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Updated: May 21, 2025
A number of the societies which made up the I-kun-uh'-kah-tsi have been abandoned in recent years, but several of them still exist. Among the Pi-kun'-i, the list so far as I have it is as follows, the societies being named in order from those of boyhood to old age: E'-mi-taks, Dogs, old men. Dogs and Tails are different societies, Is'-sui, Tails, but they dress alike and dance together and alike.
An example of this peculiarity is seen in the case of the young man who visited the lodge of the starving family, in the story entitled Origin of the I-kun-uh'-kah-tsi. Ghosts sometimes speak to people. An instance of this is the following, which occurred to my friend Young Bear Chief, and which he related to me. He said: "I once went to war, and took my wife with me.
When he had finished singing and dancing, he gave the stick to the man, and said: "Take it with you, and when you have returned to your people, you shall say: Now there are already the Bulls, and he who is the Raven chief says: 'There shall be more, there shall be the I-kun-uh'-kah-tsi, so that the people may survive, and of them shall be the Raven carriers. You will call a council of the chiefs and wise old men, and they will choose the persons.
Then came the medicine men, with their medicine pipes unwrapped; then the bands of the I-kun-uh'-kah-tsi, all dressed in war costume; then came the old men; and last the women and children. They all sang the war song and danced. They went all through the village in single file, stopping here and there to dance, and Mik-a'pi sat outside the lodge, and saw all the people dance by him.
If a man left camp to hunt buffalo by himself, thereby driving away the game, the All Comrades were sent after him, and not only brought him back by main force, but often whipped him, tore his lodge to shreds, broke his travois, and often took away his store of dried meat, pemmican, and other food. The tradition of the origin of the I-kun-uh'-kah-tsi has elsewhere been given.
People who belonged to the Sin'-o-pah band of the I-kun-uh'-kah-tsi, if they were at war in summer and wanted a storm to come up, would take some dirt and water and rub it on the kit-fox skin, and this would cause a rain-storm to come up. In winter, snow and dirt would be rubbed on the skin and this would bring up a snow-storm.
Then the chiefs chose certain young men, and this man taught them the dance and song of the bulls, and told them what the medicine should be. This was the beginning of the I-kun-uh'-kah-tsi. For a long time the buffalo had not been seen. The pis'kun was useless, and the hunters could find no food for the people.
Then the chief sang and danced, and afterwards he gave the Wolf's friend the medicine. It was a long knife, and many scalps were tied on the handle. "This," he said, "is for the I-kun-uh'-kah-tsi." Once more they were called to a feast and entered the Badger chief's lodge. He taught the man the Badger song and dance and gave him the medicine.
Those who were light-headed, or foolish, or obstinate and stubborn were sometimes badly beaten. Those who were unfaithful to their husbands usually had their noses or ears, or both, cut off for the first offence, and were killed either by the husband or some relation, or by the I-kun-uh'-kah-tsi for the second. Many of the doctors of the highest reputation in the tribe were women.
The lodges of the chiefs of the I-kun-uh'-kah-tsi which were within the circle served as lounging and eating places for such members of the bands as were on duty, and were council lodges or places for idling, as the occasion demanded. When the camp moved, the Blood gens moved first and was followed by the White Breast gens, and so on around the circle to number 24.
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