If the hunters are lucky and kill a deer the first day, they send one man back with it. As he approaches he fires a gun as a signal of his coming, at which the singers run into the Big House and begin to sing and beat the drum. Then everyone is happy.
In any case the hunters all return on the third day. If they have killed deer, they shoot their guns; if not, they come in very quietly. When the shots are heard, the singers hasten to their places, and, beating the drum, sing a song that is used only on such occasions. Then when the hunters arrive, they feast, and their leader announces the names of those lucky enough to kill a deer. The carcasses are skinned and hung on the deer pole (shown in frontispiece), east of the Big House, and are used in the feasts at the close of every night’s meeting until the gathering disbands.
NEW FIRE
Every night the usual program is repeated until the ninth. On this night a new fire is kindled with the sacred pump-drill called tuⁿdaʹi wäheⁿʹji manĭʹtowŭk or “Fire maker of the Manĭʹtos” ([fig. 8]), and the ashes of the old are carried out through the west door of the Big House, which is used only for this purpose (among the Unami), and is usually kept closed. The new fire seems to symbolize a fresh start in all the affairs of life.
USE OF CARVED DRUMSTICKS
Also on the ninth night, before the singing begins, they bring out the two ancient drumsticks (pa kŭⁿdiʹgŭn) carved with tiny human heads, one male and one female ([fig. 11]), to use in place of the cruder sticks used before, which are marked only with a rude cross ([fig. 12, a]). At this time, also, twelve prayersticks (ma‛tehiʹgun) are distributed—six plain and six striped ones ([fig. 12, b])—by two of the male attendants, each with six, one man starting from each end of the Big House and proceeding in a trot to distribute the sticks while the drum is beaten, and the people, holding up their hands, cry the prayer word “Ho-o-o!”
Fig. 11.—Sacred drumsticks, used at the Annual Ceremony in Oklahoma. (Length of a, 18.6 in.)
Fig. 12.—a, Plain drumstick used at the Annual Ceremony; b, Prayerstick. (Length of b, 18.9 in.)