2l6 SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 



From Jackson I went to Oklahoma, where my time was spent en- 

 tirely among the Creeks, and was devoted to the task of ohtaining 

 data on the extant Creek Square Grounds, particularly the manner in 

 which the various clans, classes, and officers were seated in the cabins 

 or " beds " which composed each Square. In pursuance of this work 

 I visited about half of the Creek ceremonial grounds proper and was 

 present during a part of the annual ceremonies or " fasts " at three of 

 them. Unlike the Choctaw, the Creeks had evolved before white con- 

 tact a series of communal ceremonials held at certain sacred grounds 

 (the Squares) which were the common property of the several sub- 

 divisions of the Creek Nation. Before these Indians were removed to 

 Oklahoma there must have been 50 or more Squares but they have now 

 been reduced to 17, not including three maintained by the incor- 

 porated Yuchi tribe. 



One of the Lower Creek Squares. Kasihta, has recently been re- 

 vived. It is evident that the racial and cultural pressure of the whites 

 has stimulated renewed interest in the ceremonies as symbols of that 

 culture to which the Creeks had independently attained. They are so 

 many outward expressions of the " defence mechanism " of the 

 people, efiforts to retain their racial and cultural self-respect in the 

 midst of the levelling tendencies of the alien civilization which sur- 

 rounds them. This fact should l)e kept in mind by those to whom 

 such ceremonies appear barliarous and valueless. At the same time 

 the extent to which Indian life has elected to adapt itself to the new 

 cultural invasion is interestingly illustrated at their annual ceremo- 

 nies, which the aborigines now attend in their automobiles, only a 

 very small percentage of which are " flivvers." When the ceremonies 

 are in full swing, the Square Ground is usually surrounded by a com- 

 plete fringe of cars and the harangues of the speakers — in the native 

 language and by intention at least in the native style — are frequently 

 punctuated by the more familiar sounds of cars just starting up or 

 coming to rest. At night, when dancers get too far away from the 

 central fire to be ol^served clearly by the crowd, obliging native chauf- 

 feurs improvise a stage illumination by turning on their headlights. 

 Altogether these occasions form an interesting picture of the clash- 

 ing racial and cultural streams which have given rise to them 

 and of the still more profound human motives by which they are 

 interpenetrated. 



