Observations on the thunder dance of the Bear gens of the Fox Indians / by Truman Michelson.
- Truman Michelson
- Date:
- 1929
Licence: In copyright
Credit: Observations on the thunder dance of the Bear gens of the Fox Indians / by Truman Michelson. Source: Wellcome Collection.
16/88 page 6
![Bear division. It is important to observe that all persons belonging to “When the Bear gens gives the Bird dance” as given by Kiyana occur on his list of members of the Thunder dance of the Bear gens, save four, namely, Me ki wi so lye a (K). Ki dki ne no swa (T), E ni di ka (K) and Ni la wo se ge (K). We have seen above that, according to Harry Lincoln, Le ka ta a belongs to the Thunder dance of the Bear gens; and it will be seen from the course of the narrative of the anonymous author of the second account of the Thunder dance of the Bear gens that Ki dki ne no swa (John Buffalo; T) must also be a member of the organiza¬ tion. There remain accordingly but three who are members of the “Bird dance” but not of the “Thunder dance.” But there are, according to Kiyana’s lists, no less than 20 persons who belong to the “Thunder dance” but not to the “Bird dance.” But it will be noticed that of the 11 persons “who merely sit as children” in the “Thunder dance” only two belong to the “Bird dance.” These two are Lo na wa li ga and O ki ma ge sa, daughters of Young Bear, the speaker in the “Bird dance.” These two women and six others were the hummers in the last-named organization. [O ki. ma ge sa, otherwise known as “Lucy Young Bear,” is now dead; I do not know who takes her place.] The following five hummers, according to the lists, belong to the “Thunder dance” of the Bear gens but not to the “Bird dance”: Ke to sa, Si se la gi, Na di ke, Ma gi ke tta wi, and Ki we wo sa e ga. The following men are given as belonging to the former but not to the latter organization: La di to ni ga, E ne ni we, Li na da, and Me di si lo ta. But it will be recalled that E ne ni we and Li na da are members of the Thunder gens, not the Bear gens. Summing up, we may say with confidence that even if the lists of the members of the “Thunder dance” and the “Bird dance” are not complete, it is clear that there is at least a strong tendency to an “interlocking directorate”; and that both essentially belong to the Brown Bear division of the Bear gens. In the same way it appears that all the members of the organiza¬ tion centering around the Sagima'kwawA pack which belongs to the Bear gens (given on p. 124 of Bull. 85, Bur. Amer. Ethn.), including E ni di ka given on page 146, belong to the “Bird dance,” to judge from Kiyana’s list of members of this last, save La di to ni ga, Ki wa ta, and A no sa e ga. Me de ne a and Me di si lo ta, given on page 146, also are not given as occurring in the “Bird dance.” I do not know to what gens Ki wa ta (p. 124) belongs; but he belongs to one Fox Thunder gens organization 6 and one Potawatomi Thunder gens organization at Tama, Iowa. It is therefore plausible that he belongs to the Thunder gens. All the other men of the organization belong to the Bear gens and to the Brown Bear division thereof, save E ni 5 See Fortieth Arm. Rept. Bur. Amer. Ethn., p. 505,](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b29980835_0016.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
