Respond:
The Green Corn Ceremony is a multifaceted celebration of new beginnings. Also known as the Great Peace Ceremony, it is a celebration of thanksgiving to Hsaketumesa (Breath Maker) for the first fruits of the harvest, as well as New Year celebrations.
Explanation:
First day
On the first day of the ceremony, people set up their camps in one of the ceremonial squares. This is followed by the celebration of the remnants of last year's harvest, after which all the men of the community begin to fast. On this night, a social topa dance is held, unique to the cultures of Muskogee and the Southeast.
Second day
Before dawn on the second day, four shrub-covered tents are erected along the edges of the ceremonial ground, one in each of the sacred directions. For the first dance of the day, the women of the community participate in a ribbon dance or women's dance, which involves attaching rattles and shells to the feet, performing a cleansing dance with special ribbon sticks in preparation for the ceremony. place for renewal ceremony. The ceremonial fire is lit in the middle of four logs laid crosswise so that they point to the four sides. Miko "Mekko" (head of the ceremonial lands or tribal city) takes a little of each of the new crops (not only grains, but also beans, squash, wild plants, etc.), rubs with bear fat and cooks. were offered along with meat as "firstfruits" and atonement for all sins. The fire (which has been re-lit and maintained with a special medicine by a medicine man or "Heleshiwa" chilis-chi-ya) will be maintained until next year's Green Corn Ceremony. In traditional times, women swept their fires and the rest of their homes and collected dirt from them, as well as any old clothes and furniture that needed to be burned and replaced with new items for the New Year. The women then bring coals to their homes to rekindle the household fire. Then on this fire you can bake a new fruit of the year (it can also be eaten with bear butter). Many Creeks also practice sapi or ceremonial scratching, a type of morning bloodletting, and in many tribes men and women may rub themselves with corn milk, ashes, white clay or similar mixtures and bathe as a form of purification.
Day three
While the second day is devoted to women's dances, the third day is dedicated to men's. After the purification of the second day, the men of the community perform a feather dance to heal the community. The fast usually ends with supper after the women announce that the food is ready, at which time the men descend to a body of water, usually a flowing stream or river, for a ceremonial bath. in water and a private men's collection. They then return to the ceremonial square and perform a single stomp dance before retiring to their home camps for a feast. At this time, participants in healing rites are not allowed to sleep as part of the fast. At midnight, the "Stomp Dance" ceremony is held, which includes a feast and continues all night.
Day four
On the fourth day at dawn, friendly dances, games are arranged, and later people gather and return home with a feeling of purification and forgiveness. The open water fast will continue for another four days.
