Two of the attendants, a man and a woman, then build the two fires in the temple, so that there may be plenty of light, and sweep the floor with turkey-wings for brushes. The men attendants take turns so that one of them, at least, is always on guard outside the building. When the temple is clean, the fires are burning bright, and the aʹckas have called the people in and all are assembled, the chief arises and delivers a speech.
CHIEF’S SPEECH
First he states the rules of the meeting, then he speaks along some such line as the following, which was dictated by Chief Elkhair, who frequently made these speeches:
“We are thankful that so many of us are alive to meet together here once more, and that we are ready to hold our ceremonies in good faith. Now we shall meet here twelve nights in succession to pray to Gicelĕmû‛ʹkaong, who has directed us to worship in this way. And these twelve Mĭsiʹngʷ‛ faces [carved on the posts of the house] are here to watch and to carry our prayers to Gicelĕmû‛ʹkaong in the highest heaven. The reason why we dance at this time is to raise our prayers to him. Our attendants here, three women and three men, have the task of keeping everything about our Temple in good order, and of trying to keep peace, if there is trouble. They must haul wood and build fires, cook and sweep out the Big House.
“When they sweep, they must sweep both sides of the fire twelve times, which sweeps a road to Heaven, just as they say that it takes twelve years to reach it. Women in their menses must not enter this house.
“When we come into this house of ours we are glad, and thankful that we are well, and for everything that makes us feel good which the Creator has placed here for our use. We come here to pray Him to have mercy on us for the year to come and to give us everything to make us happy; may we have good crops, and no dangerous storms, floods nor earthquakes. We all realize what He has put before us all through life, and that He has given us a way to pray to Him and thank Him. We are thankful to the East because everyone feels good in the morning when they awake, and see the bright light coming from the East, and when the Sun goes down in the West we feel good and glad we are well; then we are thankful to the West. And we are thankful to the North, because when the cold winds come we are glad to have lived to see the leaves fall again; and to the South, for when the south wind blows and everything is coming up in the spring, we are glad to live to see the grass growing and everything green again. We thank the Thunders, for they are the manĭʹtowŭk that bring the rain, which the Creator has given them power to rule over. And we thank our mother, the Earth, whom we claim as mother because the Earth carries us and everything we need. When we eat and drink and look around, we know it is Gicelĕmû‛ʹkaong that makes us feel good that way. He gives us the purest thoughts that can be had. We should pray to Him every morning.
“Man has a spirit, and the body seems to be a coat for that spirit. That is why people should take care of their spirits, so as to reach Heaven and be admitted to the Creator’s dwelling. We are given some length of time to live on earth, and then our spirits must go. When anyone’s time comes to leave this earth, he should go to Gicelĕmû‛ʹkaong, feeling good on the way. We all ought to pray to Him, to prepare ourselves for days to come so that we can be with Him after leaving the earth.
“We must all put our thoughts to this meeting, so that Gicelĕmû‛ʹkaong will look upon us and grant what we ask. You all come here to pray; you have a way to reach Him all through life. Do not think of evil; strive always to think of the good which He has given us.
“When we reach that place, we shall not have to do anything or worry about anything, only live a happy life. We know there are many of our fathers who have left this earth and are now in this happy place in the Land of Spirits. When we arrive we shall see our fathers, mothers, children, and sisters there. And when we have prepared ourselves so that we can go to where our parents and children are, we feel happy.
“Everything looks more beautiful there than here, everything looks new, and the waters and fruits and everything are lovely.