Calendar history of the Kiowa Indians. (1898 N 17 / 1895-1896 (pages 129-444)) — John Shaqi
Calendar history of the Kiowa Indians. (1898 N 17 / 1895-1896 (pages 129-444))Mooney, James
History
Calendar history of the Kiowa Indians. (1898 N 17 / 1895-1896 (pages 129-444))
Mooney, James
Kiowa Indians; Kiowa language -- Glossaries, vocabularies, etc.
From the evidence it is probable that the first calendar within the
present knowledge of the Kiowa was kept by the old chief Doha´sän, whose
hereditary tipi occupied the first place in the camp circle of the
tribe, and in whose family certain priestly functions in connection with
the medicine dance descended in regular succession. After his death in
1866 it was continued and brought down to date by his nephew and
namesake, whose last revision is now in possession of Captain Scott.
The Sett'an calendar is an inspiration, but not a copy, from the Dohásän
calendar, of which it is almost an exact duplicate, but with the
addition of one or two pictographs, together with greater skill and
detail in execution. Sett'an stated that he had been fourteen years
drawing it; i. e., that he had begun work on it fourteen years before,
noting the events of the first six years from the statements of older
men, and the rest from his own recollection. He knew of the Dohásän
calendar, although he claimed never to have seen it, but from internal
evidence and from the man's general reputation for untruthfulness it is
probable that he had seen it sufficiently often to be able to reproduce
it from memory.
This will be understood when it is explained that it is customary for
the owners of such Indian heirlooms to bring them out at frequent
intervals during the long nights in the winter camp, to be exhibited and
discussed in the circle of warriors about the tipi fire. The signal for
such a gathering takes the form of an invitation to the others to "come
and smoke," shouted in a loud voice through the camp by the leader of
the assemblage while standing in front of his tipi, or even without
passing outside, his voice easily being heard through the thin walls and
the smoke-hole of the lodge. At these gatherings the pipe is filled and
passed around, and each man in turn recites some mythic or historic
tradition, or some noted deed on the warpath, which is then discussed by
the circle. Thus the history of the tribe is formulated and handed down.
Sett'an, "Little-bear," who is a cousin of the old war-chief, in whose
family the author makes his home when with the tribe, voluntarily
brought in and presented the calendar without demanding any payment in
return, saying that he had kept it for a long time, but that he was now
old and the young men were forgetting their history, and he wanted it
taken to Washington and preserved there with the other things collected
from the tribe, that the white people might always remember what the
Kiowa had done.
THE ANKO MONTHLY CALENDAR
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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