776 BUREAU OP AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 137 



A number of illustrations of Creek Square Grounds are shown in 

 plates 99-104, two of Tukabahchee, one of Nuyaka, one of Pakan 

 Tallahassee, two of Eufaula, two of Alabama, three of Chiaha 

 Seminole, including one of the principal town officers in the year 

 1912, and one of Mikasuki. (See also pis. 39, fig. 2; 40, fig. 2; 59, 



fig.i.) 



Anciently there was a long myth, varying somewhat in the differ- 

 ent towns, which detailed the origin of the Creek Nation and its 

 various sacred ceremonies. There were also myths which told of the 

 origin of corn, of the doings of a hero called Orphan, the widely 

 distributed story of the twin heroes — one of natural, the other of 

 supernatural origin — stories of Thunder, stories of monster lizards, 

 and of cannibals, the friendly dogs who aided their master, the man 

 who turned into a snake, and numerous tales of the trickster Rab- 

 bit which are mostly importatations from the Old World (Swan ton, 

 1928 a, pp. 477-636). 



Chickasaw religion was very similar to the religion of the Creeks. 

 There was a supreme being living in the sky world and connected 

 with both sky and sun, and manifested on earth in fire, especially fires 

 in the sacred grounds. There were also numerous servant spirits. 

 Among the minor supernatural beings were giants called lo°fa who 

 were wont to carry off women and sometimes flayed men. There 

 were pygmies like those of Creek mythology. There were also 

 beings which seem to personify the frost, the horned snakes, and tie 

 snakes. Reverence for rattlesnakes was very great and an Indian 

 would never kill one. The screech owl was associated with witchcraft. 

 Charms or personal medicines were common, portions of deer killed 

 in the woods were sacrificed and sometimes the entire animal, and 

 bits of food were thrown into the fire during meals. If we may trust 

 Adair, certain food taboos were very strictly observed, and sympa- 

 thetic magic was widespread. 



After death, souls were thought to travel west and the good ones 

 climbed to the sky world to live with the supreme being, but the 

 malevolent spirits remained in the western quarter, the quarter from 

 which witchcraft emanated. If a man had been killed by enemies, 

 however, his spirit haunted the eaves of the house until his death had 

 been avenged. There is mention of a final destruction of the world 

 by fire. 



There were numerous dances for both social and religious purposes, 

 and when there was an abundance of food, the people frequently en- 

 joyed a succession of social feasts and dances accompanied by games 

 and a general merrymaking. Most tribes held these in the fall but 

 Adair tells of Chickasaw fetes as if in spring. He speaks as though the 

 Chickasaw had a busk in his time. This was probably true at least of 

 those Chickasaw who had settled among the Upper Creeks, and 



