Title: The Katcina altars in Hopi worship
Author: Fewkes, Jesse Walter
Language: English
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  THE KATCINA ALTARS IN
  HOPI WORSHIP

  BY

  J. WALTER FEWKES
  _Chief, Bureau of American Ethnology_


  FROM THE SMITHSONIAN REPORT FOR 1926, PAGES 469-486
  (WITH 3 PLATES)

  [Illustration: Decoration]

  (PUBLICATION 2904)


  UNITED STATES
  GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
  WASHINGTON
  1927

[Illustration:

  PLATE 1

WALPI SIX DIRECTIONS ALTAR]



THE KATCINA ALTARS IN HOPI WORSHIP

By J. WALTER FEWKES, _Chief, Bureau of American Ethnology_

[With 3 plates]


INTRODUCTION

The present article is the fifth of a series published in the
annual reports of the Smithsonian Institution on the composition of
Hopi worship. The Hopi, the name meaning peaceful, belong to the
Pueblo stock and are agricultural Indians. They are descendants of
the Arizona cliff dwellers and have preserved to the present many
survivals of their ancient worship. The object of the series of five
papers above referred to is to record a few of their rites in sun,
fire, and ancestor ceremonies that have survived to the present time.
The Pueblos performed their secret ceremonies in subterranean rooms
called kivas that were entered from the roof.

It is customary for the priest in the course of the ceremonies to
erect an altar, so called, on which is placed their _tiponi_, or
sacred badge of office, surrounded by various fetishes, idols, and
wooden objects bearing symbols. Here are placed all sacred objects
possessed by the fraternity of priests who celebrate the rite.
There are four Hopi villages or pueblos that perform the rituals
independently, the sacred paraphernalia differing in each. From a
study of these altars it is possible for us to learn the aim of their
various ceremonies. The present paper compares the four Katcina
altars for this purpose.

That element of pueblo worship known as the Katcina forms fully
one-half of the Hopi ritual, beginning with the arrival of the
Katcinas or masked dancers in January or February, and lasting until
their departure in July, inclusive. It is distinguished from other
components by the presence of masked participants called Katcinas,
supposed to be personators of the ancients, or “others.” The yearly
departure of these worthies from the villages is celebrated in July
by a great religious observance called the Niman or Farewell Katcina
ceremony; their arrival by several rites, one of the most striking
of which is called Powamu, or “Bean Planting.” At the times of their
arrival and departure there are erected in the kiva of each of the
four villages which celebrate them, the same altars, about which
certain secret rites are performed. Our knowledge thus far is limited
to four of the five Katcina altars,[1] and there still remains the
altar of Cuñopavi, regarding which nothing has yet been recorded.[2]

[Illustration: EXPLANATION OF PLATE 2—Katcina Altar at Oraibi

_a_, Tunwup, or Sun Katcina; _as_, Aspergill; _b_, Tcuelawu; _c_,
Corn mound; _co_, Cotokinungwu; _g_, Gourd; _h_, Planting stick;
_l_, Lightning symbols; _m_, Ears of maize; _mb_, Medicine bowl;
_p_, Prayer sticks; _ph_, God of war; _pm_, Prayer meal; _ps_,
Prayer sticks in basket; _pt_, Gourd (netted) for sacred water; _r_,
Rattles; _rc_, Rain _clouds_; _sc_, Sun emblems; _t_, Tiponi.]

[Illustration:

  PLATE 2

KATCINA ALTAR AT ORAIBI]

Our knowledge of Katcina altars of the Rio Grande in the other
pueblos is very scanty, owing largely to the exclusion of
ethnologists from the kivas. Katcina dances in the open plazas are
repeatedly figured but the secret rites and accompanying altars, if
any, are not known.

In the following pages the author presents a morphological study of
the four known Katcina altars of Hopi. The illustrations of the most
complex, that of Oraibi, have been taken from the excellent memoir
of Voth on the Powamu of that pueblo; the others are from personal
studies made in 1890-1895.

The structure of the Oraibi Katcina altar is as follows: The reredos
consists of two upright wooden slats united above by a crosspiece
which in the illustration (pl. 2) is surmounted by a row of four
segments of circles with rain cloud pictures representing the four
directions, and colored with appropriate pigments, beginning with
yellow or north at the right. The decoration of the crosspiece is
obscure, but on the uprights there are figures recalling sprouting
vegetation, and circles with differently colored quadrants.

Two idols, probably of wood, stand between the vertical slats of the
altar, filling nearly the whole space. That on the left evidently
represents the Sky God (Cotokinungwu) for it has a conical apex to
the head, a painted chin, and near its left hand stands a wooden slat
of zigzag form, a prescribed symbol of lightning.[3] This image has
several short parallel marks of different colors on the body, and
wears horsehair, stained red, about the loins.

The other figurine wears a coronet with triangular-shaped rain cloud
symbols, which remind one of the headdress of the Lakonemana,
a tutelary goddess of the woman’s society, the Lalakontu, whose
ceremonials in September have been described elsewhere.[4]

The two vertical wooden slats, one on each side of the uprights, bear
pictures of the same personage, probably Tunwupkatcina, on whose head
is a fan-shaped crest of feathers. On each side the head has a horn,
at the extremity of which hangs a symbolic feather.

The human figures have characteristic markings on their foreheads,
and their bodies are black, dotted with white spots.

There is no mistaking the symbolism of the remaining idol standing at
the right of the altar, as an image of Puukonhoya, the “Little War
God,” whose characteristic features are the parallel marks on the
body, and the weapons of war in his hands.

Several sticks, cut in zigzag shapes with curved appendages and short
crossbars at one end, stand between the uprights of the reredos. From
their forms, these objects may readily be identified as lightning
symbols so common in all Tusayan altars. One of these, which has a
complicated tip or head, is placed close to the outstretched arm of
Cotokinungwu, with whom it is naturally associated. The straight rod
leaning on the same arm is possibly a cornstalk symbol. The rounded
stick, tapering at one end, which stands under the extended left hand
of the image on the left, is probably a symbol of maize. A somewhat
larger pointed object, painted at its base with zones of yellow,
green, red and white, and surmounted by a feather, is called “the
mound” and suggests the kaetukwi or Corn Mound of the Lalakontu,
being similarly situated to an image on the left of this altar. The
surface of the latter object, however, instead of being painted, is
encrusted[5] with clay covered with different kinds of seeds.

The crook at the extreme left of the altar has attached to it an
object which resembles the paddle carried by a participant in the
Heheakatcina, or public ceremonial of the Niman at Walpi.

Four pahos, or prayer-sticks, are placed at intervals in hillocks of
sand before the images on the altar. The Katcina tiponi,[6] or badge
of the chief, stands on the floor before the altar.

Just in advance of the left-hand idol—the image with a coronet—there
is a small oblong basket in which are laid a number of sticks with
feathers, seeds, and pinches of meal. This is called the “Mother,”
and recalls similar objects which have been observed on the Lalakontu
altar, whose contents have been described elsewhere.[7]

I need not dwell on the other accessories of the Powamu altar at
Oraibi save to note that they are common to other altars, and in no
respect characteristic. I refer to the basket tray of sacred meal,
the rattles, a medicine bowl, aspergill, and six ears of corn used in
special rites.

The strange object at the extreme right, surrounded by a tablet,
symbolic of a rain cloud, bears the picture of the head of
Ho’katcina. It is supported on a pedestal, and appears to be peculiar
to Oraibi.[8]


COMPARISON WITH THE NIMAN ALTAR AT CIPAULOVI

Cipaulovi, the smallest of all the Hopi pueblos, is situated on the
Middle Mesa, and its Katcina altar is the poorest in paraphernalia,
as shown by a comparison with the altar at Oraibi, the most
complicated in Tusayan.

[Illustration: FIG. 1.—Cipaulovi Niman Katcina altar]

Omitting the medicine bowl, rattles, sacred meal, and pahos, the
Cipaulovi Niman altar consists of a figure of seven rain clouds, with
parallel lines representing falling rain, drawn on the floor with
sacred meal, and a row of five vertical sticks, symbols of growing
corn. Upon the meal picture which represents the falling rain, there
are four stone implements arranged in a row. The tiponi, or palladium
of the Katcinas is placed on a hillock of sand at the right of
the same picture. There are no idols or images of anthropomorphic
forms on this altar, and unless the stone implements may be so
interpreted, no lightning symbols. The Niman altar at Cipaulovi[9]
is very simple, but the essentials of a Katcina altar are included.
The two prominent symbols are those representing rain clouds and
growing corn, which are elaborated in the more complicated Katcina
altars and may be regarded as embodying the two main aims of Katcina
celebrations.[10]

[Illustration: EXPLANATION OF PLATE 3—Walpi Niman Katcina altar

_a_, Tunwup, or Sun Katcina; _b_, Tcuelawu; _c_, Corn mound; _l_,
Lightning symbols; _m_, Ears of maize; _mb_, Medicine bowl; _pb_,
Path of blessing; _pm_, Prayer meal; _ps_, Prayer sticks in baskets;
_r_, Rattles; _rc_, Rain clouds; _t_, Tiponi.]

[Illustration:

  PLATE 3

WALPI NIMAN KATCINA ALTAR]


COMPARISON WITH THE NIMAN KATCINA ALTAR AT WALPI

The Walpi Katcina is next in simplicity to that of Cipaulovi. It has
instead of a meal picture, however, a reredos upon which are depicted
rain and rain cloud symbols, and the two supplementary uprights, with
pictures of Tunwup referred to in the Oraibi altar. There are zigzag
slats, symbols of lightning, and rounded sticks with emblematic corn
designs, neither of which, however, is as complicated as at Oraibi.

The Katcina tiponi is prominent, but there are no images on the
altar, no basket with seeds and feathered sticks, and no crook with
attached handle. While, therefore, the altar of the Walpi Niman
Katcina is more complicated than at Cipaulovi, it is not as rich in
accessories as that at Oraibi.[11]


COMPARISON WITH THE NIMAN KATCINA ALTAR AT MICONINOVI

The Katcina altar in this, the most populous village at the Middle
Mesa, is simpler than at Oraibi, but more complicated than the Walpi
representative. It has, in addition to the objects found on the Walpi
altar, two idols or images, one on each side. The zigzag sticks are
lacking, but stone implements similar to those on the far simpler
Cipaulovi altar are present. There are two emblems of maize, as at
Walpi, and numerous sticks, representing growing corn, recalling the
same symbols of the Cipaulovi equivalent.

It will be seen, therefore, that while it is the nearest of all to
the Oraibi altar, an additional idol, the “Mother” or basket of
seeds, etc., the crook (naluchoya), and the picture of Ho’katcina are
unrepresented at Miconinovi.

The two images of the Miconinovi altar are apparently the Little
War God and the Germ Maid. There may be a doubt of the accuracy in
identification of the latter, but she has the symbols of rain clouds
on the head and in the hand. The other image has the parallel marks
on the body, symbols of Puukonhoya, but it must be confessed that the
same marks are found on the Cotokinungwu idol although the latter
image has the characteristic cone on the head which is not present in
the Miconinovi image. The evidence would thus favor the conclusion
that the right hand figurine of the Miconinovi altar represents
Puukonhoya rather than Cotokinungwu, and as far as known Oraibi
is the sole pueblo which has an idol of Cotokinungwu on the flute
altars, of which those of four pueblos are known.[12]

A comparative study of the symbolism, simple and elaborate, of the
Katcina altars leads me to the conclusion that the most complicated
altar, that at Oraibi, is the result simply of elaboration of the
less developed altars, of the introduction of new elements. Analysis
reduces this composite symbolism to rain clouds, fertilization,
growth, and maturity of corn, the elements which dominate the whole
Hopi ritual.

[Illustration: FIG. 2.—Miconinovi Niman Katcina altar]

A somewhat more detailed statement of this point is perhaps
desirable. In the Hopi ritual three methods of representing
supernatural personages are adopted. First, personifications by men,
women, and children. Second, representations by images or idols.
Third, representations by pictures, conventionalized objects, or
symbols. These three methods may coexist; they are interchangeable,
and may be phylogenetically connected in the development of rituals.
In the public ceremonials the first method is almost invariably
adopted, but in secret rites all three are employed.[13] The
representations on the Katcina altars at Cipaulovi and Walpi are
limited to the third method; those at Miconinovi and Oraibi include
likewise the second.

There is no need of going into detail regarding the meanings of the
symbols of the third method of representation as used on Katcina
altars. The simplicity of this method, here applied, is apparent, and
the symbols are those of rain clouds, lightning, and corn in various
stages of growth.

A discussion of the second method, or representation by images and
what they mean when used on Katcina altars, will bring out several
points of interest. These images, commonly called idols,[14] occur
on the Katcina altars of Oraibi and Miconinovi and represent the
same conceptions as the symbols. The idol with the raincloud coronet
is a representation of a corn-rain supernatural personage who has
many names and appears in ceremonials both public and secret of many
different priesthoods. In the ceremony called the Lalakontu she is
either personated by women in the public dance or represented by
images on the altar and is called Lakonemana (Lakone Maid). In the
October ceremony, called Mamzrauti, she is likewise represented by
the first and second methods,[15] and is called Mamzraumana.[16] The
same is true of the Owakulti, still performed at Oraibi, although
extinct at Walpi, where she is known as Owakulmana.

During the dramatization in the Antelope kiva of the Snake
Ceremonials at Walpi she is personated by a maid called the
Tcuamana[17] (Snake Maid) and no effigy of her is employed in this
archaic ceremony. The Flute Society represent her in their rites
in both the first and second ways, with two girls in the public
dance, and images on the altars in the secret observances, where she
is called Lenyamana (Flute Maid).[18] In Palülükonti[19] she is
personated by the first method, and is called Calakomana. The most
elaborate images of this being, also called Calakomanas, are secular
in character, and are used as dolls. All her different names, and
some others which might be mentioned, are aliases, sacerdotal society
names of the same mythological conception, which may more accurately
be called Muiyinwu, the Germ Goddess, who is likewise associated with
rain.

The symbolism of images on the left side of the Katcina altars of
Miconinovi and of Oraibi is highly conventionalized, but clearly
enough developed to show that the images represent the same Rain-Germ
Goddess who, in some ceremonials, is personified by a girl; in others
by a similar image. This image is called the Rain-Germ (Corn)[20]
Maid because in the most elaborate representations of her this bifid
nature is strongly indicated by symbolism. Her idol on the Miconinovi
Flute altar has four symbols of corn on the body, and bears three
rain cloud tablets on the head. In numerous dolls[21] she has a
symbol of an ear of corn on the forehead and an elaborate raincloud
tablet with a rainbow on the head.

The other idol, likewise known in various ceremonials by tutelary
sacerdotal aliases, is the male cultus hero, the fructifying
principle symbolized by lightning and personified according to the
society, by such supernaturals as Cotokinungwu, Puukonhoya, Tcuatiyo,
Lentiyo, and the like.

In this totem-pole-like doll we have Hehea, the male, with two
Calakos, females, as their symbolism clearly indicates. The Hopi
have a legend that the Calako maids brought the first corn to their
ancestors, and in that legend it is said that Calakotaka, or the male
Calako, a sun god, initiated the youth into the Katcinas by flogging
them, as Tunwup still functions in Powamu.

The etymology of the word Calako is unknown to me, and it may have
been derived from the same source as the Zuñi word. A corn husk, and
by derivation a cigarette paper, is called by the Hopi a calakabu.

The symbolism of the male Calako is identical with that of Tunwup
and resembles that of the Zuñi Shalako. The Hopi celebrate their
sun-prayer-stick making in July, the Zuñi in December, or at
different solstices. The Hopi say that they derived their celebration
from the Zuñi (see Fifteenth Ann. Rept. Bur. Amer. Ethnol.). When
this interesting ceremonial is performed at Sitcomovi the Calako
maids do not appear, and the four giants with avian symbolism
apparently personate a sun drama, but as a derivative from Zuñi we
must await an interpretation of the original for conclusive evidence
of its meaning.

The images of the altars as well as symbolic designs depicted upon
them show us that fructification, growth and maturing of corn, and
rain clouds are predominant in representations on Niman Katcina
altars.

I have not offered a suggestion in regard to the identity of
the strange being, Tunwup, nor am I quite sure that he can be
interpreted, but I strongly suspect that he is none other than the
Sun, a worship of whom pervades the whole Katcina ritual.[22]

The element which predominates in the worship at the Powamu ceremony
is the fructification of germs; and as beans figure so conspicuously
in it as symbols, it’s popularly called the “Bean Planting,” while a
ceremony following it is Palülükonti,[23] in which corn is sprouted,
is called the “Corn Planting.” As in Hopi conceptions the Sun is
father of all life, a ceremony called the Powalawu, appropriate
to the object or aim of Powamu, precedes the planting of beans in
the kivas. The ceremony is strictly a part of Powamu, showing it
is a form of direct sun worship. In it a special sun altar is made
of a sand mosaic upon which, during ceremonial songs, a tray of
meal composed of all kinds of seeds used by the Hopi is copiously
sprinkled on the picture of the sun; medicine water is then thrown
upon the same to typify the rains which under the sun’s action causes
these seeds to germinate and grow.

My comparative study of the Hopi Katcina altars has therefore led me
to the following conclusions: Their symbolism, whether in pictures,
rites, or of images, refer to two elements, or supernaturals, which
control rain and growth of corn. The latter are male and female,
representing the sky god and the earth goddess, the father and the
mother, the lightning and the earth, the two sexes without whose
union life is impossible.[24]

The ceremonials performed about the Katcina altars admit of the same
interpretation, and it remains for me to indicate their nature and
bearing on the above conclusions.


ALTAR OF ORAIBI POWALAWU

A sand picture of the great paternal deity, Tawa, the Sun, has never
been reported from any Tusayan altar except Oraibi. Such a picture is
made in Powalawu, the opening ceremony of Powamu and described by Mr.
Voth.

The altar is made on the floor of the kiva, and is placed on a layer
of valley sand on which are made four concentric zones of different
colored sands surrounding a middle circle of white sand on which is
drawn a stellate figure of the sun. These different concentric zones
are yellow, green, red, and white, beginning with the smallest, and
ending with a peripheral in white. They are separated by black lines,
and a quartz crystal[25] to which a string, with attached feather, is
tied, is placed in the middle of the picture of the sun. A quadrant
apart on the periphery of the picture, beyond the white zone, there
are four arrow-shaped projections, colored yellow, green, red, and
white, following a circuit with the center of the whole sand painting
on the left hand. These, like the zones, are made of differently
colored sands and are rimmed with black. Across the yellow
arrow-headed figure extend several parallel red lines of sand; across
the green, white; across the red, yellow; and across the white, green.

On the supposition that the inner figure represents the sun, the four
peripheral arrow-shaped appendages are supposed to represent heads of
the lightning snakes of the four cardinal points, north, west, south,
and east, as their colors indicate.[26]

The accessories used in the celebration of the Powalawu are arranged
on the floor radially about this sand picture, and fall into two
groups, one on lines in continuation of the rays of the central
figure, the others on intermediary lines. There are, therefore, four
sets of both groups alternating with each other.

The objects which form a single group of the former in this
quaternary arrangement are as follows: A yellow reed, a paho-stand,
and a ball made of powdered pikumi.[27] Intermediate between these,
also with a quaternary arrangement, there is a ball made of clay
painted black in which a feather is attached, a blackened reed, and
a stone arrow point. The paho-stand with these objects consists
of a cubical block in which the following objects are inserted in
line: A small crook, a green double paho, several sticks (called
civapi, howapki, honyi, masiswapi), a black eagle feather with four
nakwakwocis tied to it and a ring with netted cord, and finally a
paho of a color corresponding to the cardinal direction in which the
paho-stand is placed.

The details of the Powalawu ceremony have been described by Voth,
from whose account I will mention a few generalities.

The celebrants gathered at the altar at about noon and sang many
songs with accompanying events which were performed by Siima, the
chief, now dead.

1. White earth, roots, and honey added to the medicine bowl.

2. Meal made of watermelon, melon, squash, bean, and corn seeds,
sprinkled carefully over the sand picture.

3. Charm liquid stirred and sprinkled on sand altar.

4. Priest ascended ladder of the kiva and blew a yellow feather
through a reed from the north paho-stand out of the hatch toward the
north, after which he blew a whistle pointing it the same way. This
was done in sequence to the west, south, and east, taking objects
from the altar each time.

5. Priest ascended ladder with a black reed from north cluster,
and blew from it, toward the north, a small feather. He then blew
a feather in sequence from the four stones, ascending the ladder
each time.[28] He licked honey from the stones and spat to the four
cardinal points.

6. Couriers carried the clay balls to distant shrines, and four
priests bore the four paho-stands, reeds, and yellow balls to other
shrines, also at cardinal points.

While the above events were transpiring songs were sung by the
assembled priests, and at the close the quartz crystal on the Sun
picture was raised from the stand and handled by each priest, who
sucked it, and pressed it to his heart.

7. Ceremonial smoke.

8. Prayers.

9. The sand gathered up and carried outside the kiva.

10. Feast.

The aim of the ceremony appears clear. Meal of all kinds of seed
sprinkled on the Sun typifies fructification of all Hopi food plants.
Water is poured on the meal as symbolic of the rains which the
celebrants hope will increase their crops.

The details of the nine days’ ceremonials of the Powamu at Oraibi
need not be described here, but it may be well to indicate their
general character.[29]

Beans were planted in boxes in all the kivas on the day after
Powalawu (February 5, 1894) and were forced to germinate in the
heated rooms, where they grew for 16 days. From February 13 (the
first day of the nine days’ ceremony) until the 17th, Siima, the
chief, visited all these kivas, and when not so employed passed his
time in one of the rooms fasting, or making prayer objects.

I am indebted to Mr. Voth for my knowledge of the secret rites of
the Powamu at Oraibi. They supplement that which I have published
elsewhere on the Walpi representation, from which, however, it
differs very considerably. (See Fifteenth Ann. Rept., Bur. Amer.
Ethnol.; also Amer. Anthrop., Vol. VII, No. 1, 1894, and Int. Archiv
für Ethnog., Band VIII, 1895.)

The Powamu altar was erected on February 17, and from that day until
the ninth (February 21) daily songs of interesting character were
sung about it.

Many dolls, bows and arrows[30] for children are likewise made in the
kivas, and the chiefs prepared prayer emblems and other ceremonial
objects.

The culmination of Powamu, when we should expect the acme of the
series of rites, occurred on the afternoon of the ninth day (February
21), when the sprouting beans were pulled up, and distributed with
dolls and other presents, and when certain personages of supernatural
character brought significant gifts to the priests. It is the last
event to which I wish especially to call the reader’s attention.

This episode, which seems to me to bring out clearly the aim of
the Powamu ceremony, may be called the advent and departure of
Hahaiwuqti[31] followed by the Eototo and other supernaturals. The
main events of this episode were as follows: The man who personified
the “Old Woman” (Hahaiwuqti) having masked and otherwise arrayed
himself at a shrine[32] outside the pueblo, began to howl vigorously.
Siima the chief of Powamu, made offerings at this shrine and drew on
the ground, with sacred meal, several figures of rain clouds about
20 yards nearer the village. Hahaiwuqti, as if tolled along by this
mystic sign, moved to it and again began to howl. Siima made another
set of rain cloud figures, again about 20 yards nearer the village,
and the howling Hahaiwuqti advanced to the second meal figures.
Halting thus at intervals, and howling as she went, the “Old Woman”
at last stood in the public plaza of Oraibi, and in answer to her
cries people came to her, sprinkled her with pinches of meal and took
objects from the basket she bore.

She then sought the entrance to the kiva in which the priests were
engaged in ceremonial smoking and singing. She stood like a statue
at the hatch, howling as if to announce her coming to the priests
within the room below. They soon responded, and came out of the kiva
headed by Siima with a bowl of medicine and an aspergill, followed by
a second priest with a reed cigarette and a coal of fire, and others
with bags of sacred meal. Hahaiwuqti was asperged, smoked upon and
sprinkled with meal, and presented with a paho accompanied with a
prayer, after which the priests returned to their room and the “Old
Woman” went away to the west. A few minutes later men disguised as
Eototo and Ahul approached the kiva hatch near which some unknown
Katcina had made in meal on the ground a cross and rain cloud. Eototo
rubbed meal on each of the four sides of the kiva hatchway[33]
and poured water into the kiva entrance from the sides, as I have
described in my accounts of the Walpi and Cipaulovi Niman Katcina.
Ahul followed his example, whereupon the priests again emerged from
the kiva and treated these two visitors in the same way they had used
Hahaiwuqti. They received corn in return, after which the visitors
retired, following the “Old Woman.”

After their departure, two “mudheads” (Koyimse) and three Katcinas,
two men wearing Humis, Jemes, Katcina masks and one the maskette
and apparel of the female Humis, approached the kiva entrance.[34]
Then came personifications of Ana, Hehea, and two Tacab Katcinas.
Following these were three lame Howaik Katcinas, masked as their
predecessors, and clearly designated by appropriate symbolism.

At each new arrival the priests in the kiva responded, emerged from
their room, and treated these visitors as they had their leader,
Hahaiwuqti.

As the masked personages left the village they passed westward.[35]

When the priests had retired to their kiva for the last time they
smoked on the presents left by their strange visitors, and the
chief divided the gift Eototo had brought into 10 bundles, and gave
one package to each Powamu priest. Then followed minor events, as
taking down the altar, which do not now concern us. The departure of
Hahaiwuqti and her band closed the main ceremony.[36]

It certainly seems legitimate to conclude that this acme of the
Powamu is a dramatic representation embodying the aim of the whole
ceremony. It is a visit of Hahaiwuqti in her disguise as known to
Katcinas, followed by her children bringing gifts and receiving
prayers. What other prayers are more appropriate to Hahaiwuqti
than petitions for abundant crops, or what gifts more desirable
than those Eototo[37] gave in a symbolic way, viz: water and
sprouting vegetation? The rejuvenescence of nature is always to a
primitive mind akin to sorcery, and believed to be brought about
by the sorcerer’s arts, and hence this ceremony takes place in
the Powako-muyamuh, or Wizard Moon, which gives it its name by
syncopation, Powamu.[38]


CONCLUSIONS REGARDING THE PLACE OF KATCINAS IN TUSAYAN WORSHIP

We are justified in regarding the Katcinas as spirits of the dead, or
divinized ancestors, shades or breath-bodies of those who once lived,
as mortuary prayers clearly indicate. The theory of ancestor worship
gives us a ready explanation for the fact that ancestral spirits
are represented by masked persons, and as a corollary, a suggestion
regarding the significance of the different symbolism of those masks.

The Hopi, like many people, look back to mythic times when they
believe their ancestors lived in a “paradise,” or state or place
where food (corn) was plenty and rains abundant, a world of perpetual
summer and flowers. Their legends recount how, when corn failed or
rain ceased, cultus heroes have sought these imaginary or ideal
ancestral homes to learn the “medicine,” songs, prayers, fetishes,
and charms efficacious to influence or control supernaturals, which
blessed these happy lands. Each sacerdotal society tells the story
of its own hero bringing from that land a bride, who transmitted to
her son the knowledge of the altars, songs, and prayers, which forced
the crops to grow and the rains to fall in her native country. To
become thoroughly conversant with the rites he is said to marry the
maid; otherwise at his death they would be lost, since knowledge
of the “medicine” is believed to be transmitted, not through his
clan, but that of his wife. So the Snake hero brought the Snake-Maid
(corn-rain girl) from the underworld; the Flute hero, her sister,
the Flute-Maid; the Little War God, the Lakonemana and other
supernaturals.

A Katcina hero in the old times, “on a rabbit hunt came to a region
where there was no snow. There he saw other Katcina people dancing
amidst beautiful gardens. He received melons from them and carrying
them home told a strange story of the people who inhabited a country
where there were flowering plants in midwinter. The hero and a
comrade were sent back, and they stayed with their people, returning
home loaded with fruit in February. They had learned the songs of
those with whom they had lived, and taught them in the kiva of their
own people.”[39]

In the ceremonies with unmasked personifications, or those celebrated
yearly between July and January which are not Katcinas, an attempt is
made to reproduce rites which legends declare the cultus or ancestral
heroes saw in the lands they visited, which lands are reputed to
be variously situated, but generally in the underworld, to augment
the efficacy of the ceremonies. In the ceremonies between January
and August, or those called Katcinas, the same feeling is dominant.
Each performance is an endeavor to reproduce a traditional ancestral
Katcina celebration. The performers are masked because, according to
their stories, the participants in those ancient rites are reputed
to have had zoomorphic, or at least only partially anthropomorphic
forms. The symbolism of the mask portrays the totems of those
legendary participants, and those of corn, rain, water-loving
animals, lightning and the like, therefore predominate.

I have shown in preceding papers that both the symbols and
figurines on Katcina altars refer to the sun, rain clouds, and the
fertilization, growth and maturation of corn. It has likewise been
made evident that the ceremonial acts of the priests are employed to
affect the supernaturals who control these elements or produce these
necessities.

The priests strive to reproduce traditional ceremonials without
innovations, and are guided in their presentation by current legends.
Masked personations of ancestral spirits are, therefore, introduced
that the performance may be more realistic, or closer to the reputed
ancestral ceremony. This feeling is at base the reason why the
priests, unable to explain why they perform certain rites in certain
ways, respond, “we make our altars, sing our songs, and say our
prayers in this way because our old people did so, and surely they
knew how to make the corn grow and the rains fall.”

It appears from what is written above that the cosmic supernaturals
which appear on the Hopi Katcina altars are the same as pointed out
in the previous article, the Sun, the Sky, Earth, Fire, Ancestors,
and that idols are likewise prominent. The Hopi, like all the
pueblos, are commonly called sun worshippers, but the relations of
the altars of the Katcina cult to Sky God (Sun) worship is very
instructive.

In conclusion it should be said that, although the ceremonial
practices of the Hopi Katcinas appear very complicated, they are in
reality simpler than the literature of them would seem to indicate.
In the first place, we must bear in mind that in the Hopi religion
the association of religion and ethics is very weak, the duty of
the priest being to perform his part of the ceremony as nearly as
possible in the traditional way it was inherited from his ancestors.
Secondly, the rite and ceremony show that the main object desired is
a material not a spiritual one, primarily to fertilize Indian corn,
his national food, and incidentally to protect his own life and that
of his family. The objects of his worship form together a complex
composed of closely allied elements in which the supernatural powers
that control the food are preemiment.


FOOTNOTES:

[1] Journ. Amer. Ethnol. and Archæol., Vol. II, No. 1. Sitcomovi and
Hano have no Niman Katcina, nor do they celebrate the Tusayan ritual
in its entirety. The word Katcina is used to designate both a dance
and a participant in a dance. Between July and January there are no
Katcina rites in Tusayan.

[2] I have been interested to discover what proportion of the whole
number of Hopi ceremonials have been described, and the results are
such as to allay any conceit that we know much about the subject.
Without considering the abbreviated ceremonials there are in the
ritual 12 which are of nine days duration. There are five variants of
this ritual, differing in altars, paraphernalia, and rites, so that
we may say there are performed in Tusayan about 60 ceremonials, each
nine days long, to be investigated. Of these there are 40 of which
we know nothing, save their existence; 15, fragments of which have
been described; and 5 which have been fairly well studied. There are
about 30 Hopi altars which have never been figured or described, or
as far as I know seen by ethnologists. It thus appears that there
is plenty of material in this province to occupy the students of
primitive ritual for some time to come. An adequate comprehension of
the Hopi Katcina ritual requires a consideration of five different
modifications of the same altars.

[3] The image of Cotokinungwu in the Oraibi flute altar (q. v.) has
zigzag figures down the legs, which would appear to associate this
deity with lightning.

[4] Amer. Anthrop., Vol. 5, No. 2, April, 1892, Pl. I, fig. 1; Pl.
III, figs. 1 and 2.

[5] The Hopi, ancient and modern, were adepts in this craft of mosaic
encrustations, using for that purpose turquoises, shells, and other
substances.

[6] The chief who flogs the children in the initiation, which occurs
in Powamu, holds this object in his hand. This flogging at Walpi
is performed by a man masked to represent Tunwup. Int. Archiv für
Ethnog., Band viii, 1895. 15th Ann. Rep. Bur. Amer. Ethnol., pp.
283-284.

[7] Amer. Anthrop., Vol. 5, No. 2, April, 1892.

[8] A great many observations remain to be made before any one can
claim to know the exact meaning of pueblo rites, but the material
awaits investigation, and can be obtained by persistent work in the
field. The time, however, is past when any compiler can write an
account of the aboriginal religions of America and neglect the Hopi
for want of published material.

[9] For Niman altars of Cipaulovi, Miconinovi, and Walpi, see Journ.
Amer. Ethnol. and Archæol., Vol. II, No. 1.

[10] The character of the public ceremonials of the Katcinas, even
when abbreviated, as in the so-called rain dances, justifies the
theory that their main objects are the two above mentioned. Even the
clowns, a priesthood directly connected with Katcinas and absent in
all other ceremonies, are concerned with the growth of seeds.

[11] It may be borne in mind that the same altar is made in Powamu
and Niman, and whether called by one or the other of these names it
is the same thing—a Katcina altar.

[12] Journ. Amer. Folk-Lore, Vol. VIII, No. XXXI. The conical
prolongation of the head is also found in many figurines and images
and while the similarity of symbolism would lead to the belief that
the two supernaturals are identical, the presence of two similar
images on an altar indicates that they are distinct.

[13] In other secret rites, not considered in this article, the first
method is employed as in Powamu. Personifications in public dances
are ordinarily masked, and as a rule Katcinas doff their masks when
they dance in kivas. In certain instances, however, the mask is worn
in kiva ceremonials.

[14] I regard them as complicated symbols, not intrinsically objects
of worship.

[15] In the public dance she is represented by a girl, but there
is a beautiful instance in this ceremony where the third method
is substituted for the first in the public dance. For some reason
unknown to me, in the 1891 exhibit at Walpi no girl performed this
part, but her place was taken by a participant in the dance who
bore in her hands a flat board with a picture of the Germ Maid (see
Mamzrauti, Amer. Anthrop., Vol. V, No. 3, 1892, Pl. IV, figs. 9,
10). The picture, not the bearer, represented the Germ Maid. It
is a remarkable confirmation of my theory that Mamzraumana is the
same personation as Calakomana; that this picture is identical in
symbolism with pictures of the latter, and was so called by the
priests. Comparing the picture Mamzraumana on the Mamzrau altar and
of the same on this tablet we see differences in old and new Hopi
art. The picture publicly exhibited conforms to modern conception of
her symbolism, as shown in dolls, etc.; that on the altar, which the
uninitiated can not see, is the older form, before innovations and
modifications.

[16] Amer. Anthrop., Vol. V, No. 3, 1892.

[17] Journ. Amer. Ethnol. and Archæol., Vol. IV.

[18] Journ. Amer. Ethnol. and Archæol., Vol. II; Journ. Amer.
Folk-Lore, Vol. VIII, No. XXXI; Vol. IX, No. XXV.

[19] Journ. Amer. Folk-Lore, Vol. VI, No. XXIII.

[20] As maize is the most important food of the Pueblo Indians there
is a tendency to make this name more specific, “Corn Maid.” This
appears to be the name of the doll Calakomana, “Corn Maid.”

[21] The range of variation of the dolls of the Calakomana may be
seen by consultation of my memoir on Tusayan Dolls (Int. Archiv für
Ethnog., Band VII, pp. 45-74, 1894). One of the strangest of these
represents two Germ Maids, one above the other, surmounted by a male
figurine, Hehea Katcina, which has lightning emblems on the cheeks
and phallic symbols on the body.

[22] He is intimately connected with the “flogging” ceremony, when
children are “introduced” to the Katcinas (see Fifteenth Ann. Rep.
Bur. Amer. Ethnol., pp. 283-284). The radiating crown of feathers and
the two horns on the head, together with the symbol on the forehead,
ally him with Calakotaka (male Calako) whose kinship with the
Sun-bird is elsewhere referred to. Tunwup appears to be a local name
of this worthy in Walpi kivas.

[23] In the so-called “screen drama” of this ceremony, we have
pictures of the Sun painted on disks. On the theory that Palülükonti
is a fertilization ceremony, it would be explained as referring to
corn, and the thrusting of the snake effigies through openings closed
by Sun-disk symbols connected with this event.

[24] In the same way that I have compared the Little War Gods and
the Germ Maids of Katcina altars we might also compare the male and
female figures of the flute altars which we know from variants. The
same will be possible with the cultus hero and his female double of
Lalakontu, Mamzrauti, etc. There is a striking morphological identity
in many altars of different societies.

[25] A quartz crystal is used to deflect the light of the sun
into the medicine bowl in Niman Katcina. Journ. Amer. Ethnol. and
Archæol., Vol. II, No. 1.

[26] Similar projections at intervals a quadrant apart are common on
symbols of the sun, and I have found them on ancient pottery from
Homolobi. The arrow-headed appendages are not, as far as I know,
found in any other instance of palæography.

[27] Pikumi is a kind of hasty pudding, a favorite dish in ceremonial
feasts. It is baked in small pits lined with corn husks, which have
previously been heated by building fires within them. The coals are
raked out, the mush put in, and a stone slab luted over the pit.
Upon this a fire is maintained over night, and on the morning of the
final day of a great ceremonial they are opened. The soft part is
eaten immediately, but the mush which has caked to the corn husks is
reground and made into other forms of food. The above-mentioned balls
are made of the latter products.

[28] Evidently this and the following acts are to bring the summer
birds.

[29] The Oraibi Powalawu, witnessed twice, took place Feb. 4, 1894,
and Jan. 14, 1896. The chronology of the succeeding events in 1894
was as follows:

Feb. 5-9, bean planting in all kivas.

Feb. 13-21, nine active days of Powamu ceremony, q. v. The Powamu,
according to my enumerations, includes not only the nine active days
but also several preceding in which the beans are planted, beginning
with Powalawu, and making a complete ceremony of 16 days.

[30] These gifts for little girls were made in the Niman Powamu and
Palülükonti at Walpi. They were fashioned in the form of Katcinas.
(Int. Archiv für Ethnog., Band VII, 1894.)

On the eighth pahos were made for Hahaiwuqti and Eototo, who visit
the kiva on the ninth day. The former personage appears to be known
by different names in Oraibi and Walpi, but I believe the same
personage is intended by both names.

[31] For a picture of Hahaiwuqti, see Amer. Anthrop., Vol. VII, No.
1, 1894. For symbolism of Eototo, see Int. Archiv für Ethnog., Band
VII, 1894.

[32] In the shrine he put a paho, several nakwakwocis, and meal,
after which he took a little honey in his mouth and spat to the four
cardinal points. He gave a basket with a paho, sprouted beans, and
other objects to Hahaiwuqti after he left him at the second meal
figures.

This method of tolling the gods is practiced in the march of the
Flute priests from the spring to the pueblo. (Journ. Amer. Ethnol.
and Archæol., Vol. II; in Lalakontu, and in Mamzrauti, op. cit.)

The Katcinas are tolled along by meal deposited on the trail by the
priests. A trail is closed by a line of meal at right angles to the
same.

[33] Those in one of the kivas received meal (prayers) and
nakwakwocis (personal prayers). Hahaiwuqti gave them the basket she
bore and the objects remaining in it, upon which at the close of the
ceremony, all the priests smoked (prayed).

[34] From the belts of Humis the priests took a sprig of spruce.
This is only customary after the Humis Katcina dance. (Journ. Amer.
Ethnol. and Archæol., Vol. II, No. 1.)

The Humis (humita, corn) wear terraced (rain cloud) tablets on the
mask. (Journ. Amer. Ethnol. and Archæol., Vol. II, No. 1.)

[35] For symbolism of their masks and dress see Journ. Amer. Ethnol.
and Archæol., Vol. II, No. 1; Int. Archiv für Ethnog., Band VII.
Ana wears a long beard and is therefore called the bearded Katcina.
Hehea has zigzag marks on the cheeks. The symbolism of Tacab varies
considerably, but is readily recognized.

[36] A Hopi prayer combines two elements of ceremony—prayer proper
and sacrifice, the former spoken or not, the latter always expressed
by symbols. As they are an agricultural people, their aboriginal
wealth is an agricultural product, as corn. Their poverty of corn
and the requirement of their ritual necessitated sacrifices of meal,
a highly practical substitution. So likewise tobacco smoke is a
sacrifice, the burning of rare herbs, or the pine needles in the “New
Fire” ceremony.

The act of sacrificing animals or human beings is not a part of their
present ritual, but a knowledge of its efficacy exists. They have
legends of human sacrifice on rare occasions in the past. The killing
of an animal and smearing the body of the man representing Masawuh
with its blood, at the time of Lieutenant Brett’s visit to Oraibi in
1891, is an instance of animal sacrifice. Several survivals of animal
sacrifices in warrior ceremonies might be quoted from legends.

[37] Eototo is believed to be a god of metamorphism, or growth,
intimately associated with germination, a sacerdotal equivalent of
Masawuh, as far as these functions are concerned.

[38] I have elsewhere called Powamu a purification ceremony or
lustral observance, which it is in certain particulars, but I am now
convinced that its main object is to further the fructification of
vegetation.

[39] Journ. Amer. Ethnol. and Archæol., Vol. II, No. 1, p. 152. The
Katcina hero in this story would appear not to have brought a wife
from this people.

[Illustration: Decoration]



  Transcriber’s Notes

  pg 470 Changed: pt, Guord (netted) for sacred water
              to: pt, Gourd (netted) for sacred water

  pg 471 Changed: os as far as I know seen by ethnologists.
              to: or as far as I know seen by ethnologists.

  pg 471 Changed: It thus appears that there it plenty
              to: It thus appears that there is plenty

  pg 472 Captialized vol. to Vol. (2 times in Footnotes)

  pg 475 Changed: recall the same symbols of the Cipaulovi equivalent
              to: recalling the same symbols of the Cipaulovi equivalent

  pg 478 Changed: In Palulukonti[19] she is personated by
              to: In Palülükonti[19] she is personated by

  pg 479 Changed: its popularly called the “Bean Planting,”
              to: it’s popularly called the “Bean Planting,”

  pg 481 Changed: also with a quarternary arrangement
              to: also with a quaternary arrangement

  pg 484 Changed: From the belts of Humis the priets
              to: From the belts of Humis the priests

  pg 484 Changed: a sacerdotal equivalent of Masauwuh
              to: a sacerdotal equivalent of Masawuh



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