Chapter 19

Among the most constant designs used in the decoration of Sikyatki pottery are figures of the dragon-fly. These decorations consist of a line, sometimes enlarged into a bulb at one end, with two parallel bars drawn at right angles across the end, below the enlargement. Like the tadpole, the dragon-fly is a symbol of water, and with it are associated many legends connected with the miraculous sprouting of corn in early times. It is a constant symbol on modern ceremonial paraphernalia, as masks, tablets, and pahos, and it occurs also on several ancient vessels (plates CXL, _b_; CLXIII, _a_), where it always has the same simple linear form, with few essential modifications.

The symbols of four dragon-flies are well shown on the rim of the square box represented in plate CXXVIII, _a_. This box, which was probably for charm liquid, or possibly for feathers used in ceremonials, is unique in form and is one of the most beautiful specimens from the Sikyatki cemeteries. It is elaborately decorated on the four sides with rain-cloud and other symbols, and is painted in colors which retain their original brilliancy. The interior is not decorated.

The four dragon-flies on the rim of this object are placed in such a way as to represent insects flying about the box in a dextral circuit, or with the heads turned to the right. This position indicates a ceremonial circuit, which is exceptional among the Tusayan people, although common in Navaho ceremonies. In the sand picture of the Snake society, for instance, where four snakes are represented in a border surrounding a mountain lion, these reptiles are represented as crawling about the picture from right to left. This sequence is prescribed in Tusayan ceremonials, and has elsewhere been designated by me as the sinistral circuit, or a circuit with the center on the left hand. The circuit used by the decorator of this box is dextral or sunwise.

Several rectangular receptacles of earthenware, some with handles and others without them, were obtained in the excavations at Sikyatki. The variations in their forms may be seen in plates CXXVIII, _a, c,_ and CXXV, _f_. These are regarded as medicine bowls, and are supposed to have been used in ancient ceremonials where asperging was performed. In many Tusayan ceremonials square medicine bowls, some of them without handles, are still used,[141] but a more common and evidently more modern variety are round and have handles. The rim of these modern sacred vessels commonly bears, in its four quadrants, terraced elevations representing rain-clouds of the cardinal points, and the outer surface of the bowl is decorated with the same symbols, accompanied with tadpole or dragon-fly designs.

One of the best figures of the dragon-fly is seen on the saucer shown in plate CXX, _f_. The exterior of this vessel is decorated with four rectangular terraced rain-cloud symbols, one in each quadrant, and within each there are three well-drawn figures of the dragon-fly. The curved line below represents a rainbow. The terrace form of rain-cloud symbol is very ancient in Tusayan and antedates the well-known semicircular symbol which was introduced into the country by the Patki people. It is still preserved in the form of tablets[142] worn on the head and in sand paintings and various other decorations on altars and religious paraphernalia.

BIRDS

The bird and the feather far exceed all other motives in the decoration of ancient Tusayan pottery, and the former design was probably the first animal figure employed for that purpose when the art passed out of the stage where simple geometric designs were used exclusively. A somewhat similar predominance is found in the part which the bird and the feather play in the modern Hopi ceremonial system. As one of the oldest elements in the decoration of Tusayan ceramics, figures of birds have in many instances become highly conventionalized; so much so, in fact, that their avian form has been lost, and it is one of the most instructive problems in the study of Hopi decoration to trace the modifications of these designs from the realistic to the more conventionalized. The large series of food bowls from Sikyatki afford abundant material for that purpose, and it may incidentally be said that by this study I have been able to interpret the meaning of certain decorations on Sikyatki bowls of which the best Hopi traditionalists are ignorant.[143] In order to show the method of reasoning in this case I have taken a series illustrating the general form of an unknown bird.

There can be no reasonable doubt that the decoration of the food basin shown in plate CXXXVII, _a_, represents a bird, and analogy would indicate that it is the picture of some mythologic personage. It has a round head (figure 272), to which is attached a headdress, which we shall later show is a highly modified feather ornament. On each side of the body from the region of the neck there arise organs which are undoubtedly wings, with feathers continued into arrowpoints. The details of these wings are very carefully and, I may add, prescriptively worked out, so that almost every line, curve, or zigzag is important. The tail is composed of three large feathers, which project beyond two triangular extensions, marking the end of the body.

The technic of this figure is exceedingly complicated and the colors very beautiful. Although this bowl was quite badly broken when exhumed, it has been so cleverly mended by Mr Henry Walther that no part of the symbolism is lost.

While it is quite apparent that this figure represents a bird, and while this identification is confirmed by Hopi testimony, it is far from a realistic picture of any known bird with which the ancients could have been familiar. It is highly conventionalized and idealized with significant symbolism, which is highly suggestive.

Bearing in mind the picture of this bird, we pass to a second form (plate CXXXVIII, _a_), in which we can trace the same parts without difficulty. On a round head is placed a feathered headdress. The different parts of the outstretched wings are readily homologized even in details in the two figures. There are, for instance, two terminal wing feathers in each wing; the appendages to the shoulder exist in both, and the lateral spurs, exteriorly and interiorly, are represented with slight modifications.

The body is ornamented in the same way in both figures. It is continued posteriorly on each side into triangular extensions, and the same is true of its anterior, which in one figure has three curved lines, and in the other a simple crook. There are three tail-feathers in each figure. I believe there can be no doubt that both these designs represent the same idea, and that a mythologic bird was intended in each instance.

The step in conventionalism from the last-mentioned figure of a bird to the next (plate CXLVII, _a_) is even greater than in the former. The head in this picture is square or rectangular, and the wings likewise simple, ending in three incurved triangles without appendages. The tail has five feathers instead of three, in which, however, the same symbolic markings which distinguish tail-feathers are indicated.

The conventionalized wings of this figure are repeated again and again in ancient Tusayan pottery decorations, as one may see by an examination of the various birds shown in the plates. In many instances, however, all the other parts of the bird are lost and nothing but the triangular feathers remain; but as these have the same form, whatever organs are missing, the presumption is that their meaning has not changed.

In passing to the figure of the bird shown in plate CXXXVIII, _b_, we find features homologous with those already considered, but also detect considerable modification. The head is elongated, tipped with three parallel lines, but decorated with markings similar to those of the preceding figure. The outstretched wings have a crescentic form, on the anterior horn of which are round spots with parallel lines arising from them. This is a favorite figure in pottery decoration, and is found very abundantly on the exterior of food bowls; it represents highly conventionalized feathers, and should be so interpreted wherever found. The figure of the body of the bird depicted is simple, and the tail is continued into three tail-feathers, as is ordinarily the case in highly conventionalized bird figures.

The most instructive of all the appendages to the body are the club-shape bodies, one on each side, rising from the point of union of the wings and the breast. These are spatulate in form, with a terraced terminal marking. They, like other appendages, represent feathers, but that peculiar kind which is found under the wing is called the breath feather.[144] This feather is still used in certain ceremonials, and is tied to certain prayer offerings. Its ancient symbolism is very clearly indicated in this picture, and is markedly different from that of either the wing or tail feathers, which have a totally different ceremonial use at the present time.

For convenience of comparison, a number of pictures which undoubtedly refer to different birds in ancient interpretations will be grouped in a single series.

Plate CXXXVIII, _d_, represents a figure of a bird showing great relative modification of organs when compared with those previously discussed. The head is very much broadened, but the semicircular markings, which occur also on the heads of previously described bird figures, are well drawn. The wings are mere curved appendages, destitute of feather symbols, but are provided with lateral spurs and have knobs at their bases. The body is rectangular; the tail-feathers are numerous, with well-marked symbolism. Perhaps the most striking appendages to the body are the two well-defined extensions of parts of the body itself, which, although represented in other pictures of birds, nowhere reach such relatively large size.

The figure of a bird shown in plate CXXXVIII, _c_, is similar in many respects to that last described. The semicircular markings on the head of the former are here replaced by triangles, but both are symbolic of rain-clouds. The wings are curved projections, without any suggestion of feathers or basal spurs and knobs. The tail-feathers show nothing exceptional, and the body is bounded posteriorly by triangular extensions, as in figures of birds already described.

The representation of the bird in plate CXXXVIII, _e_, has a triangular body continued into two points on the posterior end, between which the tail-feathers are situated. The body is covered with terraced and triangular designs, and the head is rectangular in form. On each side of the bird figure there is a symbol of a flower, possibly the sunflower or an aster.

In the figures of birds already considered the relative sizes of the heads and bodies are not overdrawn, but in the picture of a bird on the food bowl shown in plate CXXXVIII, _f_, the head is very much enlarged. It bears a well-marked terraced rain-cloud symbol above triangles of the same meaning. The wings are represented as diminutive appendages, each consisting of two feathers. The body has a triangular extension on each side, and the tail is composed of two comparatively short rectangular feathers. The figure itself could hardly be identified as a representation of a bird were it not for the correspondence, part for part, with figures which are undoubtedly those of birds or flying animals.

A more highly conventionalized figure of a bird than any thus far described is painted on the food bowl reproduced in plate CXL, _b_. The head is represented by a terraced figure similar to those which appear as decorations on some of the other vessels; the wings are simply extended crescents, the tips of which are connected by a band which encircles the body and tail; the body is continued at the posterior end into two triangular appendages, between which is a tail, the feathers of which are not differentiated. On each side of the body, in the space inclosed by the band connecting the tips of the wings, a figure of a dragon-fly appears.

The figure on the food bowl illustrated in plate CXXXIX, _c_, may also be reduced to a conventionalized bird symbol. The two pointed objects on the lower rim represent tail-feathers, and the triangular appendages, one on each side above them, the body, as in the designs which have already been described. Above the triangles is a rectangular figure with terraced rain-cloud emblems, a constant feature on the body and head of the bird, and on each side, near the rim of the bowl, occur the primary feathers of the wings. The cross, so frequently associated with designs representing birds, is replaced by the triple intersecting lines in the remaining area. The resemblance of this figure to those already considered is clearly evident after a little study.

The decoration on the food basin presented in plate CXXXIX, _a_, is interesting in the study of the evolution of bird designs into conventional forms. In this figure those parts which are identified as homologues of the wings extend wholly across the interior of the food bowl, and have the forms of triangles with smaller triangular spurs at their bases. The wings are extended at right angles to the axis of the body, and taper uniformly to the rim of the bowl. The smaller spurs near the union of the wings and body represent the posterior part of the latter, and between them are the tail-feathers, their number being indicated by three triangles.

There is no representation of a head, although the terraced rain-cloud figure is drawn on the anterior of the body between the wings.

The reduction of the triangular wings of the last figure to a simple band drawn diametrically across the inner surface of the bowl is accomplished in the design shown in plate CXXXIX, _b_. At intervals along this line there are arranged groups of blocks, three in each group, representing stars, as will later be shown. The semicircular head has lost all appendages and is reduced to a rain-cloud symbol. The posterior angles of the body are much prolonged, and the tail still bears the markings representing three tail-feathers.

The association of a cross with the bird figure is both appropriate and common; its modified form in this decoration is not exceptional, but why it is appended to the wings is not wholly clear. We shall see its reappearance on other bowls decorated with more highly conventionalized bird figures.

In the peculiar decoration used in the treatment of the food bowl shown in plate CXXXIX, _c_, we have almost a return to geometric figures in a conventional representation of a bird. In this case the semblance to wings is wholly lost in the line drawn diametrically across the interior of the bowl. On one side of it there are many crosses representing stars, and on the other the body and tail of a bird. The posterior triangular extensions of the former are continued to a bounding line of the bowl, and no attempt is made to represent feathers in the tail. The rectangular figure, with serrated lower edge and inclosed terraced figures, finds, however, a homologue in the heads and bodies of most of the representations of birds which have been described.

This gradual reduction in semblance to a bird has gone still further in the figure represented in plate CXXXIX, _d_, where the posterior end of the body is represented by two spurs, and the tail by three feathers, the triangular rain-clouds still persisting in the rectangular body. In fact, it can hardly be seen how a more conventionalized figure of a bird were possible did we not find in _e_ of the same plate this reduction still greater. Here the tail is represented by three parallel lines, the posterior of the body by two dentate appendages, and the body itself by a square.

In plate CXL, _c_, we have a similar conventional bird symbol where two birds, instead of one, are represented. In both these instances it would appear that the diametric band, originally homologous to wings, had lost its former significance.

It must also be pointed out that there is a close likeness between some of these so-called conventionalized figures of birds and those of moths or butterflies. If, for instance, they are compared with the figures of the six designs of the upper surface of the vase shown in plate CXXXV, _b_, we note especially this resemblance. While, therefore, it can hardly be said there is absolute proof that these highly conventionalized figures always represent birds, we may, I think, be sure that either the bird or the moth or butterfly is generally intended.

There are several modifications of these highly conventionalized figures of birds which may be mentioned, one of the most interesting of which is figured in plate CXXXIX, _f_. In this representation the two posterior triangular extensions of the body are modified into graceful curves, and the tail-feathers are simply parallel lines. The figure in this instance is little more than a trifid appendage to a broad band across the inner surface of the food bowl. In addition to this highly conventionalized bird figure, however, there are two crosses which represent stars. In this decoration all resemblance to a bird is lost, and it is only by following the reduction of parts that one is able to identify this geometric design with the more elaborate pictures of mythic birds. When questioned in regard to the meaning of this symbol, the best informed Hopi priests had no suggestion to offer.

In all the figures of birds thus far considered, the head, with one or two exceptions, is represented or indicated by symbolic markings. In that which decorates the vessel shown in plate CXL, _a_, we find a new modification; the wings, instead of being attenuated into a diametric line or band, are in this case curved to form a loose spiral. Between them is the figure of a body and the three tail-feathers, while the triangular extensions which generally indicate the posterior of the body are simply two rounded knobs at the point of union of the wings and tail. There is no indication of a head.

The modifications in the figure of the bird shown in the last mentioned pictograph, and the highly conventionalized forms which the wings and other parts assume, give me confidence to venture an interpretation of a strange figure shown in plate CXLI, _a_. This picture I regard as a representation of a bird, and I do so for the following resemblances to figures already studied. The head of the bird, as has been shown, is often replaced by a terraced rain-cloud symbol. Such a figure occurs in the pictograph under consideration, where it occupies the position of the head. On either side of what might be regarded as a body we find, at the anterior end, two curved appendages which so closely resemble similarly placed bodies in the pictograph last discussed that they are regarded as representations of wings. These extensions at the posterior end of the body are readily comparable with prolongations in that part on which we have already commented. The tail, although different from that in figures of birds thus far discussed, has many points of resemblance to them. The two circles, one on each side of the bird figure, are important additions which are treated in following pages.[145]

From the study of the conventionalized forms of birds which I have outlined above it is possible to venture the suggestion that the star-shape figure shown in plate CLXVII, _b_, may be referred to the same group, but in this specimen we appear to have duplication, or a representation of the bird symbol repeated in both semicircles of the interior of the bowl. Examining one of these we readily detect the two tail-feathers in the middle, with the triangular end of the body on each side. The lateral appendages duplicated on each side correspond with the band across the middle of the bowl in other specimens, and represent highly conventionalized wings. The middle of this compound figure is decorated with a cross, and in each quadrant there is a row of the same emblems, equidistant from one another.

It would be but a short step from this figure to the ancient sun symbol with which the eagle and other raptorial birds are intimately associated. The figure represented in plate CXXXIII, _c_, is a symbolic bird in which the different parts are directly comparable with the other bird pictographs already described. One may easily detect in it the two wings, the semicircular rain-cloud figures, and the three tail-feathers. As in the picture last considered, we see the two circles, each with a concentric smaller circle, one on each side of the mythic bird represented. Similar circular figures are likewise found in the zone surrounding the centrally placed bird picture.

In the food bowl illustrated in plate CXLI, _b_, we find the two circles shown, and between them a rectangular pictograph the meaning of which is not clear. The only suggestion which I have in regard to the significance of this object is that it is an example of substitution--the substitution of a prayer offering to the mythic bird represented in the other bowls for a figure of the bird itself. This interpretation, however, is highly speculative, and should be accepted only with limitations. I have sometimes thought that the prayer-stick or paho may originally have represented a bird, and the use of it is an instance of the substitution[146] of a symbolic effigy of a bird, a direct survival of the time when a bird was sacrificed to the deity addressed.

The studies of the conventional bird figures which are developed in the preceding pages make it possible to interpret one of the two pictures on the food bowl represented in plate CLII, while the realistic character of the smaller figure leaves no question that we can rightly identify this also as a bird. In the larger figure the wings are of unequal size and are tipped with appendages of a more or less decorative nature. The posterior part of the body is formed of two triangular extensions, to which feathers are suspended, and the tail is composed of three large pointed feathers. The head bears the terraced rain-cloud designs almost universal in pictographs of birds.

It is hardly necessary for me to indicate the head, body, wings, and legs of the smaller figure, for they are evidently avian, while the character of the beak would indicate that a parrot or raptorial genus was intended. The same beak is found in the decoration of a vase with a bird design, which will later be considered.