The Hocągara (Ho-Chungara) or Hocąks (Ho-Chunks) are a
Siouan-speaking
Native American Nation originally from
Wisconsin and northern
Illinois. Due to forced emigration in the 19th century, they now constitute two individual tribes; the
Ho-Chunk Nation of Wisconsin and the
Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska.
They are most closely related to the
Chiwere peoples (the
Ioway,
Oto, and
Missouria), and more distantly to the Dhegiha (
Quapaw,
Kansa,
Omaha
Omaha ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Douglas County. Omaha is in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's 39th-largest city ...
,
Ponca, and
Osage The Osage Nation, a Native American tribe in the United States, is the source of most other terms containing the word "osage".
Osage can also refer to:
* Osage language, a Dhaegin language traditionally spoken by the Osage Nation
* Osage (Unicode b ...
).
[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.]
Migration myth
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, the
Menominee. The Bear Clan is strongly associated with the ''kaǧi'', 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 great
Menominee (''Kaǧi'') chief commanded that all manner of supplies be assembled at a white sand beach on
Lake Michigan
Lake Michigan is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is the second-largest of the Great Lakes by volume () and the third-largest by surface area (), after Lake Superior and Lake Huron. To the east, its basin is conjoined with that o ...
. 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 of
raven
A raven is any of several larger-bodied bird species of the genus ''Corvus''. These species do not form a single taxonomic group within the genus. There is no consistent distinction between "crows" and "ravens", common names which are assigned t ...
s (''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.
[Walter Funmaker, The Winnebago Black Bear Subclan: a Defended Culture (Ph.D. Thesis, University of Minnesota: December, 1986 MnU-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"
.
Red Banks (Wisconsin) is the traditional homeland of the Hocąk Nation. It is situated on
Green Bay, which the Hocągara called ''Te-rok'', the "Within Lake". Lake Michigan as a whole was called ''Te-šišik'', "Bad Lake", which may well have led the Algonquian peoples round about Lake Winnebago to call them "the people of the Bad Waters", or ''Winnibégo'' in Menominee.
Trickster tales
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.
Red Horn
Red Horn (also known as 'He Who Wears (Human) Faces on His Ears') is found in the
oral traditions of the
Ioway, and
Hocągara (Winnebago) (whose ethnology was recorded by anthropologist
Paul Radin, 1908–1912). The Red Horn Cycle depicts his adventures with Turtle, the
thunderbird Storms-as-He-Walks (''Mą’e-manįga'') and others who contest a race of
giants, the ''Wąge-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 in
Mississippian
Mississippian may refer to:
* Mississippian (geology), a subperiod of the Carboniferous period in the geologic timescale, roughly 360 to 325 million years ago
*Mississippian culture, a culture of Native American mound-builders from 900 to 1500 AD ...
art, represented on a number of
Southeastern Ceremonial Complex (SECC) artifacts. Hall has shown that the mythic cycle of Red Horn and his sons has some interesting analogies with the
Hero Twins mythic cycle of
Mesoamerica.
[Robert L. Hall, "The Cultural Background of Mississippian Symbolism," in Patricia Galloway, ed., ''The Southeastern Ceremonial Complex: Artifacts and Analysis.'' The Cottonlandia Conference (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press) 239-278. ]
See also
*
Native American mythology
*
Ho-Chunk
The Ho-Chunk, also known as Hoocągra or Winnebago (referred to as ''Hotúŋe'' in the neighboring indigenous Iowa-Otoe language), are a Siouan-speaking Native American people whose historic territory includes parts of Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iow ...
*
Winnebago language
*
Winnebago War
*
Doty Island (Wisconsin)
*
Native American tribes in Nebraska
Notes and references
External links
Ho-Chunk Nation web siteThe Encyclopedia of Hotcâk (Winnebago) MythologyWinnebago Tribe of Nebraska
at the American Philosophical Library
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ho-Chunk Mythology
Ho-Chunk
Siouan mythology