Beatty—The St. George^ or Mummers’ > Plays. 313 
hamats’a and gave them a ritual. This the chief did, and he 
was the first to celebrate the winter ceremonial. 1 
The dramatization of this myth and the myths allied to it, 
is very elaborate in the masks, dress and ritual, many of which 
can be explained by a reference to the myth. 2 An important 
part, too, is played by the dances and songs. 
As the myth implies, “the object of the whole winter cere¬ 
monial is, first, to bring back the youth who is supposed to 
stay with the supernatural being who is the protector of his 
society, and then, when he has returned in a state of ecstasy, 
to exorcise the spirit w 7 hich possesses him and to restore him 
from his holy madness. These objects are attained by songs 
and dances. In order to bring the youth back, members of 
all the secret societies perform their dances. It is believed 
that they will attract the attention of the absent novice, until 
finally one of the dances may excite him to such a degree that 
he will approach fiying through the air. As soon as he ap¬ 
pears, his friends endeavor to capture him. Then begins the 
second part of the ceremony, the exorcising of the spirit, or, 
as the Ewakiutl call it, the taming of the novice. This is ac¬ 
complished by means of songs sung in his honor, by dances 
performed by women in his honor, and by the endeavors of 
the Shaman . 3 * * The songs are made up mostly of four verses. 
“Each novice, viz., member of a society, has his own songs. 
They open wfith a burden which varies according to the society 
to which they belong. This burden is sung in order to in¬ 
dicate the tune. Then follow the words, which, however, are 
interspersed with repetitions of the burden. The words are 
called The walk of the song’ (or, as we should say, the words 
1 A similar legend is given on pages 403-405. This illustrates what 
Boas says (p. 663), that there are several legends to explain the same 
ceremony. This fact is ,so significant that it should he noted. It 
seems to point to the probability that the ceremony is of earlier date 
than the legends. 
2 E. g., the raven mask, pp. 448-449; the cross-pieces' and head rings, 
etc., pp. 449-454. See the illustrations—an important feature of Boas’ 
work. 
3L. c., p. 431. 
