While we know our northern friends may not feel it, in the South, Spring is
here. So we thought we'd share a few of our gardening sites appropriate
for this time of the year. Along with gardening, there's grilling, and getting
ready to diet so that you can fit back into that bathing suit this summer!
Busk (Creek: púskita,
'a fast'). A festival of the Creeks, by some early writers termed the
green-corn dance. According to Gatschet (Creek Migr. Leg., i, 177, 1884)
the solemn annual festival held by the Creek people of ancient and modern days.
As this authority points out, the celebration of the púskita
was an occasion of amnesty, forgiveness, and absolution of crime, injury, and
hatred, a season of change of mind, symbolized in various ways.
The day of beginning of the celebration of the púskita,
which took place chiefly in the "town square," was determined by the miko,
or chief, and his council; and the ceremony itself, which had local variations,
lasted for 4 days in the towns of less note and for 8 days in the more
important. Hawkins (Sketch, 75, 1848) has left a description of the busk,
or "boos-ke-tau," as it was carried out in the white or peace town of Kasihta in
1798-99. The chief points are as follows:
First day: The yard of the square is cleaned in the morning and sprinkled
with white sand, while the black drink is being prepared. The fire maker,
specially appointed, kindles new fire by friction, the 4 logs for the fire being
arranged crosswise with reference to the cardinal points. The women of the
Turkey clan dance the turkey dance, while the very strong emetic called passa
is being brewed; this is drunk from about noon to the middle of the afternoon.
Then comes the tadpole dance, performed by 4 men and 4 women known as "tad
poles." From evening until dawn the dance of the hiniha is performed by
the men. The "old men's tobacco" is also prepared on the first day.
Second day: At about 10 o clock the women perform the gun dance, so
called from the men firing guns during its continuance. At noon the men approach
the new fire, rub some of its ashes on the chin, neck, and belly, and jump head
foremost into the river, and then return to the square. Meantime the women busy
themselves with the preparation of new maize for the feast. Before the feast
begins, the men as they arrive rub some of the maize between their hands and
then on the face and chest.
Third day: The men sit in the square.
Fourth day: The women, who have risen early for this purpose, obtain some
of the new fire, with which they kindle a similarly constructed pile of logs on
their own hearths, which have previously been cleaned and sprinkled with sand. A
ceremony of ash rubbing, plunging into water, etc., is then performed by them,
after which they taste some salt and dance the "long dance."
Fifth day: The 4 logs of the fire, which last only 4 days, having been
consumed, 4 other" logs are similarly arranged, and the fire kindled as before,
after which the men drink the black drink.
Sixth and seventh days: During this period the men remain in the town
square.
Eighth day: In the square and outside of it impressive ceremonies are
carried on. A medical mixture concocted by stirring and beating in water 14
kinds of plants (the modern Creeks use 15), sup posed to have virtue as physic,
is used by the men to drink, to rub over their joints, etc., after the priests
have blown into it through a small reed. Another curious mixture, composed
chiefly of the ashes of old corncobs and pine boughs, mixed with water, and
stirred by 4 girls who have not reached puberty, is prepared in a pot, and 2
pans of a mixture of white clay and water are likewise prepared afterward by the
men. The chief and the warriors rub themselves with some of both these mixtures.
After this 2 men, who are specially appointed, bring flowers of old men's
tobacco to the chief s house, and each person present receives a portion. Then
the chief and his counselors walk 4 times around the burning logs, throwing some
of the old men's tobacco into the fire each time they face the E, and then stop
while facing the w. When this is concluded the warriors do the same. The next
ceremony is as follows:
At the miko's cabin a cane having 2 white feathers on its end is stuck out. At
the moment when the sun sets a man of the Fish clan takes it down and walks,
followed by all spectators, toward the river. Having gone half way, he utters
the death-whoop, and repeats it 4 times before reaching the water's edge. After
the crowd has thickly congregated at the bank each person places a grain of old
men s tobacco on the head and others in each ear. Then at a signal repeated four
times they throw some of it into the river, and every man at a like signal
plunges into the water to pick up 4 stones from the bottom. With these they
cross themselves on their breasts 4 times, each time throwing 1 of the stones
back into the river and uttering the death whoop. They then wash themselves,
take up the cane with the feathers, return to the square, where they stick it
up, then walk through the town visiting. After nightfall comes the mad dance,
which conclude the púskita.
The 4 days busk, as performed at Odshiapofa (Little Talasse), as witnessed by
Swan, whose account seems to have been really made up by McGillivray (Gatschet,
Creek Migr. Leg., i, 181, 1884), adds some details concerning the dress of
the fire maker, the throwing of maize and the black drink into the fire, the
preparation and use of the black drink, and the interesting addition that any
provisions left over are given to the fire maker. Other travelers and
historians, as Adair, Bartram, and Milfort, furnish other items concerning the
ceremony. Bartram says: "When a town celebrates the busk, having previously
provided themselves with new clothes, new pots, pans, and other household
utensils and furniture, they collect all their worn out clothes and other
despicable things, sweep and cleanse their houses, squares, and the whole town,
of their filth, which with all the remaining grain and other old provisions,
they cast together into one common heap and consume it with fire. After having
taken medicine, and fasted for 3 days, all the fire in the town is extinguished.
During this fast they abstain from the gratification of every appetite and
passion whatever. A general amnesty is proclaimed, all malefactors may return to
their town, and they are absolved from their crimes, which are now forgotten,
and they are restored to favor." According to Gatschet (op. cit., 182) it
appears that the busk is not a solstitial celebration, but a rejoicing over the
first fruits of the year. The new year begins with the busk, which is celebrated
in August, or late in July. Every town celebrated its busk at a period
independent from that of the other towns, whenever their crops had come to
maturity. In connection with the busk the women broke to pieces all the
household utensils of the previous year and replaced them with new ones; the men
refitted all their property so as to look new. Indeed the new fire meant the new
life, physical and moral, which had to begin with the new year. Everything had
to be new or renewed even the garments hitherto worn. Taken altogether, the busk
was one of the most remarkable ceremonial institutions of the American Indians.
(A. F. C.)
This site
includes some historical materials that may imply negative stereotypes
reflecting the culture or language of a particular period or place. These
items are presented as part of the historical record and should not be
interpreted to mean that the WebMasters in any way endorse the stereotypes
implied .
Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico, Frederick Webb Hodge, 1906
