For most of the world’s 7,000 different religions, the emphasis is on ceremonies and the sense of community rather than on any particular set of beliefs. One example of this can be seen among the Pawnees, an American Indian group. Traditionally the Pawnees engaged in a mixture of farming (maize, or corn, was the principal crop), gathering wild plants, and hunting.
The Pawnees are a Caddoan-speaking group who separated from the other Caddoan groups long before the European invasion and began a migration north from their homelands in present-day Texas. They migrated first into the Red River region of present-day Oklahoma and then into the Arkansas River region of northern Oklahoma and southern Kansas. By the early 1700s, the Pawnees had started to divide into four politically autonomous tribes: Skiri, Chawi (Grand), Kitkahahki (Republican), and Pitwhawirata (Tappage). The Skiri (also known as the Skidi, Loup, or Panimaha) migrated north to the Loup River.
Among the Pawnees, ceremonies were seen as a way of keeping cosmic order in the universe. Ceremonies were important in securing the continuation of the earth and its life process. No task was undertaken without first conducting the appropriate ceremony.
Among the Pawnees, a person would have a dream or vision and then talk about this dream with a religious or spiritual specialist (medicine man, shaman, priest). Following this, the dreamer would then put together the necessary food and goods to have a special ceremony performed.
In the Pawnee ceremonial traditions, the four semi-cardinal directions—northeast, southeast, southwest, and northwest—are important.
Briefly described below are some of the traditional Pawnee ceremonies.
Hako Ceremony
The Hako Ceremony was originally a Pawnee prayer for children, but it also fostered intertribal peace and friendship. The ceremony asks that the tribe may increase and be strong, that the people may have a long life, enjoy plenty, be happy, and be at peace.
The Hako included nearly 100 songs that had to be performed in the proper sequence. The five-day ceremony included purifications, smoking, songs, anointing and painting, dancing, and blessings. The Hako was also called the Pipe Ceremony.
Two groups of people from different clans, and often from different tribes, were involved in the ceremony acting out two important roles: the Fathers and the Children. According to ethnographer Alice Fletcher, in her 1904 book The Hako: Song, Pipe, and Unity in a Pawnee Calumet Ceremony:
“The Father was usually a chief, or a man prominent in the tribe, who not only had accumulated property, but had a large following of relatives who could contribute to the store of articles required for these rites.”
The Son was usually a chief or a man who had great respect.
The man who actually conducted the ceremony and who knew all of the songs and ceremonies was called Ku’rahus.
The Hako was not associated with hunting, planting, harvesting, war, or any other tribal festival. According to one Ku’rahus:
“We take up the Hako in the spring when the birds are mating, or in the summer when the birds are nesting and caring for their young, or in the fall when the birds are flocking, but not in the winter when all things are asleep. With the Hako we are praying for the gift of life, of strength, of plenty, and of peace, so we must pray when life is stirring everywhere.”
Spring Renewal or Spring Equinox
Among the Pawnee, the ceremonial year began with a ceremony about the time of the spring equinox in which there was a ritual recitation of creation. In this ceremonial act the earth was awakened from its winter sleep. In an article in American Antiquity, Thomas Huffman and Frank Lee Earley report:
“This ritual explains the creation of the world by cosmic forces and the creation of humanity through the union of the Morning and Evening stars.”
The timing of this ceremony was determined by watching the position of the stars. Two small stars known as the Swimming Ducks would appear in the northeastern horizon near the Milky Way. These stars notified the animal people that they must come out of their winter sleep, break through the ice, and come out into the world again.
Four Pole Ceremony
In the Four Pole Ceremony the founding of the political confederacy of the tribe was re-enacted. The ceremony was traditionally held before the fall buffalo hunt and called for success in both hunting and war. As a part of the ceremony, four different trees were chosen, each treated like a captive enemy, and brought back to the ceremonial area.
The Four Pole Ceremony was conducted under the direction of the Skull Bundle. The four poles symbolically represent the four semi-cardinal directions which, when taken together, represent the whole world.
Cleansing Ceremony
Prior to the summer and winter buffalo hunts the Pawnee would traditionally conduct a great cleansing ceremony. In this ceremony, the two realms of the universe—the sky and the earth—would be symbolically summarized.
Seed Corn Ceremony
Among the Pawnee, as with many other Native American cultures, medicine bundles were, and often still are, an important part of ceremonial activities. The bundles are generally a collection of items reflecting the spiritual heritage of the tribe. Among the Skidi Pawnee there are four main bundles: (1) the yellow star bundle, (2) the white star bundle, (3) the red star bundle, and (4) the black star bundle. These four bundles reflect the spiritual powers of the four directions as well as the power of the four seasons. In the Seed Corn Ceremony seeds are distributed to each of the bundles so that the sacred ears of corn can be grown for the bundles.
Awari
The Awari ceremony was done in preparation for planting. Anthropologist Gene Weltfish, in her book The Lost Universe: Pawnee Life and Culture, reports:
“During the ceremony, the women went through the motions of breaking the ground with sacred hoes that were kept in the four semi-cardinal-direction bundles and borrowed for the occasion.”
As the women danced with the hoes, the men would dance among them with their bows and arrows. The fields were then planted the day following the ceremony.
While women played a major role in the awari ceremony, the actual ceremony was directed by men.
Kurabus
The Kurabus was a Pawnee ceremony which was performed when the sacred corn plants were about two inches high and had four good leaves. According to anthropologist Gene Weltfish:
“The crux of the ceremony was the uprooting of one of the young sacred corn plants, in which the act of birth was symbolized and the young plant carried as an infant on the visionary’s back from the field to the ceremonial lodge, where it was attached to a stick fashioned by an arrowshaft maker and painted to represent a person.”
Horn Dance
The Horn Dance is a ceremony which is given and led by a woman. In part of the dance, the dancers imitate various animals.
Doctors’ Lodge
Among the Pawnee, the medicine societies were a loose association of members who shared certain curative powers. There were a number of these societies and they often held ceremonies in the spring and fall. In addition, there was a Doctors’ Lodge composed of prominent doctors. To be admitted to membership, the doctor had to apply and had to demonstrate doctoring powers. The Doctors’ Lodge held two-day ceremonies in the spring and summer, and in the fall, they held a month-long ceremony in which the members would publicly display their powers.
Indians 101
Twice each week Indians 101 explores different American Indian topics. With regard to American Indian religions, the United States outlawed American Indian religions in the nineteenth century and then during the twentieth century allowed more religious freedom. More about American Indian religions from this series:
Indians 101: American Indian religions 150 years ago, 1870
Indians 101: The Plateau Indian vision quest
Indians 101: Suppressing Peyote in 1918
Indians 101: The Northern California Jumping Dance
Indians 101: A Brief Description of Caddo Religion
Indians 101: Spirituality and Jimsonweed among Californnia Indians