Bureau of Ethnology.Eleventh Annual Report. Plate. XVIIIGAST LITH. CO. N.Y.ALTAR AND SAND PAINTING.GIANT SOCIETY.
Bureau of Ethnology.
Eleventh Annual Report. Plate. XVIII
GAST LITH. CO. N.Y.
ALTAR AND SAND PAINTING.GIANT SOCIETY.
About noon the ho´naaite, who was nude except the breechcloth, left his seat by the fireside in the ceremonial chamber, where his vicar had been assisting him during the morning in cutting willows and preparing hä´chamoni, and proceeded to make a sand painting in the east end of the room, and when this was completed he erected the slat altar (Pl.xviiia). During the preparation of the sand painting (b) the vicar remained at his post at work upon the hä´chamoni. When the two female members, a woman and a little girl some 8 years of age, arrived, the ho´naaite took from the wall nine shabby-looking sacks, handing one to each person present, reserving two for himself and laying the remaining four to one side to be claimed by the other members of the medicine order of the society. These sacks contained the ya´ya, one of which, it is claimed, was captured from the Navajo by a former ho´naaite of this society, and this fetich is as precious as the others for the reason that it also represents Ût´sĕt, the mother of all Indians.
The five ya´ya were placed in line in front of the altar and on the sand-painting, and a miniature bow and arrow were laid before four of them, the captive one having none. Bear-leg skins with the claws were piled on either side of the altar, and upon these were laid necklaces of bears’ claws, each necklace having a reed whistle suspended midway, two fluffy eagle plumes, tipped with black, being attached to the end of the whistle. The medicine bowl was posted before the five ya´ya, the stone fetiches arranged about the sand painting, and the cloud bowl in front of the whole. The woman brought a triple cupped paint stone near the altar and ground a black pigment, yellow ocher, and an impure malachite; these powders were mixed with water, and the woman and girl painted the hä´chamoni, the child being quite as dextrous as her elder, and equally interested.
While the hä´chamoni were being colored the ho´naaite was busy assorting plumes. He first laid thirteen turkey plumes separately upon the floor, forming two lines; upon each plume he laid a fluffy eagle feather, and then added successively to each group a plume from each of the birds of the cardinal points, turkey plumes being used instead of chapparal cocks’. A low weird chant was sung while the ho´naaite and his vicar tied each pile of plumes together with native cotton cord, the ho´naaite waving each group, as he completed it, in a circle from left to right before his face. The woman at the same time made four rings of yucca, 1¼ inches in diameter, some two dozen yucca needles having been wrapped in a hank and laid in a bowl of water. Thechild brought the hank from the farther end of the room to the woman, who, taking a needle of the yucca, wound it four times around her thumb and index finger; then wrapping this with an extra thread of yucca formed the ring. When the four rings were completed the child took them to the paint stone, which the woman had removed to the far end of the room, and dipped them into the yellow paint and laid them by the woman, who tied three of the piles of plumes together and afterwards handed the rings to the ho´naaite, who added to each ring a plume from the wing of a humming bird. These rings were offerings to the cloud children emblematic of the wheels upon which they ride over ti´nia.
In attaching the plume offerings to the hä´chamoni, the latter are held between the large and second toes of the right foot of the men and woman. There were ten hä´chamoni to bear messages to the cloud rulers of the cardinal points—Ho´chänni, high ruler of the cloud people of the world, Sûs´sĭstinnako, Ût´sĕt, and the sun, the extra bunches of plumes being tied pendent to those already attached to the hä´chamoni for Sûs´sĭstinnako, Ût´sĕt, and the sun.
The ho´naaite placed the hä´chamoni and rings in a flat basket and set it before the altar in front of the cloud bowl, and posted a stuffed parrot upon the central slat of the altar. At this time the other official members appeared, and, unwrapping their ya´ya, handed them to the ho´naaite, who stood them before the altar (Pl.xix). The woman then brought a vase of water and gourd from the far end of the room, and the ho´naaite emptied four gourdfuls into the medicine bowl and then sprinkled corn pollen upon the water, and, dipping his two eagle plumes into the bowl, he sprinkled the altar and offerings. He did not speak a word, but took his seat by the fire and began smoking, awaiting the hour for the evening ceremonial. The ho´naaite and vicar had their meals served in the ceremonial chamber, and after eating, the remainder of the basket of bread and bowl of meat was placed before the altar.
The night ceremony opened with the ho´naaite (Pl.xx) and his vicar dipping their plumes into the medicine water and sprinkling the altar and the food which had been placed before it; the ho´naaite then, sitting in front and to the north side of the altar, repeated a long prayer, supplicating Mo´kaitc, Cougar of the North, to intercede with the cloud people of the north to water the earth that the crops might grow; Ko´hai, the Bear, to intercede with the cloud people of the west to water the earth that the crops might grow; a similar invocation was made to the Tuo´pe, Badger of the South, Ka´kanna, Wolf of the East, Tiä´mi, Eagle of the Heaven, and Mai´tubo, Shrew of the Earth. The vicar then gathered a bit of bread from the basket and of meat from the bowl and handed it to the ho´naaite, who left the house with the food in his left hand, holding his eagle plumes in his right; he cast the food to the animal Ko´pĭshtaia of the cardinal points, begging that they would intercede with the cloud people to come and water the earth; then, returning tothe ceremonial chamber, he stooped before the altar and to the south side of the line of meal and prayed to the Ko´pĭshtaia, closing with these words: “I have offered you food, our food, that you may eat, and I pray you to exhort the Ko´pĭshtaia of ti´nia [referring to the cloud people] to come and water the earth.” The male members of the society each smoked a cigarette, and afterward the bowl of stew and basket of bread were deposited in the center of the room, and all gathered around and ate. The men then sat on either side of the room and again indulged in a smoke, the woman and girl sitting on the north side near the west end. After the cigarettes were finished the vicar drew a fresh line of meal from the altar to the door situated on the south side and near the west end, and the members formed in line back of the altar. (An explanation of the drawing of the line of meal and the relative positions of the line of men back of the altar has already been given, and is applicable to the rain ceremonials of all the cult societies.) The woman took her seat on the north side of the room, near the altar, the little girl sitting opposite to her on the south side.
Bureau of Ethnology.Eleventh Annual Report. Plate. XIXALTAR OF GIANT SOCIETY, PHOTOGRAPHED DURING CEREMONIAL.
Bureau of Ethnology.
Eleventh Annual Report. Plate. XIX
ALTAR OF GIANT SOCIETY, PHOTOGRAPHED DURING CEREMONIAL.
The ho´naaite and the ti´ämoni (the latter’s position as ti´ämoni has nothing whatever to do with his relations in the cult societies in which he holds membership) wore white Tusayan cotton breechcloths elaborately embroidered in bright colors; the vicar’s was dark blue and the others white cotton; each man held two eagle plumes and a gourd rattle in the left hand. The woman and little girl wore their ordinary dresses, the high-neck calico gowns being omitted, and they held a turkey wand tipped with fluffy eagle plumes dyed a lemon color, in either hand.
The vicar gave a pinch of meal to the ho´naaite from the pottery meal bowl by the altar, who without rising from his seat sprinkled the altar. The song then opened to the accompaniment of the rattle, which had been transferred to the right hand, the eagle plumes still being held in the left, and keeping time with the rattle. Each stanza closed with a short and rapid shake of the rattle. (The writer noticed in the ceremonials of the cult societies of the Sia the absence of the pottery drum, which is such an important feature with the Zuñi and Tusayan.) With the commencement of the ritual the men from either end of the line moved to the fireplace, and lifting ashes with their plumes, deposited them before the altar and north and south of the meal line, and after dancing and gesticulating for a moment or two they again lifted ashes and sprinkled toward the altar, the under side of the plume held in the left hand being struck with the one held in the right; again lifting ashes one sprinkled to the north and the other to the south, and passing down on either side of the meal line they sprinkled to the west, and crossing they passed up the line and when midway one sprinkled to the north, the other to the south; again dipping ashes they sprinkled to the zenith and with more ashes they sprinkled to the nadir. This sprinkling of the cardinal points was repeated four times,and the men then returned to their seats. The second man from the north end of the line coming forward danced while the others sang to the accompaniment of the rattle, each succeeding stanza following in quick succession, the dancer now and then varying the monotony of the song by calling wildly upon the cloud people to come and water the earth. The woman and child waved their wands to the rhythm of the song; the woman who held a sick infant much of the time occasionally fell asleep, but she was awakened by the vicar who sat near her, passing his eagle plumes over her face. Whenever the infant slept it was laid upon a sheepskin, seemingly unconscious of the noise of the rattle and song.
When an especial appeal was to be made to Ût´sĕt, the ho´naaite reached over the altar and took the Navajo ya´ya in his right hand and the one south of it in his left hand (he had deposited his eagle plumes by the altar, but he held his rattle). All now stood, the ho´naaite energetically swaying his body as he waved the ya´ya, holding them out, then drawing them in as he appealed to Ût´sĕt to instruct the cloud people to come and water the earth. This petition concluded, the ho´naaite leaned over the altar, returning the ya´ya to their places, and the choir took their seats and smoked cigarettes of native tobacco wrapped in corn husks. In a few moments the song was resumed, when the woman sprinkled the altar with meal and passing to the west end of the room she lifted a vase of water, placing it on the line of meal, not far from the door, keeping time with the song with her two wands and moving her body up and down by bending her knees, her feet resting firmly on the floor and over the line of meal; again the bowl was raised and moved about 2 feet forward, and she repeated the motion. The bowl was in this way moved five times, the last time being placed immediately before the basket of offerings. As she placed the bowl for the last time she waved the wand held in her right hand twice over the altar, when the song closed only to begin again immediately. The ya´niᵗsiwittänñi now appeared before the altar, north of the meal line and danced, holding two eagle plumes in the left hand and rattle in the right. After a time, transferring the rattle to his left hand, he lifted a gourd of water from the vase and, holding it for a moment, waved it before the altar and emptied it into the medicine bowl with an appeal to the cougar of the north to intercede with the cloud people that the earth might be watered; another gourdful immediately followed; he then took the rattle in the right hand and joined in the song, and danced. A third time he dipped a gourd of water, waved it toward the west with an exhortation to the bear of the west, and emptied it into the bowl, following this with another gourdful, when a weird call was given for the cloud people to come and water the earth. Again he danced and sang, and after a time a fifth gourdful was lifted and waved toward the south, with an appeal to the badger of the south, and emptied into the bowl, when another gourdful followed, anddancing for a moment he lifted another gourdful and emptied it into the medicine bowl, imploring the wolf of the east to exhort the cloud people to water the earth, when another gourdful immediately followed. After dancing for a time a gourdful was again dipped and waved toward the altar, then upward, with a call upon the eagle of the heaven to invoke the cloud people to water the earth, and immediately another gourdful of water was emptied into the bowl. Again dancing awhile, a gourdful was waved toward the altar and emptied into the bowl, with a call upon the shrew of the earth to implore the cloud people to water the earth, and again a gourdful was emptied into the bowl. The song closed as the last gourd of water was poured into the bowl and the ya´niᵗsiwittänñi resumed his seat. The woman returned the vase to the west end of the room, and taking a small medicine bag from before the altar, she untied it and handed it to the ya´niᵗsiwittänñi. The men and the girl then took similar bags from before the altar, and the song again began in a low tone to the accompaniment of the rattle. Each member, taking a pinch of corn pollen from his medicine bag, threw it upon the altar and into the medicine bowl, giving a peculiar cry, it being an invocation to the cloud people to gather and water the earth, the woman and child not failing to throw in their share of pollen, raising their voices to the highest pitch as they petitioned the cloud people to water the earth. All then proceeded to take meal from the meal bowl before the altar and throw it into the medicine bowl, continuing their entreaties to the cloud people to water the earth. Six times the meal was thrown into the bowl with invocations to the cloud people. They then returned to their seats, having first deposited the medicine bags before the altar.
Bureau of Ethnology.Eleventh Annual Report. Plate. XXHO´-NA-AI-TE OF GIANT SOCIETY.
Bureau of Ethnology.
Eleventh Annual Report. Plate. XX
HO´-NA-AI-TE OF GIANT SOCIETY.
The ti´ämoni took from a bear-leg skin six small pebble fetiches, handing one to each man, who in turn passed it to the ya´niᵗsiwittänñi. This recipient advanced to the front of the altar and danced to the music of the choir, and waving his left hand over the altar he dropped a fetich into the medicine bowl, at the same time waving the eagle plumes and rattle which he held in his right hand. After dancing awhile he dropped a fetich from his right hand into the medicine water, and, continuing to dance, he let fall the remaining four fetiches alternately from the left and right hand. Each time a fetich was dropped he gave a weird animal-like growl, which was a call upon the prey animals of the cardinal points to exhort the cloud people to gather and water the earth that she might be fruitful. He then returned to his seat, but almost immediately arose and, standing for a moment, advanced to the front of the altar, stirred the medicine water with the eagle plumes he held in the left hand and sprinkled the offerings by striking the plumes on the top with the rattle, held in the right hand. The sprinkling was repeated four times while the cloud people were invoked to water the earth; as the plumes were struck the fourth time the choir stood and sang and the ya´niᵗsiwittänñi again dippedthis plumes into the medicine water and sprinkled the altar. The ho´naaite then leaning forward dipped his plumes into the water and sprinkled the altar with a weird call for the cloud people to gather and water the earth that she might be fruitful. Then each member repeated the sprinkling of the altar with a similar prayer, the little girl being quite as enthusiastic as the others, straining her voice to the utmost capacity as she implored the cloud people to gather. The men struck the plumes in their left hands with the rattles held in their right, and the woman and child struck the wand held in the left hand with the one held in the right. Each person repeated the sprinkling of the altar successively six times, with appeals to the animals of the cardinal points. After each sprinkling the sprinkler returned to his place in the line. Thus the choir was at no time deficient in more than one of its number. At the conclusion of the sprinkling a stanza was sung and the altar was again sprinkled six times by each member; in this instance, however, the choir was grouped before the altar, the ho´naaite alone being seated back of it absorbed in song. After the sprinkling the choir returned to the line and joined the ho´naaite in the chant and at its conclusion he sprinkled the altar four times. He did not leave his seat, but leaned forward and dipped his plumes into the medicine water. The ti´ämoni then advanced from the south end of the line and the ya´niᵗsiwittänñi from the north end and sprinkled toward the cardinal points, by passing along the line of meal as heretofore described, the sprinkling being repeated twice. The ti´ämoni returned to his seat and the ya´niᵗsiwittänñi removed the bowl of medicine water, placing it before the fetiches and on the line of meal and stooping with bended knees and holding his two eagle plumes and a ya´ya in his left hand he administered the medicine water to all present, the girl receiving the first draught from an abalone shell. The woman was served next, some being given to the infant she held in her arms, the ho´naaite receiving the last draught. Taking the ya´ya from the ya´niᵗsiwittänñi he drew it to his breast and then returned it to the ya´niᵗsiwittänñi, he receiving it in his left hand and lifting the bowl with both hands he left the house and filling his mouth from the bowl threw the medicine water through his teeth to the cardinal points, and returning placed the bowl and ya´ya in position before the altar.
The ho´naaite gathering the hä´chamoni in his left hand and taking a pinch of meal with his right, stooped before the altar and south of the meal line and offered a silent prayer, and, after sprinkling the altar and hä´chamoni, he divided the offerings, holding a portion in either hand. The ti´ämoni and a companion then stooped north of the line of meal and facing the ho´naaite, clasped his hands with their right hands, holding their eagle plumes in their left and responded to a low litany offered by the ho´naaite, who afterwards drawing a breath from the plumes laid them upon the blankets over their left arms, the two men having wrapped their blankets about them before advancing to theho´naaite. They then left the ceremonial chamber and walked a long distance through the darkness to deposit the offerings at a shrine of the Ko´pĭshtaia. The remaining members talked in undertones until the return of the absent ones, who, upon entering the chamber, stood before the altar and offered a prayer which was responded to by the ho´naaite. All the members then gathered before the altar and asked that their prayers might be answered. The woman and girl arranged bowls of food in line midway the room and south of the meal line and the feast closed the ceremonial at 2 o’clock. a. m.
Bureau of Ethnology.Eleventh Annual Report. Plate. XXISICK BOY IN CEREMONIAL CHAMBER OF GIANT SOCIETY.
Bureau of Ethnology.
Eleventh Annual Report. Plate. XXI
SICK BOY IN CEREMONIAL CHAMBER OF GIANT SOCIETY.
The night succeeding the ceremonial of the Sko´-yo-Chai´-än (Giant Society) for rain the assembly began its ritualistic observances, which continue four consecutive nights, for the curing of the sick by the brushing process. During the afternoon a sand-painting was made in the east end of the room (compare sand-painting Giant Society, (Pl.xviiib); ya´ya and stone fetiches were grouped upon the painting; a medicine bowl was placed before the ya´ya; bear-leg skins were deposited on either side of the fetiches and a white embroidered sacred Tusayan blanket was folded and laid by the bear-leg skins south of the painting. The five male members of the medicine division of the society had refreshments served early in the evening by the female members, and after supper the ti´ämoni, who is a member of the medicine division, placed a bowl of stewed meat and a basket of bread near the painting; the remainder of the food was stored in the northwest corner of the room for future consumption.
The five men formed in line back of the fetiches, the ho´naaite being the central figure; they had scarcely taken their seats, however, before the ti´ämoni brought a vase of water and a gourd from the west end of the room and set it before the sand-painting and returned to his seat; the ho´naaite, advancing, dipped six gourdfuls of water, emptying each one into the medicine bowl.[20]
The ho´naaite then passing to the north side of the painting stooped with bended knees, holding in his left hand two eagle plumes, and repeated a low prayer; then, taking a small piece of the bread, he dipped it into the stew and scattered it before the fetiches; and, taking more bread and a bit of the meat, he left the ceremonial chamber and threw the food as an offering to the animals of the cardinal points. The ti´ämoni then returned the bowl of meat and basket of bread to the far end of the room. Upon the return of the ho´naaite his vicar spread the Tusayan blanket upon the floor, some 5 feet in front of the painting. He next sprinkled a line of meal from the edge of the blanket nearestthe painting to the bear fetich, which stood foremost on the painting; thence across the blanket and along the floor to the entrance on the south side and near the west end of the chamber; again, beginning at the center of the blanket he sprinkled a line of meal across the blanket to the south edge, and beginning again at the center he sprinkled a line of meal to the north edge and continued this line to the north wall. Then beginning at the line ending at the south of the blanket, he ran it out to the south wall (these four lines being symbolic of the four winds), and placed the bowl of meal in front of the painting and north of the line of meal. The meal having become somewhat exhausted, the pottery meal bowl was replaced by an Apache basket, containing a quantity of fresh meal, ground by a woman in an adjoining room, where a portion of the family had already retired. The basket of meal was received from the woman by the ti´ämoni, who stood to her left side while she ground the corn in the ordinary family mill. The remainder of the contents of the pottery meal bowl was emptied into the Apache basket, the portion from the bowl being deemed sufficient in quantity to lend a sacred character to the freshly ground meal. The ho´naaite then fastened about his neck a string of bears’ claws with a small reed whistle, having two soft white eagle plumes tied to the end, attached midway, which he took from a pile of bear-leg skins, having first waved the necklace around the white bear fetich, which stood to the front of the painting. Each member of the society then put on a similar necklace; two of the members fastened amulets around their upper right arms and two around their left arms. The ho´naaite rolled his blanket in a wad and sat upon it. The other members made similar cushions. The ti´ämoni, whose seat was at the south end of the line, crossed to the north side of the room, and taking a bit of red pigment rubbed it across his face and returned to his seat, each member rubbing a bit of galena across the forehead, across the face below the eyes, and about the lower part of the face. The paint was scarcely perceptible. It was put on to insure the singing of the song correctly. The ti´ämoni again crossed the room, and taking from the north ledge a bunch of corn husks, he handed them to the man who sat next to him, who was careful to manipulate them under his blanket, drawn around him. The writer thinks that they were made into funnels, in which he placed tiny pebbles from ant hills. The vice-ho´naaite, at the north end of the line, left the room, and during his absence the ho´naaite, taking a bunch of straws which lay by the bear-leg skins, divided it into five parts, giving a portion to each one present. He reserved a share for the absent member, who returned in a short time, bearing the sick child in his arms, being careful to walk on the line of meal; he set the child upon a low stool placed on the broad band of embroidery of the blanket. (Pl.xxi) The man then handed the basket of meal to the child, who, obeying the instructions of the vice-ho´naaite, took a pinch and threw it toward the altar with a few wordsof prayer to Ko´pĭshtaia. The vicar then returned to his seat, and the members, with eagle plumes and straws in their left hands and rattles in their right, began the ritual; they were nine minutes singing the first stanza, which was sung slowly and in very low tones, and at its close each one drew a breath from the eagle plumes and straws. The second stanza was sung louder and faster. The monotony of the song was broken by an occasional animal-like call, which was a request to the cougar of the north to give them power over the angry ants. The child was afflicted with a severe sore throat, caused by ants having entered his body when he was in the act of micturition upon their house, and ascending they located in his throat. After the second stanza the ho´naaite blew first on the right side of the child, then on his back, his left side, and his breast; the other members continuing the song to the accompaniment of the rattle. When he took his seat, the ti´ämoni and the man who sat next to him each drew a breath from their eagle plumes and straws, and dipping them into the medicine water, each one extended his plumes to the child, who drew a breath from them. The two men then resumed their seats. The ho´naaite, again dipping his plumes in the medicine water, passed the ends through the ti´ämoni’s mouth, and afterwards through the mouth of each member, the plumes being dipped each time into the bowl of medicine water. The men were occupied a few moments in drawing something from several of the bear-leg skins. All except the ho´naaite gathered around the altar, dancing and gesticulating in excessive excitement and blowing upon the whistles suspended from their necklaces. They constantly dipped their eagle plumes into the medicine water, throwing their arms vehemently about, sprinkling the altar and touching the animal fetiches with their plumes, and then placing the plumes to the mouths, absorbing from them the sacred breath of the animal. The ho´naaite with bowed head continued his invocations to the cougar of the north, seemingly unconscious of all that was going on about him. After maneuvering before the altar, the four men performed similar extravagances about the child, one of the men standing him in the center of the blanket, careful to place the boy’s feet in diagonal angles formed by the meal lines. Then the four left the room, carrying with them the material taken from the bear-leg skins. The ho´naaite did not cease shaking the rattle and singing during the absence of the four, who visited the house of the sick boy to purify it. Upon returning to the ceremonial room they threw their arms aloft, waving their plumes above them and then about the child, singing and growling, after which they resumed their seats in line with the ho´naaite, and joined him in the song to the accompaniment of rattles. After a few moments these four men and the ho´naaite surrounded the boy; the ho´naaite standing at the northeast corner of the blanket, and the ti´ämoni at the southeast corner, while the others formed a semicircle behind the boy. They all waved plumes and straws in theirleft hands over the invalid boy, and passed them simultaneously down his body from head to feet, striking the plumes and straws with rattles which they held in their right hands; and as the plumes and straws were moved down the boy’s body ants in any quantity were supposed to be brushed off the body, while in reality tiny pebbles were dropped upon the blanket; but the conjuration was so perfect the writer could not tell how or whence they were dropped, although she stood close to the group and under a bright light from a lamp she had placed on the wall for the purpose of disclosing every detail. The tiny nude boy standing upon the white embroidered blanket, being brushed with the many eagle plumes, struck with their rattles by five beautifully formed Indians, was the most pleasing scene of this dramatic ceremonial. The brushing of the child with the plumes was repeated six times, and he was then backed off the blanket over the line of meal and set upon the stool, which had been removed from the blanket, and was afterward given a pinch of meal and told to stand and look at the ants which had been extracted from his body, and to sprinkle the meal upon them. After this sprinkling he resumed his seat upon the stool. The ho´naaite stooped with bended knees at the northeast corner of the blanket and whispered a prayer and sprinkled the blanket. Each member with eagle plumes sprinkled the blanket with meal and carefully brushed together all the material which had fallen on the floor instead of the blanket, after which the ti´ämoni gathered the corners together, waved it over the child’s head, and left the room with it. All sat perfectly quiet, holding their rattles, eagle plumes, and straws in their right hands during the absence of the ti´ämoni. Upon his return he waved the folded blanket twice toward the group of fetiches and toward himself, then passed it twice around the child’s head, and finally laid it upon the pile of bear-leg skins at the south side of the painting. The child, who was ill and burning with fever, was led by the vice ho´naaite to the fetiches, which he sprinkled with meal, and was carried from the chamber and through an outer room to his mother at the entrance.
Bureau of Ethnology.Eleventh Annual Report. Plate. XXIIGAST LITH. CO. N.Y.ALTAR AND SAND PAINTING.KNIFE SOCIETY.
Bureau of Ethnology.
Eleventh Annual Report. Plate. XXII
GAST LITH. CO. N.Y.
ALTAR AND SAND PAINTING.KNIFE SOCIETY.
The ho´naaite is not supposed to leave the ceremonial chamber throughout the four days and nights, as he must guard the animal fetiches and medicine. The other members are also supposed to spend much of the day and all of the night in watching the fetiches; but the writer is of the opinion that they all go to sleep after the feast, which is enjoyed as soon as the child leaves the chamber.
The only variation in the ceremonial on the second night was that the vicar dipped the bit of bread into the bowl of stew and scattered it to the animal fetiches, having previously lifted ashes from the fireplace and sprinkled the altar with them by striking the plume held in the left hand on the under side with the plume held in the right; then holding the plumes between his hands he repeated a long and scarcely audible prayer. After scattering the food to the animal fetiches, hedipped a piece of bread into the stew, left the house and threw the food to the cardinal points, as the ho´naaite had done the previous night, and, returning, removed the bowl of stew and basket of bread to the northwest corner of the room. He then swept the floor with his two eagle plumes, beginning some 18 inches in front of the altar (the line of meal remaining perfect to this point) to the point where the blanket was to be placed, and then laid the blanket and made the meal lines, the change in the drawing of these lines being that the line was begun at the line of meal which extended in front of the altar and ran over the blanket to the entrance of the room; then beginning in the center of the blanket, the line was extended across to the north wall, and again beginning in the center, a line was run across to the south wall. The writer mentions this deviation in the drawing of the meal lines, though she believes it was a mere matter of taste on the part of the worker. Instead of the vice ho´naaite receiving the child at the outer entrance, the man who sat between him and the ho´naaite brought the child into the room, and he was led out by the ti´ämoni. Upon this occasion, and on the third and fourth nights, the child walked into and out of the room, an indication that he was in better physical condition than on the first night of the ceremony. The songs on the second night were addressed to the bear of the west instead of the cougar of the north. The child did not seem to move a muscle throughout the ceremony, except when he stepped to his position on the blanket.
Bureau of Ethnology.Eleventh Annual Report. Plate. XXIIIALTAR OF KNIFE SOCIETY, PHOTOGRAPHED DURING CEREMONIAL.
Bureau of Ethnology.
Eleventh Annual Report. Plate. XXIII
ALTAR OF KNIFE SOCIETY, PHOTOGRAPHED DURING CEREMONIAL.
The scenes on the third and fourth nights were coincident with those of the second, with a few variations. The man who sat between the ho´naaite and his vicar dipped the ashes with his plumes and sprinkled the altar, and, returning to his seat, the vicar laid the blanket and sprinkled the meal lines in the same manner as on the previous night; he also procured the child. When dancing before the altar two men wore bear-leg skins on their left arms, and two others wore them on their right arms. It was noticed that the skins were drawn over the arms upon which the amulets were worn. Their dancing and incantations were even more turbulent and more weird than on the two former nights.
The songs the third night were addressed to the badger of the south and on the fourth to the wolf of the east.
While the ho´naaite and his vicar sat during the morning making hä´chamoni they rehearsed in undertones the songs of their cult. The membership of this society consists at the present time of five men and two boys, and two novitiates, a man and a boy.
The sun was far to the west when the members came straggling in and the ho´naaite proceeded to set up the slat altar (Pl.xxiia). Then each man took from the wall a soiled buckskin sack. The well-wrapped ya´ya was first taken out and then other fetiches. After the ho´naaitehad unwrapped his ya´ya he prepared the sand painting in front of the altar (Pl.xxiib). The five ya´ya were stood on the line specially made for them and a miniature bow and arrow laid before each ya´ya. The ho´naaite then grouped fetiches of human and animal forms, then the medicine bowl containing water and a basket of sacred meal. He then drew a line of meal which extended from the slat altar to a distance of 3 feet beyond the group of fetiches, his vicar afterwards assisting him with the additional fetiches. Two stone cougars 2 feet in length each were stood up on either side of the group. A cougar 12 inches long, with lightning cut in relief on either side, and a concretion, were then deposited before the group. Bear-leg skins were piled high on either side of the altar. The cloud bowl and reed were added, the two flat baskets of hä´chamoni and plume offerings shown in the sketch were afterwards deposited upon the backs of the cougars. While this arrangement was in progress the minor members returned the powdered kaolin and black pigment to the ancient pottery vases, from which they had been taken to prepare the sand-painting.
Fig. 17.—Sand painting as indicated in Pl.xxv.
Fig. 17.—Sand painting as indicated in Pl.xxv.
The ho´naaite consecrated the bowl of water by a prayer, and dropping in the six fetiches he dipped his eagle plumes into the water and striking them on the top with his rattle, sprinkled the altar; holding the plumes in the left hand and the rattle in the right, he sprinkled the cardinal points. The vicar formed a circle of meal, then sprinkledmeal upon the circle and placed a cincture pad of yucca upon it, and holding the cloud bowl high above his head, he invoked the cloud people of the north, west, south, east, zenith, and nadir, and of the whole world, to water the earth. The bowl was then set upon the pad and a reed 8 inches long laid across it from northeast to southwest. The vice ho´naaite spread a small cloth and upon it reduced the bit of root which was to produce the suds to a powder, which he placed in a little heap in front of the cloud bowl. The ho´naaite, who had left the chamber, now returned with a parrot and a white stone bear 12 inches long; the bear was wrapped in a large fine white buckskin and the parrot was under the ho´naaite’s blanket. These were deposited before the altar (Pl.xxiii).
Bureau of Ethnology.Eleventh Annual Report. Plate. XXIVHO´-NA-AI-TE OF KNIFE SOCIETY.
Bureau of Ethnology.
Eleventh Annual Report. Plate. XXIV
HO´-NA-AI-TE OF KNIFE SOCIETY.
Fig. 18.—Sand painting used in ceremonial for sick by Ant Society.
Fig. 18.—Sand painting used in ceremonial for sick by Ant Society.
The ho´naaite (Pl.xxiv) stooped and, praying, sprinkled corn pollen upon the bear and parrot. The bear and the bird had eagle plumes attached to their necks with cotton cord. Those on the bear were on the top of the neck and those of the parrot hung under the beak. After the prayer the ho´naaite lighted a cigarette of native tobacco and corn husk from a stick some 5 feet long, held by a boy member, and puffed the smoke over the bear and parrot. He then extended the cigarette over the altar, afterwards waving it to the cardinal points. The vicar and boy sprinkled the bear and parrot with pollen from an abalone shell and the vicar dipped his eagle plumes into the medicine bowl and sprinkled them four times, then the altar, by striking the plumes with the rattle held in his right hand. The ho´naaite then puffed smoke into the cloud bowl and over the bear and parrot, and extended his cigarette to the cardinal points, and over the altar. The vicar lighted a similar cigarette from the long stick held by the boy, and standing to the west of the altar blew smoke over it, the ho´naaite standing and smoking to the right of him. The vicar laid the end of his cigarette by the cloud bowl and to the east of the line of the meal. The shell of corn pollen was then placed back of the altar and theho´naaite’s eagle plumes and rattle laid beside it; a prayer before the altar by all the members closed the afternoon ceremony.
It will be noticed that the slat altar inPl.xxvdiffers from that inPl.xxiii. Both belong to the Knife Society and may be seen hanging side by side on the wall in the ceremonial chamber of the Quer´ränna, (Pl.xxviii) which is also the official chamber of the Knife Society. The second was made in case of failure of the first. The vicar of this society is also ho´naaite and only surviving member of the Ant Society, and he, being anxious that the writer should see the sand painting of the Ant Society, prepared the painting for this occasion instead of the ho´naaite (Fig. 17). He also drew her a sketch of the painting of Ant Society for ceremonial held for the sick, which is here introduced (Fig. 18). This last may be described as follows:
arepresents meal painting emblematic of the clouds,bandcbear-leg skins laid either side of it. The remainder of painting is in sand.d: Ant chief clad in buckskin fringed down the arms and legs; he carries lightning in his left hand; his words pass straight from his mouth, as indicated by a line, to the invalide, who sits at the opening of the ceremonial to the right of the painting. The ant chief speaks that the malady may leave the invalid. A song of this character is sung by the members of the society. The invalid then passes to the front of the altar and stands upon a sacred Tusayan blanket (position indicated byf), when the ho´naaite and other members of the society proceed with their incantations over him, imploring the prey animals to draw the ants to the surface of the body. When the ants have appeared and been brushed from the body then a song is addressed to the eaglegto come and feed upon the ants. When the ants have been eaten by the eagle the invalid will be restored to health. The two circular spotshrepresent ant houses. These, with the paintings of the ant chief and eagle, are gathered into the blanket upon which the invalid stood and carried some distance north of the village and deposited. After the blanket has been taken from the chamber the meal painting is erased by the ho´naaite brushing the meal from each of the cardinal points to the center with his hand; he then rubs the invalid’s body with the meal, after which the members hasten to rub their bodies with it, that they may be purified not only of any physical malady but of all evil thoughts.
When the writer entered the ceremonial chamber later in the evening food was being placed in line down the middle of the room. There were seven bowls, containing mutton stew, tortillas, waiavi, and hominy. There was also a large pot of coffee and a bowl of sugar. The ho´naaite, standing to the east of the meal line, which extended from the altar to the entrance, repeated a long grace, after which one of the boy members gathered a bit of food from each vessel, and standing on the opposite side of the line of meal, handed the food to the ho´naaite, who received it in his left hand, having transferred his eagle plumes to theright. He then left the house, and throwing the food to the cardinal points, offered it to the animal Ko´pĭshtaia, with a prayer of intercession to the cloud people to gather, saying:
“Ko´pĭshtaia! Here is food, come and eat; Ko´pĭshtaia, Cougar of the North, receive this food; Bear of the West, receive this food; Badger of the South, we offer you food, take it and eat; Wolf of the East, we give you food; Eagle of the Heavens, receive this food; Shrew of the Earth, receive this food. When you eat, then you will be contented, and you will pass over the straight road [referring to the passing of the beings of the ko´pĭshtaia over the line of meal to enter the images of themselves]. We pray you to bring to us, and to all peoples, food, good health, and prosperity, and to our animals bring good health and to our fields large crops; and we pray you to ask the cloud people to come to water the earth.”
Bureau of Ethnology.Eleventh Annual Report. Plate. XXVALTAR OF KNIFE SOCIETY, WITH HO´-NA-AI-TE AND VICE HO´-NA-AI-TE ON EITHER SIDE.
Bureau of Ethnology.
Eleventh Annual Report. Plate. XXV
ALTAR OF KNIFE SOCIETY, WITH HO´-NA-AI-TE AND VICE HO´-NA-AI-TE ON EITHER SIDE.
Upon returning to the ceremonial chamber, the ho´naaite, standing before the altar, prays to Ma´asewe, Úyuuyewĕ, and the six warriors of the mountains of the cardinal points to protect them from all enemies who might come to destroy their peace; and, standing at the end of the line of food, he offers a prayer of thanksgiving, holding his eagle plumes in his left hand. He then rolls his blanket into a cushion, sits upon it west of the line of meal and smokes a cigarette. The food having been brought in by the wives of the members, all present drew around and enjoyed the feast. That the minor members felt at liberty to join with their elders was indicated by the way in which they proceeded to help themselves.
The war chief came into the room soon after the beginning of the meal, wrapped in a fine Navajo blanket, and carrying his bow and arrows. He stood in front of the altar, on the west side of the meal line, and prayed. The vice-ho´naaite administered to the war chief a draft of the medicine water which had been prepared in the afternoon, and then handed him the official staff of the society (a slender stick some 2 feet in length), which he held with his bow and arrows until the close of the ceremonial. The war chief sat for awhile at the south end of the room, and then left to patrol the town and to see that no one not privileged entered or came near the ceremonial chamber. After the meal was finished the three boys removed the bowls to another room, and, upon their return, one of them swept the middle of the floor, destroying most of the meal line, leaving but 2 feet of it undisturbed in front of the altar. This line, however, was renewed by the vice-ho´naaite, who carried two eagle feathers and the meal bowl in his left hand, while he sprinkled the meal with the right, not for the purpose of furnishing a road for the beings of pai´ätämo and ko´pĭshtaia to pass over, for they had previously come to the images of themselves, but that the songs might pass straight over and out of the house.
The men now indulged in a smoke. The writer never observed Sia boys smoking in these ceremonials or at any other time. The cigarettes werelighted from the long stick passed by one of the boys, and after smoking, the ho´naaite and his younger brother put on white cotton embroidered Tusayan kilts as breechcloths, which they took from a hook on the wall, those of the other members being plain white cotton. The ho´naaite now took his seat back of the altar and lighted a second cigarette from the long stick, blowing the smoke over the altar. This smoke was offered to Pai´ätämo and Ko´pĭshtaia, the ho´naaite saying: “I give this to you; smoke and be contented.” He then administered medicine water to all present, dipping the water with a shell. The vice-ho´naaite, who received the last draft, drank directly from the bowl, and was careful not to leave a drop in it, after which the ho´naaite removed the six stone fetiches from the bowl. The process of preparing medicine water is substantially the same with all the cult societies, there not being in Sia nearly so much ceremony connected with this important feature of fetich worship as with the Zuñi and Tusayan. The six fetiches were returned to the buckskin bag and the ho´naaite resumed his seat behind the altar, the members and novitiates having already formed in line back of the altar, the official members each holding two eagle plumes in the left hand and a gourd rattle in the right. After a short prayer by the ho´naaite, the boy lifted ashes from the fireplace with his eagle plumes and placed them near the altar and east of the meal line; again he dipped a quantity, placing them west of the line of meal. As the chant opened, he stood west of the line and facing the altar, and an adult member stood on the east side, and each of them held an eagle plume in either hand and a gourd rattle also in the right. The boy dipped with the plumes the ashes which lay west of the line of meal and the man those which lay east of the line, and sprinkled toward the north by striking the plumes held in the left hand on the underside with the plume held in the right; again dipping the ashes, the boy sprinkled toward the west and the man toward the east; again lifting ashes, they passed to the south and sprinkled there; the boy then crossed to the east of the line of meal and the man to the west of the line, and when midway of the line the boy sprinkled to the east and the man to the west; then, dancing before the altar, they again lifted ashes and sprinkled to the north. When dancing, both eagle plumes were held in the left hand and the rattle in the right. Ashes were again lifted and thrown twice toward the zenith and then thrown to the nadir. The sprinkling to the cardinal points, zenith and nadir, was repeated fifteen times in the manner described. This was to carry off all impurities of the mind, that it might be pure; that the songs would come pure from the lips and pass straight over the road of meal—the one road. The man and boy having resumed their seats in the line, the vice-ho´naaite stood before the altar to the west side of the line of meal, shook his rattle for a moment or two, then waved it vertically in front of the altar, invoking the cloud people to come; he then waved the rattle from the west to the east, repeatingthe weird exhortation, his body being kept in motion by the bending of his knees, his feet scarcely leaving the ground. The rattle was waved three times from the west to the east, and then waved toward the west and toward the altar, the east and to the altar; then, raising the rattle high above his head, he formed a circle. This waving of the rattle was repeated sixteen times. Previous to each motion he held the rattle perfectly still, resting it on the eagle plumes which he held in the left hand.
After the sixteenth repetition he waved the rattle over the altar. The song during this time is an appeal to the cloud people of the north, west, south, east, and all the cloud peoples of the world, to gather and send rain to water the earth, that all mankind may have the fruits of the earth. The vicar then stood to the right of the ho´naaite, and the choir, rising, continued to sing. The ho´naaite, leaning over the altar, took two of the central ya´ya, one in either hand, and alternately raised them, keeping time with the song, now and then extending the ya´ya over the altar. The young novitiate held neither rattle or plumes. The boy at the east end of the line, having passed through two degrees, held his rattle in the right hand and in his left a miniature crook. The vicar who stood at the right of the ho´naaite and the man who stood to his left moved their rattles and feathers in harmony with his motion, the three swaying their bodies back and forth and extending their arms outward and upward. About this time it was noticed that the boys at the east end of the line had fallen asleep, and it was more than the man who sat next to them could do to keep them awake, although he was constantly brushing their faces with his eagle plumes. This little scene was something of a picture, as the boy whose shoulder acted as a support for the head of the other is the son of one of the most prominent and richest men in the pueblo, the other boy being the pauper referred to. The stanzas in this song were much longer than any before heard by the writer, and each closed with a quick shake of the rattle. The song continued an hour and a quarter, when the singers took a few moments’ rest, and again sang for thirty minutes; another few minutes’ rest, and the song again continued. In this way it ran from half past 9 o’clock until midnight. At its close one of the boys brought a vase of water and a gourd from the southwest corner of the room and placed it near the altar and west of the line of meal. The ya´niᵗsiwittänn̄i stood before the vase, and, lifting two gourdfuls of water, emptied them into the medicine bowl; emptying two gourdfuls, also, into the cloud bowl, he danced for a time before the altar, waving his plumes and rattle over it; he then emptied two more gourdfuls into the medicine bowl and two more into the cloud bowl, and resumed his dance. He did not sing while performing this part of the ceremony, but when emptying the water into the bowls he gave bird-like trills, calling for the cloud people to gather. Again he emptied two gourdfuls into the medicine bowl and two in the cloud bowl; and after dancing a momentor two he poured two more gourdfuls into the medicine bowl and two into the cloud bowl, and resumed the dance; again he emptied a gourdful into the medicine bowl and two into the cloud bowl; then he emptied three into the medicine bowl and drank twice from the bowl, after which he returned to his seat in the line, the boy restoring the vase to the farther corner of the room. Two small medicine bags were handed to each member from the altar, one containing corn pollen and the other corn meal of six varieties of corn: yellow, blue, red, white, black, and variegated. The bags were held in the left hand with the eagle plumes, that hand being quiet, while the rattle was shaken with the right in accompaniment to the song. After singing a few minutes, pollen and meal taken from the medicine bags were sprinkled into the medicine bowl. The choir did not rise and pass to the altar, but leaned forward on either side; and with each sprinkling of the meal and pollen a shrill call was given for the cloud people to gather; the ho´naaite, in sprinkling in his pollen, reached over the altar slats. The sprinkling of the pollen was repeated four times, the novitiates taking no part in this feature of the ceremony, although they were provided with the bags of pollen and meal. The ya´niᵗsiwittänn̄i danced before the altar and west of the line of meal without rattle or plumes, but continually hooted as he waved his hands wildly over the altar and dropped pebble fetiches alternately into the medicine and cloud bowls, until each bowl contained six fetiches; then, reaching behind the altar for his rattle and eagle plumes, he held an eagle plume and rattle in the right hand and an eagle plume in the left, and stirred the water and sprinkled the altar; then he stirred the water in the cloud bowl with the reed, and sprinkled the altar with it. The sprinkling of the altar from the medicine bowl and the cloud bowl was repeated six times.
After each sprinkling a quick shake of the rattle was given. The ho´naaite then reached over the altar slats, taking a ya´ya in either hand, and all stood and sang. In a moment the man to the right of the ho´naaite leaned over the west side of the altar, and, dipping his plumes in the medicine water, sprinkled the altar; he repeated the sprinkling four times, and when the two ya´ya were returned to the altar the ho´naaite dipped his eagle plumes into the medicine water, and sprinkled the altar by striking them on the top with the rattle held in the right hand. Each member then sprinkled the altar four times, with a wild exhortation to the cloud people, all apparently exhibiting more enthusiasm when sprinkling the altar than at any other time during the ceremonial. When the song closed two of the boys proceeded to prepare cigarettes, taking their places before the fireplace, and, tearing off bits of corn husks of the proper size, they made them pliable by moistening them with saliva. One boy made his cigarettes of native tobacco, which he took from an old cloth hanging on the wall; the other filled his with commercial tobacco. As the boys made cigarettes they tied them with ribbons of corn husks, simply to keep themin shape until the smokers were ready. The remaining native tobacco was returned to the old cloth and put in place upon the wall. About the time the boys had finished preparing the cigarettes, the vice-ho´naaite took his seat on his wadded blanket, in front of the cloud bowl and west of the line of meal. The man at the east end of the line dipped his eagle plumes into the ashes, holding a plume in either hand and striking the one held in the left hand on the under side with the plume held in the right, he sprinkled the head of the vicar, who was offering a silent prayer, and at the same moment the song opened to the accompaniment of the rattle. Previous to the vicar leaving the line, the ho´naaite removed a white fluffy eagle feather from one of the ya´ya, to which it had been attached with a white cotton cord, and tied it to the forelock of the vicar, who put into the cloud bowl the powdered root which was to produce the froth; then dipping the reed into corn pollen he sprinkled the altar. He placed a pinch of pollen into the upper end of the reed, and, turning that into the water, he put a pinch into the other end, and touched the four cardinal points of the cloud bowl with the corn pollen, and made bubbles by holding the hollow reed in the center of the bowl and blowing through it. This operation lasted but a few moments, when he began stirring the water with the reed, moving it from right to left, and never raising the lower end to the surface of the water, producing a beautiful egg-like froth. Not satisfied with its rising high above the bowl, he did not cease manipulating until the suds had completely covered it, so that nothing could be seen but a mass of snowy froth; fifteen minutes of continual stirring was required to produce this effect. He then stood the reed in the center of the froth, and holding an eagle plume in each hand danced before the altar vehemently gesticulating. He dipped suds with his two plumes and threw them toward the altar, with a wild cry, and again dipping suds he threw them over the altar to the north; a like quantity was thrown to the west, and the same to the south, the east, the zenith, and the nadir. He then dipped a quantity, and placing some on the head of the white bear and putting some over the parrot, he resumed his seat on the blanket and began blowing through the reed and beating the suds. In five minutes he stood the reed as before in the center of the bowl, then, dancing, he dipped the suds, placing them on the head of the bear and over the parrot; he then removed the remaining suds from the plumes by striking one against the other over the bowl (this froth is always referred to by the Sia as clouds). During this part of the ceremony the choir sang an exhortation to the cloud peoples. A boy now handed a cigarette of native tobacco to the vicar, who puffed the smoke for some time, extending the cigarette to the north; smoking again, he blew the smoke to the west, and extended the cigarette to that point; this was repeated to the south and east; when he had consumed all but an inch of the cigarette, he laid it in front of the cloud bowl and east of the meal line. Thechoir did not cease singing during the smoking, and when the bit of cigarette had been deposited, the vicar transferred his rattle to his right hand, keeping time with the choir. When the song closed he left his seat in front of the cloud bowl and stood by the west side of the altar, and removing the eagle plume from his head returned it to the ya´ya and took his seat near the fireplace. Two of the boys then lighted cigarettes of native tobacco with the long fire-stick, handing one to each member.