10 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Boll. 183 



Lake, sent the Four Beings to him with a message of guidance for 

 the future. Handsome Lake's subsequent preaching and death are 

 alluded to. 



In the sixteenth and final section the Creator himself is the subject. 

 He is said to be continually observant of what people do, and to 

 have ordained the giving of thanks, which, he directed, should con- 

 clude with him. 



The Thanksgiving Speech regularly ends with a short epilogue in 

 which the speaker tells that he has done his best to recite the speech 

 in the way that he learned it. 



The spoken portion of the Thanksgiving Dance contains the same 

 sequence, except that the order of the Four Beings and Handsome 

 Lake is reversed; i.e., Handsome Lake comes before the other. More- 

 over, there are six additional items. Four of them come between 

 the second and third items of the Thanksgiving Speech, and reflect 

 a fourfold division of the community by status. Numbered as they 

 occur, they are : ^ 



3. The Chiefs 



4. The Faith Keepers 



5. Those with no assigned responsibility 



6. The children 



The fifth addition deals with the Four Rituals, and occurs immedi- 

 ately after the children in the ritual as it is given at Tonawanda 

 during the Midwinter Ceremony, but between the Sisters and the 

 wind in the version presented here, the order followed in the Green 

 Corn Ceremony. The last addition occupies the very final position, 

 after the Creator, and is devoted to the two singers. Besides giving 

 thanks for each item, as in the Thanksgiving Speech, the speaker 

 of the Thanksgiving Dance adds a request that the item will con- 

 tinue for another year. Speakers at Cattaraugus request that it con- 

 tinue indefinitely, but at Tonawanda this is considered unwarranted, 

 since each performance of the ritual constitutes a renewal of the 

 request. 



The function of the Chiefs is, in general, to look after the security 

 and well-being of the people. In religious matters they make them- 

 selves available to the Faith Keepers to help in conducting the cere- 

 monies, specifically by doing the speaking. 



The Faith Keepers are explicitly the helpers of the Creator. They 

 set the time for the ceremonies and see that these are carried out 

 properly. They are said to be all of equal rank. Tonawanda Seneca 

 are critical of the fact that at Cattaraugus and Allegany certain Faith 

 Keepers are of higher rank than the rest (the 'Head Ones'; Fen ton, 

 1936, p. 7). There is a statement that those with no assigned respon- 

 sibility should consent to what the Faith Keepers say. 



