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Title: Tusayan katcinas
Author: Fewkes, Jesse Walter
Language: English
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TUSAYAN KATCINAS
BY
JESSE WALTER FEWKES
EXTRACT FROM THE FIFTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE
BUREAU OF ETHNOLOGY
[Illustration]
WASHINGTON
GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
1897
CONTENTS
Page
Introduction 251
Tabular view of the sequence of Tusayan celebrations 255
Names of months and corresponding ceremonials 256
Means of determining the time for ceremonials 258
Classification of ceremonials 260
Discussion of previous descriptions of Katcinas 264
Classification of Katcinas 265
Elaborate Katcinas 268
Soyáluña 268
Katcina’s return 273
Powámû 274
Pálülükoñti 291
Nimánkatcina 292
Abbreviated Katcinas 292
Characteristics 292
Síocálako 296
Pawíkkatcina 299
Áñakatcina 303
Comparative study of Katcina dances in Cibola and Tusayan 304
ILLUSTRATIONS
Page
PLATE CIV. _A_, Shield with star symbol; _B_, Soyáluña shield
with star and unknown symbol; _C_, Symbolic sun shield 262
CV. The Natácka ceremony at Walpi 267
CVI. Hahaíwüqti, Natácka, and Soyókmana 272
CVII. Doll of Cálakomana 278
CVIII. Katcina mask with squash-blossom appendage and
rain-cloud symbolism 286
CIX. Doll of Cálakomana (mistakenly given on the plate as
Cálakotaka) 294
CX. Head-dress of Alosaka 301
CXI. A Powámû mask 306
FIGURE 39. Tablet of the Palahíkomana mask 262
40. The Áñakatcina 294
41. Maskette of Áñakatcinamana 295
42. Position of celebrants in the court of Sitcomovi in
Síocálako 298
43. Mask of Pawíkkatcina (front view) 299
44. Mask of Pawíkkatcina (side view) 300
45. Mask of Pawíkkatcinamana 301
46. Staff of Pawíkkatcina 301
47. Helmets, ear of corn, and spruce bough arranged for
reception ceremony 302
48. Symbolism of the helmet of Húmiskatcina (tablet
removed) 307
THE GROUP OF TUSAYAN CEREMONIALS CALLED KATCINAS[1]
By JESSE WALTER FEWKES
INTRODUCTION
In their use of the word Katcina[2] the Hopi or Moki apply the term to
supernatural beings impersonated by men wearing masks or by statuettes
in imitation of the same. The dances in which the former appear are
likewise called by the same name which with the orthography “Cachena”
is used in descriptions of these dances in the valley of the upper
Rio Grande. The present use of the term among the Tusayan Indians
leads me to consider it as almost a synonym of a supernatural being of
subordinate rank to the great deities. Ancestral worship plays a not
inconspicuous part in the Hopi conception of a Katcina.
When we endeavor to classify the ceremonials which form the ritual
practiced by the Tusayan villagers, the subject is found to be
so complex that it can be adequately treated only by the help of
observations extending through many years. The plan which I have
followed in my work, as will be seen in previous publications, has
been to gather and record data in regard to the details of individual
observances as a basis for generalization.
My former publications on this subject have therefore been simply
records of observations.[3] For various reasons it has seemed well
to anticipate a final and general account and interpretation, with
tentative efforts at a classification to serve as a stepping-stone
to a more exhaustive and complete discussion of the relationship of
these observances, which would naturally appear in an elaborate memoir
necessitating a broader method of treatment than any yet adopted.
At the present stage of my researches it would be too early to
write such an account of the ceremonial calendar of the Tusayan
villagers, but it has been deemed well to put on record, with many new
observations, this preliminary outline of what may be a portion of a
general system, to aid other investigators in kindred fields of study.
When I began my work, four years ago, the task of bringing order out of
what appeared to be a hopeless confusion seemed well nigh impossible,
but as one ceremony after another was studied it was found that the
exactness of the ritual as exemplified in ceremonial presentations
pertained even to details, and that there was a logical connection
running throughout all the religious observances of the Tusayan
Indians, the presentations of which were practically little influenced
by white races with whom the people had been brought in contact. As
these ceremonials were studied more sympathetically I discovered a
unity throughout them which, whatever their origin may have been,
placed them in marked contrast to those of the nomads by whom they were
surrounded. They were found to belong to a type or ceremonial area in
which the other Pueblos are embraced, the affinities of which carry us
into different geographic regions of the American continent.
But while this type differs or differed in ancient times from those of
Athapascan or Shoshonean aborigines, it bears evidence of a composite
nature. It had become so by contributions from many sources, and had
in turn left its impress on other areas, so that as a type the Pueblo
culture was the only one of its kind in aboriginal America. With strong
affinities on all sides it was unique, having nearest kinship with
those of Mexico and Central America.
The geographic extension of the Pueblo type of culture was no doubt
formerly much greater than it is at the present time. What its
original boundaries were future investigation will no doubt help us
to decide, but the problem at present before us is the determination
of its characteristics as a survival in our times. When once this
is satisfactorily known, and not until then, can we advance with
confidence to wider generalizations as to its past distribution and
offer theories regarding its affinities with other ceremonial areas of
the American race.
It is doubtless true that we are not progressing beyond what can be
claimed to be known when we say that all the Pueblo peoples belong to
the same ceremonial type. I am sure that in prehistoric and historic
times delegations from the Rio Grande country have settled among
the Tusayan villagers, and that many families of the latter have
migrated back to the Rio Grande again to make permanent homes in that
section. The most western and the most eastern peoples of this Pueblo
culture-stock have been repeatedly united in marriage, bringing about a
consequent commingling of blood, and the legends of both tell of their
common character. It is too early in research to inject into science
the idea that the Pueblos are modified Indians of other stocks, and
we outstrip our knowledge of facts if we ascribe to any one village or
group of villages the implication involved in the expression, “Father
of the Pueblos.” Part of the Pueblo culture is autochthonal, but its
germ may have originated elsewhere, and no one existing Pueblo people
is able satisfactorily to support the claim that it is ancestral
outside of a very limited area.
In the present article I have tried to present a picture of one of the
two great natural groups of ceremonials into which the Tusayan ritual
is divided. I have sought also to lay a foundation for comparative
studies of the same group as it exists in other pueblos, but have
not found sufficient data in regard to these celebrations in other
villages to carry this comparative research very far. Notwithstanding
these dances occur in most of the pueblos, the published data about
them is too meager for comparative uses. No connected description of
these ceremonies in other pueblos has been published; of theoretical
explanations we have more than are profitable. It is to be hoped that
the ever-increasing interest in the ceremonials of the Pueblos of the
southwest will lead to didactic, exoteric accounts of the rituals of
all these peoples, for a great field for research in this direction is
yet to be tilled.
In the use, throughout this article, of the words “gods,” “deities,”
and “worship” we undoubtedly endow the subject with conceptions
which do not exist in the Indian mind, but spring from philosophic
ideas resulting from our higher culture. For the first two the more
cumbersome term “supernatural beings”[4] is more expressive, and the
word “spirit” is perhaps more convenient, except from the fact that it
likewise has come to have a definite meaning unknown to the primitive
mind.
Worship, as we understand it, is not a proper term to use in the
description of the Indian’s methods of approaching his supernal beings.
It involves much which is unknown to him, and implies the existence
of that which is foreign to his conceptions. Still, until some better
nomenclature, more exactly defining his methods, is suggested, these
terms from their convenience will still continue in common use.
The dramatic element which is ascribed to the Katcina[5] ritual is more
prominent in the elaborate than in the abbreviated presentations, as
would naturally be the case, but even there it is believed to be less
striking than in the second group or those in which the performers are
without masks.
There exists in Hopi mythology many stories of the old times which form
an accompanying body of tradition explaining much of the symbolism
and some of the ritual, but nowhere have I found the sequence of the
ceremonials to closely correspond with the episodes of the myth. In
the Snake or the Flute dramatizations this coincidence of myth and
ritual is more striking, but in them it has not gone so far as to be
comparable with religious dramatizations of more cultured peoples.
Among the Katcinas, however, it is more obscure or even very limited.
While an abbreviated Katcina may be regarded as a reproduction of the
celebrations recounted in legends of times when real supernatural
beings visited the pueblos, and thus dramatizes semimythic stories, I
fail to see aught else in them of the dramatic element.
The characteristic symbolism is prescribed and strictly conforms to the
legends. Explanations of why each Katcina is marked this or that way
can be gathered from legends, but the continuous carrying out of the
sequence of events in the life of any Katcina, or any story of creation
or migration, did not appear in any abbreviated[6] Katcina which was
studied. In this subdivision a dramatic element is present, but only
in the crudest form. In the elaborate Katcinas, however, we find an
advance in the amount of dramatization, or an attempt to represent a
story or parts of the same. Thus we can in Soyáluña follow a dramatic
presentation of the legend of the conflict of the sun with hostile
deities or powers, in which both are personified.
I must plead ignorance of the esoteric aspect of the Tusayan
conceptions of the Katcinas when such exists. This want of knowledge
is immaterial, for the object of this article is simply to record what
has been seen and goes no further. I will not say that a complete
account of the Katcinas can be given by such a treatment, and do not
know how much or how little of their esoterism has eluded me, but
these observations are wholly exoteric records of events rather than
esoteric explanations of causes. It is thought that such a treatment of
the subject will be an important contribution to the appreciation of
explanations which it naturally precedes.
Although it seems probable that the ritual of primitive man contains
elements of a more or less perfect dramatization of his mythology, I
incline to the opinion that the ritual is the least variable and from
it has grown the legend as we now know it. The question, Which came
first, myth or ritual? is outside the scope of this article.
Any one who has studied the ceremonial system of the Tusayan Indians
will have noticed the predominance of great ceremonials in winter.
From harvest time to planting there is a succession of celebrations of
most complicated and varied nature, but from planting to harvesting
all these rites are much curtailed. The simplest explanation of this
condition would be, and probably is, necessity. There is not time
enough to devote to great and elaborate ceremonials when the corn must
be cared for. Time is then too precious, but when the corn is high and
the crop is in sight, or during the long winter when the agriculturist
is at home unemployed, then the superstitious mind has freedom to carry
on elaborate rites and observances, and then naturally he takes part
in the complex ceremonies. Hence the spring and early summer religious
observances are abbreviated. Although the Pueblo farmer may thoroughly
believe in his ceremonial system as efficacious, his human nature is
too practical to consume the precious planting time with elaborate
ceremonials. But when he sees that the crop is coming and harvest is at
hand, then he begins the series of, to him, magnificent pageants which
extend from the latter part of August until March of the following year.
It has been proven by repeated observations of the same ceremonials
that there is great constancy in the way successive presentations
of the ritual are carried out year after year. The inevitable
modifications resulting from the death of old priests undoubtedly in
course of time affect individual observances, but their ritual is never
voluntarily changed. The ceremonials which I have here and elsewhere
described were not invented by them to show to me, nor will any
religious society of the Hopi at the present day get up a ceremony to
please the white man. Each observance is traditional and prescribed for
a certain time of the year.
TABULAR VIEW OF THE SEQUENCE OF TUSAYAN CELEBRATIONS[7]
The following tabular view of the sequence of ceremonials may aid in
the study of the Hopi calendar, and indicate the ceremonials presented
to us for classification:
{ Katcina’s return.
_A_[8] { Powámû.
{ Pálülükoñti.
The abbreviated Katcinas commonly come in the interval, and vary
somewhat from year to year.
{ Nimán (Katcina’s departure).
{ Snake or Flute (alternating).
{ Lálakoñti.
_B_ { Mamzraúti.
{ Wüwütcímti[9] (sometimes Naácnaiya).
{ Soyáluña.
_Masked or Katcina Ceremonials_
+------------+-----------+------------+--------------+--------------+---------+
| _December_ | _January_ | _February_ | _March_ | _April–June_ | _July_ |
+------------+-----------+------------+--------------+--------------+---------+
| Soyáluña. | Pa. | Powámû. | Pálülükoñti. | Variable | Nimán. |
| | | | | abbreviated | |
| | | | | Katcinas. | |
+------------+-----------+------------+--------------+--------------+---------+
_Unmasked or Nine Days’ Ceremonials_
+-----------------+-------------+------------+---------------+
| _August_ | _September_ | _October_ | _November_ |
+-----------------+-------------+------------+---------------+
| Snake or Flute. | Lálakoñti. | Mamzraúti. | Wüwütcímti or |
| | | | Naácnaiya. |
+-----------------+-------------+------------+---------------+
The Katcina chief, Íntiwa, erects his altar every year in the Móñkiva,
but different kivas by rotation or otherwise celebrate the dance of
the Nimán by their appropriate presentation, thus: The men of the
Wikwáliobikiva celebrated the dance in 1891; those of Nacábkiva in
1892; those of the Álkiva in 1893, and probably in 1894 the men of the
Tcivatokiva will personate the last Katcina of the summer. It thus will
appear that the special supernatural personage represented varies from
year to year within certain limits, and the variations mean nothing
more than that the members of the different kivas participate in
rotation.
NAMES OF MONTHS AND CORRESPONDING CEREMONIALS
The Tusayan names of the months are as follows:
+---------------------+------------------+
| _Months_ | _Ceremonials_ |
+---------------------+------------------+
| 1. Powámü′iyawû[10] | Powámû. |
| 2. Ü′cümü′iyawû | Pálülükoñti. |
| 3. Kwiyaomü′iyawû. | |
| 4. Hakitonmü′iyawû. | |
| 5. Kelemü′iyawû. | |
| 6. Kyamü′iyawû | Nimán. |
| 7. Pamü′iyawû | (Snake, Flute.) |
| 8. Powa′mü′iyawû | Lálakoñti. |
| 9. Hüükmü′iyawû | |
|10. Ü′cümü′iyawû | Mamzraúti. |
|11. Kelemü′iyawû | Wüwütcímti. |
|12. Kyamü′iyawû | Soyáluña. |
|13. Pamü′iyawû | Katcina’s return. |
+---------------------+------------------+
The second part of the October (Ü′cü) is said to be called Tü′hoe. If
this is recognized as a lunar period we would have 14 divisions to
the ceremonial year. In the Pamü′iyawû, the Snake ceremony, and the
Katcina’s return, the same Nüitiwa (struggle of maids for bowls, etc)
occurs.
It will be noticed that the five summer moons have the same names as
those of the winter; by that I do not mean to discard the divisions
“named” and “nameless,” elsewhere used on good authority. The questions
regarding the nomenclature of the different moons and their number are
very perplexing and not yet satisfactorily answered.
The determination of the number of moons recognized in the year or
the interval between the successive reappearance of the sun in his
house (Táwaki) at the summer solstitial rising is a most important
question, for a satisfactory answer to which my researches thus far
are insufficient. Several of the priests have told me that there were
13, as given above; but others say there are 12, and still others, 14.
The comparative ethnologist, familiar with Mexican calendars, would be
glad to accept the report that there were 13, in which case there would
be introduced a remarkable harmony between peoples akin in many ways.
Although, however, there is good evidence that 13 is recognized by some
priests, the negative evidence must be mentioned, especially as it is
derived from men whose knowledge of Hopi lore I have come to respect.
I have, however, provisionally followed the opinion of those who hold
that the Hopi recognize 13 ceremonial months in their calendar.
If the second part of the Ü′cü moon be called Tü′hoe, we would have
14 moons, which would give 6 between 2 Pówa, or 2 Pa, Kéle, Kyá,
and divide the ceremonial year into two parts of 7 moons each. The
Katcina’s return (Ükine), or the beginning of the Katcinas, then occurs
in the Pa moon; they end in Kyá at the Nimán (last, farewell). The
group of unmasked ceremonials (nine days) likewise begins at the Pa
moon in the Snake or Flute, and ends at the winter, Kyá, or Soyáluña.
In endeavoring to find some reason for the similarity of names in the
two groups of months which compose the ceremonial year I have this
interesting hint, dropped by one of the priests: “When we of the upper
world,” he said, “are celebrating the winter Pa moon the people of the
under world are engaged in the observance of the Snake or Flute, and
vice versa.” The ceremonials in the two worlds are synchronous. “That
is the reason,” said my informant, “that we make the Snake or Flute
pahos during the winter season, although the dance is not celebrated
until the corresponding month of the following summer.”[11]
MEANS OF DETERMINING THE TIME FOR CEREMONIALS
Among the Hopi Indians there are priests (tawawympkiyas) skilled in the
lore of the sun, who determine, by observations of the points on the
horizon, where the sun rises or sets, the time of the year proper for
religious ceremonials. Two of these points are called sun houses, one
at tátyüka,[12] which is called the sun house (táwaki) par excellence,
another at kwiníwi, which also is called táwaki, or sun house.
The points on the horizon used in the determination of ceremonial
events are as follows:
1. Táwaki (hütca, opening). The horizon point properly called savwúwee
marks the cardinal point tátyüka or place of sunrise at the winter
solstice. The winter ceremony Soyáluña is determined not by sunrise,
but by sunset, although, as a general thing, the time of summer
ceremonials is determined by observations of sunrise.
2. Másnamüzrü (mási, drab or gray; namüzrü, wooded ridge). This point
is the ridge or crest of the mesa, east of Püp′ce.
3. Pavüñ′tcómo (pavüñ, young corn; tcómo, mound). A point on the old
wagon trail to Fort Defiance, a little beyond the head of Keams canyon.
4. Hoñwítcomo (derivation obscure; hóñwi, erect).
5. Nüváktcomo (nüvák, snow; tcómo, mound). When the sun reaches here on
its northern journey the Honáni or Badger people plant corn; the other
Hopi people plant melons, squashes, and gourds.
6. Pülhomotaka (pülü, round, hump; hómo, obscure; táka, man; possibly
many hump-back men). When the sun reaches here the Pátki or Water
people plant corn. When the sun returns here the Snake-Antelope
fraternities assemble for the Snake dance.
7. Kwitcála.[13] When the sun rises at this point on his northward
journey general planting begins, which continues until the summer
solstice. When the sun returns to this point on his southerly journey
the Nimánkatcina is celebrated.
8. Taíovi (?).
9. Owátcoki (owa, rock; tcóki, mound house).
10. Wü′nacakabi (wü′na, pole; cáka, ladder).
11. Wakácva, cattle spring, 12 miles north of Keams canyon.
12. Paváukyaki, swallow house.
13. Tüyüka, summer solstice.
We are justified in accepting the theory that sun and moon[14]
worship is usual among primitive men. Whether that of the sun or
of our satellite was the earlier it is not in the province of this
article to discuss, but it is doubtless true that sun worship is a
very ancient cult among most primitive peoples. The Pueblos are not
exceptions, and while we can not say that their adoration is limited
to the sun, it forms an essential element of their ritual, while their
anhydrous environment has led them into a rain-cloud worship and other
complexities. I think we can safely say, however, that the germ of
their astronomy sprang from observations of the sun, and while yet in
a most primitive condition they noticed the fact that this celestial
body did not always rise or set at the same points on the horizon. The
connection between these facts and the seasons of the year must have
been noted early in their history, and have led to orientation, which
plays such an important part in all their rituals. Thus the approach
of the sun to a more vertical position in the sky in summer and its
recession in winter led to the association of time when the earth
yielded them their crops with its approach, and the time when the earth
was barren with its recession. These epochs were noticed, however, not
by the position of the sun at midday, but at risings and settings,
or the horizon points. The two great epochs, summer and winter,
were, it is believed, connected with solstitial amplitudes, and the
equinoctial, horizontal points, unconnected with important times to
agriculturists, were not considered as of much worth. There is every
evidence, however, that the time of day was early indicated by the
altitude of the sun, although the connection of the altitude at midday
with the time of year was subordinated to observations on the horizon.
CLASSIFICATION OF CEREMONIALS
In attempting to make out the annual cycle of ceremonial observances,
as determined by observations made during the last three years, I
recognize two groups, the differences between which may be more or less
arbitrary. These groups are called—
I. The Katcinas.
II. The Nine days’ ceremonials.
The former of these groups, which is the subject of this article,
begins with the Katcinas’ return,[15] and ends with their departure
(Nimán). It is not my purpose here to do more than refer to the latter
group, as a short reference to them may be of value for a proper
understanding of the Katcinas.
There are significant likenesses between different members of the
series of nine days’ ceremonials, and they may be grouped in several
pairs, of which the following may be mentioned:
I. Snake or Flute.[16]
II. Lálakoñti and Mamzraúti.
III. Powámû and Pálülükoñti.
IV. Wüwütcímti and Naácnaiya.
The likenesses are built on the similarity of the rites practiced in
both members of each pair. The Hopi priests recognize another kinship
which does not appear in the nature of the ceremonies as much as in
the subordinate parts. Thus, Lálakoñti and Pálülükoñti, Wüwütcímti
and Mamzraúti are brother and sister ceremonials, according to their
conceptions. This kinship is said to account for certain events in the
ceremonials, and friendly feeling manifested between certain societies,
but much obscurity envelops this whole subject of relationships.
The term “Nine days’ ceremonies” refers to the active[17] ceremonial
days, including those in which the chiefs perform the secret observance
and the open dance of the last days. Strictly speaking, the ceremonial
smoke to determine the time is a part of the observance, and from this
date to the final public exhibition there are sixteen days, a multiple
of the omnipresent number four.
Some of the Katcinas have nine days of ceremonials, counting the
assembly and the final purification.
The inception of the ceremony is called tcótcoñ yüñya, smoking
assembly, in which the chiefs (moñ′mowitû) meet together in the evening
at a prescribed house. The meeting places are as follows:
Tcütcüb (Snake-Antelope fraternity) Snake chief’s mother’s house.
Mamzraú Sálako’s.
Lálakoñ Kótcnümsi’s.
Soyáluña Vénsi’s.
Wüwütcím Tcíwüqti’s.
Lénya (Flute) Talásvensi’s.
Nimán Kwümaletci’s.
On the day following this smoke the speaker chief (tcaákmoñwi) at early
sunrise announces to the public that the ceremony is to begin, and to
the six direction deities (nananivo moñ′mowitû) that the priests are
about to assemble to pray for rain. Eight days after the announcement
the chiefs gather in the kiva, and that day is called yüñya,
assemblage, but is not counted in the sequence of ceremonial days. The
first ceremonial day is Cüctála, after which follow the remaining days
as already explained in my account of the Snake ceremonials. Counting
the days from the commencement, the Snake, Flute, Nimán, Lálakoñti, and
Mamzraúti are always celebrated in extenso sixteen days, or nine days
of active ceremonies, as shown in articles elsewhere. When Naácnaiya
is not celebrated, Wüwütcímti, Powámû, Soyáluña, and Pálülükoñti are
abbreviated to four days of active ceremonials.
The following diagnosis may be made of these great nine days’
ceremonials: Duration of the ceremony, nine consecutive days and
nights; no masked dancers in secret or public exhibitions; no Katcinas;
no Tcukúwympkiyas.[18] Altars and sand mosaics generally present.
Individual ceremonials either annual or biennial, but in either case at
approximately the same time of the year; sequence constant. Típoni[19]
generally brought out in the public dance. Many páhos,[20] ordinarily
of different length (Snake, Flute, Lálakoñti, Mamzraúti), to deposit
in shrines at varying distances from the town. Ceremonial racing,
generally in the morning of the eighth and ninth days.
The following are the important nine days’ ceremonies:
1. The Antelope-Snake celebration, alternating biennially with the
Lélenti or Flute observance.
2. The Lálakoñti. This ceremony lasts nine days and as many nights,
and is celebrated by women. The details of the celebration at Walpi in
1891, together with the altars, fetiches, and the like have already
been published.[21] It has some likenesses with the Mamzraúti, which
follows it in sequence. There are four priestesses, the chief of whom
is Kótcnümsi. Three típonis were laid on the altar in the celebration
of 1891, although it is customary for each society to have but one
típoni, which, with the other paraphernalia, is in the keeping of the
chief priest.
[Illustration: FIG. 39—Tablet of the Palahíkomana mask.]
3. The Mamzraúti. This ceremonial has likewise been described.[22] In
some celebrations of this festival girls appear with tablets on their
heads personifying maids called Palahíkomanas. In 1891 these personages
were represented by pictures[23] of the same on slabs carried in the
hands of girls. In this way the variations of their celebrations in
different years may be explained; sometimes women are dressed to
impersonate the Palahíkomanas, at others only pictures of the same are
carried.
[Illustration: PL. CIV.
SHIELD WITH STAR SYMBOL.
SOYALUNA SHIELD WITH UNKNOWN SYMBOL.
SYMBOLIC SUN SHIELD.
DRAWN BY MARY M. MITCHELL. A. HOEN & CO., LITH.]
4. The Wüwütcímti. The Naácnaiya, of which this is an abbreviated
observance, has been described.[24] One of the most prominent events
is the ceremonial making of the new fire; and as this is in a measure
distinctive of these two, it is proper to designate them the New Fire
ceremonies.
In essentials the Naácnaiya and the Wüwütcímti are the same, but the
former appears to be of less constant appearance and more complicated.
In it, as elsewhere described, the statuette of Talátumsi is brought
into the pueblo, but in the abbreviated form offerings are made at her
shrine down the trail. During the making of the new fire Ánawita,[25]
personifying Masauwûh, is hidden behind a blanket held by two
assistants.
The second group, called the Katcinas, which may be divided into two
smaller divisions, known as the elaborate and the abbreviated, fills
out the sequence of religious ceremonials between the Soyáluña and the
Nimánkatcina. These celebrations are distinguished from those of the
former group by the presence of masked personages to whom is given the
name of Katcinas. By the use of these masks or helmets the participant
is supposed to be transformed into the deity represented, and women and
children avoid looking at Katcinas when unmasked. The main symbolism of
the deity is depicted on the helmet or head, and varies in different
presentations, but the remaining paraphernalia is constant, whatever
personage is represented.[26]
The mask (kü′ĭtü, head) is often addressed as íkwatci, “my friend
or double.” Prescriptively it must be put on and taken off with the
left hand.[27] It is of helmet shape, fitting closely to the head and
resting on the shoulders. These masks or helmets are repainted at
each presentation with the symbolism of the personage intended to be
represented. They are ordinarily made of leather, portions of boot legs
or saddles, and in one or two instances I have found on their inside
the embossed or incised markings characteristic of Spanish saddles. Old
felt hats are sometimes used in the manufacture of the simpler masks
and those of the mud-heads are of coarse cloth. Few of the helmets now
used give evidence of very great antiquity, although some are made of
the skin of the bison. One can seldom purchase these helmets, as their
manufacture is difficult, and instead of being discarded after use in
one ceremony they are repainted for other presentations.
There is a similar uniformity year by year in the time of the
celebration of the extended or elaborate Katcinas called Nimán,
Powámû, Pálülükoñti, Soyáluña, and the Pa or Katcina’s return. Their
sequence is always the same, but in the abbreviated Katcinas or masked
dances this uniformity is not adhered to. A certain number of these
are celebrated each spring and summer, but the particular abbreviated
Katcina[28] which is presented varies from year to year, and may or may
not be reproduced.
While Katcinas or masked dances do not generally occur during the
interval of the nine days’ ceremonials (autumn and early winter), I
have notes on one of these which indicate that they sometimes take
place in this epoch.
On September 20, 1893, a Katcina called Áñakatcina[29] was performed
in Hano after the Nimán had been celebrated in Walpi. Theoretically it
would not be expected, as the farewell Katcina is universally said to
be a celebration of the departure of these personages to their distant
home, an event which does not occur at Hano. It would be strange if
later observations should show that Katcinas are celebrated in other
villages between the departure and return of these personages.
DISCUSSION OF PREVIOUS DESCRIPTIONS OF KATCINAS
Our exact knowledge of the character of the Hopi Katcinas dates back to
Schoolcraft’s valuable compilation. While the existence of these dances
was known previously to that time, and several references to similar
dances among the other Pueblos might be quoted from the writings of
Spanish visitors, our information of the Katcina celebrations in
Tusayan previously to 1852 is so fragmentary that it is hardly of
value in comparative studies. In the year named Dr P. S. G. Ten Broeck
visited Tusayan and published a description of what was probably a
Katcina dance at Sitcomovi. Although his account is so imperfect that
we can not definitely say what Katcina was personated, his description
was the first important contribution to our knowledge of the character
of these dances among the Hopi Indians. It will be noticed in a general
way that the personation differed but slightly from those of the
present day. Ten Broeck noted that the male dancers, Katcinas, wore
on their heads “large pasteboard towers” (náktci?), and “visors[30]
made of small willows, with the bark peeled off and dyed a deep
brown.” He recognized that the female dancers (Katcinamanas) were men
dressed as women and that they wore yellow “visors” and dressed their
hair in whorls as at the present time. He described the musical (?)
accompaniment of the dance with the scapula of an animal rubbed over a
“ground piece of wood.” He likewise noticed the priests who sprinkled
the dancers with sacred meal, and speaks of two small boys painted
black with white rings who accompanied the dance. The latter may have
been personifications of the Little Fire Gods.
The Hopi clowns, Tcukúwympkiyas, were likewise seen by Ten Broeck, who
described their comical actions. From his description of the byplay of
their “assistants,” I find very little change has taken place since his
time. In the Katcina which he observed food was distributed during the
dance, as I have elsewhere described is the case today. Although much
might be added to Ten Broeck’s description, his observations were the
most important which had been made known up to his time, and continued
for forty years the most valuable record of this group[31] of dances
among the Tusayan Indians.
CLASSIFICATION OF KATCINAS
Before considering the various ceremonials in which the Katcinas
appear, it may be well to say something of the nature of these
supernatural beings which figure in them as made known by the testimony
of some of the best-informed men of the tribe. The various legends
which are told about them are numerous and can not be repeated here,
but a few notions gathered from them may render it possible for the
reader to better understand the character of the ceremonials in which
they appear.
These deities are generally regarded as animistic and subordinate to
the greater gods.[32] They have been called intercessors between man
and the highest supernatural beings. There are misty legends that
long ago the Katcinas, like men, came from the under world and brought
with them various charms or náhü with which the Hopi are familiar. By
some it is said that a Honáni (Badger) chief came up from the Átkyaa,
or under world, in the center of a square whose four sides were formed
of lines of Katcinas, and that he bore in his left hand a buzzard
wing feather and a bundle of medicine hats on his back. The Katcinas
recognized him as their chief, and became Katcina Honáni, Badger
Katcinas.
The legend runs that in ancient times Hahaíwüqti[33] emerged from the
under world followed by four sons, who were Katcinas, each bearing in
his arms a pet called pálülükoñûh, plumed serpent. Following these four
came other Katcinas with pets (pókomatü), of whom the following are
mentioned:
One bearing pákwa, frog (water-eagle).
One bearing pátsro, water-bird.
One bearing pawíkya, duck.
One bearing pavákiyuta, water on the backs bearers, aquatic animals.
One bearing yüñ′ocona, turtle.
One bearing zrána, bullfrog.
One bearing pavátiya, young water bearer (tadpole).
The others with kwáhü (eagle), parrot, crow, cooper’s hawk, swallow,
and night hawk.
The Súmaíkoli pets for the six directions are:
Sowüñwû, deer Kwiníwi.
Pañ′wû, mountain sheep Tevyüña.
Tcü′bio, antelope Tatyúka.
Tcaízrisa, elk Hópoka.
Sówi, hare Omyúka.
Tábo, cottontail rabbit Atkyántuka.
The first four Katcinas bear a startling yet foreign resemblance to the
Navaho Etsuthçle.[34] The word pókomatü is difficult to translate, but
“pets” seems a good rendering. Its usage is similar to that of certain
Navaho words. A Navaho woman speaks of a favorite child as ciliⁿ; a man
calls his pet horse ciliⁿ, and the shaman designates his fetich-emblem
of a nature deity bĭliⁿ; a Hopi calls his dog póko. The pet of Tuñwup
is depicted on the altar as elsewhere mentioned in my account of the
reredos of the farewell Katcina at Walpi.[35]
[Illustration: PL. CV.
THE NATACKA CEREMONY AT WALPI]
In the Hopi conception of the All Katcina there seems to be an idea
that they dwell in four terrestrial places or world-quarters.[36] This
may be looked on as an application of a general idea of world-quarter
deities so common among them.
Northwest, kwiníwi Kicyúba.
Southwest, tevyüña Nüvatikyaubi, San Francisco mountains.
Southeast, tatyúka Wénima.
Northeast, hópoko Nüvatikyaubi, San Mateo mountains.
If there is any one feature which distinguishes a Katcina it is the
use, by some or all of the participants, of a mask or ceremonial
helmet. The Katcinas are divided into two groups, the complete and
the abbreviated; the former is constant year by year, the latter
varying. Altars are present in the complete, absent in abbreviated
presentations. A cloud-charm altar or invocation to the six
world-quarter deities is sometimes made. Public announcements are
not prescribed. The Tcukúwympkiya or clowns are generally present.
Abbreviated Katcinas consist mainly of public dances in which Katcinas,
Katcinamanas, and clowns take part. The páhos or prayer offerings
are few in number. Ceremony ends with a feast; generally no altars.
Típoni[37] is not brought out in public. It is possible that the
fox-skin so universally worn by the animistic personifications called
Katcinas hanging from the belt behind, is a survival comparable with
the skin of the animal in which formerly, as in Nahuatl ceremonials,
the whole body was clothed. In the case of Natácka, for instance,
a skin is still worn over the shoulders. Conservatism in dress is
tenaciously adhered to in religious paraphernalia among all peoples.
Roughly speaking we may say that the Katcina celebrations are
characterized by the presence of the Tcukúwympkiyas (Tatcükti,
Tcückütû, Paikyamû or clowns), which do not appear in the unmasked
or nine days’ ceremonials. The epoch in which they remain among the
Hopi is therefore approximately that from the winter to the summer
solstices; that in which they are absent, from the summer to the
winter solstices.[38]
I classify the Katcina celebrations into two large groups, which may be
called the elaborate and the abbreviated, and have considered them in
the following pages.
ELABORATE KATCINAS
Under the head of elaborate Katcinas[39] may be included:
Soyáluña.
Katcina’s return.[40]
Powámû,
Pálülükoñti.
Nimánkacma.
SOYÁLUÑA
The celebration in the December moon has not as yet been described,[41]
but a large body of material relating thereto is in my hands. In
order to give a general idea of its character a brief outline of a
characteristic portion of it is inserted in this place. Soyáluña is
distinctly a warriors’ observance, and has been called the Return
Katcina. In one sense it may be so designated, but more strictly it
is the return of the War god, regarded as a leader of the gods, and
in that recalls the Nahuatl Teotleco, as elsewhere pointed out. The
singing of the night songs of the warriors is one of the most effective
archaic episodes of the ceremonial of the winter solstice.
In the following account a description of a few events in the
celebration of 1891 is introduced:
On the 22d of December of that year most of the men of the villages
prepared cotton strings, to the end of which they tied feathers and
piñon needles. These were given away during the day to different
persons, some receiving from one to two dozen, which they tied in
their hair. When a maker of these feathered strings presented one to
a friend, he said, as translated, “Tomorrow all the Katcinas to you
grant your wishes,” holding his bundle vertically and moving it with
a horizontal motion. At nightfall each man procured a willow wand
from 3 to 4 feet long and looped upon it all the strings which he had
received. He then carried his stick to the Móñkiva and placed it in the
rafters, thus imparting to the ceiling the appearance of a bower of
feathers and piñon needles.
All the kivas were meeting places of the participants, but the
Tátaukyamû met at the Móñkiva, where the principal festivities took
place. Their chief wore a head-dress decorated with symbols of
rain-clouds (plate CVIII), and carried a shield upon which was depicted
the sun (plate CIV). The chief of a second society carried a shield
upon which was drawn a star (plate CIV), and a third chief bore a
shield with an antelope drawn upon it. The head-dress of the chief
of the Aáwympkiya was adorned with glistening triplex horns, and on
his shield was represented an unknown Katcina (plate CIV). The fifth
society was Kwákwantû, or warrior, whose chief carried in his hand an
effigy of the great snake (Pálülükoñûh) which was carved from the woody
stalk of the agave (kwan), from which the society was named. He came
from the Tcivato-kiva and on his shield was depicted a Kwákwantû in
full costume. The sixth society was the Tatcü′kti or “knobbed heads;”
their shield-bearer wore a head-dress like a coronet, while on his
shield was drawn a black figure with lozenge-shape eyes. The shield
of the chief of the seventh society was adorned with a picture of the
Táwamoñwi or sun chief.
After the societies had entered the kiva an invocation to the cardinal
points was chanted, and the shield-bearers, in turn, standing over the
sípapû, stamped on it. At a signal the society arranged itself into
two irregular groups, one on the north, the other on the south side
of the main floor. All then vehemently burst forth into a song, the
shield-bearer making eccentric dashes among his associates, first to
one side and then to the other.
While the song lasted the shield-bearer continued these short, swift
rushes, and the assembled groups crouched down and met his dashes by
rising and driving him back to the sípapû. He madly oscillated from
right to left, that is, from the north to the south side of the room,
and swung his shield in rhythm, while those near him beat their feet in
time. The shield was dashed from face to face, and the groups made many
motions as if to seize it, but no one did more than to touch it with
outstretched hands. The movements on both sides were highly suggestive
of attack and defense.
At 8 p. m. about one dozen men were collected in the Móñkiva, among
whom was Lésma playing a flageolet. The hatchway was guarded by a
tyler, and for a nátci there was placed there a wicker skullcap
ornamented with a pair of imitation mountain-sheep horns (plate CX),
Two hours later the room was densely packed with naked men, their
bodies undecorated, wearing small eagle plumes attached to the crown
of the head. Two women were present. Anawíta, chief of the Kwákwantû,
sat alone on the southern side of the main floor which was clear in the
middle, and twelve chiefs, among them Címo, Súpela, and Tcubéma, sat
opposite him.
Ten novices from the other kivas entered gorgeously arrayed in white
kilts, brilliant crowns of feathers, white body decorations, bearing
an imitation squash blossom, with spruce sprigs in their left hands
and corn in their right hands. As the chiefs took their places Lésma
sprinkled the floor of the room near the ladder with moist valley sand,
about an inch deep. The novices stepped from the ladder upon this sand
and passed up in front of the chiefs, then squatted before them facing
the south, their kilts having been lifted so that they sat on the cold
floor.
Anawíta then crossed over to the south side of the room and seated
himself at the east end of the line of chiefs.
At the west wall of the kiva a strange altar had been erected. Lésma
had piled against the ledge of this part of the kiva a stack of corn,
two or more ears of which had been contributed by the maternal head of
each family in the pueblo. At either side and in front of the stack of
corn shrubbery had been placed. In the space between the top of the
corn pile and the roof wands were placed, and to these wands had been
fastened many artificial flowers, 4 or 5 inches in diameter, set close
together but in no regular lines. There were over 200 of these flowers
of different colors, dark-red and white predominating. Nearly in the
center of this artificial shrubbery there was a large gourd shell with
the convex side turned toward the audience and having an aperture
about 8 inches in diameter in its center. Through this opening had
been thrust the head of an effigy[42] of Pálülükoñûh, the plumed-head
snake, painted black, with a tongue-like appendage protruding from the
mouth. When all the assembled priests were seated a moment of solemn
stillness ensued, after which Súpela arose, cast a handful of meal
toward the effigy of the snake, and said a short prayer in a reverent
tone.[43] Then the head of the snake, which was manipulated by an
unseen person behind the altar, was observed to rise slowly to the
center of the aperture, and a mellow sounding roar like a blast through
a conch appeared to come from the mouth, while the whole head was made
to quiver and wave. The sound was of short duration, repeated four
times, and then the head reposed again on the lower rim of the ground
shell. Presently was heard a sound as of a scapula drawn across a
notched stick six times. All the old chiefs in succession cast meal to
the effigy and prayed, and in response to each the great snake emitted
sounds identical with those mentioned above. The spectators then left
the kiva, and a frenzied dance of strange character occurred. The
societies from other kivas came in, and the chief of each declaimed in
a half-chanting voice which rose to a shriek at the close of a stanza.
First, he drew back to the fireplace, and then with a shuffling gait
approached the symbolic opening in the floor called the sípapû.
Anawíta then shouted at the top of his voice, and the shuffler sprang
in the air and vaulted over the sípapû. Then everybody in the room
shouted loudly and a song in concert followed. A moment later the
visiting societies dashed down the ladder, each bearing a splendid
shield ornamented with the figure of the sun and a rim of radiating
eagle feathers. Each society had its distinctive sun shield, which on
entering was handed to the chief. As he received it he stamped on the
sípapú and a fierce song was sung. Meanwhile two members of the society
stood apart from their fellows against the southern wall facing each
other, each holding a squash flower emblem in a bouquet of spruce twigs
and an ear of corn in his left hand.
Suddenly the fifteen or twenty members of the society drew back from
their chief, who then sprang upon the sípapû plank, and quickly turning
faced them as all burst forth in an ecstatic shouting, with wild
flinging of their arms as they approached the shield-bearers. They
naturally formed two clusters, and as the shield-bearer dashed his
shield in their faces they surged back, to leap again toward him. This
seeming assault, wild though it appeared, was maintained in time with
the song. The two chieftains joined their men, all in ecstatic frenzy,
and one of them, shaking his shield, sprang from right to left, drawing
back his assistants in rhythm with the beating of the feet of all on
the floor. After a few moments of most exhaustive movements some of the
weaker staggered up the ladder, and shortly after one of the chiefs
fell fainting to the floor, overcome by exhaustion and the intense
heat of the room. One splendid athlete danced with vigor for fully
five minutes, and then swept toward the ladder where the assistant
was standing in readiness to receive his shield. Another stride and
he reached the foot of the ladder and suddenly became as rigid as
a corpse. The men who belonged to the Móñkiva took no part in this
exhaustive dance but stood in readiness to carry those who fainted up
the ladder to the cool air outside.
It has been suggested that this assault of the men on the bearer of
the sun shield dramatizes the attack of hostile powers on the sun, and
that the object is to offset malign influences or to draw back the sun
from a disappearance suggested by its southern declination.[44] In
this possible interpretation it is well to consider that immediately
preceding it the archaic offerings and prayers to the great snake
were made, as described, in the presence of spectators. The idea of
hostility of the great snake to the sun is an aboriginal American
conception. In the Maya Codex Cortesianus (33_b_) the plumed snake is
represented[45] as swallowing the sun as in an eclipse. If Soyáluña
is a propitiatory ceremony to prevent the destruction or disappearance
of the sun in winter or to offset the attacks of hostile malevolent
deities upon him, we can see a possible explanation of the attacks and
defenses of the sun as here dramatized.[46] The evil influences of the
great snake are met by the prayers to his effigy; the attacks of other
less powerful deities are dramatized in the manner indicated.
The following contains a few suggestions in regard to the character of
the dramatization in the December celebration. In the prayers to the
Plumed Snake his hostility was quieted, and the chiefs did what they
could to propitiate that powerful deity, who was the great cause of
their apprehension that the beneficent sun (Táwa) would be overcome.
Then followed the dramatization of the conflict of opposing powers,
possibly representing other deities hostile to our beneficent father,
the sun. Although the struggle involved, so far as the participants
were concerned, their highest powers of endurance and bodily suffering,
the sun-shield or symbol of Táwa had the good fortune to resist the
many assaults made upon it.
The introduction of dramatization as an explanation of the warrior
celebration is theoretic, therefore not insisted upon, and is at least
plausible until a better interpretation is suggested. It has in its
support the evidence drawn from a comparative study of ceremonials. In
the light of this theory the return and departure of the Katcina has a
new significance, and may be regarded as a modified sun myth. At the
winter solstice the sun and his attendant deities have reached their
most distant point, and turned to come back to the pueblos. In the
mid-summer the solar deity approached them; he was near them, and in
appreciation of this fact, which means blessings, the poor Hopi made
his offering;[47] danced the Snake dance, asking the snake to bring the
rain, believing he was no longer hostile or at enmity with the sun. But
the withdrawal of the gods (Farewell Katcinas) could not be delayed by
these rites, and the sun each day drew farther from them. The Katcinas
(gods) departed; the bright, beneficent summer gave place to cold,
dreary winter; life was replaced by death. In this most critical epoch
the warriors, the most potent human powers of the pueblo, performed
their ceremony to bring back the beneficent god and his train. The
Nahuatl priest called a similar ceremony “Teotleco,” the god comes—“The
dead god is reborn,” says Duran. The gods (Katcinas) come, say the Hopi
(Soyáluña, all assemblage; derived from co, all; yuñya, assemblage).
The Nahuatl priest sprinkled meal on the floor of the teocalli, and
when he saw in the meal the footprint of the War god, the leader of
the divinities, he announced the fact. The Hopi priest still continues
to sprinkle sand on the kiva floor during the ceremony.
[Illustration: PL. CVI
HAHAÍWÜQTI, NATÁCKA, AND SOYÓKMANA]
KATCINA’S RETURN
The first celebration of the Katcinas in the spring, several months
after their departure,[48] took place in that division of the year
called the Pamüyawû,and is known as Mohti Katcínumyüñya, or “First
Katcina assembly.” I have called it the Return Katcina. It follows
directly after the winter páho making of the Snake-Antelope or Flute
societies, which varies in character according to whether the Snake or
the Flute society gives the presentation that year. In 1893 it followed
the Snake páho making, and in 1894 that of the Flute. It may be called
a composite, abbreviated assembly of Katcinas.
During the day Katcina masks were renovated in the kivas of the mesa,
and there were visitations at all the kivas by the personators in
the coming celebration. Women and children crowded the spectators’
quarters of these rooms, and the performances lasted from 10 oclock in
the evening until 2 oclock of the following morning. Previously to the
exhibition in the kivas, men personating different Katcinas visited
the following points to make hómoya or meal offerings and to say
appropriate prayers:
-------------+------------------+-----------------+-------------------
_Kiva_ | _Katcina_ | _Points from | _Prayers directed,
| | which prayers | or meal thrown
| | are made_ | toward_—
-------------+------------------+-----------------+-------------------
Moñ | Kütca anák[49] | S. W. Walpi | Nüvátikyaubi
| | |
Wikwaliobi | Coyóhim momoyamu | do. | do.
| | |
Nacab | Tcatca kwaína | do. | do.
| | |
Al | Popkotu | N. E. Walpi | Kicyuba
| | |
Tcivato | Mücaízru | do. |
| | |
Puvüñtcomo | Hüiki | |
| Hehéa | |
| | |
Kwinyáptcomo | Avátchoya mana | N. E. Sitcomovi | do.
| | |
Mónete | Tacáb | N. E. Hano | do.
| | |
Pendíte | Humís | |
-------------+------------------+-----------------+-------------------
On the 24th of this month (Pa), as after the Snake ceremonials,[50] the
Nüitiwa, or struggles of the maids with the men for bowls, etc., took
place, except that in this instance it was a struggle with a Katcina
and not, as in the Snake observance, between girls and young men.
From the foregoing table we learn that in the Return Katcina for 1894
the following[51] were personified:
1. Kütca (white) aña.
2. Coyóhim.
3. Tcakwaína.
4. Pópkotu.
5. Mucaízru.
6. Hü′iki.
7. Hehéa.
8. Avátchoya.
9. Tacáb.
10. Humís.
The accompanying clowns were the Tatcü′kti or knob-head priests. It is
an interesting fact that in the celebration of the departure of the
Katcinas the clowns took no part, but these priests were important
additions to the Síocálako.
The celebration of the Return Katcina, which occurs in the winter
Pa moon, is accompanied by elaborate rites performed by either the
Snake-Antelope or the Flute fraternity, the society observing it being
that which will give its celebration in the summer Pa moon of the same
year. A description of these rites naturally falls in an account of the
group of unmasked dances. They extend over several days and appear to
be wholly distinct from the celebration of the Return Katcina. While
these are being performed in the “upper world,” the complemental Flute
or Snake observances are supposed to be taking place in the “under
world,” where the summer Pa moon then reigns. Precisely the same
relationship is thought to exist between the two as that between the
seasons of the north and south temperate zones.
POWÁMÛ
This ceremony is one of the most elaborate in which the Katcinas
appear, and for want of a better name may be designated a
renovation[52] or purification observance. In the year 1893 it took
place near the close of January and continued for nine days, and in a
previous[53] article I have mentioned and figured the most striking
personages, the monsters or Natáckas, who appear in its presentation
(plates CV, CVI, CXI). There are, however, certain other personages
new to students of Tusayan ceremonials who are introduced, and I have
therefore thought it well to describe the presentation in extenso.
The details of this ceremony in 1893 were as follows:[54]
_January 20_—Early this morning Hoñyi went to all the kivas and
formally announced that the ceremony was soon to begin. There was
no public announcement, as no Katcina celebration is made known in
this way, and the Katcinas must not be spoken of in public. Íntiwa
and Pauwatíwa began making páhos in the Móñkiva without preliminary
ceremony at about 9 a. m., and fifteen other priests removed the masks
and redecorated them, after having scraped off the old paint remaining
from other ceremonials.
All the masks were finished about 7 p. m., after which Suñoitiwa and
the other elders brought fox-skins and other paraphernalia into the
kiva, where Kwátcakwa, Kópeli, Tcábi, Kákapti, and four or five other
men began to decorate their bodies with pigment, using a pale-red iron
oxide (cúta) on their legs, knees, and waists. They daubed the whole
upper leg above the knee with a white pigment, and drew two lines
across the shins, the fore and upper arms, and on each side of the
chest and abdomen. The entrance into the katcínaki, or paraphernalia
closet, was open while this took place.
The masks were all ornamented with large clusters of feathers. They
were tied to the head with a loose loop across the top which slipped
over the crown where the plumage rested, and there were strings at the
sides of the mask by which they were attached. The body was ornamented
with ribbons, red flannel, and other articles of white man’s make,
which are innovations.
Kwátcakwa, who later personated a Tcukúwympkiya, drew a broad band
of white clay across his shins, thighs, arms, and body. A great wisp
of cornhusks was tied in his hair, which was all brought forward and
coiled over the forehead. The others donned their kilts, necklaces,
turquoise eardrops, and moccasins. Each one wore a fox-skin hanging
tail downward at the loins, and on the left leg below the knee a string
of bells, while the majority had garters of blue yarn. Their hair,
which was first bound in long cues, wrapped high with strings, was
later loosened, hanging in a fine fluffy mass.
Sakwístiwa, who was the púcücütoi or drummer, wore pantaloons held up
by a belt of silver disks, and a grotesque mask. All left the kiva
immediately after their disguises were completed and assembled in the
Móñkiva court.
Íntiwa hurriedly but thoroughly swept the floor of the chamber, during
which time a number of women and children came down the ladder, filling
the spectators’ part of the room. The assembled group of Katcinas
prayed and then went out, but about fifteen minutes later returned
to the kiva entrance and shook their rattles at the hatchway. “Yuñya
ai,” “come, assemble,” said the old men, and the women invited them to
come down, which they did. Kwátcakwa, who personated the Nüvákkatcina,
entered, followed by ten others. They assembled in a semicircle, each
with a rattle in the right hand and a spruce bough in the left, Íntiwa
sprinkled with meal all who came, after which they performed a dance,
in which, however, their leader did not join.
Before they finished a band of ten men, disguised as Paiutes, carrying
bows and arrows, rabbits, and small game which they wished to trade,
came to the hatchway. They had a drummer with a Paiute drum, made of
a bundle of skins wrapped in an oblong package, on which he beat with
a stick held in both hands. The persons performed a dance, which they
accompanied with a song. They likewise talked, cracked jokes, and
presented the rabbits to the assembled women.
After them there came others from the Nacabkiva, each with a crook in
the left hand and a rattle in the right. These wore grotesque masks,
one representing an old woman with a long crooked staff in her hand.
Their bodies were whitened and they wore saddle-mat kilts around their
loins and tortoise rattles on the right leg. They sang a very spirited
song, shaking their rattles as they advanced. These were six in number
and were called the Powámûkatcinas. Directly after them there came a
band of Tatcü′kti, who sang and danced on the roof of the kiva. The old
men within repeatedly invited them to enter the room, and a dialogue
of some length ensued. Their leader carried a large basket tray in
which were four cones made of wood and each mud-head had in his hand
a wooden rod and an eagle leather. The leader placed the cones in the
middle of the floor in a pile, one above the other, near the fireplace.
The others danced around the pile, roaring a song with much dramatic
action, and heaped up ears of corn in the tray.
They then brought a young married woman from those assembled to the
middle of the floor, where she knelt and tried without success to lift
the cones as high as the staff which the leader held beside them. Four
or five other women tried in turn, and all failed. The mud-heads then
divided the cones into two piles and one of the women lifted them the
required height. All the Tatcü′kti[55] then fell down on the floor and
kicked their heels in the air, while certain of them stood on their
heads for a minute or two. The woman who was successful in lifting the
cones received the contents of the tray. The Tatcü′kti then left the
room and the Katcinas returned and unmasked, indicating that this part
of the ceremony was over.
_January 21_—During last night there were ceremonials which were
not seen in the Móñkiva, in which it was said the Ahü′lkatcina made
parallel marks in meal on the four sides of the kiva and upon the
ceiling and floor as in the Mamzraúti and other ceremonials. A basin
with sprouting beans, which had been planted at the full of the Pamüiya
or Pa moon (January 2) and which were about a foot high, was brought
from one of the houses opposite the Tcívatokiva. The beans, which were
growing in a basin, were plucked from the sand, tied into a separate
bundle, and given to Ahü′lkatcina. A large squirrel-skin was filled
with meal and given to him, and he was handed also a wooden staff
(móñkohu). The large discoidal mask characteristic of this personage
had a pouch-like attachment of buckskin which was pulled over the head,
upon which was a large cluster of feathers. A white kilt was worn as a
cape and the skin of a gray fox hung from the girdle at his loins.
At daylight Ahü′lktacina and Íntiwa returned, passing the gap (Wala)
and halting at the pahóki (shrine[56]) to deposit certain nakwákwocis
and páhos. Just as the sun rose the two visited a kiva in Hano.
Stooping down in front of it, Ahü′l drew a vertical mark with meal
on the inside of the front of the hatchway, on the side of the
entrance opposite the ladder. He turned to the sun and made six silent
inclinations, after which, standing erect, he bent his head backward
and began a low rumbling growl, and as he bent, his head forward,
raised his voice to a high falsetto. The sound he emitted was one
long expiration, and continued as long as he had breath. This act he
repeated four times and, turning toward the hatchway, made four silent
inclinations, emitting the same four characteristic expiratory calls.
The first two of these calls began with a low growl, the other two were
in the same high falsetto from beginning to end.
The kiva chief and two or three other principal members, each carrying
a handful of meal, then advanced, bearing short nakwákwoci hotomni,
which they placed in his left hand while they muttered low, reverent
prayers. They received in return a few stems of the corn and bean
plants which Ahü′l carried.
Ahü′l and Íntiwa next proceeded to the house of Tetapobi,[57] who
is the only representative of the Bear clan in Hano. Here at the
right-hand side of the door Ahü′l pressed his hand full of meal
against the wall at about the height of his chest and moved his hand
upward.[58] He then, as at the kiva, turned around and faced the
sun, holding his staff vertically at arm’s length with one end on
the ground, and made six silent inclinations and four calls. Turning
then to the doorway he made four inclinations and four calls. He then
went to the house of Nampíyo’s mother, where the same ceremony was
performed, and so on to the houses of each man or woman of the pueblo
who owns a típoni or other principal wími (fetich).
He repeated the same ceremony in houses in Sitcomovi and in Walpi,
where Íntiwa left him. Ahü′l entered this pueblo by the north street
and passed through the passageway to the Móñkiva. He proceeded to the
houses of Kwumawumsi, Nasyúñwewe, Samiwiki, and to all the kivas and
the houses of all the leading chiefs.
After visiting all the kivas and appropriate houses mentioned above,
Ahü′l went to Kowawainovi (the ledge under Talatryuku) and deposited
in the pahóki all the offerings that he had received, after which he
returned to the Móñkiva, divested himself of his ceremonial disguises,
and went home.
At 2 p. m. the Nüvák (snow) Katcinas came from the Nacabki, led by
Soyóko. They were nine in number and were accompanied by a drummer. All
wore bright plumage on their heads and their masks were painted green
and white, but that of the drummer was pink. They were adorned with
many necklaces, and wore white kilts and gray fox-skins. Yellow stripes
were painted on the shoulders, the forearm, on each breast and the
abdomen, and the bodies of all were stained red.
After singing and dancing for about five minutes, nine clowns
(Tatcü′kti) came from the Álkiva and danced madly around the court, at
first independently, but finally keeping step with the Katcinas. They
joined in line one behind the other, each grasping the uplifted leg of
the man in front of him, and then tumbled pell-mell over one another,
shouting and laughing as they did so.[59]
At 2.20 a personification of Tcavaíyo, arrayed in a conical black mask
with globular eyes and great teeth, entered the kiva. He carried a bow
and arrows in his left hand and a saw in his right. His forearms and
legs were painted black with white spots. This monster dispersed the
clowns, during which many Zuñi words were uttered.
At 2.50 the Katcinas again returned and repeated their former dance in
the same way as described. The antics of the Tatcü′kti continued, and
the Katcinas appeared again at 4.20 p. m.; then later at 5, when they
all departed, not to return. When the Katcinas retired to Wikyátiwa’s
house at 4 oclock the clowns went down into the Álkiva and returned
in their characteristic procession, the drummer in front, the other
eight in two lines of four persons. Each carried on his back a large
bundle composed of a fine blanket, cotton cloth, yarn, and all kinds
of textile articles of value. One also had the four cones which they
had used the night before and a tray of shelled corn of all colors,
mixed with various kinds of seeds. They laid the tray in the center
of the court and spread a blanket beside it, on which they placed
all their bundles. One of their number then piled the cones, one on
top of another, and while he was doing this the drummer rapidly beat
his drum, while the others shook their rattles and sung vigorously.
When the cones had been set up one of the men sought out a girl and
brought her to them and told her if she would take hold of the lowest
cone with both hands, raise the pile, and set it back in place without
letting any of the cones fall she should have all the wealth piled on
the blanket. But the least jar tumbled the cones down, and each one of
the half dozen or more girls to whom they made the same offer failed
in turn. Then they invited the youths to try, and several essayed, but
none were able to perform the feat. So the prize, doubtless designedly,
was left in the original owner’s hands. They then brought a blanket
full of hoyiani and placed the cones in two piles, but even then
none of the girls succeeded in carrying it. No one was allowed a second
trial. Finally one youth, Macakwáptiwa, carried them around safely
and won the prize. He was closely followed around the pillar by the
Tatcü′kti shaking their rattles, singing and crying, “Don’t fall, don’t
fall,” and when he laid them safely down in their original place all
the Tatcü′kti fell down as if dead. Íntiwa then ran and obtained ashes
from a cooking pit and placed them on a private part of their bodies.
Then all the clowns got up and danced around with their usual pranks.
[Illustration: PL. CVII.
A. HOEN & CO. LITH.
DOLL OF CÁLAKO MANA.]
A tray full of corn and other seeds which was set beside the cones was
obtained by the Tatcü′kti from Nakwaíyumsi, the chief priestess of the
Katcina clan. At the close of the ceremony Íntiwa distributed these
seeds in small handfuls to all the women spectators, to be planted the
coming season. It was not learned that these seeds were consecrated by
the priestess, but they were part of those planted in the kivas on the
night of the 21st.
_January 22_—The younger men brought sand from a mound[60] and threw
it down in a pile at the east of the kiva, and each man, as he came
into the room with his basin, box, or other receptacle, filled it with
this sand. He then thickly sprinkled the surface of the sand with seeds
of every kind. Some had several vessels which they thus planted, and
the old wife of Soyóko gave her grandson a bag of large white beans to
plant for her.[61] The basins were well watered, a hot fire was kept in
the kiva, and the hatch or entrance was entirely covered with a straw
mat to retain the heat in the chamber, making it a veritable hothouse.
_January 24_—No ceremonies occurred today, but constant fires were
maintained in the kivas, from the heat of which the beans soon
sprouted. It was understood that children must not be told that beans
were growing in the kivas nor be allowed to look into the room.
_January 25_—The Tatcü′kti went out from the Álkiva this morning for
wood, making their way northward, past Wala and along the mesa to the
cedar grove. They returned at evening, but left the wood they had
gathered at the gap.[62] There was no singing nor dancing in the kivas
during the night.
_January 26_—During the morning the Tatcü′kti went to Wala to bring
in the wood they had collected yesterday. Before their departure they
covered their bodies with pinkish clay, put on an old kilt (kwáca),[63]
blue leggings, and masks with knobs. Each carried an eagle-tail feather
in the left and a small gourd in the right hand. They returned along
the trail, marching in single file, with the loads of wood on their
backs, stamping their feet as they came. They likewise shook their
rattles and occasionally turned and walked backward.
They first assembled around each of the kiva hatchways in Hano, singing
and chaffing one another, and were sprinkled with meal by the kiva
chiefs. Proceeding onward to Sitcomovi, they went to the entrances of
the kivas of this pueblo and were there sprinkled with meal by the
chiefs as they sang their curious songs, accompanying them with a
stamping of the feet and a rotating movement of the body. It was after
1 oclock when they arrived at Walpi, for they halted a short time at
the neck of the mesa to arrange their loads. As they entered the pueblo
they advanced along the south street singing as they went.
At the entrance to Tcívatokiva they stopped and told Pauwatíwa a
facetious story of their wood-gathering. He sprinkled them with meal,
and they then went on to the dance court and set down their bundles,
all the time making a droll byplay. They then separated into parties
of two or three members and visited the houses of several women, with
whom they left one or more bundles of wood. These women had previously
prepared nakwákwocis, which they gave to the clowns with a handful of
meal.
After all the wood had been distributed, with much rollicking fun,
several women gave them food, and the small parties of Tatcü′kti
resumed their songs and marched through the dance court, where they
all assembled. One of them was a drummer, who sat in the middle of the
court, and the others danced about him in a circle, singing a Zuñi
song. Pauwatíwa, Íntiwa, Tcósra, and Soyóko sprinkled them with meal,
and the first-mentioned invited the women who had been given wood to
approach, which they did, sprinkling the individual Tatcü′ktis with
meal. Their masks were then harshly removed and thrust into a bag, tied
up in a bundle, and carried to the house of Wikyátiwa. Most of the food
which they had received was carried down into the Álkiva, which was the
assemblage place of the Tatcü′kti in this ceremony.
In all the kivas the beans had sprouted and were now called házrü
(angular), possibly so named from the angle formed by the cotyledons
with the stem. When they had grown somewhat higher they were called
wupáhazrü (great or long, angular).
_January 28_—No ceremonials were observed on this day.
_January 29_—This was called the first ceremonial day of the Powámuh.
About 11 oclock last night the Natácka donned their masks in the
Álkiva, and the man who took the part of Hahaíwüqti, the mother of
the Natáckas, put on her disguise and took her long juniper bough.
Háhawe went up the ladder, standing on it with his shoulders just above
the hatchway, while the mother of the monsters stood at the foot of
the same in the room. Assuming a hollow falsetto voice, in which the
mother of the Natáckas always speaks, she announced that she was ready
to visit the children. Háhawe shouted his replies to her in a voice
audible through the pueblo that the children were all asleep and that
she had better put off her visit to them until the morning. A dialogue,
the real object of which was to announce to the children that the
Natáckas had arrived, was maintained for five minutes, and Háhawe then
went down the ladder; the Natáckas and Hahaíwüqti took off their masks
and all laid down to sleep.
About 4.20 p. m. the Tewa personification of Hahaíwüqti, accompanied
by one Natácka, came to Walpi and went to Kókyanwü′qti’s and Kele’s
houses, giving to the little girls a few seeds and a snare of yucca
shred. They dressed the Walpi Hahaíwüqti, Natáckas, and Soyókmana in
the Álkiva at 4.25 p. m. Hahaíwüqti carried, besides a whitened gourd
ladle, a basket (póota) containing two ears of corn, and two boiled
hoyíani, some squash seeds, and a small bundle of sticks, of which she
gave one to each little girl, who will later redeem it by presenting
Hahaíwüqti with some hótomni. She gave each little boy, who will also
redeem it with some kinds of game, a shred of yucca looped to a stick
at the butt end (a rude snare). Natácka and Náamû wore cloth shirts,
trousers and buckskin leggings, and two buckskins hung as loose mantles
over their shoulders. The former carried a tortoise-shell rattle on his
right leg, and had a bow and arrows in his left hand and an arrow in
the right. Soyókmana had the hair smeared with white clay. She wore a
loose mantle and whistled as Natácka hooted. Hahaíwüqti wore a fox-skin
around the neck. The hands of all were whitened. Soyókmana wore a
hideous black mask and was dressed in dilapidated clothing. She had a
large knife in her left hand and a crook in her right (plates CV and
CVI).
The Natácka helmets had turkey-tail feathers[64] closely radiating
vertically at the crown, and they wore a cloth shirt and trousers, with
belt with silver disks. Each had buckskin leggings and wore a fox-skin
around the base of the mask; two large buckskins hung as mantles over
the right shoulder. He carried a bow and arrows[65] in the left hand
and with his right hand he received the food and placed it in the
tozrúki[66] slung over his right shoulder. Soyókmana was personified
by a lad of 12 years, wearing a woman’s blanket (kwáca) and a buckskin
mantle. He had a nakwákwoci, stained red, tied to the scalp lock.
A similar group, all costumed identically, was prepared in each of the
three villages. The group of Tewa personifications went to every house
in that pueblo and then to the houses in other villages where men from
Hano have married. The groups of the other towns go first to the houses
of their own pueblo and then to the houses in the other villages where
men have transferred themselves by marriage.
When the Walpi group had finished their exercises at Hano and Sitcomovi
they went back to Walpi and proceeded along the front side of their
pueblo to their own kiva, where they disrobed about dark. The object
of the exhibition was to frighten children who exhibited fear of them,
but children 6 years of age or thereabouts were somewhat familiar with
them, and while it was evident they held the monsters in considerable
awe they tried to assume a bold front when receiving the seeds and
snares.[67]
At 8.30 a man personifying Tümáckatcina ran through Walpi from the
Móñkiva toward Wala, emitting hoots as he went. A full half hour
after, about 9 oclock, a group of masked but uncostumed men wrapped in
blankets went to the kiva hatches and uttered most ferocious groans for
four or five minutes. This was done in an informal manner, but was said
to be prescribed ceremonially.
_January 30_—Between 7 and 8 oclock Wikokuitkatcina emerged from the
Álkiva, passed around Walpi to the east end of the pueblo, and then
down through the north lane, past Íntiwa’s house, under the passageways
back to the Álkiva. His body was painted white and he wore a blanket
tied with a girdle (wukokwena), a fox-skin dangling at his loins.
Nothing was elicited in relation to this event.
Between 8 and 9 oclock uncostumed groups of Tatcü′kti went to the
entrances of the kivas and laid themselves prone upon the hatch,
their heads projecting over its edges. Several of them uttered their
characteristic growls and pretended to snarl at and worry one another,
possibly imitating ferocious animals or monsters. One of them carried
on a dialogue with some one in the kiva.
At 9 oclock Tümac and two Tuñwúpkatcina (masked but uncostumed) made
the tour of the pueblos, emitting peculiar hoots. Between 9 and 10
oclock Owana zrozrokatcina and Wupámokatcina appeared separately, each
making a solitary tour of the village. They were not masked, but so
wrapped in blankets that their masks were not visible.
At 10 oclock the Hano clowns and Natácka group came to Walpi and
performed the same ceremony as the Walpi group, which has been
described. There was informal singing in all the kivas.
_January 31_—During this day the masks of Hililikatcina and Soyókmana
were painted. After dark a masked man (Katcina not known) rushed
through the pueblo, and shortly after Tümac and her two sons
(Tuñwúpkatcina), unmasked, ran through the pueblo hooting. About 9
oclock delegates from Sitcomovi, with a drum and rattles, made the
rounds of Walpi and carried on a dialogue with the kiva chief.
At 10 oclock 18 Tcakwaínakatcinas came to the Móñkiva from Hano.
They were naked, save a breechcloth, but their bodies and limbs were
ornamented with white zigzag markings. They wore fillets of a dozen or
more yucca bands around the head, and necklaces in profusion on their
necks. They passed in succession into the kivas, dancing a few minutes
in each, and returned home shortly before midnight.
_February 1_—Several tíhus (dolls) were carved in the kivas, to be
distributed to the children as in the Nimánkatcina. Tumac and her sons
went around the pueblo about half past 7 oclock, as on former evenings.
In the Tcivatokiva 14 men and a boy about 10 years of age, with
Pauwatíwa as chief, whitened their faces, bound a fillet around
their foreheads, and made curious crescentic marks on their cheeks.
They afterward danced and sang. Sitcomovi priests, beginning at the
Móñkiva, made formal visits to each kiva in Walpi. There were 12 of
these men and they were decorated like those of the Tcivatokiva. They
sang Síohúmiskatcina songs, but wore no masks. They later visited the
Sitcomovi kivas. The Tcivatokiva people then put on their kilts, tied
on their turtle-shell rattles, took their juniper staffs and gourd
rattles, and, led by Pauwatíwa, went to the Álkiva, and later to all
the other kivas, where they danced and sang Pawik (duck) Katcina songs.
Pauwatíwa sprinkled meal on the Katcinas from Sitcomovi before they
began, and the chiefs of the other kivas did the same to those who
visited them before they opened their dance.
_February 2_—This afternoon 8 girls, assisted by the men, washed the
walls of the Móñkiva with a thin mud made of valley sand. The following
girls took part in this work: Kaiyónsi, Humisi, Humíta, Lénho (a
woman), Leúnaisi, Tuvéwaisi, Hokwáti, and Hónka. The girls also made
mud designs, lightning symbols, and hand-prints on the rafters of the
room.
Tuñwúpkatcina[68] (personified by Takála) arrayed himself as follows:
He donned trousers made of cotton cloth and wrapped himself in a
blanket, under which he concealed all his paraphernalia. He received
two bunches of yucca with about twelve or fifteen leaves in each
bunch, and concealing them under his blanket hastened off to the
northeastern end of the village. There he arrayed himself, and at 5 p.
m. he returned, running back and hooting as he came, until he halted at
the court, where he kept trotting up and down, marking time. He wore
a mud-head helmet with a black band across the eyes, and parrakeet
feathers on the top of the head. Turkey-tail feathers were arranged
radiating horizontally from the crown to the back of the head. He wore
also a cotton shirt and a kilt girded with a white belt (wukókwena).
He had yellow clay on his legs and a tortoise-shell rattle below each
knee. His moccasins were painted black. A whip or bunch of yucca with
the butts in front was held in each hand.
The children who were flogged were brought to Tuñwup in the following
way: The mother, sometimes accompanied by the father, led the child to
the court, and if it were a boy the godfather took him in charge. He
gave the lad an ear of corn, his tcótcnunwa, and a handful of prayer
meal, and led the frightened child close up to Tuñwup. The godfather
prompted the boy, who cast his handful of meal on or toward Tuñwup.
The godfather also cast meal on the same personage and then divested
the boy of all his clothing and presented the lad with his back toward
Tuñwup, who all this time had maintained his trotting motion but
without advancing. Tuñwup then plied one of his yucca wands vigorously,
giving the boy five or six forcible lashes on the back. After this was
over the godfather withdrew the screaming boy and tied a nakwákwoci to
his scalplock. The mother was standing by and hurriedly covered her
son, frightened with his punishment, and led him home, but the mother
was careful to see that he carried his tcótcnunwa in his hand.
If the child were a girl, her godmother led her up to Tuñwup, but her
little gown was not taken off; only the mantle was removed for the
flogging. Notwithstanding this, however, the blows were delivered
with enough force to cause considerable pain, but her crying probably
resulted as much from fright as from physical suffering. The godmother
led the little girl back to her home, after having cast meal on Tuñwup,
and was very careful that the child carried her tcótcnunwa.
There were five children of age varying from about eight to ten years
who were thus flagellated. After each boy was flogged the godfather
cast meal toward Tuñwup and then held out his own bared arms and legs
successively, which Tuñwup lashed four or five times with all his
might; but no women were submitted to this flagellation. Several men
who had some ailment also went up to Tuñwup, and casting meal upon him
received lashes on their bare arms and legs.
The man who personified Tuñwup exercised considerable discretion in
performing his duty. In the case of a little girl who showed more than
ordinary fear, he simply whirled his yucca whip over her head without
touching her, and then motioned her away; but on the arms and legs
of the adults he laid his whip without restraint. When all had been
flagellated, Pauwatíwa came up from his kiva and gave Tuñwup a handful
of meal and a nakwákwoci, who then trotted off, going outside the
pueblo, possibly to preserve the illusion among the children that he
was a real Katcina who had visited the pueblo from afar.
For four successive mornings the flagellated child was taken to a point
on the mesa called Talatiyuka and there deposited a nakwákwoci in a
shrine and cast meal toward the sun. During this time the child was not
permitted to eat salt nor flesh, but on the fourth day a little before
sunset this abstinence ceased, and the child might henceforth look upon
Katcinas and sacred objects in the kivas without harm.
The primary significance of the flogging seems to be that until
children have acquired sufficient intelligence or are eight or ten
years of age, they are made to believe that the Katcinas, appearing
at each dance, are superhuman visitors, and they are never permitted
to see an unmasked Katcina. When they have matured enough or have
sufficient understanding, they are instructed that the real[69]
Katcinas have long since ceased their visits to mankind and are merely
impersonated by men; but they acquire that knowledge at the expense of
a sound flogging, such as I have just described.
At 10 oclock six Tcü′tckütü (clowns), accompanied by Píptuku, who was
dressed as an old woman and wore an old mask, passed about the pueblo
from one kiva to another. These six persons entered the Móñkiva, and
Píptuku, after some urging, followed them. One of the Tcü′tckütü was
sent out, and the other five in succession took a pinch of ashes in
the left hand from the fireplace, and poising it as if taking aim at
something through the hatch struck off the ashes with the right hand.
A few minutes later four Wuwíyomokatcinas wearing characteristic masks
appeared at the kiva hatch with turkey feathers radiating vertically
around the upper part. They carried móñkohus[70] and an undressed skin
pouch. Their leader, Silánktiwa, was without costume, and Cálako,
Kwátcakwa, and seven other unmasked persons followed. Their faces and
bodies were whitened, the hair hanging loose, and limbs bare. They wore
plumes of gaudy feathers on their heads, were arrayed in white kilts,
and held crooks in their hands. A personage called Eótoto[71] preceded
them, and Hahaíwüqti, continually talking, followed. The procession was
closed by a warrior (Kaléktaka),[72] who carried a bundle of arrows in
one hand and a bow and arrows in the other, and frequently hooted. The
uncostumed chorus, composed of about twelve persons, accompanied by a
drummer, followed in a cluster.
When the leading Wuwíyomo came to the Móñkiva he threw down the
hatchway a ball of moist meal, which struck the middle of the floor.
After this announcement he was clamorously invited by those within the
chamber to enter, which he did, followed by the others. Each Wuwíyomo
bore a bundle of deer scapulæ, which he clanked as a rattle, and all
were sprinkled with meal by Íntiwa as they entered the kiva. They
afterward filed to the western side of the room where the plants were
growing; they sang for about five minutes, all standing.
When Eótoto entered the chamber he made on the floor with meal four
symbols of the rain cloud, one in advance of the other, and each of
the Cálakos squatted on one of these symbols. The chorus, remaining
outside, continued their song for a few minutes, while the Wuwíyomos
were singing. Those who had last entered the kiva then passed out in
the same order, and as they did so were sprinkled with meal, and each
of the four Wuwíyomos was handed a nakwákwoci. They then visited the
other Walpi kivas, where no observations were made, but the same
ceremonials were probably repeated. After this they went off to perform
the same ceremonies in the kivas of other villages on the mesa.
At 11 oclock a group of 12 men and a boy from Hano, costumed but
accompanied by an uncostumed fiddler,[73] visited all the kivas in
succession. Their bodies were painted white and they had plumes in
their hair, but were unmasked. Each wore a fox skin depending from the
loins, was barefoot, and carried a gourd rattle in the right hand and a
sprig of spruce in the left hand. Their visits were expected, but they
personated no especial Katcina and after their departure, the men in
the Móñkiva rehearsed a song.
_February 3_—No ceremonial took place throughout the day. The walls of
the kivas were renovated by the girls with a wash of mud, and every
kiva on the mesa was replastered in this way during the festival.
_February 4_—This day the manufacture of tíhus (dolls) went on in
all the kivas, and there was a continuation of the replastering and
decoration of the walls of these chambers.
At 9 oclock a dialogue similar to that above recorded on the 29th of
January took place between Hahaíwüqti and the kiva chief. The former
wished to go among the children, but was told that it was very dark and
the children were asleep. She was finally prevailed on to wait until
the morrow.
At 10 p. m. 20 unmasked persons,[74] men and women with flowing
hair, from Sitcomovi visited all the Walpi kivas. Each of the male
personators carried a narrow green tablet (pavaíyikaci),[75] fringed
with long red hair and decorated with a symbol of the sun painted in
colors. Each had a gourd rattle, and a stick about 2 feet long, to the
end of which was attached half a gourd painted to represent a squash
blossom, was held in the right hand. The 10 men personating women were
not costumed. The leader carried a large Oraibi basket tray with a
broad, brightly colored handle. In this was an effigy of a bird.
He set this tray on the floor near the fireplace, and after the chief
of the kiva had sprinkled the visitors with meal a male and a female
personator advanced from the western end of the kiva to the fireplace.
The man picked up the basket on the butt end of his stick and presented
it to the woman, who held it in both hands and danced a few moments,
while all the others sang. She then laid the tray down and passed to
the northern side of the chamber, the man retiring to the southern
side. After the other couples had performed the same ceremony they left
the kivas.
Immediately after their departure 28 personators from Hano entered.
These consisted of male and female deities, the latter personated by
men. The former passed to the southern, the latter to the northern
side of the kiva. Each of the male personages wore a yucca fillet on
his head and his legs were decorated with clay streaks; he wore white
kilts and girdles, with dependent fox-skins. They also had tortoise
rattles on the legs and carried a gourd rattle in the right hand. Their
costume was as follows: They were without masks; the hair was loose and
an imitation of a squash blossom was tied therein. The face was not
colored, but on the right shoulder curving to the breast was daubed
a mass of blue and green pigment. On the left shoulder and over the
breast they were painted with yellow, and bright red streaks were drawn
from the neck down the center of the breast and middle of the back.
The upper part of the right arm was colored yellow, the left forearm
green, the upper part of the left arm green. These colors were reversed
on the right arm. The right leg also was yellow and the left leg was
green with two contrasting bands below the knee. The hands, waist, and
upper portion of the thighs were whitened. They likewise wore white
kilts tied with girdles (wukokwéna and nanelkwéna). A gray fox-skin
depended from the loins. Each had a tortoise shell rattle on the right
leg and on the left leg generally a garter to which small sleigh-bells
were attached. Their moccasins were blue or green. In his right hand
each carried a blue or green painted rattle, and in the left a sprig
or small branch of spruce. Those personating females neither wore
fox-skins nor held anything in the left hand. The female personators
carried in the left hand a bundle of straw held well up before the
face. After they had been sprinkled with meal they began to sing, and
the couple in the center on the west side joined hands, holding them
above the head—the female with the palm turned up, the male with the
palm down and fingers imbricated. They advanced close to the fireplace
and then returned to their respective places. The personators executed
this figure four times in sequence and then went out.
[Illustration: PL. CVIII.
A. HOEN & CO. LITH.
KATCINA MASK WITH SQUASH BLOSSOM APPENDAGE AND RAIN CLOUD SYMBOLISM.]
Immediately after this presentation the delegation from the Móñkiva,
led by a masked person, entered. The bodily decorations of these were
not uniform; one had a figure of a gourd drawn on his breast, another
zigzag lines, and still another parallel bars. The males carried a
gourd rattle in the right hand; they wore no fillets on the head but
allowed the hair to hang loosely. The female personators held a bunch
of straw[76] and a sprig of spruce in the left hand, carrying it high
up before the face. They sang the same song and executed the same
figure as that already mentioned in the account of the presentation by
the men from the village of Hano. The groups finished their visits at
about midday.
_February 5_—At earliest dawn (5 a. m.) either the chief or one of his
elders roused all the sleepers in the kiva, and each spread his blanket
beside his basin of growing plants. He then carefully plucked the
plants, one by one, so as not to bruise either stalk or roots. He laid
them on the blanket in an orderly pile, the leaves together. The sand
which remained in the basin was carried to some place where children
would not see it, and the vessels were dried before the kiva fire and
hidden away in the houses out of sight of the prying eyes of the young
ones.
Nearly all the plants were tied with a yucca shred and a sprig of
spruce (symbol of a Katcina), in neat bundles, leaving loose bights of
the yucca by which to hold them. Each priest also tied up the dolls
which he had made. All traces of the soil in which the corn had been
forced to sprout had disappeared long before dawn.
The presents (dolls) which were made in the Tcivatoki were then
distributed by a man personifying Pawíkkatcina, under the instruction
of those who had fashioned them. The distributing Katcinas of the
Nacabki were two Nüváktcinas,[77] and the same did this duty with
the dolls in the Móñkiva. For the Álkiva two Tcoshühüwûh performed
this duty. These Katcinas and two persons called Kawaíka (Keres)
from Sitcomovi bustled about the pueblo on their errands and the
distribution was finished about sunrise. The men did not speak when
they approached a house with their gifts, but hooted after the
customary manner of Katcinas.
Almost half an hour before sunrise the Soyókmana passed around the
kivas, holding a dialogue at the hatchways with the chiefs inside.
She wore a black conical mask with red mouth and white teeth, and was
costumed as an old woman. In the right hand she bore a crook 7 feet
long, at the end of which were tied many shells. In the left hand
she carried a knife smeared with rabbit blood. Hü′hüwûh also held
a dialogue with the kiva chiefs and made gifts of watermelons and
squashes to various persons.
At 11.30 a. m. Soyókmana, Hahaíwüqti, and the Natáckas (plate CVI) made
a visit to all the houses. They were followed by two Hehéakatcinas[78]
with bags and pouches of food recently received, and after them
followed three black and two white Natáckas. These five went together
and were constantly in motion, moving or beating time with their feet.
The strange company went to each house demanding food, and when it was
refused or poor quality offered the Natáckas uttered a hoot like an
owl, and at the same time Soyókmana whistled. They refused to leave a
house until proper food had been given them, and if a child who had not
been ceremonially flogged appeared with the mother its eyes were shaded
by the mother’s hand while she presented food to the Natáckas.
Between 12 and 1 oclock Íntiwa, assisted by Hoñyi and Letaiyo,
finished making twelve sets of cákwa (blue) páhos, most of which were
composed of two sticks of uniform diameter, and only one set showed
the flat face characteristic of the female. They likewise made twelve
nakwákwoci hotomni, consisting of a twig about 2 feet long from which
four nakwákwocis depended at intervals, and twelve simple feathered
strings. When these were finished Íntiwa placed them in a tray of meal
beside the sípapû and brought from the paraphernalia closet of the kiva
six ears of corn of different colors, his típoni, two nákwipis and as
many aspergills, two or more rattles, and other bundles containing the
remaining paraphernalia of the cloud-charm altar.
At 1.30 p. m. he placed a small hillock of sand back of the sípapû and
deposited his típoni upright upon it; he then made the cloud-charm
altar,[79] arranging the corn at the ends of six radial lines of meal
in a sinistral circuit, placing two crystals upon each ear of corn
except that corresponding to the nadir. The aspergills (makwámpis) also
were laid down beside each ear of corn except that which was symbolic
of the nadir. The sequence of ceremonials which then took place about
this altar was as follows:
1. Ceremonial smoke.
2. Prayers.
3. Liquid poured into the crenelated vessel or nákwipi.
4. Songs.
Synopsis of ceremonial events during the songs:
(_a_) Meal shaken from the six aspergills into the liquid.
(_b_) Whistling into the liquid through a turkey bone, and asperging
to the cardinal points with the same, six times in all.
(_c_) Meal cast into liquid, on tray of páhos and over the típoni
in ceremonial circuit.
(_d_) Pollen cast on the same objects in sequence.
5. Prayers.
6. Ceremonial smoke into the liquid with two pipes.
At the close of this observance Hahaíwüqti and the Natáckas came to
the kiva hatch and a comic dialogue ensued. She demanded meat and
other food, and the elders went up the ladder and refused to grant
her wishes. Natácka hooted and Soyókmana whistled back, and then the
Hehéakatcinas threw down the end of their lariat, and those in the kiva
below hung a piece of sheepskin and horns of goats to it.
Íntiwa then called two youths, and without anointing them[80] gave them
instructions where to deposit the offerings which had been consecrated
on the cloud-charm altar.[81] One youth was told to deposit his at
shrines in a circuit, beginning with Tawapa (Sun spring), and the other
at Kokyanba (Spider spring) and Tuveskyabi. Two sets of offerings were
left, and these with Katcinas were placed on the southwest point of the
mesa. This closed the ceremony, for Íntiwa then replaced the plug of
the sípapû and tied up his típoni and other paraphernalia.
The Natácka group went to the Wikwaliobikiva, and there Sóyoko gave
each of them and the Hehéakatcina a handful of meal and a nakwákwoci.
Taláhoya blew puffs of smoke over them. They then marched around
the houses to the Nacabki, along the plaza to Tcivatoki, and then
to Álkiva, where they begged for meat and held comic dialogues with
different chiefs. At the last-mentioned place there came from the kiva
six men arrayed and costumed as the Mamzraúti tcatumakaa, who, singing
as they went, marched to the dance court and halted close to the edge
of the cliff, facing the houses. The Natácka group accompanied them,
and two men personifying Hehéakatcinas assumed erotic paroxysms and
lay down on their backs on the ground close to the disguised Mamzraúti
personages, endeavoring to lift up their kilts and performing obscene
actions. Then they rolled on the ground in assumed fits. The Natáckas,
as usual, maintained their prancing step around them, and occasionally
Soyókmana thumped them with the butt end of her crook. After about five
minutes of this exhibition the Hehéa seized the Mamzraúti personators
and tumbled them into an indiscriminate heap, fell on top of them, and
did other acts which need not be mentioned. The Natácka then retired
for food, and, unmasking in the kiva, did not again appear.
_February 6_—Food was carried to all the kivas yesterday morning, but
there was neither dancing nor ceremonials.
_February 7_—No ceremony took place on this day, but the kiva chief and
the Hehéakatcinas played a curious game of ball called sunwuwinpa, in
which the ball is attached to a looped string. The player lay on his
back and, passing the loop over the great toe, projected the ball back
over his head. Two groups of these players were noted.
The following Katcinas were personated in the Powámû of 1893:[82]
Hahaíwüqti, Ancient Woman, Mother of Monsters.
Natácka, Monster.
Soyókmana, Attendant of Natácka.
Tuñwúp, Flogging Katcina.
Ahü′l.
Tümác, Mother of Ahü′l.
Wuyókwati.
Tcakwaína.
Wuwíyomo.
Pawík, Duck.
Nüvák, Snow.
Hehéa.
Mamzraúti tcatumakaa.
Tcavaíyo, Giant Elk.
Wupámo, Great Cloud.
Owanazrozro, Stone Devourer.
PÁLÜLÜKOÑTI
The screen drama of the Pálülükoñti ceremonial as performed in 1893 has
already been described.[83]
The following personifications of Katcinas appeared in the Pálülükoñti
in 1893:
Coyóhim, All.
Pawík, Duck.
Tacáb, Navaho.
Hokyaña.
Húhian, Barter.
Cálako, Cálako.
Its presentation in other years differs very materially from the
description given.
In the celebration of 1891 a wooden figure representing Cálako was
introduced with two carved marionettes, which were manipulated as if
grinding corn, and serpent effigies were thrust through the sun opening
of the screen. These were likewise used in the presentation in 1894.[84]
The celebration of Pálülükoñti in 1894 was controlled by the Badger
people, and the exhibition of the screen drama occurred March 16.
A number of slabs with symbolic figures of Táwa (the sun), and
Cótükinuñwa (the heart of all the sky), and two small effigies of
Pálülükoñûh (plumed snake) were introduced. The two mechanical
figurines, which were so manipulated as to appear to be in the act of
grinding corn on metates, represented Cálakomanas, and were made by
Tótci of the Badger people.
This variation from year to year, it will be observed, preserves
without change the various deities introduced and recalls what I
have already written about the variations in altars of the Nimán in
different villages. In stage effects latitude is permissible, but there
is no change in the deities represented. Something similar occurs in
the Mamzraúti, where, in 1891, tablets with Palahíkomana symbols were
used, while in 1893 women represented that personage.
So far as I know the essential personages[85] to be represented by
symbolism or by men in disguise, are:
Táwa, Sun.
Mü′iyawû, Moon.
Cótokinuñwa, Heart of the Sky.
Hahaíwüqti, Ancient Mother.
Pálülükoñti, Plumed Snake.
Cálako taka or mana, Corn Man or Maid.
Various Katcinas, mentioned above, but these may vary year by year.
Másauwûh, Fire God.
Various Tcukúwympkiyas, Clowns.
NIMÁNKATCINA
An outline of the ceremonials attending the departure of the
Katcinas from three of the Tusayan villages has already been given
elsewhere.[86] From new observations it is found that much remains to
complete this account, but the main events have already been described.
While the dance resembles the abbreviated Katcinas, from which it
should not be widely separated, the altar and kiva ceremonials place
it in the group of elaborate Katcinas or those with complicated secret
usages. It is only in those villages in which are preserved the wími
of the Kachina móñwi that this celebration can occur, although, as
we shall later see, abbreviated Katcinas are not so limited. It will
probably be found that any abbreviated Katcina may be used for the
public dance of the Nimán, but no abbreviated Katcina can have the
secret ceremonials of the Nimán without becoming the same. When the
Katcina chief, Íntiwa, sets up his altar it is but natural that any
set of Katcinas may give the public dance, which, while a necessary
accompaniment, is far from being prescribed as to kind.
ABBREVIATED KATCINAS
CHARACTERISTICS
This group includes a large number of simple ceremonials in which
a masked dance in public is the most significant part. The general
character of these observances may be seen by a consultation of my
article, “A few summer ceremonials at the Tusayan pueblos.”[87]
The distinctive name is determined by the characters personified
as indicated by the symbolic markings of the masks or by other
paraphernalia. No elaborate kiva ceremonials are performed.[88]
All the abbreviated presentations have certain common features which
run through them. These characteristics may be learned from my
description in the article on “The summer ceremonials,”[89] but in
order to make them more prominent I have mentioned them in an appended
footnote.[87]
The special Katcina celebrated is designated by the symbolism depicted
on the mask, which is repainted and redecorated according to the
Katcina which it is intended to represent. For the special name and
the accompanying symbolism a study of the dolls will give as good an
idea as can yet be obtained from published articles.[90]
The participants in the abbreviated Katcinas may be divided into
two groups: (1) The Katcinas, male and female, with related masked
personages, and the priests who pray to them and sprinkle meal upon
them, and (2) the accompanying clowns and masked or other persons
who participate in their antics and presentation. The details of
the proceedings of the second or possibly subordinate group vary in
different dances more than those of the first.
The participants of the first group are:
1. Masked personages (always men) called Katcinas.
2. Masked men, personifying women, called Katcinamanas.
3. One or more masked persons, who vary in symbolic characters in
different Katcinas. These are often absent.
4. Priests (unmasked), directors of the dance, who sprinkle the
Katcinas with sacred meal. These priests are vehicles of prayers to the
Katcinas and masked participants, and are generally few in number.
The presentation is accompanied with a feast[91] (generally at noon)
limited to Katcinas and Katcinamanas. The Katcinas dance in line,
sing, distribute gifts, but never utter any continuous sentence or
prayer. The Katcinamanas dance in line facing the Katcinas, or kneel
in front of the same, accompanying their songs with a rasping noise
made by rubbing a scapula over a notched stick. Ordinarily their
mask is identical in all Katcinas of the abbreviated form, and they
generally have their hair in two whorls on the sides of the head,
and wear white blankets and other feminine apparel. The second group
of personifications are the Tcukúwympkiyas (Tatcü′kti, knob-head
priests; Tcü′ckütû, gluttons; or Paiakaíamû, horned clowns). Their
representation consists of a series of antics and dramatizations, story
telling, gluttony, obscene gestures or bawdy remarks, and flogging and
other indignities heaped upon each other or upon accompanying masked
persons. These representations and the personifications who carry on
their portion of the observance vary in different reproductions of the
same drama.
The Tcukúwympkiya do not dance or sing with the Katcinas, but sprinkle
them with meal and pray to them. While an essential feature in certain
abbreviated Katcinas, they are not always present, and their exhibition
has many secular or temporal characteristics or innovations more
or less dependent on the invention of the participants. The masked
persons who assist them are representatives of semimythologic beings,
called Píptuka, Ü′tci (Apache), Tacáb (Navaho), Kése, and others. A
description of the various modifications of their performances would
mean special account of each presentation and would vary in details
for each exhibition, but except in a very general way these variations
are quite unimportant in the study of the characteristics of the
abbreviated Katcinas. The following are some of the episodes introduced:
1. Inordinate eating and begging, urine drinking, gluttony, and
obscenity.
2. Flogging of one another, stripping off breechcloths, drenching with
foul water, ribald remarks to spectators, and comical episodes with
donkeys and dogs.
[Illustration: FIG. 40—The Áñakatcina.]
3. Story telling for pieces of corn under severe flogging by masked
persons, races, smearing one another with blood, urinating upon one
another, tormenting with cactus branches, etc.
The Katcina dance ordinarily lasts from daybreak to sunset, with
intermissions, during which the participants unmask under an
overhanging cliff on the southern side of the mesa. Here likewise they
have their feast at midday. The dances in the forenoon are slimly
attended by spectators, but in the afternoon all the terraces and roofs
of the houses surrounding the plaza[92] in which the pillar mound is
situated are occupied by natives and visitors. The line of Katcinas
is led by an uncostumed chief, who sprinkles meal on the ground as he
enters and leaves the dance court, and who from time to time shouts to
the dancers (figure 40). The leader of the Katcinas stands midway
in the line, and by a rapid movement of his rattle as a signal changes
the song and directs the termination. To him[93] as a representative
the prayers are addressed. The dance is a rhythmic stamping movement of
one foot on the ground, and all keep in line, elbowing their neighbors,
turning now to one side, then to another, as directed. The female
Katcinas face the male and stand about midway in the line. They use the
serrated stick and scapula as an accompaniment to the song.
[Illustration: PL. CIX.
A. HOEN & CO., LITH.
DOLL OF CÁLAKO TAKA.]
It is common for both male and female Katcinas to bring gifts to the
plaza for spectators, especially children, as they return to the
dance.[94] These gifts are ordinarily corn, bread, or tortillas. It is
customary for priests to sprinkle the Katcinas with sacred meal, and
the Tcukúwympkiyas, or clowns, also perform this function. The típoni
or Katcina badge of office is not carried in every celebration, nor
does the Katcina chief, Íntiwa, always lead the line.
[Illustration: FIG. 41—Maskette of Áñakatcinamana.]
The one garment worn by the male Katcinas is the ceremonial kilt. This
is not confined to them, but is likewise worn in other ceremonials, as
in the Snake-Antelope observance and in minor celebrations. Every male
Katcina, whatever his helmet, has one of these about his loins. It is
made of coarse cotton, on the ends of which are embroidered symbolic
figures of rain-clouds, falling rain, and lightning. Ordinarily half
of the width is painted green, and the lower edge is black, with nine
square blocks of the same color at regular intervals. This kilt is
represented on many dolls of the Katcinas figured in my article on that
subject.[95]
The Katcinas, irrespective of the special personage depicted, wear a
broad cotton sash with knotted strings at the proximal end. In this
belt spruce branches are held. A fox-skin depends from the belt, and
turtle-shell rattles on the leg are invariably part of a Katcina’s
costume. Moccasins and heel bands are prescribed and bodily decoration
with pigments is common, but none of the above are characteristic of
special kinds of Katcinas. The mask is in general the one distinctive
characteristic of a definite personification.
SÍOCÁLAKO
The Shálako is one of the most important observances at Zuñi, and is
partially described by Cushing in an article on his life in Zuñi.[96]
An exhaustive account, however, has never been published. The Hopi
occasionally celebrate a Cálako, which from its name and other reasons
is undoubtedly an incorporated modification of this ceremonial, as
the Tusayan legends distinctly state.[97] The following pages give an
outline of the Hopi presentation as a contribution to the comparative
study of Pueblo ritual. A complete account of the Shálako at Zuñi is a
great desideratum before it is possible to undertake close comparisons.
The presentation of Cálako is not an annual event at the East mesa of
Tusayan, but occurs after long intervals of time. The paraphernalia are
kept in a house in Sitcomovi and belong to the Badger clan. The house
in which they are deposited is the property of Koĭkáamü, the daughter
of Masiúmtiwa’s eldest sister, now deceased, and the wími likewise
belong to her by descent.
The chiefs of all the gentes in Walpi and Sitcomovi, the chief of the
Katcinas, and one or two others from Hano assembled in this house on
the 16th of July, 1893, and made a large number (over two hundred) of
páhos for use in the ceremonials to be described.
Early on the morning of the next day the masks and effigies of
Siocálako were renovated and carried to the spring called Kwañwába
(sweet water), which is situated on the Zuñi trail southward from
the mesa. In a modern house owned by a Sitcomovi family[98] at this
spring the masks were repainted and the hoops which were used to make a
framework for the bodies were set around with eagle feathers.
The effigies which were used in personifications were made up of masks
or helmets of the ordinary size for the heads and a crinoline-like[99]
framework of willow hoops for the bodies. These masks were made from
narrow shreds of leaves of the agave plaited together diagonally, and
this plaited frame was covered with a painted buckskin upon which the
symbolism of the Síocálako was delineated. The projecting beak of the
face had a movable under jaw, which was hinged and manipulated with
a string. The helmet was attached to a staff forming a backbone, 3½
feet long, by which it was carried. The series of crinoline hoops or
supports of the blankets which formed the body were about fifteen in
number, the upper being about the size of the helmet, the lower 4½ feet
in diameter. A tü′ihi or large white embroidered mantle was draped
about the upper hoops or the shoulders, and a gray fox-skin was hung
around the neck, which was likewise profusely decorated with shell
necklaces.
The man who acted the part of bearer walked inside the crinoline,
freely supporting the effigy by the staff or backbone, holding it at
such a height as to permit the lowest hoop with its attached feathers
to reach to his knees. Each effigy bearer was bareheaded, and although
hidden from view, was decorated with the white kilt of a typical
Katcina.
An uncostumed chief led the four giants in single file toward the mesa,
followed by a large number of men dressed as mud-heads or Tatcü′kti,
who were called “Koyímse,” a term adapted from their Zuñi name.[100]
All who had sufficient knowledge of the idiom spoke Zuñi, and the
procession reached the Sun spring (Tawápa) at about sunset. It was
there met by two priests, Taláhoya and a nephew of Masiúmtiwa, who
were to act as conductors. All were welcomed and homoya (prayers)
were recited and much sacred meal was sprinkled. Headed by the two
conductors the procession climbed the trail to the top of the mesa,
and from thence marched into the main court of Sitcomovi by the
northeastern entrance, near which the men bearing the four giant
effigies, together with the mud-heads, halted. The latter were closely
huddled together in four groups, drumming with deafening noise on as
many drums.
The Katcina chief, Íntiwa, and a man personifying Eótoto[101] then
drew four circles with intersecting lines of meal on the ground at
the north side of the court in the positions indicated. This was
followed by a command of Hahaíwüqti, who signaled with an ear of corn
for the first (kwiníwi, north) Cálako effigy to advance. He did so
with a short, rapid step, and halted over the first circle of meal.
The “bearer” bobbed the effigy up and down so that the feathers which
had been fastened to the lower hoop of the crinoline touched the
ground. The bearer then stooped and rested the end of his staff on the
ground, holding it upright. The other three giant impersonators were
then brought up, one at a time, by Hahaíwüqti. As each settled to its
position the bearer cried “Ho!” six times in a shrill falsetto, and
rapidly snapped the beak of the effigy he bore by means of a string.
The Cálakos were then sprinkled with meal by the chiefs and others,
after which the effigies were moved one by one to circles of meal on
the southern side of the plaza. Six times this removal was repeated,
each time attended by ceremonials similar to those mentioned above.
At the conclusion of this observance in the plaza the four giants were
conducted by the chiefs of the Lizard, Ása, Badger, and Water gentes
to the houses of the elder sisters of the respective clans. The Cálako
effigies were suspended by the mask from the rafters of each room, and
as the length of each was 7 feet 6 inches the tips of the radiating
feathers on the head and those on the last hoop of the framework of the
body just touched the roof and floor of the chamber. The same ceremony
look place in each house and there were prayers by the elders, dancing
by the effigy bearers, and singing and drumming by the “Koyímse.” At
sunrise—for the exhibitions in the houses lasted all night—a final
presentation in the court similar to that which opened the ceremonies
took place, after which the Cálakos and mud-heads went to the cliff and
unmasked at the Kachinaki. There they performed purification ceremonies
(navótciwa) and dismantled the effigies. They donned their ordinary
habiliments and smuggled the paraphernalia back into the chamber in
Sitcomovi, where it is ordinarily kept.
[Illustration: FIG. 42—Position of celebrants in the court of Sitcomovi
in Síocálako.[102]]
On the 8th and 9th of the month, following the demise of the Cálakos, a
most elaborate Wáwac or Racing Katcina was performed.[103]
PAWÍKKATCINA
The Pawíkkatcina, which I observed at Sitcomovi in 1892, had certain
differences from any abbreviated Katcina dance which I have yet
described, and illustrated the ceremonial reception of these personages
after they had visited another pueblo. A priest of Sitcomovi suggested
that his fellow villagers should send a delegation of young men to
Cipaulovi to return a dance with which they had previously been honored
by the latter pueblo. Accordingly the masks were painted and the
preliminary ceremonials took place in one of the Sitcomovi kivas, those
who were to participate in the ceremonial beginning their work on the
25th of June. The visitors danced all day of the 27th at Cipaulovi,
rested on the 28th, and continued their dance on the 29th at Sitcomovi.
The ceremonials on their return at the trail approaching Sitcomovi took
place on June 28th, an hour before sunset.
[Illustration: FIG. 43—Mask of Pawíkkatcina (front view).]
This dance differed very little from that of other Katcinas, to which
attention has hitherto been directed.[104] There were twenty-three
Katcinas and five[105] Katcinamanas, and the masks of both are
illustrated in figures 43, 44, and 45, while one of the staffs which
they bore is represented in figure 46. They sang five songs called
Ómowûh (cloud), Yoivíkka (swift), Pakwa (frog), Pawykia (duck), and
Patzro (quail). An interesting feature which I had never before seen in
Tusayan abbreviated Katcinas was the unmasked dance in the kiva.[106]
The secret ceremonials in the kiva were as follows: The three priests,
who had previously bathed their heads in their own houses, made the
páhos and nakwákwocis. Two of these men made four prayer sticks similar
to those described in the Walpi ceremonial, and one made a long single
páho. These were deposited in a flat basket tray and smoked upon by
those present. Before beginning the manufacture of the páhos the makers
prepared themselves by a ceremonial smoke.[107] At the same time that
the páhos were made twenty-three nakwákwocis for the Katcinas and five
for the Katcinamanas were likewise manufactured.
[Illustration: FIG. 44—Mask of Pawíkkatcina (side view).]
[Illustration: PL. CX.
A. HOEN & CO., LITH.
HEAD DRESS OF ALOSAKA.]
At midday food was passed down into the kiva, but before partaking of
it one of the priests took a pinch of each kind of food (dunópna) and
went with it to a cleft in the mesa on the north side of Sitcomovi. He
there deposited it with a páho, a pinch of each kind of pigment used in
painting the paraphernalia, a little tobacco,[108] but no sacred meal.
This was an offering, it was said, to the Grand Canyon of the Colorado
sípapû. He then went to the southern side of the mesa and placed in a
similar cleft a nakwákwoci, said to be an offering to Másauwûh.
[Illustration: FIG. 45—Mask of Pawíkkatcinamana.]
[Illustration: FIG. 46—Staff of Pawíkkatcina.]
At sunrise on the 29th two offerings were deposited, and each of the
twenty-three Katcinas placed his nakwákwoci in a shrine.
Ceremonials attending visits of people from adjacent or remote
pueblos are simple but interesting. The following reception ceremony
of visitors from a distant pueblo not of their own people was noted:
In the progress of the summer dances of Walpi in 1892 I observed the
ceremonial reception of several Zuñis who came over to assist in the
Húmiskatcina. They were formally “received” in the Wikwaliobi kiva by
Íntiwa,[109] Kópeli, Hóñyi, Pauatíwa, and Lésma. Íntiwa gave their
headman a twig of spruce, to which Lésma tied four nakwákwocis.[110]
Íntiwa sprinkled it with sacred meal and laid it in front of the
Zuñis, and finally all smoked together. This was said to be a formal
act of reception.[111]
The reception ceremony of the Pawíkkatcinas when they returned from
Cipaulovi was as follows: At 4 p. m. Pauatíwa’s father, a very old man,
sat on the edge of the mesa looking west and north toward Cipaulovi. He
called my attention to a line of men coming along the trail. When the
line halted on the last rise before the trail ascends to the top of the
mesa we went down to welcome them.
[Illustration: FIG. 47—Helmets, ear of corn, and spruce bough arranged
for reception ceremony.]
Each Katcina placed his helmet in one of two parallel lines arranged
along the trail, and in front of the two lines he laid the spruce bough
which he carried. In front of this pile of spruce boughs an ear of corn
was placed in the trail not far from the helmets. All the Katcinas then
marched around the line in a sinistral circuit, sprinkling sacred meal
upon the masks, corn, and spruce boughs and throwing a pinch along the
trail in advance of the ear of corn. The circuit around the line of
helmets was sinistral, as in all Hopi ceremonials.
Nine old men then formed a circle at the left of the corn and smoked,
sitting in a squatting posture.[112] No one was allowed to go up the
trail before this ceremony was completed, and one who attempted to
do so was warned back. A short address of welcome was spoken by the
priests to the leader of the Katcinas, and at sunset they put on their
masks and marched to the plaza of Sitcomovi. They first danced on the
southern, then on the eastern, and lastly on the western sides of the
plaza, omitting the northern side. The priests sprinkled the Katcinas
with sacred meal, observing the sinistral ceremonial circuit as they
passed around the line. A small spruce tree, upon which nakwákwocis
were tied, had been placed near the middle of the plaza.
The Katcinas and Katcinamanas then adjourned to the kiva, where they
unmasked, placing their helmets in a row and the spruce boughs in the
middle of the kiva.[113] The two priests seated themselves on the
uprise, one on each side of the ladder.
On the following day the dance was continued from sunrise to sunset. In
the afternoon there appeared the Tcúkuwympkiya, Muñ′we (Owl Katcina),
two Tcósbüci, Pü′ükoñhoya (the Little War God), and a Navaho Katcina.
ÁÑAKATCINA
The celebration of the Áñakatcina at Hano, in the Nimán of 1892, gave
me the following additional data to that already mentioned in the
description[114] of the Áña of 1891. These are due in part to the
variations in ceremonial customs, and are not regarded as essentials.
The Hopi Áñakatcina was invited to Hano by Kálakwai, and its public
presentation was identical with that of 1891 and that of the Zuñi
Kókokci. The antics of the gluttons were very much more complicated.
This I ascribe to two causes—the rarity with which Katcinas are
celebrated in Hano, and the great need of rain at the time.
One interesting but highly disgusting part of the show of these priests
was the slaughter of a huge dog and the use of his entrails and blood
in distinguishing one of their number as Másauwûh,[115] the Death god.
The details of this may be had by consultation with the author.
About 4 oclock on the morning of the public dance of the Áña the
participants danced in the Hano plaza, destitute of all clothing or
helmets and accompanied by the clowns, also without masks. This feature
I had not previously observed. After this early dance páhos were
deposited at the shrine situated in the middle of the dance plaza.
As no account of the ceremonial deposit of offerings to the winds has
ever been published, the following observations are given to fill this
gap in our knowledge. Probably the object of the wind offerings is
propitiatory, for high wind, it is believed, blows away the rain, to
produce which is the main object of the observance. Kwálakwa took for
this purpose in a blanket the following objects: Nakwákwocis, native
tobacco, paper bread, píkami (pudding mush), sugar, and peaches. He
deposited a packet containing a pinch of each of these in six shrines
situated at cardinal points, beginning at the east.[116] The Hopi
begin their ceremonial circuit ordinarily at the north, but the Tewa,
it would seem, place their offerings in the following order: East,
northwest, southwest by south, southwest, southeast by east, southeast.
In the interval between two of the dances, while the Katcinas were
unmasked, and had halted under an overhanging rock on the trail a few
feet below Hano, I observed a test of endurance which I had never
before seen. Kópeli, the Snake chief, took a bundle of yucca branches,
and different volunteers from the Katcinas, stepping up to him, first
held out one arm, then the other; Kópeli struck the outstretched limb
with more or less force, and at the conclusion presented his own arm
and naked body for this trying ordeal. The Áñakatcina is illustrated in
figure 40.
COMPARATIVE STUDY OF KATCINA DANCES IN CIBOLA AND TUSAYAN
The published material which can be used as a basis of comparison in
the study of Katcinas in other villages is meager and insufficient.
Even of the nearest pueblo, Zuñi, which has been more studied than many
of the others, and in which Katcina observances closely akin to those
of Tusayan are performed, the published accounts are very limited. In
a general way it seems to me that the Tusayan ceremonials are more
showy and elaborate than those at Zuñi. There is, however, one marked
exception;[117] the powerful war society, called the Priesthood of the
Bow, has more elaborate ceremonials in Zuñi than in Walpi, where this
organization is weak. It is not possible from my limited knowledge of
Zuñi ceremonials to declare that it is less complicated than that of
Tusayan, but I believe that the powerful organization mentioned has had
much to do with many of the differences between the two.
One source of information in regard to the differences and likenesses
between the Zuñi and Hopi ceremonials is the testimony of the chiefs
themselves. This does not hold in regard to modified ceremonials
primarily the same or derived from a common source, and is only
hearsay, not science.
All the Hopi priests say that the Siotü (Zuñis) have no knowledge of
the Tcütcübwimi (Snake-Antelope mysteries). The same chiefs likewise
claim that the Zuñis have no Mamzraúti, Lálakoñti,[118] Wüwütcímti, and
no societies corresponding to the Tátaukyamû, Áaltû, or Kwákwantû.
Although they may not reproduce some of these ceremonials in the form
celebrated by the Hopi, it is not clear to me that some of those which
they observe may not be differentiations of the same ceremony, as I
have shown in my accounts of the women’s dances.[119] There is a marked
similarity in many of the myths, which would seem to imply resemblances
in ritualistic dramatizations of the same.
It is possible to verify historical data and legendary history by a
study of the same ceremony. For instance, the five oldest Tusayan
pueblos of which we have accounts in the earliest records are Awatobi,
Walpi, Micoñinovi, Cuñopavi, and Oraibi.[120] Awatobi was destroyed in
1700, so that but four original communities of the time of Vargas still
remain. It is in these four and at Cipaulovi that the Snake ceremony is
still celebrated, and Sitcomovi and Hano are ascribed by Hopi legends
to a much later time than the first appearance of the Spaniards; their
names do not appear in the early descriptions of the province.
It is a mistaken idea, and one which has led to many misconceptions,
to suppose that what is true of one group of pueblos is true of all.
While in a general way the mythology and ritual of all may be said to
have general resemblances, there is far from an identity between the
ceremonials, for instance, of the Hopi and the Zuñi, or those of the
Rio Grande pueblos and Tusayan. It is not a question of knowing all by
an intimate knowledge of one; but each branch, even individual pueblos,
must be investigated separately before by comparative knowledge we
can obtain an adequate conception of the character of the pueblo
type of mythology and ritual. Moreover, there is evidence that this
difference existed in ancient times, and while the differentiation of
the manners and customs of different pueblos may have been less rapid
in the past than today they were far from being identical. It does
not follow, except in certain limits, that the most primitive pueblos
today show in their survivals a better picture of the character of life
in another pueblo than the existing state of things in the latter. To
reconstruct the probable character of the ancient culture we must trace
similarities by comparative studies.
In a comparative study of the ceremonials of different pueblos, it is
important to decide which are most primitive or nearest the aboriginal
condition and which are least affected by foreign influences. The
purer the present aboriginal culture, the greater worth will it have
in our approximation to a true conception of the primitive pueblo
culture. Many of the Pueblos practice a religious system which may
be rightly called aboriginal, but in some it has been modified by
outside influences. I think no one, for instance, would say that the
present Zuñi custom of burial in a churchyard was not due in part to
the influence of Catholic priests, for Spanish narratives of three and
a half centuries ago are quite explicit in their statement that the
Zuñi burned their dead. If one custom has been changed, how are we
to distinguish the modified from the primitive? It can be shown that
strong influences have been used for the direct purpose of destroying
the Katcina worship. Take, for instance, Zuñi, the least changed
of all the pueblos except those of Tusayan. It is pagan today, and
probably never was profoundly modified by Christianity, but Roman
Catholic fathers, with the avowed determination to Christianize
it, could not have lived there continuously for over a century and
caused the great missions to be built without modifying the religious
customs of the Zuñians. It is said that after the priests were driven
out the Pueblos returned to their ancient practices, but it must be
admitted that no one has yet shown how the pure Katcina practices were
preserved over three generations. They returned to an old worship,
but who has evidence to say that it was the same as that of their
great-great-grandfathers?
In some instances the natives have very willingly adopted Christian
teachings and the Christian God, believing that by so doing their own
religion would necessarily become strengthened by an addition to their
pantheon. Such adoption, however, no matter how regarded by them, made
a permanent impression on their primitive condition by changing their
mode of thought and life.
They apparently may have abandoned all that the church taught; but what
means could have been used to restore the pure worship of pre-Columbian
times? The culture which was revived was aboriginal, but could never be
identical[121] with that of the times before Coronado.
The question then resolves itself into a historical one—which pueblos
were the home of Catholic priests for the shortest time, and in which
were their influences least powerful? The historian will of course
answer the Tusayan pueblos, and ethnology contributes her quota of
facts to indicate that the purest form of Pueblo ceremonials are now
practiced by these villagers.
Although there are several ceremonials which the Hopi claim are not
performed at Zuñi, and conversely others performed at Zuñi which are
not observed in Tusayan, there is a similarity, differing in details,
between the Kóko and Katcina dances close enough to show their
identity. The Hopi recognize this fact, and to prove it I need only
mention that the Áñakatcina in 1891 was danced at Zuñi by some of the
Hopi as a Kóko. I have already pointed out the identity of the masks,
paraphernalia, and songs of the Kókokshi, performed by the Zuñians,
and the Áñakatcina at Walpi. There is no doubt in my mind that they
are the same, but I can not accept the dictum that what is observed
in one is identical with what exists in the other. There are slight
modifications which exist likewise in different Hopi villages, as will
be seen by a comparison of my descriptions of the two. One marked
difference is that several Kókokshi dances were performed in the summer
I spent at Zuñi, and that this identical Katcina (the Áña) is performed
but once each summer in any one Hopi village.
[Illustration: PL. CXI.
A. HOEN & CO., LITH.
A POWAMU MASK.]
[Illustration: FIG. 48—Symbolism of the helmet of Húmiskatcina (tablet
removed).]
The only other Kóko[122] dance which I know of from personal
observation is the tablet dance, which is in many respects homologous
with the Húmiskatcina. The symbolism of the mask and tablet, however,
differs from the Húmis, and while in a speculative way I regard them
the same we must await more research to prove them identical. The
subject is still more complicated by the fact that the Hopi have a
tablet mask with still a third symbolic character, which they call the
Zuñi or Síohúmiskatcina.
I think we need have no hesitation in supposing that the so-called Sío
(Zuñi) Katcina, which I have elsewhere described, is a Zuñi celebration
derived from that pueblo. I do not know whether it is ever performed
there in the same way as at Walpi, since it has not been described by
any of the students of the Zuñians.
We have, however, as before mentioned, a partial description by Cushing
of the Zuñi Shálako, and from his account we can gather a few of
the main points of difference between it and the Síocálako performed
at Walpi and described in the preceding pages. The Hopi, however,
have a Cálako of their own. They distinguish it from the Síocálako,
which they not only recognize as of Zuñi origin, but are also able to
designate the family which brought it from the Zuñians. The name of
the celebration and the use of Zuñi words in it both point to this
conclusion.
The correspondence between the Héemashikwi, or last[123] dance—the
tablet dance described by me elsewhere as occurring at the close of the
series of Kókos—is probably the same as the Nimánkatcina. There are
many similarities to indicate this fact, and, although as yet we know
nothing of the secret observances connected with it, I suspect that a
similarity between them and those described in the Móñkiva will later
be made known.
Dolls in imitation of the Héemashikwi are reported in the catalogue
of Colonel James Stevenson’s collection from Zuñi in 1881, and I have
no doubt it will be found that there formerly was, and possibly still
survives, at the celebration of this dance at Zuñi the characteristic
habit in Tusayan of distributing dolls as presents at the departure of
the Katcinas.
Mrs Stevenson has given short descriptions of some of the Zuñi Kókos
and figures of the masks of the same. While it is not possible for
me to use them in a comparison with Katcina celebrations, they are
interesting in studies of symbolism. The “flogging Kókos,” for
instance, seem to function the same as Túñwup among the Hopi, but as
the symbolism of the mask of the floggers, Saiāhlias, is not given by
Mrs Stevenson I am not able to express an opinion whether the same
personage is intended or not. The time of year when the flagellation is
inflicted by the Saiāhlia of Zuñi would be an interesting observation,
and the accompanying ceremonials would also be of great interest for
comparison with the Powámû.
I have not been able to find the equivalents of the Sälämobias among
the Hopi, but the symbolism of Pooatíwa agrees almost exactly with that
of the Hopi Paútiwa.
The Sälämobias of the different world-quarters agree in color with
those assigned by the Hopi to the same points, with the exception of
those for the above and below. In Zuñi, according to Cushing and Mrs
Stevenson, the above is all colors, the below black. Among the Hopi the
above was found to be black and the below all colors. This discrepancy
in observations is recommended as a good subject for future students,
both in Tusayan and Zuñi.
In reviewing the Hopi ceremonial personages I have been unable to find
any homology with the Sälämobias. The views of the masks[124] given
by Mrs Stevenson afford little information on this subject, but in
her sand picture, surrounded by the Plumed Snake, I find some of the
figures of Sälämobias with indication of a connecting band between the
eyes, which recalls Paútiwa’s[125] symbolism. There does not seem to be
a wide difference between the profile views of the masks of Paútiwa and
Sälämobia of the different world-quarters.
The environment of the pueblos of Tusayan and of Cibola is so similar
and the rain-cloud worship so imperative in both that, a priori, we
should expect the rain-cloud symbol to be as frequent in Zuñi as in
Walpi. I am much surprised therefore in studying the description of
Zuñi ceremonials to find nothing said of the characteristic Hopi
symbols of the rain clouds, the semicircles and the parallel lines of
falling rain (plate CVIII). If the rain clouds at Zuñi are limited
to the terraced[126] figures found on the prayer-meal bowls and the
same made in sacred meal we certainly have a significant difference
between the symbolism of these two peoples. In Tusayan there is not
one of the great religious festivals where the semicircular clouds and
falling rain do not appear as symbols. Thus far students of the Zuñi
ceremonials have not figured one instance in which they are used.[127]
The short account of the effigy of the Plumed Snake (Kólowisi) with
attendant ceremonials at Zuñi, by Mrs Stevenson, shows the existence
of archaic rites with the Plumed Serpent which have been observed in a
different form (Pálülükoñti) at Tusayan. The time of the year when the
Zuñi effigy is brought to the kivas on a rude altar is not given; nor
is the special name of the ceremony. The conch shell is similarly used
to imitate the voice of the Plumed Serpent at Zuñi, as at Walpi, in the
Soyáluña and the Pálülükoñti. In neither of these ceremonials, however,
have the effigies been observed to be carried ceremonially about the
pueblos of the Tusayan mesas. The symbolism of Pálülükoñti and Kólowisi
seems to differ, judging from published accounts and symbolism on Zuñi
and Hopi pottery. I find no intimation of the horn on the head of Zuñi
pictures of the Plumed Snake, and the arrowhead decoration fails on
the body. The two crescents which are common on the body of the Zuñi
figures have not been observed in Hopi pictographs or effigies.
It would seem both from legendary and other reasons that there has not
been the warmest friendship between the inhabitants of Tusayan and
Cibola. This is not to be wondered at, for only on rare occasions has
there been good feeling between two pueblos even of the same speech.
The massacre of Awatobi at the hands of the other Hopi has been told
elsewhere, and even at the present day Oraibi is not on the best of
terms with the other Hopi towns. The legends of the Hopi are full
of quarrels of one pueblo with another, and bitter hatred sometimes
developing into bloody wars in which their own kindred were attacked
and pueblos destroyed.
In her article, “A chapter of Zuñi mythology,”[128] Mrs Stevenson
says: “The Ahshiwanni,[129] a priesthood of fourteen men who fast
and pray for rain; the Kokko, an organization bearing the name of
anthropomorphic beings (principally ancestral) whom they personate,
and thirteen esoteric societies are the three fundamental religious
bodies of Zuñi.... The society of the Kokko personate anthropomorphic
gods by wearing masks and other paraphernalia. There are six estufas
or chambers of the Kokko for the six regions, the north, west, south,
east, zenith, and nadir, and these rooms present fantastic scenes
when the primitive drama is enacted by the personators of these
anthropomorphic gods.... The esoteric societies, with but one or two
exceptions, have nothing to do with anthropomorphic beings, this
category of gods being zoomorphic.”
Accepting these statements as a correct idea of the “three fundamental
religious bodies of Zuñi” I find great difficulty in tracing an
intimate relation between them and those of the Hopi system. A large
number of the Katcinas are anthropomorphic and likewise ancestral.
They bear the names of animals, and in that sense may be called in
some instances zoomorphic. Walpi, however, has but five kivas, the
members of each of which in the Powámû personify different Katcinas.
I have not yet discovered that each of these kivas is associated with
a different cardinal world-quarter, as Mrs Stevenson finds to be the
case in Zuñi. The esoteric societies of the Zuñi, according to Mrs
Stevenson, “with but one or two exceptions have nothing to do with
anthropomorphic beings.” I am not able to harmonize my observations
of the secret societies in Tusayan with the definition given of the
esoteric societies in Zuñi, and must await some clearer insight into
the character of the latter before offering any discussion of several
resemblances which can be detected. From an examination of Cushing’s
article in the _Century Magazine_, in which the esoteric societies
of Zuñi are briefly defined, I am led to believe that the so-called
esoteric societies in that pueblo differ a good deal from those in
Walpi. The Hopi testify that while some of their secret fraternities
are represented in Zuñi several of them are not identical.[130]
Mrs Stevenson does not make it clear who these fourteen (six) so-called
Ahshiwanni are, but calls them “rain priests.” She intimates that they
appeal directly to the Sun father, their supreme deity, and to the rain
makers, while the “societies” address “the beast gods of their worship
to intercede with the Sun father and rain makers.” There is apparently
no parallelism between these conditions and those at Tusayan, but
I can readily find truth in the statement when applied to the Hopi
that “no society convenes without giving much time to invocations for
rain.” I am sure that some of the societies at Tusayan do not appeal to
the beast gods to intercede with the Sun father and rain makers, but
address the latter directly in their prayers. In this particular there
is certainly a marked difference between the conceptions back of the
rites in Tusayan and those ascribed to the Cibolans.[131]
The custom of the Yókimoñwi, or rain chief, retiring alone to a cell
to pray for rain was practiced in Tusayan. One of these retreats is to
be seen at the Middle mesa. Among the foothills there is a block of
sandstone, 15 feet long, 5 feet wide, and 4 feet thick. Its flat face
is about horizontal or slightly tilted toward the northeast. Portions
of a rough wall are still in place under the block, confirming the
story that there was here formerly a chamber of which the block was the
roof. An aperture on the northeastern corner, about 20 inches square,
is usually closed with loose stones, but the chamber is now filled in
with sand to within about 2 feet of the roof or lower surface of the
slab. The interior of the chamber was about 8 feet long and 4 feet
wide. On the roof, which was painted white, are figures of yellow,
green, red, and white rain clouds with parallel lines of falling rain
and zigzag lightning symbols in conventional patterns. To this chamber,
it is said, the Rain chief of the Water people retired at planting time
and lived there sixteen days, his food being brought to him by a girl
during his vigils. He was able by his prayers to bring the rain. These
visits were made long ago, but even now there are páhos strewn about
the chamber, and devout persons visit the place at the present day
with a nakwákwoci and pray for rain. Although the Rain chief no longer
passes the sixteen days there, it is a holy place for the purposes
mentioned.
“The earth,” says Mrs Stevenson,[132] “is watered by the deceased Zuñi
of both sexes, who are controlled and directed by a council composed of
ancestral gods. These shadow people collect water in vases and gourd
jugs from the six great waters of the world, and pass to and fro over
the middle plane, protected from view of the people below by cloud
masks.”
I find a different conception from this of the rain-making powers
of the dead among the Hopi. Among other ceremonials, when certain
persons die, after the chin has been blackened, the body washed, and
prescribed feathers placed on different parts of it, a thin wad of raw
cotton in which is punched holes for the eyes is laid upon the face.
This is a mask and is called a rain-cloud or “prayer to the dead to
bring the rain.” In general, as many writers have said, the use of the
mask transforms the wearer into a deity designated by the symbolism
of the same,[133] and as a consequence the dead, we may theoretically
suppose, are thereby endowed with supernatural powers to bring rain.
The Ómowûhs, however, are the Rain gods, and so far as I can explain
the significance of the symbolic rain-cloud mask on the face of the
dead and the black color on the chin, it is simply a method of prayer
through the divinized dead to the Rain-cloud deities. Among the Hopi
the earth is watered by the Rain-gods, but the dead are ceremonially
made intercessors to affect them. In this view of the case the Hopi may
be said to believe that the earth is “watered by the deceased of both
sexes.”
The Hopi believe that the breath body of the Zuñi goes to a sacred
place near Saint Johns, called Wénima. There the dead are supposed to
be changed into Katcinas, and the place is reputed to be one of the
homes of these personages. It is likewise specially spoken of as the
house of Cálako, and it is believed that the Zuñi hold the same views
of this mysterious place. In lagoons near it turtles are abundant,
and not far away Mr Hubbell and others discovered sacrificial caverns
in which were large collections of pottery. Tótci, a Hopi resident of
Zuñi, is the authority for the statement that the Cibolans do not use
the raw cotton mortuary mask, although they blacken the face of the
dead chiefs. He says the same idea of divinization of the breath body
into a Katcina seems to be current among the Zuñi as among the Hopi.
According to Mrs Stevenson the father of the Kokko is Kaklo (Kyäklu),
whose servants are the Sälämobiyas. The name of their mother is not
known to me. The Katcinas are said to be the offspring of an Earth
goddess,[134] who figures under many names. Their father’s name on
comparative grounds is supposed to be Táwa, the sun, or Túñwup, their
elder brother.
A study of the group of Katcina ceremonials as compared with the Kóko
brings out in prominence the conclusion that while some of them may be
identical, as a rule there is considerable difference in the ritual of
the Tusayan people and their nearest neighbor, the Zuñi. If variations
exist between these neighbors we are justified in the suspicion,
which observation as far as it has thus far gone supports, that there
are even wider differences between pueblos more distant from each
other. The ethnologist fully cognizant with the ritual in one pueblo
has a general conception of the character of all, but changes due to
suppression of ceremonials, survivals, dying out of societies, and many
other causes have modified the pueblos in different ways. The character
of the ancient system is adulterated in all. We can form an idea of
this modification in no better way than by a minute study of the
existing ritual in every pueblo. Upon such comprehensive study science
is at the very threshold.
The foregoing pages open many considerations of a theoretical nature
which I have not attempted to develop. My greatest solicitude has been
to sketch the outline of the Katcina ceremonials as performed at the
Hopi village of Walpi in Tusayan.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] These studies were made while the author was connected with the
Hemenway Expedition from 1890 to 1894, and the memoir, which was
prepared in 1894, includes the results of the observations of the late
A. M. Stephen as well as of those of the author.
[2] The letters used in spelling Indian words in this article have the
following sounds: a, as in far; ă, as in what; ai, as i in pine; e, as
a in fate; i, as in pique; î, as in pin; u, as in rule; û, as in but;
ü, as in the French tu; p, b, v, similar in sound; t and d, like the
same in tare and dare, almost indistinguishable; tc, as ch in chink:
c, as sh in shall; ñ, as n in syncope; s, sibilant; r, obscure rolling
sound; l, m, n, k, h, y, z, as in English.
[3] These observations are confined to three villages on the East mesa,
which has been the field more thoroughly cultivated by the members of
the Hemenway Expedition.
[4] “Souls” in the broadest conception of the believers in Tylor’s
animistic theory.
[5] The distinction between elaborate and abbreviated Katcinas will be
spoken of later.
[6] It would be interesting to know what relationship exists between
abbreviated and elaborate Katcinas. Are the former, for instance,
remnants of more complicated presentations in which the secret
elements have been dropped in the course of time? Were they formerly
more complicated, or are they in lower stages of evolution, gathering
episodes which if left alone would finally make them more complex?
I incline to the belief that the abbreviated Katcinas are remnants,
and their reduction due to practical reasons. In a general way the
word Katcina may be translated “soul” or “deified ancestor,” and
in this respect affords most valuable data to the upholders of the
animistic theory. But there are other elements in Tusayan mythology
which are not animistic. As Mogk has well shown in Teutonic mythology,
nature elements and the great gods are original, so among the Hopi
the nature elements are not identified with remote ancestors, nor is
there evidence that their worship was derivative. As Saussaye remarks,
“Animism is always and everywhere mixed up with religion; it is never
and nowhere the whole of religion.”
[7] By Gregorian months, which of course the Hopi do not recognize by
these names or limits. Their own “moons” have been given elsewhere.
[8] The months to which the first division roughly corresponds are
January to July. The second division includes, roughly speaking, August
and December (inclusive). More accurately defined, the solar year is
about equally divided into two parts by the Nimán, which is probably
the exact dividing celebration of the ceremonial year.
[9] There is a slight _r_ sound in the first two syllables of
Wüwütcímti.
[10] The word mü′iyawû means “moon,” by which it would seem that our
satellite determines the smaller divisions of the year.
[11] From their many stories of the under world I am led to believe
that the Hopi consider it a counterpart of the earth’s surface, and a
region inhabited by sentient beings. In this under world the seasons
alternate with those in the upper world, and when it is summer in
the above it is winter in the world below, and vice versa. Moreover,
ceremonies are said to be performed there as here, and frequent
references are made to their character. It is believed that these
ceremonies somewhat resemble each other and are complemental. In their
cultus of the dead the under world is also regarded as the abode of the
“breath-body” of the deceased, who enter it through a sípapu, often
spoken of as a lake. I have not detected that they differentiate this
world into two regions, the abode of the blessed and that of the damned.
[12] The Táwaki of tátyüka is the sun house. There is no sun house at
hópoko nor at tévyuña. The names of the four horizon cardinal points
are, kwiníwi, northwest; tevyü′ña, southwest; tatyúka, southeast, and
hopokyüka (syncopated hópoko), northeast.
[13] Note the similarity in sound to the Nahuatl month, Quecholli,
in which the Atamalqualiztli was celebrated. See “A Central American
ceremony which suggests the Snake dance of the Tusayan villagers,”
American Anthropologist, Washington, vol. VI, No. 3. Quecholli,
however, according to both Sahagun and Serna, was in November.
The Snake dance at Walpi is thus celebrated about six months from
Atamalqualiztli, or not far from the time when the people of the under
world celebrate their Snake-Antelope solemnities. In this connection
attention may be called to the fact that the Snake-Antelope priests in
Walpi have a simple gathering in the winter Pa moon (January), when
their sacerdotal kindred of the under world are supposed by them to
be performing their unabbreviated snake rites. This is at most only
about a month from the time Atamalqualiztli was celebrated. Teotlico,
the Nahuatl return of the war god, occurred in November; Soyáluña, the
warriors’ return, in December. There are important comparative data
hearing on the likeness of Hopi and Nahuatl ceremonies hidden in the
resemblance between Kwetcála and Quecholli (Kwetcoli).
[14] Müyiñwûh, the goddess of germs, is preeminently the divinity of
the under world, and has some remarkable similarities to the Nahuatl
Mictlantecutli or his female companion Mictlancihuatl. The name is very
similar to that for moon. This was the ruler of the world of shades
visited by Tiyo, the snake hero. (See the legend of the Snake Youth in
Journal of American Ethnology and Archaeology, vol. IV, Boston, 1894.)
[15] The Soyáluña has been called the Katcina’s return, which name is
not inaccurate. It is, strictly speaking, a warriors’ celebration, and
marks the return of the leader of the Katcinas, as in Teotleco. The
Katcinas appear in force in the Pa celebration.
[16] I have elsewhere pointed out the similarity between the
dramatizations of the Snake-Antelope and the Flute societies, but the
members of the former scout the idea that they are related. Evidently
the similarity in their ceremonials, which can not be denied, are not
akin to the relationships which they recognize between brother and
sister societies.
[17] Strictly speaking, eight active, since the first day is not
regarded as a ceremonial day. See Journal of American Ethnology and
Archæology, vol. IV, p. 13, 1894.
[18] Clowns, called likewise “mudheads” and “gluttons.”
[19] The típoni is supposed to be the mother or the palladium, the
sacred badge of office of the society. It is one of the wími or sacred
objects in the keeping of a chief, and is the insignium of his official
standing. The character of this object varies with different societies,
and, in a simple form, is an ear of corn surrounded by sticks and
bright-colored feathers bound by a buckskin string. For the contents of
the more elaborate forms, see my description of the Lálakoñti típoni
(called bundles of páhos).
[20] Páhos or prayer-sticks are prayer-bearers of different forms
conceived to be male and female when double. Their common form is
figured in my memoir on the Snake Ceremonials at Walpi; Jour. Am. Eth.
and Arch., vol. IV, p. 27. Prescribed forms vary with different deities.
[21] The American Anthropologist, Washington, April, 1892.
[22] Ibid., July, 1892.
[23] Erroneously identified as Cálako in my description and plates of
the presentation of the Mamzraúti in 1891.
[24] The four societies who celebrate the Wüwütcímti are the
Aálwympkiya, Wüwütcímwympkiya, Tataükyamû, and Kwákwantû.
[25] Chief of the Kwákwantû, a powerful warrior society. Among various
attributes Másaüwûh is the Fire God.
[26] The body, save for a kilt, is uncovered. This kilt is white or
green in color, with embroidered rain-cloud symbols. This is tied by a
sash, with dependent fox-skin behind. Rattles made of a turtle shell
and sheep or antelope hoofs are tied to one leg back of the knee, and
moccasins are ordinarily worn. Spruce twigs are inserted in the girdle,
and the Katcina carries a rattle in one hand. This rattle is a gourd
shell with stones within and with a short wooden handle.
[27] The left hand is always used to receive meal offerings and
nakwákwocis, and is spoken of as kyakyauĭna, desirable. The right hand
is called tünúcmahtu, food hand.
[28] The word Katcina, as already stated, is applied to a ceremonial
dance and to a personator in the same. The symbolism of each is
best expressed by the carved wooden statuettes or dolls, tíhus,
many examples of which I have described in my article on “Dolls of
the Tusayan Indians” in Internationales Archiv für Ethnographie,
1894. Profitable sources of information in regard to the symbolic
characteristics of the Katcinas are ceramic objects, photographs, clay
tiles, clay images, pictures on altars, etc. All pictorial or glyptic
representations of the same Katcina are in the main identical, with
slight variations in detail, due to technique.
[29] For a description of the Áñakatcina see Journal of American
Ethnology and Archæology, vol. II, No. 1.
[30] I have also seen visors of this kind, and an old priest of my
acquaintance on secular occasions sometimes wore a huge eye shade or
visor made of basketware. The helmet of the Humískatcina bears a willow
framework which forms a kind of visor, and if, as I suspect from the
“large pasteboard [skin over framework or wooden board] tower,” it was
a tablet or nákci, the personification mentioned by Ten Broeck may have
been a Humískatcina. In May, 1891, I observed a Humís, but there is no
reason from the theory of the time of abbreviated Katcinas to limit
it to May. It might have been performed in April equally well. The
Katcinamanas were not observed by me to wear such visors as Ten Broeck
observed.
[31] During that time our knowledge of the Snake dance had been
enlarged by Stephen, Bourke, and others.
[32] The Katcinas, sometimes spelt Cachinas, are believed to be the
same as the Zuñi Kókos and possibly the Nahuatl teotls. The derivation
is obscure; possibly it is from kátci, spread out, horizontal, the
surface of the earth, náa, father, abbreviated na, surface of land,
father. The Tusayan Indians say that their Katcinas are the same as
the Zuñi Kóko, pronouncing the word as here spelled. Cushing insists,
however, that the proper name of the organization is Kâ′kâ. I find Mrs
Stevenson, in her valuable article on the Religious Life of a Zuñi
Child, has used the spelling Kok′ko, which introduces the o sound which
the Tusayan people distinctly use in speaking of the Katcinas of their
nearest Pueblo neighbors. This variation in spelling of one of the more
common words by conscientious observers shows one of the difficulties
which besets the path of those who attempt etymologic dissection of
Pueblo words. Many Zuñi words in the mouths of the Hopi suffer strange
modifications, so that I am not greatly surprised to find idiomatic
differences between the Hopi dialect of the East mesa and that of
Oraibi. How much may result after years of separation no one can tell,
but the linguist must be prepared to find these differences very
considerable.
[33] This person is said to have been the mother of the Katcinas. She
also was the mother of the monsters, the slaughter of whom by the
cultus hero, Pü′ükoñhoya, and his twin brother is a constant theme in
Tusayan folklore.
[34] Stevenson, Navaho Sand Paintings, in Eighth Annual Report of the
Bureau of Ethnology.
[35] Journal of American Ethnology and Archæology, vol. II, No. 1.
[36] The Hopi report that the Zuñi believe that the dead are changed
into Katcinas and go to a Sípapû, which they descend and tell the
“chiefs” to send the rain. The Hopi believe that the dead become
divinized (Katcinas in a loose meaning) and intercede for rain. (See
discussion of Mrs Stevenson’s statement that the dead send rain.) It
seems to me that students of primitive myth and ritual have hardly
begun to realize the important part which orientation plays in early
religions. As research progresses it will be found to be of primary
importance. The idea of world-quarter deities sprang from astronomical
conceptions and was derived from a primitive sun worship in which the
lesser deities naturally came to be associated with the four horizon
points of solstitial sunrise and sunset.
[37] I have elsewhere pointed out that the típoni is called the
mother, and this usage seems to hold among the other Pueblos. As a
badge of chieftaincy it is carried by the chiefs on certain occasions
of initiation and public exhibitions, as can be seen by consulting my
memoir of the Snake Ceremonials at Walpi. Címo, the old Flute chief
(obit 1893), once made the following remark about his típoni: “This is
my mother; the outer wrapping is her garment; the string of shells is
her necklace; the feathers typify the birds, and within it are all the
desirable seeds. When I go to sleep she watches over me, and when I die
one of the feathers will be placed upon my heart, and I hope the típoni
will take care of me.” From these words we learn how much the típoni is
venerated, and it is not remarkable, considering the benefits which are
thought to come from it, that it is designated “the mother.”
[38] I mention this fact since, following Bandolier’s studios among the
Rio Grande Pueblos, we have something different. The Koshare, which
appear to correspond with a group of the Tcukúwympkiya, the Paiakyamû,
are regarded by him as the summer and autumn men, while the Cuirana are
the spring men. During the late summer and autumn the Tcukúwympkiya
take no part in the ceremonials at the East mesa of Tusayan. No
Tcukúwympkiyas appear in the Snake, Flute, Lálakoñti, Mamzraúti,
Wüwütcímti, or in certain minor festivals. They appear to be almost
universal accompaniments of the Katcina observances.
[39] The elaboration is of course along different lines of growth,
and its characteristics are treated in the several already published
articles devoted to these subjects. In none of the abbreviated Katcinas
described was there an altar or complicated kiva performance, but on
the other hand, in the elaborate Katcinas such secret observances
always existed. Síocalako, described in this article, affords an
interesting abbreviated ceremonial with kiva rites.
[40] This might better be called a composite, abbreviated Katcina.
[41] The late Mr Stephen made extended studies of this presentation
in 1892, but his fatal illness prevented his being in the kiva the
following winter. It is necessary that a continued study of this
dramatization be made before a complete account of the ceremonial
calendar can be attempted.
The following men are distinctly called chiefs: Moñ′mowitû of Soyáluña,
Kwátcakwa, Sakwístiwa Anawíta, Nasímoki, Kwáa, Sikyáustiwa, and Súpela.
[42] See figures of this effigy in my account of the Pálülükoñti,
Journal of American Folk-lore, Oct.-Dec., 1893.
[43] Here evidently we have a prayer to the deity symbolized by the
effigy and not an invocation to the effigy itself.
[44] The dance with the sun-shield remotely resembles certain so-called
“sun dances,” which have been described among the nomads, in which
physical exhaustion and suffering are common features. This dance,
it must be borne in mind, took place when the sun was at the winter
solstice, and the dramatization of attack and defense may have some
meaning in connection with this fact.
[45] On the authority of Cyrus Thomas, “Are the Maya hieroglyphs
phonetic?” American Anthropologist, Washington, July, 1893, p. 266.
His reasoning that the scribe of the codex intended to represent this
astronomical event is plausible but not conclusive.
[46] There are members of the American race living where the sun
disappears at the winter solstice or succumbs to evil powers. Have the
Pueblos inherited this rite from people who once lived far to the north?
[47] The fact that the Snake dance follows the Nimán may be explained
as follows: The sun begins to be affected by the Plumed Snake at
the Farewell dance, and the growing influence of this divinity is
recognized, hence his children (reptiles) are gathered from the fields
and intrusted with the prayers of men to cease his malign influence.
[48] At the Nimán in the preceding July.
[49] With Tatcü′kti (Mud-heads).
[50] Journal of American Ethnology and Archæology, vol. IV.
[51] Numbers 1, 2, 7, 9 and 10 of this list have been described as
abbreviated Katcinas. The symbolism of 3 and 8 is shown in my figures
of dolls; of the remainder my information is as yet very limited.
[52] Comparable with the Nahuatl Ochpanitzli. The points of similarity
between the two are the predominance of the Earth goddess and the
ceremonial renovation of the sacred gathering places.
[53] American Anthropologist, Washington, January, 1894.
[54] The accompanying observations on the Powámû were made by the late
A. M. Stephen in his work for the Hemenway Expedition.
[55] These men were from the Álkiva. They wore the knob-head helmets
and their bodies were stained red. Each carried a rattle in the right
and an eagle feather in the left hand, and had a pouch of skin or other
material slung over the right shoulder. This held corn, beans, and
other seeds, which they gave to the women and elders.
[56] With the coiled stone, which resembles the cast of some large
fossil shell. I venture to suggest that the reason we find petrified
wood in some shrines can be explained in the following manner: In times
long past trees were believed by the Hopi to have souls and these
breath bodies were powerful agents in obtaining blessings or answering
prayers. The fossilized logs now put in shrines date back to the times
of which I speak, consequently they are efficacious in the prayers of
the present people. This is but the expression of an animistic belief
in the souls of trees.
[57] She has the Bear típoni and other fetiches.
[58] The name given for this marking by Ahü′l is ómowûh moñwitûpeadta.
It is an appeal to all the gods of the six regions to bless these Kivas
and houses.
[59] The performances with the clowns were not unlike others in which
they appear.
[60] The mound from which it was obtained is close to the base of the
foothills eastward from Walpi, and all the sand for all the kivas was
obtained from this particular mound.
[61] During the festival the women clip the hair of their children. The
hair is cut over the entire cranium of the little boys, but in the case
of the girls a fringe is left around the base of the head, especially
on each side, for the characteristic whorls worn by maidens.
[62] The gap in the East mesa, known as Wala, whence the name of the
pueblo of Walpi at the western end of the same height.
[63] Woman’s blanket without decoration.
[64] At the tip of the lowest tail feather on each side a nakwákwoci
stained with cúta was hung.
[65] Natácka carried a handsaw in the left hand.
[66] Bandoleer.
[67] Hahaíwüqti did not enter any of the houses, but merely went up the
ladder two or three rungs and stood there just high enough to bring
her helmet on a level with the first terrace. She then gave her shrill
hoot, and when the women had brought out their children spoke to them
in high falsetto.
[68] A figure of Tuñwúpkachina with his pet (pókema) appears on the
reredos of the altar of the Nimánkatcina. (See Journal of American
Ethnology and Archæology, vol. II, No. 1.) The sprig which he is
depicted as bearing in the hand was supposed to represent a cornstalk,
but from the new observations of the personification of Tuñwup there is
no doubt that a yucca whip was intended.
[69] As I have already pointed out, the youth who dons the mask of a
Katcina is believed to be for the time transformed into a deity (soul).
[70] Moñ, chief; kohu, wood—a chieftain’s badge.
[71] Eótoto (“Aiwótoto”), has been described in my account of the
daybreak ceremonials of the Farewell Katcina (Journal of American
Ethnology and Archæology, vol. II, No. 1). Hahaíwüqti has been figured
and described in my article on Certain Personages who Appear in a
Tusayan Ceremony (American Anthropologist, January, 1894).
[72] A society comparable with the “Priesthood of the Bow” at Zuñi.
This society is a priesthood apparently with much less power than that
of the neighboring Cibolan pueblo, but its chief Pauwatíwa is powerful,
and, it may be said, en passant, a most genial and highly valuable
friend to have in ethnologic work at Walpi.
[73] His fiddle was a notched stick which he scraped with a sheep
scapula.
[74] Kawaíkakatcinas. Kawaíka is a Hopi name for the Laguna people of
Keresan stock.
[75] See figure in Naácnaiya, Journal of American Folk-lore,
July–September, 1892.
[76] The signification of the bundle of straw may be that here we have
the symbolic broom of the purification ceremony, if I am right in
my interpretation that the Powámú is a lustral ceremony. In Nubuatl
ceremonial, Ochpanitzli, the mother, Toci, carries the broom, which is
her symbol in this celebration, as shown in Seler's interpretation of
the Humboldt manuscripts. In this connection the reader is referred to
the facts mentioned elsewhere in this article that all the kivas are
replastered in the course of the Powámú.
[77] Elision of the syllable ka in this and similar compounds is common.
[78] The symbolism of their masks and their dance is described in the
Journal of American Ethnology and Archæology, vol. II, No. 1.
[79] See Nimánkatcina altar, called nananivo poñya, six-directions
altar. The whole ceremony is an invocation to the six world-quarter
deities.
[80] It is generally the custom to anoint the feet, hands, etc, with
honey when a person is sent out with offerings to shrines. (See “Snake
dance,” Journal of American Ethnology and Archæology, vol. IV.)
[81] See cloud-charm altar in other ceremonials. It is redundant
in this place to repeat these accounts, as the variations are not
important. (See Journal of American Ethnology and Archæology, vol. II,
No. 1.) The Powámú altars are the same as the Niman, q. v.
[82] As the number of these personages was large in this presentation,
this summary mention of their names may be of interest.
[83] Journal of American Folk-lore, October-December, 1893.
[84] It will thus be seen that the details of this ceremony vary
in different years, but the variation depends simply on the kiva
presenting it. It is commonly said that the original wími of the
Pálülükoñti (Great Plumed Snake) were brought to Tusayan by the Water
people from the far south. Other observations support that statement.
[85] To these must be added the constant accompanying priests in all
ceremonials, who are unmasked and do not personate supernatural beings.
[86] Journal of American Ethnology and Archæology, vol. II, No. 1.
[87] Ibid. The following abbreviated Katcinas have been described and
figured: (1) Humískatcina, Corn Flower; (2) Áñakatcina, Long Beard;
(3) Coyóhimkatcina, All; (4) Hehéakatcina; (5) Siokatcina, Zuñi;
(6) Málokatcina. The symbolic characters of the different Katcinas
are best shown in my article on “Dolls of the Tusayan Indians.” The
Nimánkatcina is likewise outlined in the Journal of American Ethnology
and Archæology, op. cit., and some of these abbreviated Katcinas are
accompaniments of the Nimán.
[88] The participants of course frequent the kiva to prepare their
masks and costume for one or more days previous to the public dance,
and certain simple ceremonial objects, as páhos and nakwákwocis are
made there, but in none of those Katcinas which are included in this
group have I as yet observed any altar or the like. The very name
“abbreviated” eliminates naturally these complex proceedings and
paraphernalia.
[89] Op. cit. The spruce tree of the Katcinas is commonly set up in the
plaza.
[90] Dolls of the Tusayan Indians, op. cit.
[91] The food is brought to each by wives, daughters, or other women of
his household. This feast takes place in the open air, not as at Zuñi
in the kivas.
[92] This is the only plaza large enough for a long line of dancers,
and hence is ordinarily used.
[93] To these prayers he alone responds “Antcai,” right.
[94] The configuration of the mesa and the fact that the house walls
rise almost continuously with the side of the cliff prevent the
Katcinas dancing on the different sides of the pueblo, but in Zuñi the
open spaces outside the village, in addition to the plaza in the heart
of the pueblo, are used for dances as I have elsewhere described.
[95] See also Journal of American Ethnology and Archæology, vol. IV, p.
66.
[96] “Adventures in Zuñi,” Century Magazine, vol. XXV, p. 507 et seq.
[97] Several ceremonials are derived from Zuñi, while others are
peculiar to Tusayan. The symbolism of the Síocálako and the Hopi Cálako
is different. No girls (mánas) were represented in the Síocálako.
[98] All the women and children of this family had been moved to the
mesa a few days before.
[99] Compare the crinoline hoops of the effigies of Pálülükoñûh
(Journal of American Folk-lore, October-December, 1893).
[100] Koyeamashe (see Journal of American Ethnology and Archæology,
vol. I).
[101] The association of Eótoto with Íntiwa has already been described
in my account of the Nimánkatcina (Journal of American Ethnology and
Archæology, vol. II, No. 1).
[102] Explanation of the diagram: _a_, _b_, _c_, _d_ and _a′_, _b′_,
_c′_ _d′_, successive positions of the effigy bearers on the northern
and southern sides of the plaza; _e_, Eótoto; _h_, Hahaíwüqti; _i_,
Íntiwa; _k_, Koyímise; _m_, accompanying celebrants. The figures
_a_–_d_ and _a′_–_d′_ represent the circles of meal, with cross lines,
over which the effigy bearers stand in the course of the ceremonials.
[103] The general character of the Wáwac described in my article in
the Bulletin of the Essex Institute, where certain of the masks made
use of in it are figured. The Racing Katcina performed at this time
was, however, much more complicated, and a description of it would be a
digression from the subject of this article.
[104] Journal of American Ethnology and Archæology, vol. II, No. 1.
[105] It was said that there ought to have been six (possibly one for
each cardinal point) of these, who are called Ciwáata, sisters of the
Pawíkkatcinas.
[106] I have not been permitted to see the unmasked dance of the Kóko
in the Zuñi kivas, where it is common, and was glad to supplement my
observations by the same in one of the Tusayan kivas. In the Katcinas
which I saw in 1891 at Walpi there was no dance in the kivas.
[107] The pipe was passed ceremonially after having been lit with a
coal (burning corncob) brought by a woman from a house in Sitcomovi. In
most ceremonials it is also prescribed that the makers of páhos shall
wash their heads before beginning their duties, but this takes place in
their own dwellings.
[108] The first reference which I have found to the use of tobacco
in the ceremonial smoke by the American Indians is by Monardes. This
interesting description of tobacco and its uses, accompanied with a
figure of the plant, is one of the most complete for its date (1590)
which I have seen.
[109] Íntiwa is Katcina móñwi, chief of the Katcinas; Kópeli, chief of
the Snakes; Hóñyi, hereditary Snake-Antelope chief; Wíki, chief of the
Snake-Antelopes; Pauatíwa, chief of warriors; Lésma, Bear chief.
[110] See Journal of American Ethnology and Archæology, vol. II, No. 1.
[111] When the inhabitants of another pueblo visit that in which
a sacred dance is taking place, it is customary for the hosts to
entertain by setting before them food, and it is no uncommon thing to
see visitors passing from house to house partaking of the píkami (mush)
and other delicacies. It is not unusual for the headmen of one pueblo
to send official thanks to the people of another for their sacred
dances and other efforts for rain. In a memoir on the Snake dance I
mention an instance where even the distant Havasupai Indians brought
offerings from their home to Walpi (Journal of American Ethnology and
Archæology, vol. IV).
[112] I need not describe their actions, as I have already done so for
other Katcina dances (Journal of American Ethnology and Archæology,
vol. II, No. 1.)
[113] One marked difference between Katcina and Kóko, or Hopi and Zuñi,
dancers is that in the latter the unmasked dance occurs in the kiva and
the feast is held in the same place. At Tusayan the feast is open, and
generally there is no unmasked dance. The feast in the kiva at Zuñi is
possibly a secondary modification for effecting secrecy.
[114] Journal of American Ethnology and Archæology, vol. II, No. 1.
[115] This is only time I have seen the Death god personified. The
Paiakaíamû rushed up to me and demanded a knife, and when I refused to
give it, not aware of their intention, they sought other ways to kill
the poor brute. It was an exhibition of extreme savagery, but of course
with no danger to any of the spectators. Later in their antics the
gluttons themselves were lightly struck with a cactus branch, and the
person who performed this painful act went from housetop to housetop
touching the arm or neck of every spectator—man, woman, and child.
During this dance these Tcukuwympkiyas performed the disgusting act
of drinking human urine. Mr Cushing, in the Century Magazine, records
the slaughter of a dog in a similar manner, except that he says that
his life was threatened before the dog was killed, and it was by his
defiant attitude that he was not seized by the performers.
[116] The direction of the ceremonial circuit of the Tewa is sinistral.
In this instance it began at the east. I believe this is the prescribed
circuit of all the Pueblos. Some of the Tewa have told me that in their
folktales their people did not emerge from the same sípapû as the Hopi,
but from a sípapû to the east. Although some of the priests say that
all people came from the middle of the earth, from one sípapû, others
believe that each pueblo has its own ancestral geographical opening.
The idea has been localized by environment, as is so often the case
with modified legends.
[117] There are certainly more evidences of white man’s influences in
dance paraphernalia in Zuñi than at Tusayan, such, for instance, as the
use of hats and calico shirts in dances, American chairs, rifles, etc,
etc.
[118] Notwithstanding this statement, I have already pointed out
similarities between both these women’s celebrations and certain Zuñi
dances (see American Anthropologist, vol. V, p. 236, note).
[119] Hówina (Zuñi, Ówinahe), a kind of thanksgiving dance, is
distinctly a Zuñi dance and is so recognized by the Hopi. I have
seen photographs of the celebration at Zuñi which bear such a close
resemblance to that called by the Hopi the Hówina that in all
probability the two are identical. The elaborate war dances celebrated
at Zuñi and the observances of the Priesthood of the Bow at that pueblo
are very much abbreviated in Tusayan (East mesa) where the organization
has not the same power as with the Cibolans.
[120] Cipaulovi, or the “Place of Peaches,” would necessarily have
received its name after those who brought peaches came among the Hopi.
It is known that Sitcomovi was a late colony of Asa people from the Rio
Grande, united with others from Walpi, while Hano was founded about
1700. The Cipaulovi people, however celebrate the Flute ceremony, and
the Flute people came to Tusayan shortly after the Snake. It would thus
appear that we have a date to determine that the Flute people came to
Tusayan after Vargas (1692). Morfi, in 1782, says that the people of
Xipaulovi (Cipaulovi) came from Xongopabi (Cuñopavi).
[121] I do not for a moment doubt that even when nominally
Christianized the succession of the chiefs in the several sacerdotal
societies has not been broken up to our time.
[122] Coco in Spanish signifies a bogy. In compounds it can be detected
in Cocomaricopa, where it may mean fool, possibly referring to the
inferiority of this stem. The derivation of Kóko or Kâ′kâ is not known
to me. The word Katcina has the advantage of Kóko or Kâ′kâ as a general
designation.
[123] That is, the last Katcina before their departure in Cibola, as
in Tusayan. In Walpi it is not an autumn dance, but occurs at about
the same time that I witnessed it at Zuñi, near the end of July (see
Journal of American Ethnology and Archæology, vol. I, No. 1).
[124] It is recommended that in illustrating Zuñi masks a full face
view be given, for in that way the symbolism is much better expressed
than by profile views.
[125] Pooatíwa is considered by Mrs Stevenson the “Sun Father.” I
have not gone far enough in my studies to accept this relationship
for Paútiwa. There are some reasons for considering Paútiwa the Mist
Father, which speculation has led me to interpret the Sälämobias as
Paútiwa forms of the rain-clouds of the six world-quarters, but such an
opinion is highly theoretical.
[126] The terraced elevations are common on the Zuñi nákwipis and
handled prayer-meal bowls, as can be seen in any large collection of
Zuñi ceramics; but the semicircular rain-cloud figures are very rare,
indeed wanting, in all I have seen. The frog, tadpole, snake, and
similar symbols appear, however, to be present in both. The question of
the characteristic symbolism of Zuñi and Hopi pottery is a complicated
one, which can not be considered in this article, but the two types can
readily be distinguished by a student of this subject.
[127] It would be a remarkable fact if accounts of this symbolism are
not later described.
[128] Memoirs of the International Congress of Anthropology, Chicago,
1894, p. 315.
[129] On page 314 she mentions six Ahshiwanni as “rain priests.” I
am not able to definitely decide from the text whether these six are
the same as the fourteen mentioned above. It is not clear to me in
which group Mrs Stevenson places the “Mud-heads” and “Gluttons,” well
described by Ten Broeck in 1852 from Tusayan, and later by herself and
Cushing from Zuñi, and by other writers from the Rio Grande pueblos.
[130] If these statements are true one sees that they tell in favor of
the theory which the ritual emphasized, and that while in a general way
there is a similarity between the ceremonial system of the two people,
it is absurd to say that “what is written of one is true also of the
other.” Long ago their systems may have been identical; at present they
have more or less differentiated one from the other. In Zuñi, according
to Mrs Stevenson, “at the winter and summer solstices synchronal
meetings of most of these societies are held, and also at other times.”
After having carefully studied the ceremonials at the time of the
summer solstice at Tusayan, I have not found any synchronal meetings
of the societies which correspond with those mentioned as occurring at
Zuñi at that time.
[131] It is desirable that the names of the priests who officiate
in ceremonials be given in extended accounts of them in order that
the intimate character of this sacerdotal organization may be made
out. Until the names of the members of the different societies are
complete we are more or less hampered in our studies. The Zuñi
equivalent of wympkia appears to be kyalikwe (Tcihkyalikwe, Snake
priests from tcihtola, snake, and kyalikwe, wympkia). I am unable to
tell to what priests in Tusayan the “Ahshiwanni” correspond. The Tawa
(Sun) wympkia or Sun priests have certain points in common with them,
but this is as truly an esoteric society as any in Tusayan. I have
elsewhere described the Tewa ceremony in which the Sun priests make
the páhos and their chief, Kálacai, appeals directly to the rising
sun. In that same ceremony páhos are likewise made to the Rain gods
directly. In the Katcina celebrations some of the same Sun priests,
however, appeal to the leader of the Katcinas to bring them rain, and
this personage replies that he will. In this case, supposing, as I
think we justly can, that the Katcinas are intercessors between men
and gods of highest rank, we have in Tusayan the possible equivalent
of the “Ahshiwanni (rain priests)” intrusting their prayers to a
zoomorphic and anthropomorphic supernatural personage. The prayer of a
single chief for rain for the people, showing something similar to the
so-called Ahshiwanni at Zuñi, are not uncommon in Tusayan. In Tusayan
an organization of rain priests is not differentiated at the present
day from the other societies. All holders of wímis are Rain priests, as
well as the organization called the Sun priests, and all at times make
special prayers to the Rain gods.
[132] Op. cit., p. 314. I believe many facts might be marshaled to
prove that ancestor worship is a most vital part of the Tusayan
religious system.
[133] See “The Graff collection of Greek portraits,” New England
Magazine, January, 1894. Mr J. G. Frazier (Jour. Anth. Inst. of Great
Britain and Ireland, vol. XV, p. 73) from comparative studies of burial
customs suggests that the habit of masking the dead is “to keep the way
to the grave a secret from the dead man.” This explanation seems to me
much more labored than that given above.
[134] Hahaíwüqti. I have elsewhere shown reasons to suspect that
several personages may be the same “Earth goddess.” Kókyanwüqti, the
Spider woman, is also an “Earth goddess.” As everything, even man
himself, came from the womb of the earth, symbolized by the spider, it
is not surprising that an Indian should call the spider the creator. It
is a very different thing, however, to interpret such information by
our philosophic ideas. That the primitive should consider the earth as
the mother of everything, its creator in one sense, is natural; that
the Pueblo Indian should symbolize that mother by the Spider woman is
probable, for other races have done likewise; but that he associates
with mother earth the spiritual idea which we have of the Creator is
absurd. His cosmogony bears no evidence that he rose, in pre-Columbian
times, to the belief in a Great Spirit who created the universe.
Transcriber’s Notes:
- Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_).
- Blank pages have been removed.
- Obvious typographical errors have been silently corrected.
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