Bulletin of the Texas Archeological Society, Volume 85, 2014 Page: 86
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86 Texas Archeological Society
not an Hasinai farmstead (Kenmotsu 1992). Those
discoveries led to our renewed interest in ethnohis-
toric documents pertaining to European and Caddo
interactions.
THE HASINAI AND THEIR ELITES
Records and diaries from many of these early
European figures give us a rich picture of Hasinai
Caddo life (Hatcher 1927; Swanton 1942; Bolton
1987; Perttula 1992). All Caddo groups had a sed-
entary agricultural lifeway supplemented by the
collecting of nuts and berries as well as local op-
portunistic hunting and fishing. Planned annual buf-
falo hunts to the Southern Plains and other ventures
outside their home territory were common. They
hunted with bows and arrows but readily became
proficient with firearms once the French made them
available. In their gardens grew corn, beans, squash,
pumpkins, sunflowers, other native oily seed plants,
and tobacco. They were renowned for their skill as
potters; their ceramic vessels often have beautiful
wet paste and engraved designs. The Caddo were
known to trade in ceramics, salt, bow-wood, animal
hides, Lipan Apache slaves, and horses.
The Hasinai communities were clearly hier-
archical in social structure although perhaps less
so compared to Caddo groups from some other
geographical and temporal settings (see Fields,
this volume). Sabo (1998) discussed the ritual
interaction between community hierarchy and
the hierarchical organization of the supernatural
realm. Early chroniclers describe extended Hasi-
nai villages that had socio-political centers at the
residence of a key leader referred to as the caddi.
Wyckoff and Baugh (980:234-235) enumerate the
many functions performed by the caddi, including
such activities as settling inter-village disputes,
calling assemblies, hosting feasts and various cer-
emonies, organizing house construction, welcom-
ing guests, dividing gifts, conducting war councils,
and holding calumet ceremonies. Near the houses
of these local headmen stood another building for
the meeting of the village elders known as canahas.
Other Hasinai officials included chayas (pages),
tammas (enforcers), connas (medicine men), and
amayxovas (proven warriors). A number of vil-
lages, each with their own specific social identity
and led by their own caddi, gave allegiance to a
supreme religious figure or priest referred to as the
grand xinesi. In essence, the caddi operated withauthority within a single community to maintain
cohesion, ceremonial fidelity, and structural integ-
rity, while the grand xinesi's role led him to be the
communication conduit between all the people and
the supernatural realm.
Reflecting on the early European accounts,
and their research at the Deshazo site in western
Nacogdoches County, Dee Ann Story and Dar-
rel Creel (1982) proposed a synthetic model for
integrating archeological settlement patterns and
ethnohistorically derived socio-political organiza-
tion. They discussed specific drainage "Constituent
Groups" centered on a lesser center (the residence
of a caddi) as one element within a larger "Affili-
ated Group" that had an associated major center
(the residence of a grand xinesi).
What do we know about the principal leader
or grand xinesi of the Hasinai who resided at the
major center? The reports of Hidalgo, Casanas,
and Espinosa provide the clearest descriptions
(Hatcher 1927). This personage was revered by
all, had regional religious significance and served
multiple tribes, or "constituent groups." While he
was primarily a spiritual leader, the grand xinesi had
some final say regarding political and diplomatic
issues. For example, the Nabedache caddi sent for
the xinesi as part of obtaining final approval for
de Leon and Massanet's plan to establish the first
Mission San Francisco in 1690 (Letter of Massanet
to Siguenza in Bolton [1908:380f]). The xinesi had
a special relationship with Caddi Ayo Amay, the
"Captain of the Sky" or most high god. Cecile El-
kins Carter (1995:73) has speculated that the name
xinesi may have derived from Caddo words meaning
"Mr. Moon" and that this figure is associated with
"Neesh" or Moon of Hasinai oral traditions. There
are stories recorded by George Dorsey over a cen-
tury ago in which Moon is described as the first cre-
ated Hasinai man, and he was selected to be the first
caddi or headman of the people (Dorsey 1997:7).
The chroniclers' description of the xinesi's
village involved at least three kinds of structures
(Hatcher 1927; Swanton 1942). First, there was a
very large building, akin to a "cathedral," which
served as a "fire temple." The xinesi tended the
fire to keep it going, and embers from this eternal
flame were sent around to connect the central
fires of all the villages. Four large logs radiated
from the fire in the cardinal directions. He placed
ash from the fire outside the house in mounds.
Through fire and smoke, the grand xinesi medi-
ated between the cycles of community life that
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Texas Archeological Society. Bulletin of the Texas Archeological Society, Volume 85, 2014, periodical, 2014; Abilene, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1223408/m1/90/: accessed July 10, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Texas Archeological Society.