The solemn annual festival held by the Creek people of ancient and
modern days is the púskita, a word now passed into provincial English
(busk); its real meaning is that of _a fast_. In the more important
towns it lasted eight days; in towns of minor note four days only, and
its celebration differed in each town in some particulars. The day on
which to begin it was fixed by the míko and his council, and depended
on the maturity of the maize crop and on various other circumstances.
Its celebration took place mainly in the "great house" of the public
square, and from Hawkins' description, who saw it celebrated in
Kasiχta,[116] we extract the following particulars:
[Footnote 116: Remember well that Kasiχta is a _white_ or
_peace town_.]
In the morning of the _first day_ the warriors clean the area of the
great house and sprinkle it with _white_ sand, at the time when the
black drink is being prepared. The fire in the centre is made by
friction, very early in the day, by a ministrant especially appointed
for the purpose, called the fire-maker. Four logs, as long as the span
of both arms, are brought to the centre of the area by the warriors,
and laid down end to end, so as to form a cross. Each end of this
cross points to one of the cardinal points of the compass. At the spot
where the logs converge, the new fire is kindled and the logs are
consumed during the first four days of the púskita. The women of the
turkey gens dance the turkey-dance, pínua opánga, while the powerful
emetic pā′ssa is being brewed. It is drank from noon to
mid-afternoon, after which the tadpole-dance, tokiúlka opánga, is
danced by four males and four females, who are called the tokiúlka or
_tadpoles_. In the evening the men dance the dance of the híniha:
híniha opánga, and continue it till daylight.
The _second day_ begins with the performance of the gun-dance, ítch'ha
opánga, danced by females about ten o'clock in the forenoon.[117] At
noon the men approach the new fire, rub some of its ashes on the chin,
neck and belly, jump head foremost into the river, and then return to
the great house. Meanwhile the females prepare the new maize for the
feast, and the men on arriving rub some of it between their hands,
then on their face and breast, after which feasting begins.
[Footnote 117: The dance is called so, because the men fire off
guns during its performance; another name for this dance is
tapútska opánga; cf. tapodshídshās _I am shooting_.]
The _third day_ the men pass by sitting in the square.
On the _fourth day_ the women rise early to obtain a spark of the new
fire; they bring it to their own hearths, which were previously
cleaned and sprinkled with sand, and then kindle their fires on them.
When the first four logs are consumed, the men repeat the ceremony of
rubbing the ashes on their chin, neck and belly, and then plunge into
water. Subsequently they taste salt and dance the long dance, opánga
tchápko.
The _fifth day_ is devoted to the bringing in of four other logs,
which are disposed and kindled as aforementioned, and then the men
drink ássi.