In the story that follows, the Bear Clan assumes the foundation role for the whole nation, and when they land they find the nation's friendship tribe, theMenominee. The Bear Clan is strongly associated with thekaǧi, a term that denotes the raven and northern crow. It is also the name by which the Hocągara know the Menominee.
On account of his vision, a greatMenominee (Kaǧi) chief commanded that all manner of supplies be assembled at a white sand beach onLake Michigan. And when all this had been done and set in order, as the sun reached its zenith the vision came to life: in the pure blue sky of the eastern horizon a single dark cloud began to form and move irresistibly towards them. It was a great flock ofravens (kaǧi), spirit birds with rainbow plumage of iridescent colors. The instant that the first of these landed, he materialized into a naked, kneeling man. The Menominee chief said to his people, "Give this man clothing, for he is a chief." And the others landed in like fashion, and were given great hospitality. They were the Hocąk nation, and that is how they came to Red Banks.[3]
Red Banks (Wisconsin) is the traditional homeland of the Hocąk Nation. It is situated onGreen Bay, which the Hocągara calledTe-rok, the "Within Lake".[4] Lake Michigan as a whole was calledTe-šišik, "Bad Lake",[5] which may well have led the Algonquian peoples round about Lake Winnebago to call them "the people of the Bad Waters", orWinnibégo in Menominee.
Trickster tales played a major role in the Winnebago tribe. These stories were passed down orally and depicted humorous lessons through animals, nature and trickery. For example, "The Trickster and Talking Bulb" tells the story of "The Old Man", who disregards the warnings of a bulb and, in turn, gets punished for his defiance. The trickster later learns to respect nature and not go against it.[6]
Red Horn (also known as 'He Who Wears (Human) Faces on His Ears'[7]) is found in theoral traditions of theIowa,[8] and Ho-Chunk (whose ethnology was recorded by anthropologistPaul Radin, 1908–1912).[9] The Red Horn Cycle depicts his adventures with Turtle, thethunderbird Storms-as-He-Walks (Mą’e-manįga) and others who contest a race ofgiants, theWąge-rucge or "Man-Eaters", who have been killing human beings whom Red Horn has pledged to help. Red Horn eventually took a red haired giant woman as a wife. Archaeologists have speculated that Red Horn is a mythic figure inMississippian art, represented on a number ofSoutheastern Ceremonial Complex (SECC) artifacts.[10] Hall has shown that the mythic cycle of Red Horn and his sons has some interesting analogies with theHero Twins mythic cycle ofMesoamerica.[11]
^James W. Springer and Stanley R. Witkowski, "Siouan Historical Linguistics and Oneota Archaeology," in Oneota Studies, ed. Guy E. Gibbon, University of Minnesota Publications in Anthropology, 1 (1982) 69-83. The separation of Winnebago from Chiwere is calculated to 1500 AD, and this separation of this branch from Dhegiha was put at 1000 AD.
^Walter Funmaker, The Winnebago Black Bear Subclan: a Defended Culture (Ph.D. Thesis, University of Minnesota: December, 1986MnU-D 86-361) 6-7. Informant: One Who Wins of the Winnebago Bear Clan. This telling of the story reproduced by consent of the author, Richard Dieterle, 10/8/08. For this story in context, see Richard Dieterle,"Hotcâk Arrival Myth"Archived 2008-10-30 at theWayback Machine.
^Untitled Clan Myths (Hotcâk-English Interlinear) in Paul Radin, Winnebago Notes, Winnebago V, #8, Freeman #3881 (Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 1908) 23-28. "Deer Clan Origin Myth," in Paul Radin, Winnebago Notebooks, Winnebago III, #19a, Freeman number 3899 (Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society) 1-13.
^Thomas J. George, Winnebago Vocabulary, 4989 Winnebago (Washington: Smithsonian Institution, National Anthropological Archives, 1885)s.v. Informants: Big Bear of Friendship, Wisconsin, and Big Thunder. Norton William Jipson, Story of the Winnebagoes (Chicago: The Chicago Historical Society, 1923)s.v.
^Paul Radin,Winnebago Hero Cycles: A Study in Aboriginal Literature (Baltimore: Waverly Press, 1948) 124. John Harrison, The Giant or The Morning Star, translated by Oliver LaMere, in Paul Radin, Notebooks, Winnebago III, #11a, Freeman Number 3892 (Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society) Story 8, pp. 92-117 [112-114], where he is calledWągíšjahorùšika,Archived 2008-10-05 at theWayback Machine "Wears Man Faces on His Ears". Paul Radin, "Intcohorúcika," Winnebago Notebooks (Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society Library) #14, pp. 1-67 [65-67]. Thomas Foster,Foster's Indian Record and Historical Data (Washington, D. C.: 1876-1877) vol. 1, #3: p. 3 col. 1. Told by Little Decorah, a member of the Thunderbird Clan. Kathleen Danker and Felix White Sr.,The Hollow of Echoes (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1978) 24-25. Informant: Felix White Sr. W. C. McKern, "A Winnebago Myth,"Yearbook, Public Museum of the City of Milwaukee, 9 (1929): 215-230.
^"6.Wąkx!istowi, the Man with the Human Head Earrings," Alanson Skinner, "Traditions of the Iowa Indians,"The Journal of American Folklore, vol. 38, #150 (Oct.-Dec., 1925): 427-506 [457-458]. He also appears in a Twins myth, where his is calledWankistogre, "Man-in-the-Earring". Robert Small (Otoe, Wolf Clan) and Julia Small (Otoe), "Dore and Wahredua," in Alanson Skinner, "Traditions of the Iowa Indians,"The Journal of American Folklore, vol. 38, #150 (Oct.-Dec., 1925): 427-506 [440-441].
^For the ethnology of the Hocągara, see Paul Radin, The Winnebago Tribe (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1990 [1923]).
^F. Kent Reilly III, "The Petaloid Motif: A Celestial Symbolic Locative in the Shell Art of Spiro," inF. Kent Reilly; James Garber, eds. (2004).Ancient Objects and Sacred Realms.University of Texas Press. pp. 39–55.ISBN978-0-292-71347-5. In the same volume, it is argued that the Mississippian "Birdman" is also Red Horn. See James A. Brown, "On the Identity of the Birdman within Mississippian Period Art and Iconography", 56-106.
