THE FOUR GODS OF THE NORTH. 29 
that part of it became water and part of it became land. When King- 
fisher had done this it dropped by the man and he reached out his hand 
and touched the bird and it turned into a woman.' 
The man held a ceremony in honor of the four gods in the north and 
he taught his offspring to conduct the ceremony. There were eight 
priests. The bundle was opened and a bowl of water was placed in front 
of the altar. This altar was in the west and the bundle rested there. In 
the north of the lodge was another altar. This altar was for the gods. 
The chief priest dressed himself to represent the god who carried out the 
wishes of Tirawa. The priest first put on the top of his head a bunch of 
downy feathers, about twenty-six in number, with turkey feathers around 
it.2, He hadastring of blue beads in his right ear, with a clam shell at the 
end of the string. From the shell hung a scalp. This priest also repre- 
sented the first man. Now the priest took four sticks from the bundle 
and clothed them with crow feathers. At the top were placed four shells. 
The sticks were then set up in the north altar. Each of the north gods 
had a face which was a shell. These faces were faces of Tirawa. This 
is the reason why we once offered shells to the gods to remind them of 
their power. The chief priest then put the holy ointment of red over his 
body. Then he took from the bundle the holy moccasins. The mocca- 
sins were of buffalo hide with the hair outside. He also took from the 
bundle a buffalo beard. This he tied about his waist to show people how 
the first man was covered. The red ointment he passed to the other 
seven priests. Then they invited the men to enter the lodge. The 
women were not allowed to witness this ceremony. 
When all the men had entered the lodge, the chief priest arose with a 
kingfisher in his right hand. Hestoodin front of the wooden bowl. The 
other priests arose with the gourd rattles in their right hands. Then all 
the others arose and the seven priests began to sing. As the priests sang, 
the high priest shook the ground, then he made a motion as if to turn the 
bird loose, and lifted it toward the bowl of water several times and finally 
he dippeditintothe water. There wassilence throughout thelodge. The 
chief priest spoke and said, ‘‘This is the way Tirawa made the land to 
appear out of the waters.”’ They all sat down and the priest arose with 
the pipe, lighted it, and gave a whiff of smoke to each of the four gods 
1The conception of the kingfisher dividing the earth is quite different from the 
Skidi belief in this regard. This idea, as well as that of the kingfisher becoming 
a woman, is paralleled in the tales of the Arikara. 
2The downy feathers in this connection are symbolic of eggs of the turkey, the 
turkey feathers representing the turkey itself. The turkey is conceived of as 
the most prolific of fowl, and the symbol has reference to the fact that during the 
ceremony the priest receives the power which enables him to plan out the various 
future activities of the camp, such as where and when they shall go on the hunt, etc. 
