320 THE HAKO, A PAWNEE CEREMONT [eth. ann. 23 



VII 

 Holy visions! 



Ended now their mission, pass they outward. 

 Yet they leave us joy: 

 Pass they all from ns — holy visions — 

 Yet they leave us joy. 



VIII 



Holy visionsl 



They, the sky ascending, reacli their dwelling; 



There they rest above; 



They their dwelling reach — holy visions — 



There they rest above. 



TENTH RITUAL. THE DAWN 

 Part I. The Birth ok D.\wn 



The opening ceremonies began aftei- dark and continued until past 

 midnight. At their close the Children and the Fathers retired to their 

 tents, but the Son remained at his post near the inner door of the 

 lodge, while the Ku'rahus and his assistants watched from behind 

 the holy place, where the Hako lay at rest. The fire burned to 

 embers, the noise of the camp died slowly away, and darkness and 

 silence settled down within the lodge. 



It was a long watch, but at length the Ku'rahus bade his server lift 

 the skins, hanging at the inner and the outer door of the long passage- 

 way, and stand outside to report when the gray hue was seen in the 

 east. When the voice of the server was heard proclaiming the sign 

 of dawn, the Ku'rahus and his assistants rose, and as they stood 

 behind the holy place, facing the open door, they sang the first song 

 in this drama of the mystic birth of Day. It was sung ".slowly and 

 with i-(>verent feeling, for it speaks of the mysterious act of Tira'wa 

 atins in the birth of dawn," said the Ku'rahus; "it is something very 

 sacred, although it happens every day.'' 



In the first stanza, the Earth, h'Atira (li', breath; atira, mother). 

 Mother breathing forth life, is called on to awake, that she may 

 receive fresh power of life to be given with the new day. In the 

 second, h'Atira responds, she wakens from the sleep of night. 



In the next stanza, h'Kavvas (h', breath; Kawas, as the represen- 

 tative of the upper powers), the life-breathing powers above, are called 

 to awake and receive fresh life throtigh the new-born Day. In the 

 fourth stanza, h'Kawas, awakening from sleep, responds. All the 

 foi-ces below and above have now been called, they are awake and 

 ready to receive the gift of tjie new life. 



In the fifth stanza, Kawas, the mother, the leader in this ceremony, 

 stands up and speaks from her nest. She explains to the Ku'rahus 

 that day is born of night by the power of Tira'wa, that it is the breath 

 of this new-l)orn child, the Dawn, which gives fresh life to all things 



