The Pawnee Human Sacrifice to the 

 Morningstar 



By 



CLARK WlSSLERund HERBERT J. SPINDEN 



SOMETBIES it happens that the 

 most insignificant looking object 

 has the most interesting history. 

 In the Museum's Pawnee Indian collec- 

 tion is a simple pair of thongs, but 

 slightly decorated, which of themselves 

 would escape notice, yet which stand, so 

 far, as our only objective representation 

 of the Pawnee human sacriiice ceremon- 

 ies. The historic home of the Pawnee 

 was Nebraska, where they resided until 

 moved to Oklahoma in 1876. They 

 were to some extent an agricultural 

 people but were also great buffalo 

 hunters. They had a highly developed 

 ceremonial and religious system in which 

 certain stars in the heavens were the 

 leading gods. One very bright star, 

 probably Mars, was the Pawnee god of 

 war, although often spoken of as the 

 Morningstar, and there was in the keep- 

 ing of certain priests a ritual for the 

 sacrifice of a captive to this star. While 

 the sacrifice was made only when the 

 star was in a certain position at dawn, 

 it was not an annual occurrence but 

 was given only when the Morningstar 

 himself called for it. This he did by 

 appearing to an individual in a dream 

 or vision. Then war parties were sent 

 out until a captive maiden was secured. 

 She was kept under guard but otherwise 

 treated like a goddess until the time of 

 the sacrifice. 



The accessories for the sacrifice cere- 

 mony were pro\ided by various indi- 

 viduals. The thongs mentioned above 

 were intended for tying the hair of the 

 captive. 



It seems that the Pawnee had for 

 many years performed this gruesome 

 ceremony somewhat unwillingly, im- 



pelled by a sense of religious duty. It is 

 said that the officiating priests always 

 found it a sore trial. One time about 

 1818, as arrangements for a sacrifice 

 were under way, a bold young man de- 

 cided to rescue the captive. At the 

 psychological moment he interrupted 

 the proceedings and announced it as his 

 intention to free the captive at any cost. 

 He then cut the poor girl loose from the 

 scaft'old, carried her swiftly through the 

 awestruck crowd, mounted his horse and 

 dashed away. When beyond pursuit he 

 gave her a horse and sent her on her way. 



\ S^^ 



The scaffold sacrifice iuiioag the Aztecs of Mexico 

 (jity, as shown in a drawing from the Codex Telleriano- 

 Remensis recording its first appearance. The symbol 

 of the year One Rabbit appears above, below it being 

 recorded the important events of that year, beginning 

 with the sacrifice. The date was written in later by a 

 Spanish priest who interpreted the native manuscript 

 with valuable marginal notes 



49 



