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



The stars were shining when the Children were again seated in the 

 lodge. The wood was piled upon the fire, and as the flames leaped 

 high, the Ku'rahiis, his assistant, and the chief arose from behind the 

 holy place and took up the Hako. Among the Omahas this act was 

 accompanied by a song referring to tlie eagle rising from its nest, which 

 the movements of the feathered stems vividly pictured. The Pawnees 

 had no such songs, and the Hako were taken up without any symbolic 

 movements. 



In the song belonging to this first, night, the visions that "attend 

 the Ilako" were invoked. 



Accoi'ding to the explanations of the Ku'ralius, these visions 

 resembled dreams, inasmuch as they often came during sleep, but 

 they also appeared when the dreamer was awake. They might be 

 called revelations, which served either to strengthen a purpose or to 

 suggest means by which a plan could be carried out to insure suc- 

 cess to some cherished project. Through such visions, we are told, 

 the manner of procedure of the ceremony had been taught and its 

 details prefigured, details which were afterward carefullj' followed 

 so as to conform to what was regarded as a supernaturally given 

 model. 



The birds, the animals, and the products of the earth represented 

 on the Ilako coniuiunieated with num by visions. In the song of 

 invocation these visions are personified. They hear the summons in 

 their dwelling place al)ove; they descend and pass over tlie quiet 

 earth, making their way to the door of the lodge, where they i^ause; 

 they cross the threshold and "walk within"; they move around and 

 fill the space, touching all the people; this accomplished, they "walk 

 away" and ascend to their abode on liigh. 



We note that the visions follow the same sequence of movements 

 that the Ilako party followed in entering the lodge; they pause at the 

 door, then enter and "walk within"; they move about an<l touch the 

 l^eople in preflguration of the bestowal of gifts promised through the 

 ceremony. 



This .song was (juite impressive, sung as the writer heard it by a 

 hundred or moi*e voices. The Ku rahus and his assistants, as they 

 moved around the lodge, were followed ))y the clioir, singers bearing 

 the drum, and the song was taken up by all the people — men, women, 

 and children — until the lodge vibrated witli the sonorous melody. At 

 the close of the fourth stanza the Ilako were laid at rest with the 

 songs belonging to that act; the eagle had gone to her nest, leaving 

 tlie space clear for the mystic visitors, the visions, who now walked 

 within the lodge. After a time tlie Ilako were again taken up and 

 the last four stanzas were sung; then the eagle once more alighted 

 upon her nest, the visions had departed, they had "touched" the Chil- 

 dren, and, as the Ku'ralius said, "the people could now go home to 

 have pleasant dreams." 



The face of the old man was radiant as he explained this song and 



