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SWANTON] CHOCTAW SOCIAL AND CEREMONIAL. LIFE 191
repeat, the hoops were an ornament, that and nothing else. The statement in
Colonel Claiborne's History, relative to this " spirit-ladder " business, must then
be taken with many grains of salt; in fact, must not be taken at all. The
Choctaws are certainly better judges of this matter than any white man can
possibly be.*" In addition to this, as has already been stated, there was no
special number of hoops. The " thirteen lunar months " symbolism, as men-
tioned in Colonel Claiborne's book, is something that was unknown to the
Choctaws, and had its origin only in the white man's imagination. A reference
to another matter in this same connection. There never was any " dancing-the-
spirit home " ceremonies, as likewise recorded on the same page of Colonel
Claiborne's History. This is another specimen of the white man's fancy.
Farther on in this paper will be given an account of the dances that are danced
at the last cry.
Returning from this digression, the cry at the pole pulling is merely the
beginning of the many things that ai'e to be done before the final closing of
the funeral ceremonies. The family and the near relatives now go into deep
mourning, which the men manifest by letting the hair remain unshorn and the
women by going barefoot, and neither sex wearing any kind of ornaments, such
as plumes, silver bands, sashes, gorgets, beads, bracelets, finger rings, earrings
in short, any ornament peculiar to either man or woman. Under all circum-
stances the mourners preserve a grave and dignified demeanor. They converse
in low tones, and the men nevea* even so far forget themselves as to shout at
a dog. They indulge in no jests, laughter, revelry, or merrymaking of any
kind. If approached and asked to participate in a dance, for instance, the
invariable response is, " Hihla la hekeyu Tabishi sia hokat "— " I can not dance.
I am a mourner." Twice a day—early in the moi-uing and late in the after-
noon—they go to the grave, cover their heads, kneel down, and weep over it.
If a friend comes to see them they even go oftener, the visitor accompanying
them and doing his share of weeping. Etiquette also requires that the visitor
himself must always approach the grave and weep a while over it before he
enters the house. While the immediate family go, as it were, into conventional
mourning by the observances mentioned above, as regards letting the hair
grow, going barefoot, and wearing no ornaments, this matter is entirely optional
to those of more distant relationship. A first cousin, for instance, can use his
own pleasure whether or not, by following these observances, he shall be included
in the mourning family.
Meanwhile the two headmen confer with each other and appoint the most
expert hunters out of the two iksa to go out into the woods, kill as many deer
as they can, and barbecue their flesh for " the last cry," or, as it is called by
the Choctaws, " yaiya chito "— " the big cry." After a while the mourning
family appoint a day for " the little cry '— " yaiya iskitini "—which, of
course, is held at the grave. Quite a company generally go to the little cry.
The headmen are generally present. There are no ceremonies at the little cry.
While there the family agree upon the time for the big cry. This is a kind
of communal cry, in which the ciitire town or community participate. The
time for the cry is determined by many circumstances, as the state of the
weather, the labor of the crops, etc. Sometimes several months elapse between
the death and the last cry. As soon as the time is settled upon, the two headmen,
just as in the olden time, send around the small bundles of split cane to
all the families, far and near, thereby notifying them of the appointed day.
•"Yes, as to current beliefs, but it is quite possible for beliefs to change. And Indeed It
Is more tban possible. It is common. There may or may not have been grounds for
Claiborne's statement. Note that Cushman says the same thing (see p. 177).