Men of the Mandan Buffalo Bull Society

Description

Maximilian reported six age-graded societies for Mandan men. That of the Buffalo Bulls was one of the last and most prestigious a man could join. The members were all seasoned warriors who had proven their worthiness to their fellows and acquired sufficient wealth to purchase their way through each of the younger societies. Men in the Buffalo Bull Society would probably have been about forty years old. The characteristic headdress of the Buffalo Bulls was a strip of buffalo hide with horns attached. Two particularly brave society members were selected to wear masks representing entire buffalo heads pierced with metal-rimmed eye holes. Men awarded this honor could afterward never flee from an enemy, no matter how great the danger. Other society paraphernalia included bulls' tails or long trailers of cloth and feathers representing bulls' tails. In early April of 1834, Bodmer painted one of the Buffalo Bull Society leaders in full regalia (see Plate 308). A few days later the travelers observed a Buffalo Bull dance. Tableau 181 based on these impressions, is one of the most dramatic and action-packed of all the aquatints.