Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1885-12-17
THE BOOS-KE-TAN.
An Interesting Ceremony Held Annually
by Creek Indians.

An Interesting Ceremony Held Annually
by Creek Indians.
The Creek Indians of the Hickory
Ground town or neighbol hood held
their annual .'bos-ke-tan" last week.
This is commonly called "busk," and
is the occasion when all the Indians of
a certain section, under local chief,
meet for the purpose of taking their
'.possan, or black drink. The ground
is selected by the town chief near some
running stream, and brush shed is
constructed in the form of a cross, one
end to the north, one to the south, and
the others to the east and west. The
chief occupies the west end, and his
subordinate officials the ends to the
other points of the compass. After
everything is got in readiness, COM
mittee is appointed to go out and bring
in four round logs, which are placed
with ceremony in the center of the
arbor, the outer ends pointing to the
four cardinal points, but all touching
together in the center.
Fire is produced by friction, which is
then placed in the center of this cross.
1t is estimated with slow fire these
logs will last four days, the usual length
of the busk. After the black drink is
made the women, who are fasting,
dance around the fire, and from twelve
O'Clock to the middle of the afternoon
take draughts of the medicine, which is
powerful ehfetic, and also wash their
faces hands and feet with it. When
the women all get through the men
join them, and they dance all night,
the women wearing terrapin shells
filled with gravel bound together, with
buckskin thongs fastened to their legs
or ankles, which rattle and aid in keep
ing time in the dance. They sing their
peculiar songs, interspersed with yells
by the men, and it is wonderful the
amount of labor that is endured during
these exercises. The women are taste
fully and brilliantly dressed and deco
rated with their finest clothes, ribbons,
and ornaments. The next day the men
go through pretty much the same cere-
monies, and take their medicine.
After this, on the third day, the
women bring the children, who are
made to drink. They are washed in it,
scratched on the arms and legs with
scratcher of many points, SO that the
medicine can the sooner penetrate.
These scratches are usually made of
garfish teeth, or, in the absence of
those. they are made by sticking numer-
Gus pins through feather. After each
class get through with their duties of
drinking and dancing they are per-
mitted to 60 to the stream and battle,
when they can return to the camp and
partake of food and prepare for the
dance at night During all these cere-
monies the women occupy one camp
and the men another.
On the fourth day the ashes are all
cleaned up and each participant
sprinkles some OF it on himself; the fire
is renewed, and then begins the final
dance. The men all come in with
sticks, in the ends of which are inserted
four white feathers. With these they
keep time in all sorts of motion during
the dance. All this is the ceremony
that has to be gone through before any
of the members are allowed to eat
green corn, and is. properly speaking,
the green-corn dance.
In some towns of old standing these
ceremonies are kept up eight days with
much formality and strictness. In
'Tookabatcha town there now exist
brass plates that have been handed
down from one generation to another,
probably for hundreds of years. They
are now in possession of old Captain
'Tookabatcha Halo, one of the finest
looking old Indians I have ever met,
and is said to be one of the best men
throughout the territory. These meet
ings are not altogether for the purpose
of taking medicine, but are productive
of much good. The chiefs of these
clans take occasion to call together all
young men. and explain TO them the
laws of the country, and exhort them
to be obedient to those laws, to main
tain friendship among themselves and
and all return thanks for the
blessings of the past year, and ask the
Great Spirit to continue for the year to
eame--Zopeha (Kan) Communicable.