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A photograph showing how the Morning Star sacrifice was formerly performed. Because of the small number of participants, unlike the grand events that the actual sacrifices were, it is inaccurate in many ways.

The Morning Star sacrifice was a religious ritual involving the sacrifice of a captive girl, historically practiced only by the Skidi band of the Pawnee people.

Mythological background

The Morning Star sacrifice was a ritualistic dramatization of the Skidi myth of the Morning Star and the Evening Star, a relatively common myth in the Great Plains with Wichita, Caddo, and Osage cognates; hence, it is very important to understand the mythology behind the ritual.

Huupirikucuu, or the Morning Star, a personification of the planet Mars, was the first being to be created by the omnipotent and spiritual creator deity Atiu Tiráwa, and the leader of the gods. As a war deity the Morning Star covered himself up with red dust and wielded a war club. The next being to be created was Teuperitaka, a personification of Venus, generally known as the Evening Star. She was a beautiful goddess who could perform wonders only by speaking and waving her hand, but had vaginal teeth. She was followed by various other celestial deities, including Big Black Meteoric Star, Lightning, and Wind Ready to Give. The Sun and the Moon were placed last of all. The men stars, led by Morning Star and the Sun, settled in a village in the eastern sky, while Evening Star and the Moon led the women stars, who settled in another village in the west. The men stars of the east knew that the western stars were women, and after a while there were men stars who decided to go west to find a female star to marry. When a woman star saw a man star coming, they told the Moon, who left to meet the man star. When they met, the Moon would ask the man star why he came, and the man star would reply that he came to marry one of the women stars. The Moon would answer, "That is what we want, come with me," and they would walk together until they came in sight of the village of the women stars. Then the Moon would stop and make a motion, and the ground would open, and the man star would fall and die.

Finally, the Morning Star and the Sun themselves decided to go west. The Morning Star went first, while the Sun followed, carrying a sacred bundle with the Morning Star's war club. They finally reached a place where the women star's village could be seen, where they were greeted by the Moon. The Morning Star said that he wished for the two genders to mingle together, and the Moon pretended to accept, leading the two men stars to the village. As she had always done, the Moon stopped the two, and the ground began to crack. But the Morning Star struck the ground with his war club, chanting:

I become myself when I become angry.

With the war club I strike the earth.

I strike the ground and undo the power of the Moon.

With this, the cracks sealed up.

There were many more obstacles on the way to Evening Star's village: sharp flint stones, then a forest of locust trees, then very hot places, and beds of cacti and stretches of sword grasses. At each obstacle, the Morning Star chanted and stomped his war club, and the obstacle vanished. The two men stars were then attacked by magical animals commanded by the women stars; first a snake, then water animals, and then buffalo and finally bears. The Morning Star killed each of these animals with his club.

Finally, the two men stars reached Evening Star's village. The Morning Star married the Evening Star, the Moon married the Sun, and the

End of the human sacrifice

A medal bestowed to Petalesharo, one of the Pawnees to definitely end the custom of human sacrifice. The left depicts the warrior, called the "Bravest of the Brave," saving the young captive; the right depicts the empty sacrificial platform.