﻿506 
  ANNUAL 
  REPOKT 
  SMITHSONIAN 
  INSTITUTION, 
  1927 
  

  

  ful, 
  came 
  a 
  succession 
  of 
  social 
  gatherings 
  extending 
  into 
  the 
  late 
  

   fall 
  and 
  ending 
  with 
  a 
  ceremony 
  called 
  the 
  " 
  raccoon 
  dance," 
  or 
  " 
  the 
  

   old 
  people's 
  dance," 
  the 
  only 
  one 
  in 
  which 
  masks 
  were 
  worn. 
  One 
  

   Creek 
  informant 
  declared 
  this 
  to 
  have 
  been 
  the 
  most 
  sacred 
  cere- 
  

   monial 
  of 
  all. 
  The 
  religious 
  side 
  of 
  some 
  of 
  these 
  dances 
  was 
  not 
  

   always 
  conspicuous, 
  but 
  we 
  know 
  of 
  them 
  only 
  in 
  their 
  decadence 
  

   and 
  it 
  seems 
  to 
  be 
  a 
  universal 
  truth 
  that 
  when 
  ceremonies 
  decay, 
  

   the 
  social 
  elements 
  become 
  progressively 
  more 
  pronounced, 
  while 
  

   those 
  having 
  esoteric 
  or 
  sacred 
  import 
  are 
  gradually 
  abbreviated. 
  As 
  

   far 
  back 
  as 
  the 
  middle 
  of 
  the 
  eighteenth 
  century 
  Adair 
  observed 
  this 
  

   process 
  taking 
  place. 
  There 
  are, 
  then, 
  so 
  far 
  as 
  the 
  Creek 
  Indians 
  

   are 
  concerned, 
  good 
  indications 
  of 
  a 
  long 
  summer 
  ceremonial 
  season, 
  

   and 
  it 
  would 
  have 
  taken 
  comparatively 
  little 
  elaboration 
  of 
  the 
  

   known 
  rituals 
  to 
  produce 
  a 
  pageant 
  intricate 
  and 
  imposing 
  enough 
  

   to 
  match 
  any 
  mound 
  group 
  of 
  which 
  we 
  have 
  knowledge, 
  even 
  

   Cahokia 
  itself. 
  

  

  We 
  may 
  conclude, 
  then, 
  by 
  saying 
  that 
  the 
  historic 
  ceremonies 
  and 
  

   ceremonial 
  mounds 
  of 
  our 
  southeastern 
  Indians, 
  or, 
  for 
  that 
  matter, 
  

   of 
  the 
  Creeks 
  alone, 
  suggest 
  psychical 
  and 
  technical 
  forces 
  sufficient 
  

   to 
  account 
  for 
  all 
  of 
  the 
  mounds 
  of 
  the 
  Mississippi 
  Valley 
  and 
  the 
  

   districts 
  north 
  of 
  the 
  Gulf 
  of 
  Mexico. 
  Certain 
  sections 
  of 
  the 
  region 
  

   in 
  question, 
  ^particularly 
  the 
  Ohio 
  Valley, 
  had 
  unquestionably 
  been 
  

   abandoned 
  by 
  mound-making 
  peoples 
  when 
  the 
  whites 
  entered 
  it, 
  but 
  

   that 
  abandonment 
  was 
  evidently 
  due 
  to 
  a 
  shift 
  southward 
  of 
  the 
  

   Muskhogean 
  and 
  other 
  related 
  peoples 
  or 
  the 
  emigration 
  of 
  Siouan 
  

   Tribes 
  southeast 
  and 
  northwest, 
  a 
  movement 
  possibly 
  initiated 
  by 
  the 
  

   invasion 
  of 
  the 
  Iroquois 
  and 
  their 
  relatives 
  from 
  some 
  region 
  in 
  the 
  

   west. 
  

  

  