While we know our northern friends may not feel it, in the South, Spring is
here. So we thought we'd share a few of our gardening sites appropriate
for this time of the year. Along with gardening, there's grilling, and getting
ready to diet so that you can fit back into that bathing suit this summer!
Bidai (Caddo for 'brushwood,' probably referring to the peculiar growth
characteristic of the region ) . An extinct tribe, supposed to have belonged to
the Caddoan stock, whose villages were scattered over a wide territory, but
principally about Trinity river , Texas, while some were as far north as the
Neches or beyond. A creek empting into Trinity river between Walker and Madison
Counties, Tex., bears the name of the tribe, as did also, according to La Harpe,
a small bay on the coast north of Matagorda bay. A number of geographic names
derived from this tribe survive in the region. The tribal tradition of the Bidai
is that they were the oldest inhabitants of the country where they dwelt. This
belief may have strengthened tribal pride, for although the Bidai were
surrounded by tribes belonging to the Caddo confederacy, the people long kept
their independence. They were neighbors of the Arkokisa, who lived on lower
Trinity river and may have been their allies, for according to LaHarpe (1721)
they were on friendly terms with that tribe while they were at war with the
people dwelling on Matagorda bay, During the latter part of the 18th century the
Bidai were reported to be the chief intermediaries between the French and the
Apache in the trade in firearms; later they suffered from the political
disturbances incident to the controversy between the Spaniards and the French,
as well as from intertribal wars and the introduction of new diseases. As a
result remnants of different villages combined, and the olden tribal
organization was broken. up. Little is known of their customs and beliefs, which
were probably similar to those of the surrounding tribes of the Caddo
confederacy. They lived in fixed habitations, cultivated the soil, hunted the
buffalo, which ranged through their territory, and were said by Sibley in 1805
to have had "an excellent character for honesty and punctuality." At that time
they numbered about 100, but in 1776-7 an epidemic carried off nearly half their
number. About the middle of the 19th century a remnant of the Bidai were living
in a small village 12 miles. from Montgomery, Tex., cultivating maize, serving
as cotton pickers, and bearing faithful allegiance to the Texans. The women were
still skilled in basketry of "curious designs and great variety." The few
survivors were probably incorporated by the Caddo.
