Indians 201: Some Pawnee ceremonies

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 Pawnees, 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 Pawnees, 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.

Ghost Dance Hand Game

During the 1890s, a pan-Indian religious revitalization movement commonly called the Ghost Dance led to the development of the Ghost Dance Hand Game as a sacred ceremony among the Pawnees. The hand game, a traditional game of chance found among many Indian groups, had disappeared among the Pawnees by 1892, Joseph Carrion, a Ghost Dance follower, experienced a vision during a Ghost Dance among the Arapaho and returned home with the spiritual gift of the Ghost Dance Hand Game. In their book The Encyclopedia of Native American Religions, Arlene Hirschfelder and Paulette Molin report:

“After the Ghost Dance Hand Games started, they proliferated as a result of trance visions of other dancers. The sacred games became an important means of expressing the Ghost Dance beliefs, especially after federal officials suppressed the dancing.”

Instead of playing for material goods, as in the traditional hand game, in the Ghost Dance Hand Game the players played for luck in life and/or spiritual matters. Unlike the traditional hand game which was played only by men, both men and women participated in the Ghost Dance Hand Game. In addition, children also participated. Both men and women could have medicine bundles containing sacred objects associated with the game.

The Ghost Dance Hand Game was held over four days. Arlene Hirschfelder and Paulette Molin report:

“Each religious leader’s sacred hand game was generally based on a vision and included specific ritual elements, teachings, paraphernalia, songs and instructions.”

Iruska Dance

The Iruska Dance came to the Pawnees through the mystical experiences of Crow-feather who had been invited to participate in the ceremony by mysterious strangers. In this ceremony, the strangers handled hot corn, manipulated fire with their hands, and sang songs. Returning to his people, Crow-feather built a sweat lodge and invited eight medicine men to be tested. Four of them passed the test and became the singers for the Iruska Dance. Ritual smoking and bathing and dancing through 40 songs are among the ritual elements. Arlene Hirschfelder and Paulette Molin report:

“Other features included a mock battle attack on the fire by the dancers, the retrieval of meat with bare hands from a boiling kettle and the whipping of participants with corn husks that had been dipped into the hot liquid.”

Sun Dance (Young Dog’s Dance)

The Sun Dance, also known as Young Dog’s Dance, came to the Pawnees through Medicine Chief who learned if from the Arikaras. The ceremony originated from a young man who became isolated while trapping eagles, heard drumming coming from a lake, and saw birds and animals swimming. He found himself in a lodge with many people and was told that each person represented an animal. Arlene Hirschfelder and Paulette Molin write:

“They then taught him a dance, whose benefits included aid in wartime, telling him to take it to his people. Each animal gave him a special skill and bestowed sacred gifts upon him.”

Arlene Hirschfelder and Paulette Molin also write: