FLETCHER] PURPOSE OP THE CEREMONY 281 



male principle. The same treatment of the corn is observed. The 

 ear of corn, which is born of Mother Earth, is symbolically painted to 

 represent a living contact with the heavens. 



These syniljolic articles thus treated are peculiar to this cerenifmy 

 and essential to its rites. They expi-ess with iinmistakalilc clearness 

 the original instigating desire for children. 



The second purpose of tliis ceremony, that of establisliing a bond 

 between two distinct groups of persons belonging to different clans, 

 gentes, or tribes, whicli should insure between them friendship and 

 peace, was probably an outgrowtli of the first purpose and may have 

 been based upon tribal experience in the practice of exogamy. 



In a tribe composed of clans or gentes, wliere exogamy prevailed, 

 two factors tended to promote peace and security among tlie jieople, 

 namely, children born to parents representing two distinct political 

 groups, and rites which recognized a common dependence upon the 

 supernatural and were oliligatory upon all. 



With the gro\A-tli of social ideas the thought seems to have arisen 

 that ties might be made between two tribes differing from and even 

 competing witli eacli other, through a device which should simulate 

 those influences which had proved so effective within the tribe. Fhe 

 Father, representing one tribe, was the incentive force; he inaugii- 

 rated the Ilako party. The tie was made by a ceremony in which 

 the feminine principle, represented bj^ the corn and Kawas, was the 

 dominant factor. Through this mother element life was given and 

 a bond was established between the Father and a Son of another tribe. 

 It is remarkalile how close to the model this device of an artificial tie 

 has been made to correspond. 



Apart from the social and religious significance of the ceremony, it 

 became a means of exchange of commodities lietween trilies. Tlie 

 garments, regalia, and other presents brought by the Fatliers to tlie 

 Children were taken b}^ the latter to some other tribe, wlien they in 

 turn became the Fathers. Thus manufactures peculiai' to one tribe 

 were often spread over a wide territory, and the handicraft of one 

 region became known to different sec-tions of tlie country. 



STRrCTITRT: OF TIIK CEREMONY 



The perpetuation and distribution of a cei'emony is dei)endent iipon 

 its structure, its symbolism, and its ]nirpose. Its j)arts must be so 

 coordinated as to make it possible to keep the rite intact during oral 

 transmission, while its sjanbolism must appeal to common beliefs and 

 its f)urpose to common desires. 



Examining the cei'emony of the Hako, we find it to jiossess tliese 

 requisites. Its pui'pose awoke a response in every liumau heart, its 

 symbolism appealed to the people wherever corn ripened and eagles 

 flew; and though its structure was elaborate, it was built upon a sim- 



