7. The Bektashi in the District of Strumica (Macedonia) Author(s): Milenko S. Filipovi Source: Man, Vol. 54 (Jan., 1954), pp.

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of of closedwithillustrations threeclasses defixiones, Thelecturer were quoted those usedin sport,love and litigation.Examples of of equivalent nobbling from Rome and Carthage the ancient was made to the use of reference the favourite,and particular and witnesses even lawyersin the law court. magicin silencing belonged the leaden To this latter class of legal defixionies curse tablet in the Greek Museum of Reading Universitv Review, Vol. XLIV, I95 I, in (published HarvardTheological pp. 25-34)The discussionwas opened by ProfessorRaymond Firth, who of Institute, F.B.A., President the Royal Anthropological his of and an Frazer, reputation his presented evaluation SirJames as to-day. He limitations, viewed by the social anthropologist on Cormack havingreada paperin the Professor congratulated spirit of Frazer.H.E. Madame Stibandriodealt brieflywith in as blackandwhite magicandwith sorceryr practised her own was The disctussion continued Dr. E. 13. by country,Indonesia. Magic Stra uss; Dr. E. J. Dingwall, HonoraryVice-President, Dr. Mr. Fordham; G. C. R. Morris; Dickson Circle;Dr. Michael Wright; Dr. Harold Avery; ProfessorV. GordoniChilde, Director, Instituteof Archcology, London; and Dr. Greenand Cormack Firthbrieflyreplied. Professors Armytage.
Needham, Reference to the Dead among the Penan. By Rodniey M.A., Ph.D., Instituteof Social Anthropology,Universityof Oxford Among many peoples of the world the personal name or style of a dead person is avoided, and some other term is employed when such a person is spoken of. An ancient and well documented usage is that of reference to a deceased Malay ruler title. 'When the king dies his name is by means of a marhumii dropped, and he receives the title of "Marhum," the late or "deceased," with the addition of an expression alluding to some prominent fact in his life, or occasionally to the place of his comes from the Arabic decease' (Skeat, I900, pp. 3sf.). Marhunt and means 'that has found mercy' (Wilkinson). In the type of is referenceindicatingwhere the person died, niarhum followed by 'to mangkat, be borne aloft,' a euphemism for death when speaking of princes (Wilkinson). The reference may be to a topoMangkat di Baroh, 'he who died graphicalfeature,as in Marhunm by the riverside' (Maxwell, I882, p. 102). More importantly, in this paper, it is most commonly to a particularlocality or area,as in MarhumMangkat di Kota Lama (Maxwell, p. ioo) or Marhuim Mangkat di Pahang (Maxwell, p. 98). Tlhis last mode of reference, applied to Malay rulers, is also used by the Eastern Penan, one of the two tribes of the Penan people, forest nomads of the interior of north-western Borneo. The Penan in general believe that to mention the name of a dead person, particularlywhen he has been dead for less than about a and to provoke through his agency year, is to incur his displeasure certainmisfortunes.This appliesnot only to his personalname but also to his teknonymic style. The EasternPenan, therefore, when they wish to refer to a dead person, use the term dulit. I do not think it is used in any other context, and I could not extract from the Penan any meaning of the word other than its use in reference to the dead. It has no connexion in Penan culture (as distinct from etymologically) with the Malay duli, dust. It is used prefixed to the name of the river area in which the individual died, so that if a man dies in the valley of the Tebenyi he is referredto afterwardsas 'Dulit Tebenyi,' and another who dies in the valley of the Liwen is known as 'Dulit Liwen.' If two people die in the same river areathey may be referredto either by the names of minor tributaries,or, if they died in the same place, by the same name. The latter event occurs so extremely seldom that the Penan do not regardit as a possible source of confusion.
I0

The othertribe,however,theWestern Penan, the express same avoidance a different in way. When they referto a deadperson theyusethe termmukun. normally This means'aged,'not merely 'old'; it impliesweakness decrepitude. wordis prefixed and This to a termindicating relationship thedeceased thespeaker. the of to Thusthewordfora sibling padi, a person is and referring a dead to siblingspeaksof 'MukunPadi.' (This does not literallymean 'agedsibling,' whichispadimukun.) parent's A siblingis referred to as'Mukun andacousinas'MukunSak,'from[padi Vi,' pe]sak, cousin.Otherkin arereferred similarly, termMukun to the being prefixed the kinship to termof reference. Penan regarded All are askin,andanydeadperson knownby sucha term.The smallest is deceased babyis alsoknownasMukun, withouttheliteral meaning of 'aged'causing Penan sense incongruity. use the any of The of one termto referto two persons the samekinship in category is saidto lead to no confusion:if narrower identification reis quiredthe deceased personcan be specified the riverareain by whichhe diedor by his relationship somelivingperson. to I can offerno explanation why the tribesuse different terms. TheWestern Penan not recognize astheequivalent their do dulit of mukun referring the dead; and the Eastern in to Penanuse the word inukun merelyto mean'aged.'Why the Penanso avoida dead person's name and fear his spiritis a complexmatterof PenanreligionthatI cannotdealwith here. That a similarusageshouldbe found at oppositeends of a
culturalscalein south-eastAsia, among Malay princely rulersand Bornean nomads, is a matter of some ethnological interest; but a sociological comparison seems likely to prove baffling and unprofitable. What is needed is information about the forms and principlesof ways of referringto the dead among other peoples of Borneo.
References W. E. Maxwell, 'The History of Perak from Native Sources,' J. R. Asiat. Soc., Malayan Branch, Vol. IX (1882), pp. 85-Io8. W. W. Skeat, Malay Magic, London, I900. R. J. Wilkinson, 'An Abridged Malay-English Dictionary,' LondoIn, I948.

The Bektashi in the District of Strumica (Macedonia). By ProfessorMiletuko Filipovic, Uniiversity Belgrade S. of There are still considerable numbers of Turks in the District of Strumica, although many emigrated to

Turkeyafter the BalkanWars, 19I2-19I3, and afterthe First The Strumica Turksarenot, however, WorldWar, 19I4-I9I8.

homogeneous, but are composed of two main groups. The first, and more significant, is representedby the Yourouks, inhabiting several villages on the southern slopes below Mt. Ograzden. This group of villages is therefore known as Yourouklouk. In Mt. Elenica, whiclh is merely a peak of Mt. Belasica,there are

alsotwo Yourouk and but villages(&epeli Zle6evo), thesebelong zone. The secondTurkish to the DoiranYourouk groupin the districtof Strumica the Citaks,the Turksin the villagesin are Plainand betweenthe two Youroukzones. The the Strumica Yourouksaccusethe Citaksof being descendants Islamized of in Slavs.Thereareindeedsomedifferences dialect in way of and were previouslv life: the Yourouks nomadicherdsmen, the and settled A farmers. special Turkish Citaks groupamongthe Citaks in are the Bektashi the followingvillages:Banjsko,Svidovica, in andMakrijevo the regionof Podgorija, beneath northern the The slopesof Mt. Belasica. villageof Svidovica theircentre.' is of Althoughmembers thisgroupforma community merelyon the basis of their sectarian and practices, principles they are treatedin this region also as a separate ethnicgroup, and not withoutreason, sincethey differfromotherTurks the District in

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in of Strumica both theiroriginsand theirways of life. It may be addedthattherearemanyBektashi the villageof Zleovo in
(District of Radoviste). The Bektashiare a well-known Muslim dervishorder, founded, according to their own tradition,which is known also among the StrumicaBektashi,by Hadji Bektash (in the fourteenthcentury); the written records of the order, however, date only from the sixteenth century. In Bektashi tradition are to be found Sufi ideas on the basic equality of all denominations and on the worthlessness of all externalcult activities.Protectedby dervishhood,many Christian, gnostic and heathen elements have been preservedamong them. The Bektashi usually claim to be Sunnites, but, in so far as they can in general be held to be adherentsof Islam, they are in fact ardent Shiites and worship Ali.2 The order was in its time closely connected with the Janissaryorganization. Among the Balkan Muslims the Bektashi order had most adherentsin Albania. Even today there are many Bektashi in Albania. It is significant that the Bektashi in Albania have latterly ceased to be considered adherentsof Islam and are regardedas an independent denomination. It is not difficult to explain how Bektashism spread so widely in Albania. The Janissaryarmy and the Bektashi order were formally abolished, in i826, but the abolition could be enforced only in Istanbul and in provinces where the Turkish centralgovernment had direct authority and power, and Albania remained outside such territory. The authority of the central Turkish government was already quite insignificant at that time in Albania, and the Bektashi there continued their existence and activity completely undisturbed.Bektashismin Albania probably did much to create and preserve the remarkablereligious tolerance which is so peculiar to the Albanians. It is probable that Bektashismspreadfrom Albaniaamong the Muslimsin Macedonia itself, especially in more recent times, and probably also among other Muslims in Yugoslavia. There were many dervishes among the Turks in the District of Strumica,most of whom belonged to the Melami and Halveti orders, while the Bektashi lived only in the villages mentioned and in the town of Strumica. The other Turks condemn the Bektashi, considering them not to be orthodox Muslims, and the Bektashi do the same in regard to other Turks. While all the Turks in Svidovica are Bektashi, there are both Bektashi and Melami adherentsin Makrijevo and Banjsko.But not every Turk considering himself a Bektashi is necessarilya genuine Bektashi, since even among those observing the Bektashireligiousprinciples and rituals there are only a few Bektashi dervishes actually ordainedin the order by the prescribedritual. In I93 5 only about 30 such dervisheswere to be found in Svidovica. As I have been told by them, only men of genuine devotion and charity enter the order as dervishes,since a Bektashi dervish must live strictly in accordancewith the rules of the order which demand a high standard of honour. In I935 there was only one such genuine Bektashi (dervish) in Makrijevo, but all the Turks in this village observe the fast in the month of Moharrem-and this is one of of the chief characteristics the Bektashi-in addition to the fast in the month of Ramazan. Several aged people in the Yourouk village of Amzali, where there are no Bektashi, also observe the Moharremfast. The Bektashi dervishesin Svidovica claim that the Bektashiare the oldest dervish tarik (order), all the remaining orders being merely branchesof it. They say also that the Bektashi originate i.e. from the Inkiaronlar, from the Christiansin Constantinople before its capture by the Turks. The ceremony of ordination in Svidovica involves offering a sacrifice (kurban),consisting of a ram at least three years old. The StrumicaBektashi take pride in this, since-so they assertII

and the among the Melami a cock can be used for sacrifice, may even takeplacewithoutsacrifice. ordination of me informed thatthe headquarters Bektashi The Svidovica the theirorderwas in 'Antep' (perhaps town of GhaziAntebin local Bektashicentrewas at Asia Minor), and that the nearest villagesouthof the town of Gevgeli MayaDagh,a largeTurkish (the villageis actuallyin Greece).However,the main Bektashi is area Vardar and the Districtof Strumica for tekke the Eastern in that at gtip. It is to be emphasized the Bektashi theDistrictof saint,SariSaltik,who is woralso Strumica reverethe Bektashi shippedespeciallyby the Bektashiin Albaniaand in partsof to Yugoslavia adjacent Albania. from other Muslimsby the The Bektashiare distinguished fact that they worshipthe saintsHasanand Husain,the sons of they Ali). Consequently, arerepresentatives Ali the Imam(Azreti of ShiaIslamin Yugoslavia. both Hasanand Husain tradition, Accordingto the Bektashi afterhorribletorture:Hasanwas poisoned,and were murdered tortured themn by especially Theirexecutioners Husain beheaded. the not allowingthemto drinkwater.In memoryof thattorture and fast Bektashi for the firstI2 daysin the monthof Moharrem duringthatperioddo not drinkwaterevenat nightanduseas a that The or only sherbet buttermilk. Melamiassert the beverage whenfasting. evenduringthe daytime drinkbuttermilk Bektashi the When fastingin Moharrem Bektashido not arrangeany When the fast is over-and this is the only fast entertainment. for compulsory the genuineBektashi-they prepare, considered families the firstin the local tekke, arifefeast,and laterseparate in the prepare arife theirown homesif they so wish. The ashure for has to be prepared the arife:a little of eachkind of grain, mostly of wheat,is takenand boiled together.Both the Imam pray collectivelyand performthe duva,the and the attendants with otherfamilies. then they dineand dividethe ashure prayer, on yearly. is The arife prepared threeotheroccasions in the UnlikeotherMuslims, Bektashi the Districtof Strumica While otherMuslims are do not eat the fleshof cocksor rabbit. the obliged to bathe the whole body after sexualintercourse, to teachthat it is sufficient wash the sexualparts.The Bektashi beverages; to believethatit is permitted drinkalcoholic Bektashi they drinkspiritsbut not wine. I have been told in Makrijevo thosedrinking spirits(called thattherearetwo kindsof Bektashi: fromthem.The Bektashi and Shabani) thoseabstaining Bektashi and did not so strictlyobservethe customof femaleseclusion in veilingasth6otherTurks the sameregion(veilinghasrecently They held that women been prohibited law in Yugoslavia). by Suchwomen do not avoidthe company couldalsobe dervishes. and of male dervishes meet togetherwith them for prayerand of the The conversation. otherTurksaccuse Bektashi not praying in mosques,althoughthey have mosquesin theirvillages;the are tekkes theirmainplacesof worship. traits whichinclude someChristian contains further Bektashism and of the doctrine the Holy Trinity,anda formof communion observe the some In confession. the Districtof Strumica Bektashi in rituals customs the sameway as the Slavsin thatregion. and Eve. times Christmas In Turkish Badnik, they Primarily celebrate usedto fire shotson thatday. The (beforeI9I2) everyBektashi Eve, visitshiscattleon Christmas carrying headof eachhousehold his an axe and,threatening sheepwith it, askswhetherthey will breed.He goes also to his barnaskingwhetherit will fill itself him, askshim not to with grain.Anotherman, accompanying that kill the sheep,as they will breed,and affirms grainwill be is cakes,and a cake (kolak) On abundant. thatday they prepare and put on the ploughshare, walnutsarebroughtout, as among New Year's also The the Orthodoxpeasants. Bektashi celebrate Slavs. Theyalso in Day (i January) thesameway asthe Orthodox

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celebrate Krklar (Turkish: forty,in the Orthodox Church day the of 40 Martyrs, 9 March style):theydo not work,theyvisit old on friends,arrange picnicsand the like. The Bektashi, except the ordained dervishes, on thatday to the river.Threedayslater go they celebrateSultan (i.e. Mejruzlar Nevruz, the PersianNew Year'sfeast,but postponed two days);no work is done on for this day either. On Maundy Thursdayor Good Fridaythe Bektashi Svidovica Makrijevo in and prepare Easter eggs, dyeing themonlyin one colour.Thesearegivento children. George's St. day (Adrlez) animportant is holidaywith theBektashi whenthey gatherfrom the villages,men and women in separate groups. On St. George's Eve women take an earthenware vesselto the spot where they intend to gather,filling it with water. Each woman then placesin the vesselas many flowersas there are of members herfamily,marking eachflower.The next day,after the midday meal, they sing, and each woman takes out her flowersand wearsthem for some time. Those who wish take waterfromthe vesselandsprinkle sheepin orderthatmosquitoes may not bite them. On St. George'sDay everybodyweighs also observeSt. Demetrius' himself.The Bektashi day (Kasum, 26 Kasim, Octoberold style) as a holiday,when they prepare a it to festivesupper; is customary visit the villagesheikhon that day. Sucha visitis calledziyaret (visit,pilgrimage). Thesenumerous correspondences neighbouring with Orthodox of and Slavsin the performance rituals customs be explained can that only by assuming the ancestors the Strumica of Bektashi, in so farastheywerenot immigrants, wereislamized autochthonous certain theirold customs beliefs.This of and Slavswho retained as wasnot difficult theycameundertheinfluence theBektashi, of known as friendlytowardsChristians havingboth in their and religioustoleranceand their doctrinemuch in common with them.It may be mentioned the Citakdialectcontains that many elements. Slavonic are Tekke the mainmeetingplacesof the Bektashi. Theyhada in closeto thethermal whichwasdestroyed tekke, Banjsko springs, wars (I9I2-I9I3). A turbe in the Balkan still (mausoleum) exists the in the samevillage.In the mausoleum body of Ismail-baba is to he preserved. According tradition, died whilesittingon Iuka Tradition that (hill) andlookingat the fairbelow Banjsko. says Ismail-baba camefrom the town of Doiran,lived in a tent 'like a Turkoman'and died some I20-I5o in years ago (recorded a cameto thevillage;whenthepasha 1932). Afterhis death pasha saw Ismail-baba's had body a flamerosefrom it. The pasha the built for Ismail-baba he also foundedthe tekke and mausoleum for Others thatIsmail-baba with a hospice travellers. say appeared to in a dream the kadi (judge)of Doiran,andthatthe kadi erected the mausoleum.Every evening a candle is lighted in the and in. mausoleum freshwaterwith a towel is brought The sick, lookingfor help from the deadsheikh,bringand depositin the mausoleum kerchiefs, money, animals, etc., as offerings. that was and It is related Ismail-baba a Bektashi thisis actually of I a Bektashi tekke. hadno opportunity learning whom the by but was Tihomir Djordjevic tekke founded, Professor R. recorded, that in was in Strumica, the tekke Banjsko founded Sinan-baba, by The in was fromAlbania. lastsheikh thetekke Mehmedoriginally baba,who diedabout19I3; he waspreceded Moharrem-baba by aboutI870. Moharrem-baba perhaps was Arnaut Albanian), (i.e. of a descendant Sinan-baba. a for Banjsko, villagewhichis remarkable its veryhot springs, was a significant placein earlier times,but is now unimportant. remarkable Muslimbuildings,connected The village possessed who was, accordingto local with the name of Messi-pasha, of a tradition, son or brother-in-law the famousGhaziEvrenos Bey, an early Ottomanghazi (buriedat YenidjeVardar,in Greece).There were also some Christianplaces of worship.
I2

close to the Therearemanystoriesaboutan ancientmonastery of but springs, that placeis actuallywithin the borders thermal the village of Gabrovo.The brook, KlisseDeresi (i.e. Church Brook), runsthroughthe village, and peopletell that close to to the brook there once existeda churchdedicated the Forty respected that church, of St. Theodore, and Martyrs, thatanother was alsoby theTurks, on theplainbelowthevillage.The village from a plagueand the churchwas ruinedat that time. suffered are sincetheBektashi especially theselegends, I mentionandstress settledclose to ancient known for the fact that they frequently placesof worship,adoptingthem in that way, and it is most tekke the and Bektashi in likely thatthe sameoccurred Banjsko: From this sanctuaries. ancientChristian succeeded mausoleum of in that pointof view it is verysignificant Christians theDistrict who is buriedin the mausbelievethat Ismail-baba, Strumica a oleum, was really St. Charalambos, saintmuch esteemedin of Strumica. They believe that a monastery St. Charalambos and timeson the siteof the mausoleum so they existedin earlier to dedicated St. Charalambos. offerings bringto the mausoleum roundthevillageof Svidovica: existed turbe Several (mausolea) Ziimbiil-baba woman!), Durgut-baba, (a Ali-baba,Kara-baba, All turbe. and DervishIbrahim-baba, one anonymous Aljo-baba, except that of Ali-baba.Ali-babais thesehave been destroyed in saidto havecomefromKutahia AsiaMinor,andDurgutfrom was also Durgut(perhaps in AsiaMinor).DervishIbrahim-baba The otherbabaswere nativesof the region.The from Albania. on turbe St. George'son Krklar's Bektashigatherat Ali-baba's and (FortyMartyrs) on NevruzDays. Only a few of the former Turkishresidentsremainedin that It Banjsko. is significant amongthemis a familyof Albanian I origin,from the regionof Ljuma.In I93I, in Svidovica, met sheikhHussein,aged 85, whose great-grandfather, the Bektashi in Sevenfamilies thevillages camefromAlb-ania. Dervish Ibrahim, tracetheiroriginfrom him. Thereis also a familyof Albanian of Families Albanian origin arealso to be originin Makrijevo. and family,who foundin Strumica in otherplaces.The Kargali and centuryin Strumica ruledfor some time in the nineteenth origin. its vicinity,was alsoof Albanian on and The tiesbetweenAlbania Albanians the one hand,and untilI9I2. on the Strumica population theother,wereverystrong Vardarareafirst as came to know the Eastern The Albanians there.The herdsmen comingwith theirherdsfor winterpasture robberbands Albanian stimulated of wanderings theseherdsmen as while othersinfiltrated servants to makefrequent incursions, As as and andvillagepolicemen remained settlers. I haveshown, this Albanianimmigrationstartedin the eighteenthcentury. Bektashi close had These dataprove at leastthat the Strumica connexionswith the AlbanianBektashi,if indeed Bektashism itselfdid not come from that country.But it is mostlikelythat Vardar evenbeforethe existedin regionsof the Eastern Bektashi Albaniansstarted-in the eighteenth century-to come and Evliya Chelebi,in the settlein the area:the Turkishtraveller, middle of the seventeenth century,tells of the existenceof a in tekke Dupnica Bulgaria farfrom Strumica). near (not Bektashi of and the Meanwhile maindifftusion the Bektashi theirsurvival duringthe nineteenthand twentieth centurieswas doubtless under influencefrom Albania,which is their refuge in the Bektashi who Therewerecertainly amongtheAlbanians Balkans. and they were followed by the immigratedin to Macedonia who found a very fertilesoil for dervishmissionaries, Bektashi converted work amongthe population recently theirpropaganda in We to IslamandTurkicized the villagesbelow Mt. Belasica. may assume that the landlords (Kargaliand several other to actuallyinvited and assistedBektashidervishes Albanians) settlethere.

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IDealing with the spread of the Bektashi in general, F. W. Hasluck, one of the best authorities on Islamic life in ancient Turkey, mentionis only the Bektashi tekkewith Ismail-baba's grave

in the neighbourhood of Strumica; he learned of it from an Albaniandervish (Hasluck,Christianity Islamunderthe Sultans, and Oxford, I929, Vol. II, p. 525.) 2Tshudi,s. v., Bektash,in Encyclopddie Islam,Vol. I, pp. 720f. des

REVIEWS
AMERICA The Comanches, Lords of the South Plains. By ErnestWallace and E. Adamson Hoebel.Norman(U. of Oklahoma P.), I952. Pp xvii, 38I, I9 plates, map. Price $5 Wallace and Hoebel have made an important contribution to the literature on North American tribes. Here in one compact volume is an all-rounddescriptionof the Comanches,the people who dominated the SouthernPlains for a good I50 years. The authors declare that their purpose has been 'to present in a single piece the salientfacts of Comanche history and culturein a way that will satisfythe interestsand curiosityof the generalreader and also the anthropologistand the historian.'They have used informationfrom many sources:their own field work, publishedand unpublisheddata collected by other investigators,and published historicaldocuments.Historianand anthropologist and unpublished have collaboratedto good purpose. They recounthow the Comanchesemerged from amongst other Shoshonean-speaking peoples to develop into one of the great tribes of the Plains, horsemen without peers, raidersand warriors who venturedfar into Mexico and held the frontieragainstFrenchand English-speakingcolonists. Then they describethe culture of thesepeople as it existedin the great days of the tribe. Technology, economic organization,recreation,the life cycle of the individual, religion, kinship,government,law, and warfare-each receivesdue attention. Two final chapterscomplete the story. One traces the wars with the whites which ended in disastrousdefeat after the buffalohad been shot out and the large Comancheherds of horses had been destroyedby United Statestroops. Another describesthe bitteryearsof life upon the reservation when the Comanchesturned to the Peyote cult for consolation.The authorsclose their account with the alienationof the reservationin I907, for 'The Comanches had entered the White Man's Road. They were Lords of the SouthernPlainsno longer.' The Comancheswere aberrantamong the tribes inhabitingthe GreatPlainsin the nineteenthcenturyin that they never developed a single tribal unit into which the various bands were integrated. Perhapswe should be grateful for this, since we here for the first time have a good discussionof the organizationof a Plains band. Writers on tribeswith a centralpolitical organizationhave concentrated their attention on this and given us little or nothing on the organizationof the smallerunits or bandsof which the tribeswere composed. The common Plainstribalpatternwas one of a fluctuatingnumber of semi-autonomousbandswhich gatheredtogether during the summermonths in one large encampment.During the periodof the summercamp, the tribe engaged in the communalhunt for buffalo and also carriedout large-scaleritualssuch as the Sun Dance which dramatized unity of the tribeas a whole. The men of the various the bands were brought together in military societies which usually had political functions. They policed the communal hunt, maintainedorderin the large encampment,and had officialdutiesduring the tribal rituals.The police function rotated among the societies. When winter approached,and it became impossible for many people with their horses to remain together, the camp broke up into its constituentbandswhich wanderedoff to passthe winter in shelteredspots. The Comancheshad none of this superstructure of the summer tribal gathering.'The tribe consistedof a people who had a common way of life. But that life did not include political institutions or social mechanismsby which they could act as a tribal unit. There was in the old days no ceremonialoccasion or that pulled all the far-flungbandstogether for economic enterprise a spell, be it ever so brief There was no chieftain or group of to chieftains act for the tribeas a whole. Therewas no tribalcouncil' Instead the Comanche were organized only into family groups and bands. They lacked the formal military societies, and to they appearnot to have had any arrangement police the communal hunt and see that its rules were obeyed. The bands seem to have come together for the first time in i875 when the Comanches organizedtheir first Sun Dance in an attempt to obtain power to overthrow the whites who had defeatedthem. Wallace and Hoebel seem preparedto trace the absenceof the tribal organization, of military societies, and of police sanctions againstviolation of the rules of the communal hunt to the Shoshonean background of the Comanche. They comment, 'Ralph of Lintonhassuggestedthat a superabundance bisonon the Southern for Plainsmade formalpolice sanctionsfunctionallyunnecessary the Comanches;however, the historicalevidence cited earlierindicates that food was not always easily come by. However this may be, it is quite evident that the Comanchesfelt no need to make a crime of the violations of the rules of the communal hunt. Furthermore, unlike the other Plains tribes, who felt the need and also had an admirablysuitedmechanismat hand for fulfillmentof the need, the Comanches with their Shoshonean background possessed no militarysocieties.They let the matterride' (p. 235). I am not at all certainthat all Plains tribes which had military societiesin the nineteenthcenturyhad anythingin theirbackgrounds which made them susceptibleto the idea. The Comanches, from evidencein this book, seem to have been capableof a considerable Each band had its degree of organizationwhen this was necessary. officials.These were the peace chiefs who seem to have been the headsof the family groups.One was recognizedas head chief of the band while the rest acted as his counsellors.'An importantpeace chief had his personal herald or camp crier, who served as the chief's mouthpiecein announcingthe daily news and comments of the chief.Each chief kept a staffof young men to servehim as aides and counselors' (p. 2I2f.). The council of chiefs consideredsuch a mattersas 'moving the camp,undertaking tribal[sic!] war, making peace, seeking an alliancewith other tribesfor the purposeof proceeding to war againsta common enemy, the selectionof the time and place of the summer hunt, community religious services,the dispositionof spoilsbelongingto the band(butnot of spoilsacquired by a raiding party), the allocation of suppliesto widows and the needy, and the regulation of trade with outsiders' (p. 2I5). Each band also had its war chiefs. Now it seemsfeasiblethat therewere perfectlygood reasonswhy the Comanchesdid not develop the summer tribal unit complete with military societies and legal penaltiesfor infringementof the hunt rules. In the Northern Plains, winter conditionswere severe, and only small bands could persist as units. The summer buffalo hunt was of prime importancefor provisioningthe people for the in year. The herds, more concentrated the north than in the south, offered a focus for the efforts of many bands, drawing them close together. Possibly the winter bands were too small to undertake successfullya large-scalecommunal hunt on their own, and larger units also offered greaterprotection againstthe raids of outsiders. But with the drawingtogetherof a largenumberof differentbands, some political organization that countered band loyalties was with its militarysocieties necessarv. The summertribalorganization was the answer.Membersof the societieswere recruitedin such a way that each society was composed of men drawn from various bands,and the men of eachbandwere dividedamongstthe different societies.As members of the societies,they acted as officialsof the tribal unit, and their punishment of offendersagainst tribal rules
(p. 22).

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