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Show 1850] SOUTHEASTERN INDIANS called in English. In the larger villages it lasted eight days and its date depended upon the ripening of the maize. The chief features were the ceremonial making of new fire by friction in the central square of the great house, the drinking of the " black drink" ( decoction of Iris versicolor), the dances of a symbolic character on successive days, and rigid abstinence from food, followed at the end of the busk by feasting and dancing of the wildest kind. It is usually considered that the ceremonial was in honor of the sun as the giver of the new fruits of the year, the sun being symbolized by the fire burning in the court. The new fire exemplified the new life, physical and moral, which was to begin with the new year. The fasting fitted the people for this new life, and the conviviality at the close expressed the idea that all men are brothers. The black drink was the symbol of purification and absolution from sin and offences of all sorts. 1 It is always as dangerous as it is enticing to trace the symbolism of primitive ceremonials. Whether all these motives were present in the Creek mind it is impossible to say. One thing is certain, and that is that the busk did exert a most salutary effect upon the participants. Quarrels and feuds were forgotten and never revived, and, except for murder, amnesty was declared for all crimes. Houses were refurbished, utensils and clothing were made anew, 1 Gatschet, Migration Legend of the Creek Indians, 182. |