The Caddo tales presented were collected during the years 1903-1905, under the auspices of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, and form part of a systematic investigation of the religious system and ceremonial organization of the tribes of the Caddoan stock.
Sign Language Among North American Indians – Tribal Signs
The Caddo, or Cadodaquious, at present a small remnant of a tribe that once ranged over the Red River country, where they were first met with in 1687 by Jontel and other survivors of the La Salle expedition. They are now consolidated with Waco, Wichita, Keechie, Tawaconie, Ionie, and Delaware, and number 552, occupying the Wichita reservation of about 1,200 square miles in extent between the branches of the They have now well-managed farms, and are noted for industry and general intelligence. List of illustrations. 159-160. Sho-E-Tat. Little Boy. English name, Geo. Washington. Born in Louisiana in 1816. Is probably … Read more
a’a, father, father’s brother Gen. I, 42 > Gen. I, 10 father Gen. II, 65 > Gen. II, 47 father Gen. I, 42 > Gen. I, 7 father’s brother Gen. II, 30>Gen. II, 8 father’s brother Gen. II, 25 > Tom Shemamy, brother of Gen. II, 7 father’s brother Gen. III, 24 > Gen. III, 12 father’s half brother (a’atete) Gem I, 61 > (in theory) Gen. I, 30 father’s father’s brother’s son Gen. I, 42 > Gen. II, 17 grandmother’s husband. They lived in the same house, whereas the father of Gen. I, 42 lived elsewhere. By Whites … Read more
The localized family groups of which I have information are all in the northern division, to which White Moon belongs. He is less familiar with the family groupings in the southern division; he opines that in the southern division there is less concentration by family. Kuhaiyu Here there are four houses occupied by several descendants of Gen. I, 1 and 2, White Moon’s paternal grandparents. House 1: Enoch Hoag (Gen. I, 7), chief; and his wife, a Delaware; and their daughter and son-in-law. (Their son lives at Lookeba, his wife’s home.) House 2: Sam Houston (Gen. I, 24); and his … Read more
Fort Cobb Brave or Tom Keys (Gen. I, 37); and his wife, Nettie Pardon; and his brother (Gen. I, 11). Dora Keys, the sister of Tom Keys, a widow; and one child. Fritz Hendricks (Gen. I, 47); and his wife. Harry Age (Chuitsi, Cry-baby) (Gen. III, 17), brother of Stanley and Jerome Age. See Boggy Creek. East of Fort Cobb Basindiba; and his wife who is the mother of Ben Carter. Sister of Ben Carter; and her husband. Anadarko Ben Carter; and his wife. James Ingkanish; and his wife, a Cheyenne (Gen. III, 12, 13). Henry Ingkanish; and his wife … Read more
Between the northern and southern divisions of the tribe the prime distinction is in the chieftaincy. Each division has its own chief (kadhi’). In missions to Washington both chiefs are expected to participate. One division would not be properly represented by the chief of the other division. Since 1896 Enoch Hoag (Gen. 1, 7) has been chief at Sugar Creek. The Fort Cobb chieftaincy is for the moment unfilled, Francis Longhat,14 the chief, having lately died. Harry Age (chuitsi) (Gen. III, 17), the interpreter, is being talked of for chief. (In 1922 he became chief.) To Francis Longhat, the deceased … Read more
Of any clanship system White Moon had never heard, and, whatever approach to the subject we made, he remained consistently unaware of clan groups. White Moon was born in 1897, and it seemed not improbable that his ignorance of clanship was characteristic of the younger generation of the tribe; but Ingkanish20 and Pardon were equally ignorant of any clanship is system, present or past. And yet, in 1890-1891, Mooney recorded among the Caddo the existence of clans, the names of which, as words merely, were verified by White Moon as follows: Mooney White Moon Sun Thunder Eagle Panther Raccoon Beaver … Read more
Turkey Dance The Caddo Turkey dance (R. nu’Gano’caniya’: nu’, turkey, cano’caniya’, going to dance) is danced by women only, circling two by two around the centre pole, their step a turkey trot. To sing for them is a choir of three or four men, who sit down around their drum, anywhere convenient. There is no dance leader. The dancers wear a broadcloth blanket, lots of bead work, and tied to their hair-braid at the back a plaque studded with small mirrors and brass tacks, with ribbons pendent. Neither in connection with this dance nor at other times is there any … Read more
Grandfather or Father Sun, Earth (wadat’ina: wadat’, earth, ĭn’ă, mother), Fire (ibat’niko: ibat, grandfather, niko, fire), Lightning (ika adinin: ika, grandmother, adinin, lightning), Thunder (R. iGahabaGanswa, grandmother, noise maker, see p. 16), Winds, Cyclone, God, all are referred to by White Moon as supernatural beings, but so vaguely that in his mind, at least, they appear to have little religious import. Whereas to ghosts and to certain animals a more definite significance attaches. The relationship with the animals is the familiar one of supernatural helper, or, in White Moon’s phrase, partner – pi’DO’niwana’gu (R.), “two are partners with” e.g. bear … Read more
Stories were told at night, in winter (Pardon). The boys had to bathe in the creek early in the morning before the night of story telling. While listening to the story they had to sit straight. If the story was not told right it would turn cold. Caddo Creation Story The Caddo Tale of Lion Bridegroom Caddo Tales by Grasshopper The Clever Boy The Doctor Who Told His Secret The Wrestler Where The Witch Had His Power
White Moon knew little if anything of the tradition of tribal emergence from cave or underground which Caddo and other Southeasterners have in common with Southwesterners; but familiar to White Moon was the phrase, d’qki haiyano kin’aota, six human (peoples) out came a reference to the emergence from the earth of the traditional six tribal divisions of the Caddo. kwikiwawa dashkui nihaia where we used to live darkness when it was which is translated by Dorsey as “old-home-in-the-darkness” is perhaps another reference to the emergence or pre-emergence period. “They claim that it used to be dark all the time,” said … Read more
Between the northern division and the southern there appears evidence of dialectical distinction. Gaduda’atcu (R.), which is “the strongest language,” prevails in the north, although most of the Fort Cobb people also speak it. Similarly, although ha’ine (R.) is spoken in the north and one of the northern family localities is called naha’ine , the centre of ha’ine’ is in the south. Now and again a nacidu’c (R.) word or a ha’ic (R.) word will be used. Of other dialectical divisions,’ “perhaps two,”‘ White Moon had forgotten the names. The Caddo term for such divisions is kuosho’dacha, meaning lots of … Read more
In the war dance (R. GucuuwiGaocan, Gu, where, cuuwi, men, braves, Gaocan, dance), the men bunch around the drum and move dancing around the dance floor. They carry a tomahawk or a scalp on a stick, and wear the typical war bonnet of eagle feathers fastened to a strip of cloth. On the face is painted the characteristic mark of the dancer’s supernatural partner Coon, Fox, Lightning. (Fig. 4.) The women, wearing their buckskin dress, stand together, on the outside, moving slightly. If a feather falls out of the bonnet of a dancer or off the decorations of his person, … Read more
Exorcism By Fumigation This rite is performed, as we shall note, in Peyote ceremonial–when a participant returns to the ceremonial tipi after having had to leave it during the night, and, by all the participants at the close of the ceremony. Any one who would enter the room where a patient is being cured has first to be smoked. The property of the dead is smoked, at the grave, before it is given away, and the mourners themselves are smoked. Feathers plucked from a dead eagle have also to be smoked before they are given away. Eagle killers are smoked. … Read more
The nanisana or Ghost dance is held two or three times during summer or autumn, the first performance in June. Enoch Hoag, the chief, is today in charge. Before his death in 1917 Thomas Wister or Mr. Blue (Gen. I, 10White Moon’s father) who was Enoch Hoag’s younger brother, had been in charge, because, long before the land allotment, it was Mr. Blue who had put into order the dancing grounds (R. Guhayu’ Gudj’axGundj’anao’can: cu, where, hayu’, up, i.e. up creek, where there is a place to dance),–hoeing up the weeds for a dance place and erecting the circular arbor. … Read more
Before the night meetings everyone takes a bath in the creek “to wash away sins,” or a sweat bath. For sweat bath is made a dome-shaped frame of willows, over it a canvas wagon-cover. At the fire outside, the stones are heated, taken into the house and a little water poured over them to make steam. One man says a prayer while he beats the stones with white-leaf (?sage) brush. Ten to twelve men take the sweat bath at the same time. After the bath everybody goes into the tipi that has been put up for the ceremony, and sits … Read more
The spirit stays Six days before starting on its way. During these six days a fire must be kept up at the east end of the grave. Anybody in the family, man or woman, old or young, may keep up this fire. All the possessions of the deceased, clothes, etc. are kept by this fire, hung on a pole. At the close of the six days things which are unfit for further use are burned, other things are smoked, and may then be given away to friends or reltives. Members of the household of the deceased who have been staying … Read more
The Caddo Hand-game (kanidano’tsuisa, they are going to have a hand-game) may be played at any time, indoors. It is played by men and women, mixed, not sex against sex. A drummer and choir sit on the west side, likewise the score keeper, the two rows of players, north and south (Fig. 1). The score keeper hands the two little bones to the two players nearest him in the north row, a bone to each. The player opposite in the south row has to guess which hand the bone is in, the player with the bone keeping both hands in … Read more
When the Caddo hunt Eagles are shot, not snared. If you picked up the feather dropped by a live eagle, there would be a death in the family (Ingkanish). After shooting an eagle, or finding a dead eagle, you must notify your people, “otherwise something awful will happen to you; eagles have wonderful power.” Ritual must be performed, by any older man. Then the bird may be plucked, after which it is buried like a person. The eagle killer is bathed all over with warm water and tobacco, and smoked with cedar fumes. The eagle feathers may be given away … Read more