22 ceremonial grounds were active on Cherokee lands in Oklahoma. Stickball games are often played at stomp dance grounds. Yuchi stomp dances are held in conjunction with their ritual football games. Especially in Oklahoma, different tribes will participate in each other's dances. Leadership A traditional stomp dance grounds is often headed by a male elder. In the Creek and Seminole traditions, the meko or "king" [chief] is the primary ceremonial authority. The meko is assisted by his second in charge called a heniha, the chief medicine man called a hillis hiya and speaker called meko tvlvswv or "meko's tongue/speaker". It is important to note that mekos are not supposed to publicly address the entire grounds and as such that responsibility falls often on meko tvlvswv. A traditional Creek grounds also employs four tvstvnvkes (warchiefs/generals/police), four head ladies and four alternate head ladies. Ceremony A night of dancing typically starts well after dark and continues until dawn of the next day, with many rounds of dancing throughout the night. Participants who are making a religious commitment to the ceremony will begin fasting after midnight, "touch medicine" at four different times during night, and are obligated to stay awake the whole night. The medicine is made from specific roots and plants which have been ceremonially gathered by selected "medicine helpers" and prepared by the Heles Haya at dawn of the morning of the Dance. This medicine is intended for the physical and spiritual benefit of the members of the dance at the ceremonial ground. One of the male members of the community is given the job of calling out each song leader and all other participants to dance for each round. Each round is led by a selected man who has developed his own sequence of songs from the multitude of variations on traditional rhythms, melodies and lyrics, sometimes with personalized content in the mix. The songs are typically performed in call and response form, in the native language. Every dance must have at least one woman with shakers, who falls into step immediately behind the song leader, to carry the rhythm. The remaining dancers follow, alternating male-female in a continuous spiral around the central fire, with visitors, then young children, and the odd numbers trailing at the end. The dancers circle the fire in counterclockwise direction with deliberate stomping steps set to the rhythm created by the women with their shell