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Cheyenne Indian Customs
Under their old system, before the division of the tribe, they had a
council of 44 elective chiefs, of whom 4 constituted a higher body,
with power to elect one of their own number as head chief of the
tribe. In all councils that concerned the relations of the Cheyenne
with other tribes, one member of the council was appointed to argue as
the proxy or "devil's advocate" for the alien people. This council of
44 is still symbolized by a bundle of 44 invitation sticks, kept with
the sacred medicine-arrows, and formerly sent around when occasion
arose to convene the assembly.
This set of 4 medicine-arrows, each of different color,
constitutes the tribal palladium which they claim to have had from the
beginning of the world, and is exposed with appropriate rites once a
year if previously "pledged," and on those rare occasions when a
Cheyenne has been killed by one of his own tribe, the purpose of the
ceremony being to wipe away from the murderer the stain of a brother's
blood. The rite did not die with the final separation of the two
sections of the tribe in 1851, as has been stated, but the bundle is
still religiously reserved by the Southern Cheyenne, by whom the
public ceremony was performed as late as 1904. Besides the public
tribal ceremony there is also a rite spoken of as "fixing" the arrows,
at shorter intervals, which concerns the arrow priests alone. The
public ceremony is always attended by delegates from the northern
body. No woman, white man, or even mixed blood of the tribe has ever
been allowed to come near the sacred arrows.
Their great tribal ceremony for generations has been
the Sun dance (q. v.), which they themselves say came to them from the
Sutaio, after emerging from the timber region into the open plains. So
far as known, this ceremony belongs exclusively to the tribes of the
plains or to those in close contact with them. The Buffalo head
ceremony, which was formerly connected with the Sun dance but has been
obsolete for many years, also came from the Sutaio. The modern
Ghost-dance religion (q. v.) was enthusiastically taken up by the
tribe at its first appearance, about 1890, and the Peyote rite (q. v.)
is now becoming popular with the younger men. They also had until
lately a Fire dance, something like that credited to the Navaho, in
which the initiated performers danced over a fire of blazing coals
until they extinguished it with their bare feet. In priestly dignity
the keepers of the Medicine-arrow (Cheyenne) and Sun dance (Sutaio)
rites stood first and equal.
At the Sun dance, and on other occasions where the
whole tribe was assembled, they formed their camp circle in 11 (?)
sections, occupied by as many recognized tribal divisions. As one of
these was really an incorporated tribe, and several others have
originated by segregation within the memory of old men still living
(1905), the ancient number did not exceed 7. One authority claims
these divisions as true clans, but the testimony is not conclusive.
The wandering habit each band commonly apart from the others, with
only one regular tribal reunion in the year, would make it almost
impossible to keep up an exogamic system. While it is quite probable
that the Cheyenne may have had the clan system in ancient times while
still a sedentary people, it is almost as certain that it disappeared
so long ago as to be no longer even a memory. The present divisions
seem to have had an entirely different genesis, and may represent
original village settlements in their old homes, a surmise rendered
more probable by survivals of marked dialectic differences. As it is
now some 70 years since the whole tribe camped together, the social
structure having become further demoralized in the meantime by
cholera, wars, and intermixture with the Sioux, the exact number and
order of these divisions is a matter of dispute, even among their own
old men, although all agree on the principal names.
The list given below, although subject to correction,
is based on the best consensus of opinion of the southern chiefs in
1904 as to the names and order of the divisions in the circle, from
the east entrance around by south, west, and north to the starting
point. The name forms vary considerably as given by different
individuals, probably in accordance with former dialectic differences.
It is evident that in some instances the divisions are older than
their existing names:
(1) Hevǐqs'-nǐ''pahǐs (sing., Hevǐqs'-nǐ'pa), 'aortas closed, by
burning.' All authorities agree that this was an important division
and came first in the circle. The name is said to have originated from
several of the 'band in an emergency, having once made the aorta of a
buffalo do duty as a pipe. Grinnell gives this story, and also an
alternative one, which renders it 'small windpipes,' from a choking
sickness sent as a punishment for offending a medicine beaver. The
name, however, in its etymology, indicates something closed or
shriveled by burning, although it is also true that the band has a
beaver tabu. The name is sometimes contracted to Hevǐ'gsin, for which
Wee hee skeu of Lewis and Clark's Journals (Clark,
1804, ibid., i, 190, 1904) seems to be a bad misprint.
(2) Móǐséyu (sing., Móǐs), `flint people,' from móǐso `flint',
apparently having reference to an arrowpoint (Petter), possibly to the
sacred medicine-arrows. Formerly a large division said to have been
the nucleus of the Cheyenne tribe, and hence the Dzǐ'tsǐǐstäs
proper. The Arrowmen of G. A. Dorsey. Now nearly extinct.
(3) Wŭ'tapǐu (sing., Wfŭ'tap), a Sioux word (wótap) meaning 'eaters,'
or 'eat'. A small division, perhaps of Sioux admixture (cf.
0`-mǐ'sǐs). Some authorities claim this division as an offshoot from
the Hévhaitä'nio.
(4) Hévhaitä'nio (sing., Hévhaitän), 'hair men,' i. e. 'fur men'; so
called because in early days they ranged farthest to the southwest,
remote from the traders on the Missouri, and continued to wear fur
robes for every-day use after the other bands had adopted strouding
and calicoes. A probable explanation, advanced by Grinnell, is that
the name refers to ropes which they twisted from the long hair of the
buffalo for use in capturing ponies from the tribes farther s. They
formed the advance of the emigration to the Arkansas about 1835, hence
the name is frequently used as synonymous with Southern Cheyenne.
(5) Oǐ'vimána ( sing., Oǐ'vimán ), 'scabby people'; oǐ'vǐ 'scabby,'
mana 'band,' `people' (Petter); according to another authority, 'hive
people.' An offshoot of the Hévhaitä'nio (no. 4). The name originated
about 1840, when a band of the Hévhaitä'nio, under a chief known as
Blue Horse, became infected from having used a mangy buffalo hide for
a saddle blanket. They became later an important division. According
to Grinnell (Social Organization, 1905) the name is also applied as a
nickname to a part of the Northern Cheyenne on lower Tongue river,
"because, it is said, Badger, a principal man among them, had a skin
disease."
(6) Hǐsíometä'nio (sing., Hǐsǐometä'n), 'ridge men,' referring to the
ridge or long slope of a hill. Another offshoot from the Hévhaitä'nio.
The name is said to have originated from their preference for camping
upon ridges, but more probably from having formerly ranged chiefly
north of the upper Arkansas, in that portion of Colorado known to the
Cheyenne as the "ridge country," or, according to another authority,
from habitually ranging upon the Staked plain, in association with the
Comanche. They were said to have originated from some Hévhaitä'nio who
intermarried with the Sutaio before the regular incorporation of that
tribe.
(7) (?) Sŭtáio (sing., Sŭ'tai), meaning unknown. Formerly a distinct
tribe, but incorporated. According to their own statement the people
of this division occupied the west of the Cheyenne circle, but others
put them south, northwest, or north, the discrepancy probably arising
from the fact that they had originally no place in the circle at all
and were not admitted until the old system had fallen into decay. The
west side of the Cheyenne circle, as of the interior of the tipi,
being the place of honor, they would naturally claim it for
themselves, although it is extremely unlikely that the Cheyenne would
grant it. Their true position seems to have been in the northwest part
of the circle.
(8) Ogt6gund (sing., Ogtógŭnă), 'bare shins' (?).
(9) Hó'nowă (sing., Hó'nów), 'poor people.' A small division, an
offshoot from the Ogtuguna.
(10) Măsǐ'‛kotă (sing., Măsǐ'‛kot), of doubtful meaning, interpreted
by Grinnell as 'corpse from a scaffold,' or possibly 'ghost head,' i.
e. gray hair, but more probably (Mooney) from a root denoting
'wrinkled' or 'drawn up,' as applied to old tipi skins or old buckskin
dresses; from this root comes masiskot, 'cricket' referring to the
doubling up of the legs'; the same idea of 'skin drawn up' may
underlie the interpretation 'corpse from a scaffold.' For some reason,
apparently between 70 and 80 years ago, all the men of this division
joined in a body the Hotámitä'nio warrior society, so that the two
names became practically synonymous until the society name supplanted
the division name, which is now obsolete, the Hotámitä'nio, with their
families, being considered owners of that part of the circle
originally occupied by the Măsǐ'‛kotă, viz, next to the last section,
adjoining the O'mǐ'sǐs (no. 11), who camped immediately north of the
entrance.
(11) O'mǐ'sǐs (sing., O'mǐ'sǐsts),'eaters'; the meaning of the name is
plain, but its origin is disputed, some authorities claiming it as the
name of an early chief of the division. Cf. Wŭ'tapíu, no. 3. This was
the largest and most important division in the tribe and now
constitutes the majority of the Northern Cheyenne, for which portion
the name is therefore frequently used as a synonym. Before the tribe
was divided they occupied that portion of the tribal circle
immediately north of the east entrance, thus completing the circle.
After the separation their next neighbors in the circle, the Măsǐ'‛kotă,
alias Hotámitä'nio, were considered as the last division in order.
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Additional Cheyenne Indian Resources
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Handbook
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Index of Tribes or Nations
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