No. 2 is the path supposed to be taken by the shadow (spirit) of the deceased; it leads westward to the Dzhibai´ Midē´wigân; literally, shadow-spirit wig´iwam.
No. 3, 4, 5, and 6, designate the places where the spirit plucks the fruits referred to—respectively the strawberry, the blueberry, the June cherries, and the plum.
No. 7 designates the form and location of the Dzhihai´ Midē´wigân. The central spot is the place of the dish of food for Dzhibai´ Man´idō—the good spirit—and the smaller spots around the interior of the inclosure are places for the deposit of dishes for the other Midē´ spirits who have left this earth.
No. 8 is the path which is taken by the candidate when going from his wig´iwam to the Midē´wigân.
No. 9 indicates the place of the sweat-lodge, resorted to at other periods of initiation.
No. 10 is the Midē´wigân in which the ceremony is conducted at the proper time.
It is stated that in former times the Ghost Lodge was erected west of the location of the mourner’s wig´iwam, but for a long time this practice has been discontinued. The tradition relating to the Spirit’s progress is communicated orally, while the dramatic representation is confined to placing the dishes of food in the Midē´wigân, which is selected as a fitting and appropriate substitute during the night preceding the initiation.
This custom, as it was practiced, consisted of carrying from the mourner’s wig´iwam to the Ghost Lodge the dishes of food for the spirits of departed Midē´ to enjoy a feast, during the time that the Midē´ priests were partaking of one. A large dish was placed in the center of the structure by the mourner, from which the supreme Midē´ spirit was to eat. Dishes are now carried to the Midē´wigân, as stated above.
The chief officiating Midē´ then instructs the father of the deceased boy the manner in which he is to dress and proceed, as symbolizing the course pursued by the spirit of the son on the way to the spirit
world. The instructions are carried out, as far as possible, with the exception of going to an imaginary Ghost Lodge, as he proceeds only to the Midē´wigân and deposits the articles enumerated below. He is told to take one pair of bear-skin moccasins, one pair of wolf-skin, and one pair of birds´ skins, in addition to those which he wears upon his feet; these are to be carried to the structure in which the Midē´ spirits are feasting, walking barefooted, picking a strawberry from a plant on the right of the path and a blueberry from a bush on the left, plucking June cherries from a tree on the right and plums on the left. He is then to hasten toward the Ghost Lodge, which is covered with mī´gis, and to deposit the fruit and the moccasins; these will be used by his son’s spirit in traveling the road of the dead after the spirits have completed their feast and reception of him. While the candidate is on his mission to the Ghost Lodge (for the time being represented by the Midē´wigân) the assemblage in the wig´iwam chant the following for the mourner: Yan´-i-ma-tsha´, yan´-i-ma-tsha´, ha´, yan´-i-ma-tsha´ yan´-i-ma-tsha´ ha´, yu´-te-no-win´ gē´, hē´ nin-de´-so-ne´—“I am going away, I am going away, I am going away, to the village I walk”—i.e., the village of the dead.