English

moth

Arapaho

hóhookéhe'

Translation of Arapaho

‘little crazy one’

 

Moths and the Arapaho

The moth is apparently called ‘crazy one’ because of its tendency to fly towards light and flames. One of the traditional Arapaho age-grade societies was called the ‘Crazy Men’ (hohookeenenno’). Men in this society, during their ceremonies, acted in crazy ways. Among the things they did was to leap over or step into fires (check), and to reach into pots of boiling water (after having applied a certain protective medicine) to take out meat. Thus the Crazy Men and the ‘little crazy one’ showed similar behaviors. (See Kroeber, The Arapaho, pp. 190-93.)