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.
The original monthly calendar of Anko (abbreviated from
_Ankopaá-iñgyadéte_, "In-the middle-of-many-tracks") was drawn in black
pencil in a continuous spiral, covering two pages of the notebook in
which his yearly calendar was recorded, and was redrawn by him in
colored inks, under the inspection of the author, on the same buckskin
on which the other was reproduced. It begins in the lower left-hand
corner. Each moon or month is represented by a crescent, above which is
a pictograph to indicate the event, or the name of the moon, and
sometimes also straight tally marks to show on what day of the month the
event occurred or the picture was drawn. So far this is the only monthly
calendar discovered among North American tribes, but since the original
was obtained, Anko has made another copy for his own use and continued
it up to date. His young wife being far advanced in consumption, he
spends most of his time at home with her, which accounts in a measure
for his studious habit. On the later calendar he has noted with anxious
care every hemorrhage or other serious incident in her illness and every
occasion when he has had ceremonial prayers made for her recovery.
COMPARATIVE IMPORTANCE OF EVENTS RECORDED
An examination of the calendars affords a good idea of the comparative
importance attached by the Indian and by the white man to the same
event. From the white man's point of view many of the things recorded in
these aboriginal histories would seem to be of the most trivial
consequence, while many events which we regard as marking eras in the
history of the plains tribes are entirely omitted. Thus there is nothing
recorded of the Custer campaign of 1868, which resulted in the battle of
the Washita and compelled the southern tribes for the first time to go
on a reservation, while the outbreak of 1874, which terminated in their
final subjugation, is barely noticed. On the other hand, we find noted
such incidents as the stealing of a horse or the elopement of a woman.
The records resemble rather the personal reminiscences of a garrulous
old man than the history of a nation. They are the history of a people
limited in their range of ideas and interests, such materials as make up
the chronicles of the highland clans of Scotland or the annals of a
medieval barony.
It must be remembered, however, that an Indian tribe is simply a large
family, all the members being interrelated; this is particularly true of
the Kiowa, who number only about 1,100. An event which concerns one
becomes a matter of gossip and general knowledge in all the camps and is
thus exalted into a subject of tribal importance. Moreover, an event, if
it be of common note in the tribe, may be recorded rather for its value
as a tally date than for its intrinsic importance.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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