In Rev. Methvin's biography of my chief informant there is a brief
chapter on military societies,[4] but as these data were revised and
amplified in connection with my own inquiries, they need not be
summarized as there presented.
Our principal sources on this subject, however, are Mr. Mooney's
statements.[5] These largely corroborate my own notes and will be
presented with them so far as they do not coincide.
The older literature cited above does not in any way contradict the
general results I obtained independently, which may be summarized as
follows.
In recent times the Kiowa had six men's societies and two women's
societies. There once existed in the time of one informant's
greatgrandfather an additional men's society, the qo´+itëm, "Kiowa's
Bone"(?). The members of this organization represented each a buffalo
bull, except for the leader, who (though also a man) represented a
buffalo cow. In a fight, if this leader stopped to stand his ground, all
the others were obliged to do the same, even at the risk of death. Thus
all of them were killed, and the people were afraid so that they no
longer kept up the organization.
The six men's societies of recent times were: the Rabbits (fulā´nyu);
Shepherds (altō´yuhe); Rulers (?) of Horses (tsë`tā´nmâ); Berries[6]
(tá'ipëko); Black Feet (tuñk´uñqōt'); ? Horses (q'ō´i'tsë`ñko). Of these
the first-mentioned comprised all the little boys[7] in the tribe, while
the last society in the list is superior to the others in social
prestige, being composed exclusively of eminent warriors. The rest are
of the same rank. Mr. Mooney at one time believed that the Rabbits "were
afterward promoted, according to merit or the necessities of war, in
regular progression to higher ranks."[8] In a more recent statement,
however, he corroborates my own information that "the next four
societies ... were all of about equal rank, varying only according to
the merit or reputation of the officers at any particular time."[9] The
societies thus did not form a graded series in any sense. As a boy grew
up any one of the four coördinate societies might make him join. Some
men never advanced from the status of a Rabbit, for if a boy was not
considered the right sort he was not asked to join the adult men's
organizations. There were only a few individuals who were barred in this
way, however; every Indian man of any social standing became a member of
some society. Later some other society might induce him to change his
membership. If he was especially brave, he might be taken into the
q'ō´i'tsë`ñko. Except for the Rabbits, age had nothing to do with
membership, nor was membership purchased; further the societies did not
offer gifts to the individual sought as a member, thus differing from
the Crow societies.
The societies met only during the period between a sun dance
announcement and the sun dance itself, but this interval differed
greatly in length, the announcement being sometimes made very soon after
the consummation of the preceding ceremony while at other times it was
only made immediately before the performance announced. During the
period defined the societies met very frequently, one member inviting
the others one day for a feast, and the rest following suit on other
days. The q'ō´i'tsë`ñko met less frequently than the rest. A man could
only belong to one society at a time (except in the case of the adult
leaders of the Rabbits). Since the Rabbits included all the young boys
in the tribe, they were very numerous. On the other hand, the
q'ō´i'tsëñko, owing to the special qualifications for membership, were
very few,--only ten according to Mr. Mooney and from fifteen to twenty
according to Martinez, while two Indians set the number at thirty. The
last-mentioned informants set the average membership of the other
organizations at forty or fifty, while Martinez's estimate is from
thirty to forty.
There was no such rivalry between any two societies in times of war as
has been described for the Crow Indians (this volume, p. 174). Sometimes
at the time of the sun dance any two societies might engage in a
kicking-fight, the object of which was to teach the young Indians not to
run away from the enemy but to stand their ground and fight. This is
doubtless the performance referred to by Battey as coming after the
erection of the sun dance lodge:--
The soldiers of the tribe then had a frolic in and about it,
running and jumping, striking and kicking, throwing one another
down, stripping and tearing the clothes off each other.[10]
Martinez knew of no instance of a man voluntarily leaving his society. A
father might give presents to poor Indians in honor of a boy who becomes
a Rabbit, but he would not take the initiative to get his son into his
own organization.
The mutual-benefit feature that characterizes the Crow clubs does not
seem to have been prominent among the Kiowa. For example, when a man
bought the medicine privileges described by Methvin under the caption
"quo-dle-quoit,"[11] he was assisted by his relatives, but his society
had nothing to do with the procedure.
At the time of the sun dance the medicineman appointed one of the
societies to get the sacred tree. Similarly, he would choose one of them
to act as police during the buffalo hunt. Their function in this
connection is called q'ī´at'ā´tu, which seems to mean "they can stop any
one." The offender who hunted individually instead of taking his place
with the rest lost the meat so secured, and if he resented this
punishment the police might shoot his horse or whip him.
If a member absented himself from an evening session of his society
during the sun dance period, his associates would sing a song the next
day, hallooing and making a big noise at the end of the song. Then one
man would call aloud the delinquent's name, coupling it with that of his
mother-in-law and crying, "That is your wife!" Since the mother-in-law
taboo held sway among the Kiowa,[12] the object of the performance was
evidently to make the offender ashamed.