Some of the most important religious duties of the men are concerned with a great ceremonial building which stands on the mesa top just across the canyon from Cliff Palace. It is a massive, D-shaped building which dominates a high, narrow point between two canyons. Near it are a number of cliff dwellings and the men from all these joined in constructing the building. On days when it is used, priests and men from all the villages come trotting up the trails to join in the performance of the elaborate ceremonies. It is a superceremonial structure where only the most important rites are performed. When the building was constructed, the priests planned it very carefully. The main building is D-shaped, with the straight wall to the south. The outside wall is double and in the space between are a number of long narrow rooms, some without doorways. In the court enclosed by the walls are two kivas. This part of the building is symmetrical, the result of the very careful planning of the priests. On the west end of the building is an addition consisting of a kiva and ten rooms, all added in such a way that the entire building is still D-shaped. The building has no roof and all of the walls are over a dozen feet high. Half of the rooms have no doors; they are deep, small rooms entered by ladders. This building is open to the sun and the elements, in this respect being entirely different from the underground kivas. The thick, high, double walls and the location on the isolated point give the priests the secrecy they desire and in this unique building are held the greatest of all the ceremonies. Long ago the priests of the various villages decided there was a need for this community place of worship. By concerted effort they built it and through the cooperation of the many societies they have carried on the ceremonies. It is their supreme effort toward a perfect adjustment with the powers that control their destiny. During the late fall and early winter the ceremonial season is in full swing and there is much festivity in Cliff Palace. It is a time for visiting and feasting and there is a trace of the carnival spirit in the air. The ceremonies are not entirely solemn, long-faced affairs; some have light, entertaining parts and there may even be clowns who convulse the onlookers with their antics. The underlying motive of a ceremony is serious and earnest but this does not prevent its being thoroughly enjoyable to the participants as well as the audience.