296 THE HAKO, A PAWNEE CEREMONY [eth. akn. 22 



the earth, and below these was the wildcat skin. These typify the 

 powers of the lower world. 



All these articles were tied on the pole so as to face the east. 

 We are told in the song of the ninth ritual tliat down the path at the 

 east came the powers that are potent in this rite. 



Behind these objects, toward the west, where dwell the powers 

 which influence the life of man and control disaster and death, were 

 bound the right and left wing of an eagle. These wings were spread 

 as though supporting the sacred objects, as the wings sustain the 

 body of a bird in the air. Throughout the ceremony the position of 

 the two eagle wings, both when on the -pole and when borne at each 

 end of the line of men, serves to unify the different sacred objects 

 into the similittide of a winged body. This unification does not, 

 however, interfere with the separate functions of each article or with 

 the character of its sj'mbols. 



The dawn ritual throws light on the significance of the elevation 

 of the sacred objects nnder the open sky before the break of day. 

 Before this act, these objects had lain at rest; but after it, when thej' 

 had been vivified by the wind and the sun, they at once became 

 active and thencefortli they led the people throughout the ceremony. 



Part II. Mother Corn Assumes Leadership 



This activity is manifest in the song of jiart ii, where the ear of corn 

 passes to the front and assumes the iDosition of leader. The ceremonial 

 steps taken by the chief, as he carries this representative of Mother 

 Earth with her life-sustaining force, dramatically represent the corn 

 as advancing out of the past (from behind the Ku'rahus with his sj'm- 

 bolie feathered stem), coming into the present (beside him), and then 

 going on before, moving along the unbroken path that stretches out 

 of the past into the future. The four steps taken by the chief bearing 

 the ear of corn refer to the four paths down which the powers descend 

 to man, and the four steps taken by the six men following Mother 

 Corn as the second stanza is sung indicate the dependence of man 

 upon these supernatural powers. 



This song falls into six phrases. The number suggests the recog- 

 nition of all the powers which come near to man, which are represented 

 bj' the four directions, the above, and the below, thus bearing out 

 the full significance of the symbolic steppiugs. 



SONG •! 



Diagram nf Time 



"Music on page 60. 



