NELSON] GREAT FEAST TO THE DEAD 369 
As they came in, they stooped over and crept softly and humbly to 
their places in the open space around the sides of the kashim as though 
trying to avoid being seen. The wearing of old clothing and their 
coming into the room in this way was to express humility and to show 
how little they value their offerings. It is said that if one did not 
enter in this manner, but should hold up his head and afterward not 
be able to give as much as some of the others, he would be ashamed 
and become the subject of ridicule; each feast maker is emulous to give 
more than his fellows, and as no one knows how much the others have 
to give, they come humbly so as not to assume any credit they may 
subsequently lose. During all the rites of this festival, even in danc- 
ing, they kept their faces cast to the floor to express their humility. 
From this time forth throughout the festival, the feast makers wore 
the filthiest and most miserable clothing they had, putting on the fine 
garments in the grass bags only while performing certain dances. The 
feast givers are expected to enter the kashim in the humble manner 
described only when rites are being performed; at other times they 
come in walking erect and moving briskly. 
It is customary for the guests and others aside from the givers of the 
feast to enter and leave the room slowly and with as little noise as 
possible, so as not to attract attention, thus showing their respect for 
the feast givers, 
Having ranged themselves around the two sides and back of the 
room, the feast givers took out the suits of new clothing from the grass 
bags and exchanged them for their old garments. The wolfskin and 
ermine fillets, already described, were put on, and the women held in 
each hand a wand about two feet in length. These were slender sticks, 
having the quill feathers of the golden eagle bound along their length, 
and projecting from their tips were three bare vanes of large feathers, 
each tipped with a tuft of downy plumes. 
The drummers began to beat in measured time and sang the song of 
invitation to the shades as if coming from the mourners. The song, 
translated, is as follows, each person being supposed to invoke the rela- 
tion he or she was honoring: 
Come, my brother, 
Return to us again; 
We wait for you; 
Come, brother, come. 
(Chorus) 
Our mother, come back to us. 
Return once more. 
(Chorus) 
Return, our father; 
We wait for you; 
Come back to us, 
And we, who are lonely, 
Will give you food—ete, 
18 EYH——24- 
