A Contrary, in some Native American cultures, is a person who adopts behavior deliberately the opposite of other tribal members. They play roles in certain ceremonies, as well as in the social structures of some communities. Some of the cultures who have roles for contraries also have small societies or organized groups of contraries.
The Contraries are related, in part, to the clown organizations of the Plains Indians, as well as to Plains military societies that contained reverse warriors.[1]: 2 The Lakota heyoka (heyókȟa "sacred clown"), are the traditional contraries in the Oceti Sakowin (Očhéthi Šakówiŋ).
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