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GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 39
They are found only in the oldest tumuli and are doubtless to be referred
to the Mound-Builders. The Southern Indians were not idolaters.
Marriage was an institution which the Indian held in great respect,
though it was accompanied by no religious rites. Matches were usually
made by female relatives, who settled all the preliminaries; but the final
word was, of course, invariably spoken by the head of the household.
It was customary for a bridegroom to build a cabin, plant and gather
a crop, go on a hunt and bring back a supply of wild game before re
ceiving a maiden under his shelter. Since the nuptial vow was not
sanctioned by a priest, either party to the compact could dissolve it at
will; but in case of a separation the children accompanied the mother.
The Creeks were polygamists; but the Cherokees adhered rigidly, if not
religiously, to the Biblical doctrine of marriage, at least with respect
to the number of wives.
Both the Creeks and the Cherokees, at an early period, were given
to a burial of the dead in mounds; but these were never such colossal
structures as were built by the prehistoric race of Mound-Builders. As
practiced by the Georgia Indians of a later period, these rites were much
simpler. Says Mr. Brooks: "The Creeks buried their dead in a pit
under the cabin of the deceased. The pit was about four feet square,
and the body was placed in a sitting position. Gun, tomahawk and pipe
were deposited with the corpse. Immediately on the death of a Cherokee,
his body was washed, anointed and placed in front of his lodge. After
a period of mourning, the body was carried three times around the hut,
and then buried in a pit under the floor. The Choctaws placed the dead
body on a scaffold eighteen or twenty feet above the ground. When
only the skeleton remained, it was taken down and placed in a bone-
house. After a considerable number of skeletons had accumulated, a
funeral ceremony was performed and the bones interred together. Cre
mation was practiced among some tribes. Most of the tribes seemed to
have buried with the dead warrior his weapons and other highly prized
possessions, and vessels containing food. This practice indicates the
Indian's belief in a future existence. The food was intended to sustain
him during the passage from this world to the next." *
Festivals at certain times of the year were observed by the Indians
with ceremonious pomp. The most important of these was the husk or
harvest festival which was always introduced by a process of purifi
cation. Streets were swept, houses and premises cleansed, after which
a great bonfire was made of garbage, old clothes, cooking utensils, and
whatever food happened to be on hand. Then followed a three days'
fast, during which interval all fugitives from justice might return to
be pardoned, unless these criminals were murderers. On the morning
thereafter, the priest made a new fire by rubbing sticks together, new
corn was brought from the fields, and the feast began, to continue amid
general rejoicing.
As we have already observed, the Creeks and the Cherokees were
not worshippers of idols; nor were any of the Southern Indians. They
worshiped the sun as a visible manifestation of the Great Spirit, dis
pensing light and heat and sustaining life, but they did not bow down to
* E. P. Brooks in '' History of Georgia,'' p. 26.