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the south, turn the ear over, and again call out the child's name.
Then move the south corn ear to the east, turn the ear over and
repeat the baby's name. Then the corn must be slid from the east
position to the north again. It must be turned over, and the
baby's name repeated for a final time. Then the baby is placed on
the ground, and the doctor must pretend that he is looking everywhere
for the child till at last it is found. This little rite is supposed
to bind the baby to its' mother's clan, as well as to aid in bringing
it to maturity.
At first I thought that these little rites might well be
derived from the imagination of the medicine man. But one morning
when my wife and I went to a camp to take my informant and his wife
to Fort Myers, we saw one of the so-called doctors, or minor prac-
titioners, holding a newborn baby over the coals of the fire in
the cookshed. A small vial of bayleaves had been placed in the
coals, and the baby. was being immersed in the smoke from the bayleaves
when we arrived. We asked for the meaning of this rite, and were
told that it was to keep the child from being lost when it left the
camp for the first time.
An interesting evidence occurs in connection with the mentioning
of recently widowed people of both sexes. Speaking of widows is
dangerous. The belief is that if you talk too much about widows,
your own wife will die. Widows are obliged to eat by themselves.
At the annual Green Corn Dance, a widower strips the clothes from
a recently made widow, or at least most of her clothes, throws them
away, and she then obtains new ones. Our friend had a widow staying
at his camp--his wife's sister. He would neither make medicine for
her, or for her infant child. He would speak to her only sparingly,
as necessity demanded. A widow remains in a ritually unclean
state for a certain length of time. Her hair is let down and her
beads removed. She becomes an active member of her group again
after being ceremonially re-admitted at the Green Corn Dance.
The Green Corn Dance or world renewal ceremony, is well known
in outline to most people who know anything about Seminole life.
This dance is performed as a New Year festival, in the same manner
as did the Creek Indians from whom they are descended. For this
dance, new clothes are made by the women for their whole family.
Old fires in the camp are allowed to die out and a new fire is
kindled by resort to the ancient fire drill instead of matches.
Then again the new corn crop cannot be eaten by the men until they
have been made ritually pure for its inception. Another striking
feature is the scratching of the men and boys with an instrument
made of bone, in which a rattlesnake fang has been inserted. This