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.
On this point Mallery says, speaking of the Lone-dog calendar, that it
"was not intended to be a continuous history, or even to record the most
important event of each year, but to exhibit some one of special
peculiarity.... It would indeed have been impossible to have graphically
distinguished the many battles, treaties, horse stealings, big hunts,
etc, so most of them were omitted and other events of greater
individuality and better adapted for portrayal were taken for the year
count, the criterion being not that they were of historic moment, but
that they were of general notoriety, or perhaps of special interest to
the recorders" (_Mallery, 1_).
A brief interpretation of the calendars here described was obtained from
the original owners in 1892. To this was added, in the winter of
1894-95, all that could be procured from T'ébodal, Gaápiatañ,
´dalpepte, Set-ĭmkía, and other prominent old men of the tribe,
together with Captain Scott's notes and the statements of pioneer
frontiersmen, and all available printed sources of information,
including the annual reports of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs for
more than sixty years. The Dohásän calendar is still in possession of
Captain Scott. The Sett'an and Anko calendars are now deposited in the
Bureau of American Ethnology.
METHOD OF FIXING DATES
A few examples will show how the Kiowa keep track of their tribal and
family affairs by means of these calendars. Sett'an was born in
"cut-throat summer" (1833), and his earliest recollection is of the
"head-dragging winter" (1837-38). Set-ĭmkía, better known as
Stumbling-bear, was about a year old in "cut-throat summer" (1833). He
was married in "dusty medicine dance" summer (1851). His daughter
Virginia was born in the summer of "No-arm's river medicine dance"
(1863), and her husband was born a little earlier, in "tree-top winter"
(1862-63). Gruñsádalte, commonly known as Cat, was born in the "winter
that Buffalo-tail was killed" (1835-36); his son Angópte was born in
"muddy traveling winter" (1864-65), and his younger son Másép was born
in "bugle scare winter" (1869-70). Paul Setk'opte first saw light among
the Cheyenne the winter after the "showery medicine dance" (1853), and
joined the Kiowa in the autumn after the "smallpox medicine dance"
(1862).
SCOPE OF THE MEMOIR
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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