspired by the French mistranslation of the name Winnibégo (etc.), as Puant, "Stinkard." As we have seen, it means not "Filthy People" (Win-go), but "Filthy Water People" (Win-nibe-go). The Ojibwe idea, rather than the name or word, passed to the Wyandot, who inverted it, calling the Hocągara, Hati'hahí rúnu, "Afraid of Sticking in the Mud."⁴⁷ (For other Huron versions, see above.) Did the Hocągara really bathe in muddy water? If done for the sake of hygiene, such a practice makes no sense at all; but even a slander needs to be grounded in something. In this connection, it is important to remember that in war the Hocągara painted themselves vermilion, the color of muddy water:

Before going into battle, the Winnebagoes paint their bodies with vermilion, and with white; daubing them with clay, to appear as frightful as possible, when facing the enemy ...⁴⁸

In the old days war paints were made of clay ("mud") and applied wet. The Hocąk warrior, vermilion from head to toe in clay paint, not only looked as if he had bathed in muddy water, but in a very real sense, had done just that.

The name that the Winnebago call themselves, Hocągara, apparently was first recorded by the French historian Charlevoix as Otchagra when he traversed their country in the year 1721.⁴⁹ What this name means has also been the subject of considerable debate. Everyone seems to agree that the name Hocąk (> Ho-cąk-ga-ra > Hocągara) is to be analyzed into two basic component words, ho and cąk. Otherwise, the literature on its meaning is full of disagreement. The view that once held the strongest position, though a minority one at present, was the contention held by J. O. Dorsey and others that the name Hocągara meant "People of the Parent Speech."⁵⁰ Radin rejects this interpretation as a forced attempt to read into the name the widely recognize status of the Hocągara as a parent nation for many of the Chiwere and Çegiha nations. While ho can mean "speech," cąk (or cųk) cannot mean "original," but rather only "big, real," inasmuch as it is cognate to Sioux tąka, of similar meaning (see below).⁵¹ However, this response proves to be simplistic owing partly to the fact that Radin does not seem to have been acquainted with the source of this theory, which was first promulgated in 1850 or 1851 by Pasarécka, "Long Nose," better known as The Prophet. He, and others as well, said the name Hocągara came from ho, "voice, speech," cąnína, "first, original," and ka-ra, "the people [of]." Thus, Foster concluded, the name meant, "People of the Original or Primitive Language."⁵² However, the linguistics of this theory does not hold up, showing that it is a species of the universal practice of mythological etymology, meant in this case to establish that the Hocągara were the first people created by Earthmaker (see also above).⁵³ For the literal meaning (or meanings) of the name, we have to look elsewhere. Since ho also means "voice," the name Hocąk could also mean, "Big Voice." However, the contention that seems most widely accepted is that ho- means "fish," and that therefore Hocągara means "the Big Fish People."⁵⁴ In the XXᵀᴴ century, Albert Yellow Thunder (Thunderbird Clan) maintained the same thing.⁵⁵ One of the earliest sources for this contention is Wak’ąhaga ("Snake Skin") [portrait], who said that Hocągara meant "Large Fish," by which he understood a whale ("the one that spouts water").⁵⁶ In Osage, Hotǫga, their name for the Hocągara, also means "large fish, whale"],⁵⁷ although the same Hotonga appears in Prince Maximilian's account, where it is understood to mean "Fish Eaters."⁵⁸ Gallatin says that they called themselves Hochungohrah, which he translated as "Trout Nation," and that they were also called Horoje, "Fish Eaters."⁵⁹ This name would seem to be a corruption of Ho-rucge, which is found in other sources as Ho-ro-ge,⁶⁰ and Horoji.⁶¹ The name Horucge would suggest that they are called "Big Fish" because they are especially noted for fishing. But why are they any more known for this than other people on the lakes? Wak’ąhaga's suggestion to the contrary is that they are named after a fish, specifically the whale, or according to Gallatin's odd translation, the trout. To get a clearer view of the matter some examination of the second member of the compound is necessary. Radin says,

. . . cungk can only mean one thing and that is "big, real." It is found with a number of animal names, such as kecungk, "turtle," and cunkcungk, "wolf." It corresponds strictly to the Dakota tank, "large." Ho means "fish" in Winnebago.⁶²

The problem with cųk being the stem in question is that it does not satisfy either the standard spelling of Hocąk nor its pronunciation. The proper stem would seem to be cąk. The nasalized vowel [ą] in this word approximates the sound of the English "uh," so that cųk may at least sometimes reflect a mere spelling convention. In contemporary usage, for instance, "turtle," is given as kecank, and "snapping turtle," as kecankxete (-xete, "large, old"⁶³ ).⁶⁴ Compare the Osage kétǫga, "snapping turtle."⁶⁵ Marino's dictionary does not mention cųk, and while it has kecųge, "turtle, tortoise," it does not even mention the name for the wolf.⁶⁶ However, Radin usually spelled the word for wolf, šųkcųk, with a [ų] reflecting a longer value to the vowel, although both Dorsey and Lurie have spelled the second syllable with an [ą]. The word in the Çegiha Siouan languages was originally *tǫga or *tǫka. The [ǫ] lost its phonemic value in Hocąk and was usually resolved as either [ą] or [ų], which may explain the alternances that we see in kecąk/šųkcųk, etc. Cąk, however, is also said to mean "praiseworthy" as in hįnacągirekje, "to speak well of," and woracągira, "to be praiseworthy."⁶⁷ The word very clearly has this meaning in an important waiką, the Hocąk Clans Origin Myth. In this story, the clan ancestors, once they have come together for the first time, must now decide what language they should speak:

The Earth and Sky People queried of themselves, "Which language will we speak together?" The eldest of the twelve, Thunder, replied, "We will speak Ho-Chunk [= Ho-cąk]." Chunk [= cąk] is a word meaning praise. The elder had encouraged the beings to speak their language in praise of the Creator [Earthmaker]. Ho-Chunk would become the voice of praise.⁶⁸

The expression ho cąk can vary in meaning from "praiseworthy speech" to "great voice," although even in English, these two expressions have a common meaning. The word cąk is also found in wákącąk, an expansion of wak'ą "spiritual power." Wákącąk means properly, "having great spiritual power, holy, sacred," not necessarily praiseworthy power, as certain evil things and beings are wákącąk purely on account of the magnitude of their supernatural power. From this it appears that we have a convergence of two words in the form of a homonym cąk, or an earlier word *tǫk meaning "great" that has evolved into cąk, with two independent secondary meanings, "big" and "praiseworthy." Perhaps more likely is that the word that evolved into cąk, meaning "praiseworthy," became semantically confounded with the evolving word *tǫk, whose [ǫ] was being transformed. The usual direction of this transformation is either [ą] or [ų], so that the semantic confusion actually led to a bifurcation, producing two forms, cąk and cųk, both of which were taken to mean the same thing in most contexts.

As to the first part of the compound, the word ho can also mean, "voice, language, to howl." A wolf's howl is denoted by šųgere hoire. Other words from this stem are: wahohi xeteną, "deep of voice," hihohaną, "I ask permission"; hihoragi, "you address"; hojarara, "echo";⁶⁹ wiho, "witness"; and wihohiją, "to be a witness."⁷⁰ In the Upper Moiety, we have at least two proper names from this stem: Hopįga, "Good Voice," and Hocąteįwįga, "Audible Voice."⁷¹ This sense of the word also has cognates in other Siouan languages: Sioux ho, "the voice either of a man or of any animal or thing; sound in general;"⁷² Osage ho-, hu-, "voice, sound, etc.";⁷³ Ponca ho, "voice";⁷⁴ Omaha, hu, "voice,"⁷⁵ Ofo, hóhe, "to bellow (like a bull), to howl (like a wolf)."⁷⁶ So there can be little question that the name Hocąk can mean, "Big, Great Voice."

A further clue is found in how other peoples understand the meaning of Hocąk. "... in these investigations I have noticed, that aboriginal nations, unless there is some special reason to the contrary, — for instance a special enmity — ... all endeavor to translate into their own vernacular the names of neighboring tribes, rather than adopt them bodily ..."⁷⁷ In Plains Indian sign language, as was seen in distant Oklahoma, the Hocągra were denoted by the signs for "big" and "voice."^77.1 The Sioux call the Hocągara, Ho-tą́-ke, "Great Voices."⁷⁸ This is not a corruption of Ho-cągara, but a translation: from the Sioux ho, "voice"; and tą́-ka, "large, great in any way."⁷⁹ The ordinary expression for "a great or loud voice," is ho´tąka (Buechel) or ho´tąke (Riggs).⁸⁰ The word ho, meaning fish(-net) is said to be a contraction of hoǧą́,⁸¹ which all agree is the ordinary word for "fish."⁸² If the Lakota had thought that the Hocągara called themselves "Big Fish," then they would have translated the name as Hoǧątąke. In the kindred Çegiha Sioux languages, we find that the Ponca call them Hotǫga,⁸³ and the Omaha, Hu-tǫga, both of which are understood to mean "Big Voices";⁸⁴ and we may add, perhaps, the Osage Hutąka.⁸⁵ The Quapah call them Hútąka, but how they understood this is not recorded.⁸⁶ It would not be unusual for a tribe to carry a name like "Great Voice," since names of similar meaning are given to individual people, as in the Omaha and Osage name, Hothagthį, "Good Voice,"⁸⁷ and Osage, Hó-ça-zhį-e, "Young, Strong Voice."⁸⁸ However, the matter is complicated by the Osage, who understand their name for the Hocągara, Hó-tǫ-ga, to mean "Big Fish People." Like the Hocągara, they have retained the word ho meaning "fish," but unlike them, they have not retained the homonym meaning "voice (etc.)" outside compounds. This word became hu in Osage,⁸⁹ and is found in the compound, hú-ça-gi, "to exclaim, shout," where ça-gi means "firm, solid; strong, hard."⁹⁰ Yet there exists the intimately akin expression, hó-ça-gi, which means "to call loudly, to yell."⁹¹ In addition, we find the word embedded in hótǫ, "the cry or call of animals or birds."⁹² The same alternance observed in Hocąk between the [o] and [u] also exists transparently enough in Osage. The alternance leads, unfortunately, to the same ambiguity in the name for the Hocągara: the word hu not only means "voice," but also "fish," as may be seen in these words where hu is not compounded: hu btháçka tǫga, "buffalo fish," hu btháçka jįga, "perch," hu gthée, "pickerel," hu íha jįga, "sucker fish," hu íthuxe, "fish net," hu páçi stsee, "gar fish," hu pátnidse, "tadpole," hu wéts'a, "eel."⁹³ Even the Osage name for the Hocąk people shows the same alternance: Hótǫga, Hútǫga.⁹⁴ However, the Osage dictionary recognizes one asymmetry: the people are called variously Hótǫga, Hútǫga, but only the language is called Hútǫga ïe.⁹⁵ This suggests that the Osage preferred to call the Hocąk language "the Big Voice language," and the people ambiguously, "Big Fish, Whales" or "Big Voice." This preference for disambiguation in the former case naturally flows from the association of language and voice.

Officially, the contemporary tribe in Wisconsin calls itself "the Ho-Chunk Nation, People of the Big Voice."⁹⁶ Blair, apparently in a personal communication to Dorsey and Radin, reported that Thomas Forsyth said that they called themselves O-tan-gan, which he claimed meant, "Great Voice."⁹⁷ This should settle the matter were it not for the predominant contention in olden times that the name meant "Big Fish" or "Whale," or even "Trout." Indeed, there is some evidence that the fish in question may have been the sturgeon (see the Commentary to the story "White Flower"). The solution to the issue about the "real" meaning of the name is simple: it is ambiguous from its inception: it means "Whale," "Big Fish," "Big Voice," "Praiseworthy Voice," and can even yield the humorous, though unattested interpretation, "Praiseworthy Fish" (!). This inherent ambiguity is useful for mythological purposes, as well as, perhaps, creating an exoteric/esoteric divide in the full understanding of the significance of the name.

What does it mean to say that the Hocągara are the People of the Great Voice? Foster opines that it should mean,

perhaps loud-voiced in a certain sense; which name must be admitted to have considerable point to it by all who have ever heard the Winnebago — their women especially — who talk in so loud and shrill a key that listening to them at times becomes almost painful to the ear.⁹⁸

The decibel volume of their speech is something an outsider would find notable, to an insider it would seem normal. What is the "inside" view of this matter? The "Tale of Cap’ósgaga," tells us that,

In the early days of their existence the Winnebago were a successful people. They all fasted and were blessed by the spirits. It is for that reason that they were powerful and were called Hocągara.⁹⁹

This explains why they are called "Big Voices": when they spoke to other nations, they were heard. They had, as even whites would say today, "a big voice" in anything that went on. In a parallel logic, the deaf (nǫxnįk) are said in Hocąk to have "little ears,"¹⁰⁰ so that by implication those who hear well would have big ears. Therefore, by the same logic, those who are heard well, would have Big Voices. This is the same as saying metaphorically that among the fish of the sea, the Hocągara are whales.

This discussion leads us to an interesting speculation. Viewing the matter historically, we cannot reconstruct the name for the proto-Chiwere from comparative Chiwere, since the present names of the tribes do not derive from an ancient common name. However, the Chiwere tribes recognize the Hocągara as the parent tribe, and would therefore concede that whatever that tribe called itself in ca. 1500 was the name for the proto-Chiwere. The proto-Çegiha tribes (> Omaha, Osage, Ponca, Quapah, Kansa), apparently called themselves *Hǫga, or *Hǫgatǫga, "(Big) Chief People."¹⁰¹ In Hocąk this would be Hųgecąk or Hųkcąk, from hųge, "leader," or hųk, "chief."¹⁰² If we posit an earlier *Hǫgetǫk or *Hǫktǫk, we can easily see how a pun (Hǫktǫk/Hotǫk, or later Hokcąk, Hųkcąk/Hocąk) could have developed based upon the fact that the tribe had settled where fish (ho) were in great abundance. Furthermore, the whale might well be considered the chief of fishes, leading to a close assonance between the words for "whale," and "great chief." Furthermore, the [k] of the hypothetical *Hǫkcąk could easily disappear under this process into the more pronounceable Hocąk. The [ǫ] was lost as a phoneme in Hocąk — in some words the original [ǫ] transmuted to either [ą] or a simple [o], as from an earlier *mǫ-, "earth," Hocąk mą-, to forms such as mogo, "banks," Mogašuc, "Red Banks," moro, "shore," mopase, "bluff," etc.¹⁰³

The History of the Hocągara. See Lee Sultzman's "Winnebago History," in the general "First Nations History."

The Mythological Corpus. There is a vast body of mythology collected from the Hocągara principally by the ethnographer Paul Radin at the turn of the century.¹⁰⁴ He had to overcome the fact that almost all stories were literally owned by members of the tribe, and could be passed on in full form only by being purchased at great expense. The reason for this is probably the differences in opinion to which clan structure gives rise. Hocąk mythology is complicated by a social factor: every clan and every religious society has its own point of view, and frequently these perspectives are unique and at variance with one another. This gives rise to several variants of most myths, especially those that touch upon the subject of the clans themselves or their spiritual patrons and allies. Some variants of a myth can be insulting or otherwise denigrating to another clan, and this may explain in part the practice of keeping full versions of a myth secret. The myth itself becomes the property of a particular individual, and the right to hear a full version of a story must be purchased often at great expense. Some myths are publicly told only in shortened versions, and in many cases, a short version of a myth may be sold at a reduced price. Therefore, by keeping myths esoteric, the socially damaging effects of inter-clan rivalry can be kept to a minimum. That we have preserved as many myths as we have owes to an accident of history: at the time Paul Radin collected his material, the Hocągara had come heavily under the influence of the Christian Peyote Cult, many of whose members, having become hostile to the old pagan traditions, felt no compunction about telling every myth that they had heard, including whole cycles. As a result, the Hocąk mythology now in our possession gives us a window upon the "Hocąk mind" and to some extent that vast corpus of systematic thinking encoded in Native American mythology generally.

An Earthmaker Flag

Links: The Wazija, Spirits, Supernatural & Spiritual Power, Lake Winnebago.