http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pawnee wrote:
<<Like many other Native American tribes, the Pawnee had a cosmology with elements of all of nature represented in it. They based many rituals in the four cardinal directions. Sacred bundles were created by medicine men and put together of materials, such as an ear of corn, with great symbolic value. These were used in many religious ceremonies to maintain the balance of nature and the relationship with the gods and spirits. The Pawnee were not part of the Sun Dance tradition. They did participate in the Ghost Dance movement of the 1890s.
The Pawnee believed that the Morning Star and Evening Star gave birth to the first Pawnee woman. The first Pawnee man was the offspring of the union of the Moon and the Sun. As descendants of the stars, cosmology played an integral role in daily and spiritual life. They planted their crops according to the position of the stars, which related to the appropriate time of season for planting. Like many tribal bands, they sacrificed maize and other crops to the stars.
The Morning Star ritual
The Skidi Pawnee practiced child sacrifice, specifically of captive girls, in the "Morning Star ritual". They continued this practice regularly through the 1810s and possibly after 1838, the last reported sacrifice. They believed the longstanding rite ensured the fertility of the soil and success of the crops, as well as renewal of all life in spring. The sacrifice was related to the belief that the first human being was a girl, born of the mating of the Morning Star (the male figure of light) and Evening Star, a female figure of darkness, in their Creation story.
Typically, a warrior would dream of the Morning Star, usually in the autumn, which meant it was time to prepare for the various steps of the ritual. The visionary would consult with the Morning Star priest, who helped him prepare for his journey to find a sacrifice. The warrior, with help from others, would capture a young girl from an enemy tribe. The Pawnee kept the girl and cared for her over the winter, taking her with them as they made their buffalo hunt. They arranged her sacrifice in the spring, in relation to the rising of the Morning Star. She was well treated and fed throughout this period.
When the morning star rose ringed with red, the priest knew it was the signal for the sacrifice. He directed the men to carry out the rest of the ritual, including the construction of a scaffold outside the village. It was made of sacred woods and leathers from different animals, each of which had important symbolism. Below was a pit with elements corresponding to the four cardinal directions. All the elements of the ritual related to symbolic meaning and belief, and were necessary for the renewal of life. The preparations took four days.
A procession of all the men, boys and male infants accompanied the girl out of the village to the scaffold. Together they awaited the morning star. When the star was due to rise, the girl was placed and tied on the scaffold. At the moment the star appeared above the horizon, the girl was killed with an arrow, then the priest cut the skin of her chest to bleed. She was quickly shot with arrows by all the participating men and boys to hasten her death. The girl was carried to the east and placed face down so her blood would soak into the earth, with appropriate prayers for the crops and life she would bring to all life on the prairie.
News of the sacrifices reached the East Coast about 1820-1821; it caused a sensation. Before this, agents counseled Pawnee chiefs to try to get them to suppress the practice, as they warned of how it would upset the American settlers, who were arriving in ever greater number. Knife Chief ransomed at least two captives before sacrifice, but trying to change a practice tied so closely to belief in renewal of life for the tribe was difficult. The Missouri Gazette of St. Louis contained the account of one sacrifice in June 1818. The last known child sacrifice was of Haxti, a 14-year-old Oglala girl, on April 22, 1838.>>
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* In James Michener's novel Centennial, and the later television miniseries of the same name, he depicts the Pawnee as enemies of the Arapaho. In one memorable scene, the Arapaho lead a raid to rescue an Arapaho girl captured for sacrifice in the Morning Star ritual.
* In Arthur Penn's 1970 film, Little Big Man, the Pawnee play the antagonists to the Dustin Hoffman's character, Little Big Man. They killed his family in the beginning of the film and sided with General George Custer's 7th Cavalry by serving as scouts. Later in the film, Pawnee kill Little Big Man's Indian family on the Washita River.
* In Kevin Costner's movie Dances with Wolves, the Pawnee are the main Indian antagonists of the Lakota/Sioux Indians befriended by the main character. In the words of one reviewer, the Pawnee "are identified as a blood seeking race..."
Perseid Storm
I liked the nightscape slide show! 
Todays photo was really cool!
