430 THE WINNEBAGO TRIBE [bth. ann. 37 



are made to them. Only the following spirits receive buckskins: 

 Thunderbird, Night Spirits, Disease-giver, South Wind, Sun, Earth- 

 maker, Moon, Morning Star, Earth, and Water. 



(6) The feasts. — There are two feasts, the one in the first division 

 of the ceremony being generally known as the Thunderbird and that 

 in the second division as the Night Spirit feast. 



The guests are always divided into two divisions, the owners of 

 war bundles and their male followers, and the women. The former, 

 who are always warriors of repute, get the choice pieces of the deer, 

 i. e., the hfeads, and the rest get the other pieces generally refen-ed to 

 as " the common pieces." The heads are eaten after those eating the 

 coramon pieces have finished. 



The host never eats at the feast he gives, but while the others are 

 eating he plays on his reed flute. 



(7) The fast-eating contest. — Before the heads are eaten two men 

 belonging to the upper phratry and two belonging to the lower (i. e., 

 generally two members of the Thunderbird clan and two members of 

 the Bear clan) are selected to take part in the fast-eating contest. 

 This consists of consimiing an equal amount of food. The one who 

 finishes first is considered the greater warrior. Both contestants 

 start at a given signal and continue the contest to the accompani- 

 ment of songs s\mg by the other guests. 



When a member of the upper phratry gives the ceremony his side 

 always wins, and vice versa. 



(8) The basic ritual. — After the buckskin ritual has been finished 

 the host begins what is imquestionably the fundamental part of the 

 ceremony, which I have called the "basic ritual." It consists of 

 four speeches, each speech followed by a different set of songs. The 

 first speech is followed by a set of war-bundle songs; the second by a 

 paint set; the third by a Disease-giver set; and the last by a Night 

 Spirit set. The last speech also contains a fasting experience of the 

 first owner of the war bundle. Wlien he is finished, the general feast 

 and the fast-eating contest take place, and the basic ritual is for the 

 time interrupted. It is continued as soon as these are finished, but 

 not in the same manner as performed by the host. Instead of four 

 speeches there is only one. As soon as one guest finishes speaking 

 the other begins, and so on until all have finished.' 



In the second division of the ceremony the basic ritual is performed 

 in a slightly different manner. In the first place there seem to be two 

 parts to it, the first one quite different from the basic ritual as given 

 in the fu'st division, and the second identical with it except that 

 instead of seven there are only four guests called upon to speak. 



In the first part of the basic ritual, as given here, the host delivers 

 three speeches. After the first one a set of Night Spirit songs are 



' Additional information on the Winter Feasts might lead me to an alteration of this last statement. 

 In addition to the present, three more accounts of Winter Feasts were received. 



