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eastern Ontario; but the survival of the Iroquois proper down to the 
present day has enabled us to obtain some additional information 
concerning- their aboriginal condition that the early exj^lorers and 
missionaries failed to record from their Canadian kinsmen, although 
it ])robably held good foi' them also. We know, for example, that the 
Iroquois held annually six or eight festivals that were associated with 
the cultivation of the soil and the ripening of wild fruits and berries. 
Thei-e was a festival, lasting seven days, when the corn was planted; 
another, of about the same rluration. when it was green; a third, that 
ilodol of an Jrofiiioi.s "lonsf-lionst'” of bark, in llie Koelie.stoi' Mimieipal i^^ll.senm. 
( I*hoto hy coio tesy of .1. C. I'<irLcr.) 
lasted for four days, when it was harvested; and, in addition, minor 
festivals at the ripening of strawberries, raspberries, and beans. But 
the outstanding event in the Iroquois ceremonial year was the great 
mid-winter festival that extended over sev^en or eight days, the morn- 
ing of the fifth day being reserved for the sacrifice of a white dog and 
the two or three final days for games. Certain elected officials had 
charge of all these festivals; they levied contributions of food from 
each household, fixed the dates for the ceremonies, and appointed 
orators to open them with an appeal to the Great Spirit^ and a prayer 
1 111 prehistoric times perhnps to .louskeha, the benevolent sun-god, or according to another inter- 
pretation, the personification of the cpiickening forces in nature. 
