In a message dated 7/21/2002 5:15:11 AM Central Daylight Time, imafo2002@yahoo.com writes: > > Halito All: > > George Ann, I don't doubt that Byington is right, > after all he is the authority. However, we have all > seen the situation where Choctaw words, as many > English words, have more than one meaning. This quite > clearly must be a case like that or perhaps some other > explanation is involved. > My sources are the many translated names in > history, such as Hopiah Isketena - Little Leader and > Hopiah Humma - Red Leader. Unfortunately I am at a > loss as to which meaning might have been used for my > ancestor. > I suggest two possibilities could have been at > work here. One could have been that there indeed have > been two definitions at work at the same time. The > other could be that as the custom of bone picking died > off, the meaning of the word changed. We have seen > this occur as well, in many cultures. > This is quite an interesting discussion, I'd like > to get the answer, however so that I could get some > clues about my ancestors. > > Imafo > > Hello Imafo and George Ann, I am not at all familiar with the term "bone-picking" or the context that it is used in. I suspect it has something to do with burial rites amongst the Choctaws and perhaps other tribes as well. Could you all elaborate on the term a little for the rest of us on the list who don't know what the term refers to? Also wouldn't the role of someone who directs the burials of tribal members naturally fall to the head priest, if there was such a thing in Choctaw tribal culture and if there was such a thing as a head priest for Choctaw religious ceremonies such as burials wouldn't this be the source of the dual meanings of "hopia" as being both a leader and a "bone-picker"? John Craven New Orleans