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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 (plateCVI) 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:
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 consecratedon 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]
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:
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:
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.
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 specialname 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 Tcukúwympkyia 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 presentationand 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.
photoFig. 40—The Áñakatcina.
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 tothe dancers (figure40). 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.
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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.
Fig. 41—Maskette of Áñakatcinamana.
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 thisbelt 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.
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 ofcrinoline 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.
Fig. 42—Position of celebrants in the court of Sitcomovi in Síocálako.[102]
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]
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.
Fig. 43—Mask of Pawíkkatcina (front view).
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 Katcinasand five[105]Katcinamanas, and the masks of both are illustrated in figures43,44, and45, while one of the staffs which they bore is represented in figure46. 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.
Fig. 44—Mask of Pawíkkatcina (side view).
Fig. 44—Mask of Pawíkkatcina (side view).
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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.
Fig. 45—Mask of Pawíkkatcinamana.
Fig. 45—Mask of Pawíkkatcinamana.
Fig. 46—Staff of Pawíkkatcina.
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 laidit 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.
Fig. 47—Helmets, ear of corn, and spruce bough arranged for reception ceremony.
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.
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 sixshrines 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 figure40.
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 havein 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, andthe 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.