292 THE HAKO, A PAWNEE CEREMONY [eth. ann. 22 



SECOND RITUAL. PREFIGURING THE JOURNEY TO THE SON 



The ceremony of offering the Ilako was believed to bring great 

 benefits. As the tie to be formed was a close one and likely to have 

 a bearing on the welfare of two tribes, the selection of the man who 

 was to be the Son was not left exclusively to the Father. His choice 

 had to be submitted to the chiefs of his tribe for their approval. Nor 

 did the matter end here, for the chiefs, seemingly unwilling to assume 

 the entire responsibility of a final decision, threw the confirmation of 

 the selection of the Son upon the supernatural, represented l\v the 

 ear of corn. 



To be able to follow the Pawnee's thought one should keep well in 

 mind the native belief in the reality of an invisible world accessible 

 to man. The Ku'rahus explained that in this rite the spirit of the 

 corn and the spirits of the assembled company must meditate together 

 upon the proposed candidate for the Son, must consider his qualifica- 

 tions and his ability to meet the reqiiirements for a successful issue 

 of the ceremony. He said : "As we meditate we sit with bowed heads, 

 and Mother Corn sits with bowed head . " When the decision is reached 

 "Mother Corn lifts her head and stands erect, then she moves through 

 the air on her journey to the Son, and we follow." 



In this mystical journey Mother Corn "opens the way" between 

 the land of the Fathers and that of the Children. She does more. 

 She enters the village and passes ai-ound among the lodges of the 

 people to that of the selected man. She goes in and touches him 

 while he sleeps. It is the spirit of Mother Corn that touches the spirit 

 of the man in a dream. He does not see her who has touched him, 

 but he sees one of the birds which belong to the featheretl stem, the 

 eagle, the owl, the duck, or the woodpecker, for th<' spirits of these 

 birds are there with the spirit of Mother Corn in the lodge of the 

 sleeping man. If, when he awakes, he is able to I'ecall his dream, it 

 is because Mother Corn has "opened his mind." Therefore when the 

 messengers of the Father's party arrive with the tidings, "Your Father 

 is coming," the dreamer is not taken by surprise, but is ready to 

 respond without unnecessary delay. 



The old man nan-ated this symbolic procedure of the ear of corn 

 and its attendant spirits without consciousness that he was saj'ing 

 anj'thing unusual or contrary to ordinary experience. His only com- 

 ment was, that it was very difficult for the men of the party of the 

 Father so to fix their nunds upon the desired end as to secure its 

 accomplishment. He referred to this difficulty several times while 

 explaining the words and meaning of the song. When questioned as 

 to whether the attempt was always successful, lie said that when it 

 failed the failure was always due to a lack of earnestness or sincerity 

 on the part of the persons so fixing their minds. By this he <lid not 

 mean that the men failed because thev did not trv hard enough to 



