The Hocąk Arrival Myth

by One Who Wins

retold by Richard L. Dieterle

On account of his vision, a great Menominee chief commanded that all manner of supplies be assembled at a white sand beach on Lake 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 of ravens — not at all ordinary blackbirds — but 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.¹

Commentary. This story probably originated within the Bear Clan. In version 3 of the Bear Clan Origin Myth, the founders of the clan changed into ravens (crows) as they were crossing the waters. When they arrived on land, they changed back into bears. Because they changed twice, they were held to have greater power.² It may also be of interest that a raven is included as one of the items of the Thunderbird Warbundle.³ The first man to land and to be recognized as chief would be expected to be a member of the Thunderbird Clan, as the chief is always drawn from that clan. When the Hocągara wish to sue for peace the chief will strip completely naked, paint himself blue, and run to the enemy village where they may accept peace at his hands or burn him alive, as they see fit. The chief arriving before the Menominee without clothes may make allusion to the accepted ritual for seeking peace.

The Hocąk word for "raven, crow" is kaǧi. They also call the Menominee Kaǧi.⁴ So the Hocągara came to Red Banks as one with the Menominee. Some Hocąk mythology is characterized by role reversals: the Hocągara attributing to other tribes what they uniquely do themselves. In this case, the fact of the matter is that the Menominee moved west from land on the other side of Lake Michigan and were accepted with hospitality by the Hocągara.

Comparative Material. The Fox have a story about the origin of the Sauk nation that is parallel and at the same time inverse in some respects. "The People of the Red Earth [the Fox] dwelt a long time by the sea. Old men used to congregate at the shore, where they could sit and look out over the sea. On one of these occasions they beheld an object coming from afar, and making straight for the shore where they were. They watched, and saw that it was a huge fish. For a while its head reared above the water; and when it ducked beneath, up came the tail a-switching. Thus it came, first the head out of the water, and then the tail. When the fish drew nigh, the people saw that its head was like the head of a man, and they were astonished. They watched it come to the shore, and when it arrived in water too shallow for swimming, it rose; and every part that lifted out of water became the same as a man. The tail was the last to change; it became legs and feet after leaving the water behind. Behind the strange being came a great school of other fishes, and the same thing happened to them. They changed from fishes into people. They went up from the water and followed their leader. He was bigger and taller than all the rest. He was their chief. He led them off to a place close by the town. Everything they saw they copied. Everything they saw the Foxes do, they went and did the same. The Foxes asked them who they were, why they left the sea, what manner of life they had while there. But the new folk were unable to tell. All they knew was, that they had lived in the sea, that one day they followed their chief inshore, and became transformed into people when they quit the water. Nothing more could they tell. Thereupon, because they knew nought of themselves while in the sea, the Foxes named them Osagiwagi, which is 'people who come out into the open.' They gave the name as a symbol to show that they came out of one manner of life and entered into another which they knew nothing of before. It was a sign that they came out to become a race of people."⁵ The friendship people of the Sauk are the Fox, and the Sauk come not as ravens flying over water, but as fish emerging from it.

Links: Kaǧi, Bird Spirits, The Redhorn Panel of Picture Cave. An American Star Map.

Stories: about first contacts: First Contact (French/Hocąk), The Cosmic Ages of the Hocągara (French/Hocąk).; about the origins of the Hocąk nation: The Green Waterspirit of the Wisconsin Dells, The Hocąk Migration Myth, The Creation Council, Great Walker's Warpath, The Annihilation of the Hocągara I, First Contact, The Beginning of the Winnebago; about the relationship between the Menominee and the Hocągara: Origin of the Name "Winnebago" (Menominee), Bear Clan Origin Myth (v. 2b) (Origins of the Menominee); mentioning the Menominee: Origin of the Name "Winnebago" (Menominee), Bear Clan Origin Myth (v. 2b) (Origins of the Menominee), The Fox-Hocąk War, First Contact, The Magical Powers of Lincoln's Grandfather, The Annihilation of the Hocągara I (v. 2), Annihilation of the Hocągara II, Two Roads to Spiritland, A Menominee Visit, The Two Children, A Waterspirit Blesses Mąnį́xete’ų́ga, Gatschet's Hocank hit’e (Extracts ...), Introduction; about the migration of the Hocągara: The Green Waterspirit of the Wisconsin Dells, The Hocąk Migration Myth, The Hocągara Migrate South, The First Sauk and Fox War, The Spanish Fight, Quapah Origins, cf. Hocąk Clans Origin Myth; mentioning kaǧi (crows & ravens): Kaǧiga and Lone Man, Bear Clan Origin Myth (vv. 2, 3), The Hocąk Arrival Myth, The Spider's Eyes, The Old Man and the Giants, Turtle's Warparty, The Shaggy Man, Trickster's Tail, The Healing Blessing, The Medicine Rite Foundation Myth, Spear Shaft and Lacrosse, The Stench-Earth Medicine Origin Myth, A Snake Song Origin Myth; about Bird Spirits: Crane and His Brothers, The King Bird, Bird Origin Myth, Bird Clan Origin Myth, Wears White Feather on His Head, Old Man and Wears White Feather, The Boy who was Captured by the Bad Thunderbirds, The Thunderbird, Owl Goes Hunting, The Boy Who Became a Robin, Partridge's Older Brother, The Woman who Loved Her Half-Brother, The Foolish Hunter, Ocean Duck, Earthmaker Sends Rušewe to the Twins, The Quail Hunter, Baldheaded Warclub Origin Myth, Trickster Gets Pregnant, Trickster and the Geese, Holy One and His Brother (kaǧi, woodpeckers, hawks), Porcupine and His Brothers (Ocean Sucker), Turtle's Warparty (Thunderbirds, eagles, kaǧi, pelicans, sparrows), Kaǧiga and Lone Man (kaǧi), The Old Man and the Giants (kaǧi, bluebirds), The Bungling Host (snipe, woodpecker), The Red Feather, Trickster, the Wolf, the Turtle, and the Meadow Lark, Waruǧábᵉra, The Race for the Chief's Daughter, Black and White Moons, The Markings on the Moon, The Creation Council, Eats the Stinking Part of the Deer Ankle, Earthmaker Blesses Wagíšega (Wešgíšega), The Man Who Would Dream of Mą’ųna (chicken hawk), Hare Acquires His Arrows, Keramaniš’aka's Blessing (black hawk, owl), Heną́ga and Star Girl (black hawk), The Stench-Earth Medicine Origin Myth (black hawk, kaǧi), Worúxega (eagle), The Arrows of the Medicine Rite Men (eagle), The Gift of Shooting (eagle), Hocąk Clans Origin Myth, Hawk Clan Origin Myth, The Hocąk Migration Myth, Blue Jay, The Baldness of the Buzzard, The Abduction and Rescue of Trickster (buzzards), The Shaggy Man (kaǧi), The Healing Blessing (kaǧi), The Medicine Rite Foundation Myth (kaǧi), Spear Shaft and Lacrosse, Įcorúšika and His Brothers (Loon), Great Walker's Medicine (loon), Roaster (woodsplitter), The Spirit of Gambling, The Big Stone (a partridge), Trickster's Anus Guards the Ducks, The Story of the Medicine Rite (loons, cranes, turkeys), The Fleetfooted Man, The Journey to Spiritland (v. 4) — see also Thunderbirds; set at Red Banks (Mógašúc): The Creation Council, Annihilation of the Hocągara II, The Great Lodge, Thunderbird Clan Origin Myth (vv. 1, 2, 3, 5), Bear Clan Origin Myth (vv. 2a, 3, 8, 11, 12), The Winnebago Fort, The Beginning of the Winnebago, Blue Bear, Waterspirit Clan Origin Myth, The Creation of Man (v. 10), Hawk Clan Origin Myth, Pigeon Clan Origins (fr. 1), Eagle Clan Origin Myth, Elk Clan Origin Myth (v. 1), Deer Clan Origin Myth (v. 1), Buffalo Clan Origin Myth, Blessing of the Yellow Snake Chief, Šųgepaga, Gatschet's Hocank hit’e ("St. Peet," "Hocąk Origins"), The Shell Anklets Origin Myth (v. 1), The Seven Maidens, First Contact, Big Thunder Teaches Cap’ósgaga the Warpath; set at Lake Michigan (Te Šišik): Buffalo Clan Origin Myth, The Annihilation of the Hocągara I (v. 3), Origin of the Name "Milwaukee," Gatschet's Hocank hit’e ("Hocąk Origins").

Themes: the Hocąk nation arrives from another (warmer) place: The Green Waterspirit of Wisconsin Dells; The Hocąk Migration Myth; the Hocągara arrive in the Wazija by crossing a great body of water: The Hocąk Migration Myth, The Hocągara Migrate South; Proto-Hocągara arrive at Red Banks in the form of ravens: Bear Clan Origin Myth (v. 3); people turn into birds: Waruǧábᵉra (owl, Thunderbird), Worúxega (eagle), The Thunderbird (black hawk, hummingbird), The Dipper (black hawk, hummingbird), Keramaniš’aka's Blessing (black hawk, owl), Heną́ga and Star Girl (black hawk), The Annihilation of the Hocągara I (turkey), The Quail Hunter (partridge), The Markings on the Moon (auk, curlew), The Fox-Hocąk War (goose), The Fleetfooted Man (water fowl?), The Boy Who Became a Robin (robin).

Notes

¹ 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.

² Paul Radin, The Winnebago Tribe (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1990 [1923]) 181-182.

³ Paul Radin, "Winnebago Tales," Journal of American Folklore, 22 (1909): 288.

⁴ Mary Carolyn Marino, A Dictionary of Winnebago: An Analysis and Reference Grammar of the Radin Lexical File (Ph.D. Thesis, University of California, Berkeley, December 14, 1968 [69-14,947]) p. 279, sv. kaǧi.

⁵ Fred McTaggart, Wolf That I Am: In Search of the Red Earth People (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1976) 177-178.