IROQUOIS MYTHS AND LEGENDS 



177 



No person except a member of the society can touch any article 

 that is to serve in its ceremonies. After the room, in which the 

 society is to meet is prepared, no person except a member is per- 

 mitted to enter and a watcher is stationed at each window and 

 door. At least one representative of each of the clans must be 

 present to form a quorum. These clans, the Wolf, Bear, Beaver, 

 Turtle, Deer, Snipe, Heron and Hawk and others which include 

 all the animal and bird inhabitants common at one time to all 

 latitudes between southern " Canada and Louisiana, represented 

 the procession that accompanied the chief in his night journey to 

 discover the secret of the Ne-gar-na-gar-ah. 



At certain " stages " in the ceremony the representatives are 

 required to give the voice sign of their clan bird or animal, thus 

 signifying that it has entered the room. 



Although the Bear, Wolf, Hawk, and Eagle were prominent in 

 restoring the chief to life, as he proceeded on his journey all the 

 nightfolk of the forest joined him. So, in the celebration of the 

 mysteries of the Ne-gar-na-gar-ah, all these clans join the pro- 

 cession. The song chanted relates the story of the night travel, 

 each stanza announcing the arrival of some bird or beast. 



The ceremony, which begins at 9 p. m. in winter and ic p. m. in 

 summer, continues all night. The feast is served before dawn, 

 and the members depart before the sun rises. The song is chanted 

 three times during the year, June, September and January. On 

 these occasions a feast is given. The spring and fall conventions 

 are held for the benefit of the sick. If at any time a member 

 should, by dreams or otherwise, have a premonition of danger 

 coming to him he can order a " special " meeting. 



Preparations 



Before dawn of the appointed day my host, the Iroquois chief, 

 had brought from the forest a few hemlock logs, which he deposits 

 in an unoccupied outshed and bars the door. He also spreads 

 leaves of Indian tobacco yet wet with dew under the stove in the 

 summer-cooking room. 



The provisions for the feast consist of a few quarts of freshly 

 gathered wild strawberries, sugar to sweeten the "strawberry 

 water," a hog's head and a few dozen ears of flint corn. 



When these are put in place, the night has come with its starless 

 darkness, the members are assembling, the hemlock logs are 

 kindled to a blazing fire under a great iron kettle and the hog's 

 head and hulled corn begin boiling. This, the feast, is superin- 



