Part 4
At 2.50 the Katcinas again returned and repeated their former dance in the same way as described. The antics of the Tatcü′kti continued, and the Katcinas appeared again at 4.20 p. m.; then later at 5, when they all departed, not to return. When the Katcinas retired to Wikyátiwa’s house at 4 oclock the clowns went down into the Álkiva and returned in their characteristic procession, the drummer in front, the other eight in two lines of four persons. Each carried on his back a large bundle composed of a fine blanket, cotton cloth, yarn, and all kinds of textile articles of value. One also had the four cones which they had used the night before and a tray of shelled corn of all colors, mixed with various kinds of seeds. They laid the tray in the center of the court and spread a blanket beside it, on which they placed all their bundles. One of their number then piled the cones, one on top of another, and while he was doing this the drummer rapidly beat his drum, while the others shook their rattles and sung vigorously. When the cones had been set up one of the men sought out a girl and brought her to them and told her if she would take hold of the lowest cone with both hands, raise the pile, and set it back in place without letting any of the cones fall she should have all the wealth piled on the blanket. But the least jar tumbled the cones down, and each one of the half dozen or more girls to whom they made the same offer failed in turn. Then they invited the youths to try, and several essayed, but none were able to perform the feat. So the prize, doubtless designedly, was left in the original owner’s hands. They then brought a blanket full of hoyiani and placed the cones in two piles, but even then none of the girls succeeded in carrying it. No one was allowed a second trial. Finally one youth, Macakwáptiwa, carried them around safely and won the prize. He was closely followed around the pillar by the Tatcü′kti shaking their rattles, singing and crying, “Don’t fall, don’t fall,” and when he laid them safely down in their original place all the Tatcü′kti fell down as if dead. Íntiwa then ran and obtained ashes from a cooking pit and placed them on a private part of their bodies. Then all the clowns got up and danced around with their usual pranks.
A tray full of corn and other seeds which was set beside the cones was obtained by the Tatcü′kti from Nakwaíyumsi, the chief priestess of the Katcina clan. At the close of the ceremony Íntiwa distributed these seeds in small handfuls to all the women spectators, to be planted the coming season. It was not learned that these seeds were consecrated by the priestess, but they were part of those planted in the kivas on the night of the 21st.
_January 22_—The younger men brought sand from a mound[60] and threw it down in a pile at the east of the kiva, and each man, as he came into the room with his basin, box, or other receptacle, filled it with this sand. He then thickly sprinkled the surface of the sand with seeds of every kind. Some had several vessels which they thus planted, and the old wife of Soyóko gave her grandson a bag of large white beans to plant for her.[61] The basins were well watered, a hot fire was kept in the kiva, and the hatch or entrance was entirely covered with a straw mat to retain the heat in the chamber, making it a veritable hothouse.
_January 24_—No ceremonies occurred today, but constant fires were maintained in the kivas, from the heat of which the beans soon sprouted. It was understood that children must not be told that beans were growing in the kivas nor be allowed to look into the room.
_January 25_—The Tatcü′kti went out from the Álkiva this morning for wood, making their way northward, past Wala and along the mesa to the cedar grove. They returned at evening, but left the wood they had gathered at the gap.[62] There was no singing nor dancing in the kivas during the night.
_January 26_—During the morning the Tatcü′kti went to Wala to bring in the wood they had collected yesterday. Before their departure they covered their bodies with pinkish clay, put on an old kilt (kwáca),[63] blue leggings, and masks with knobs. Each carried an eagle-tail feather in the left and a small gourd in the right hand. They returned along the trail, marching in single file, with the loads of wood on their backs, stamping their feet as they came. They likewise shook their rattles and occasionally turned and walked backward.
They first assembled around each of the kiva hatchways in Hano, singing and chaffing one another, and were sprinkled with meal by the kiva chiefs. Proceeding onward to Sitcomovi, they went to the entrances of the kivas of this pueblo and were there sprinkled with meal by the chiefs as they sang their curious songs, accompanying them with a stamping of the feet and a rotating movement of the body. It was after 1 oclock when they arrived at Walpi, for they halted a short time at the neck of the mesa to arrange their loads. As they entered the pueblo they advanced along the south street singing as they went.
At the entrance to Tcívatokiva they stopped and told Pauwatíwa a facetious story of their wood-gathering. He sprinkled them with meal, and they then went on to the dance court and set down their bundles, all the time making a droll byplay. They then separated into parties of two or three members and visited the houses of several women, with whom they left one or more bundles of wood. These women had previously prepared nakwákwocis, which they gave to the clowns with a handful of meal.
After all the wood had been distributed, with much rollicking fun, several women gave them food, and the small parties of Tatcü′kti resumed their songs and marched through the dance court, where they all assembled. One of them was a drummer, who sat in the middle of the court, and the others danced about him in a circle, singing a Zuñi song. Pauwatíwa, Íntiwa, Tcósra, and Soyóko sprinkled them with meal, and the first-mentioned invited the women who had been given wood to approach, which they did, sprinkling the individual Tatcü′ktis with meal. Their masks were then harshly removed and thrust into a bag, tied up in a bundle, and carried to the house of Wikyátiwa. Most of the food which they had received was carried down into the Álkiva, which was the assemblage place of the Tatcü′kti in this ceremony.
In all the kivas the beans had sprouted and were now called házrü (angular), possibly so named from the angle formed by the cotyledons with the stem. When they had grown somewhat higher they were called wupáhazrü (great or long, angular).
_January 28_—No ceremonials were observed on this day.
_January 29_—This was called the first ceremonial day of the Powámuh. About 11 oclock last night the Natácka donned their masks in the Álkiva, and the man who took the part of Hahaíwüqti, the mother of the Natáckas, put on her disguise and took her long juniper bough. Háhawe went up the ladder, standing on it with his shoulders just above the hatchway, while the mother of the monsters stood at the foot of the same in the room. Assuming a hollow falsetto voice, in which the mother of the Natáckas always speaks, she announced that she was ready to visit the children. Háhawe shouted his replies to her in a voice audible through the pueblo that the children were all asleep and that she had better put off her visit to them until the morning. A dialogue, the real object of which was to announce to the children that the Natáckas had arrived, was maintained for five minutes, and Háhawe then went down the ladder; the Natáckas and Hahaíwüqti took off their masks and all laid down to sleep.
About 4.20 p. m. the Tewa personification of Hahaíwüqti, accompanied by one Natácka, came to Walpi and went to Kókyanwü′qti’s and Kele’s houses, giving to the little girls a few seeds and a snare of yucca shred. They dressed the Walpi Hahaíwüqti, Natáckas, and Soyókmana in the Álkiva at 4.25 p. m. Hahaíwüqti carried, besides a whitened gourd ladle, a basket (póota) containing two ears of corn, and two boiled hoyíani, some squash seeds, and a small bundle of sticks, of which she gave one to each little girl, who will later redeem it by presenting Hahaíwüqti with some hótomni. She gave each little boy, who will also redeem it with some kinds of game, a shred of yucca looped to a stick at the butt end (a rude snare). Natácka and Náamû wore cloth shirts, trousers and buckskin leggings, and two buckskins hung as loose mantles over their shoulders. The former carried a tortoise-shell rattle on his right leg, and had a bow and arrows in his left hand and an arrow in the right. Soyókmana had the hair smeared with white clay. She wore a loose mantle and whistled as Natácka hooted. Hahaíwüqti wore a fox-skin around the neck. The hands of all were whitened. Soyókmana wore a hideous black mask and was dressed in dilapidated clothing. She had a large knife in her left hand and a crook in her right (plates CV and CVI).
The Natácka helmets had turkey-tail feathers[64] closely radiating vertically at the crown, and they wore a cloth shirt and trousers, with belt with silver disks. Each had buckskin leggings and wore a fox-skin around the base of the mask; two large buckskins hung as mantles over the right shoulder. He carried a bow and arrows[65] in the left hand and with his right hand he received the food and placed it in the tozrúki[66] slung over his right shoulder. Soyókmana was personified by a lad of 12 years, wearing a woman’s blanket (kwáca) and a buckskin mantle. He had a nakwákwoci, stained red, tied to the scalp lock.
A similar group, all costumed identically, was prepared in each of the three villages. The group of Tewa personifications went to every house in that pueblo and then to the houses in other villages where men from Hano have married. The groups of the other towns go first to the houses of their own pueblo and then to the houses in the other villages where men have transferred themselves by marriage.
When the Walpi group had finished their exercises at Hano and Sitcomovi they went back to Walpi and proceeded along the front side of their pueblo to their own kiva, where they disrobed about dark. The object of the exhibition was to frighten children who exhibited fear of them, but children 6 years of age or thereabouts were somewhat familiar with them, and while it was evident they held the monsters in considerable awe they tried to assume a bold front when receiving the seeds and snares.[67]
At 8.30 a man personifying Tümáckatcina ran through Walpi from the Móñkiva toward Wala, emitting hoots as he went. A full half hour after, about 9 oclock, a group of masked but uncostumed men wrapped in blankets went to the kiva hatches and uttered most ferocious groans for four or five minutes. This was done in an informal manner, but was said to be prescribed ceremonially.
_January 30_—Between 7 and 8 oclock Wikokuitkatcina emerged from the Álkiva, passed around Walpi to the east end of the pueblo, and then down through the north lane, past Íntiwa’s house, under the passageways back to the Álkiva. His body was painted white and he wore a blanket tied with a girdle (wukokwena), a fox-skin dangling at his loins. Nothing was elicited in relation to this event.
Between 8 and 9 oclock uncostumed groups of Tatcü′kti went to the entrances of the kivas and laid themselves prone upon the hatch, their heads projecting over its edges. Several of them uttered their characteristic growls and pretended to snarl at and worry one another, possibly imitating ferocious animals or monsters. One of them carried on a dialogue with some one in the kiva.
At 9 oclock Tümac and two Tuñwúpkatcina (masked but uncostumed) made the tour of the pueblos, emitting peculiar hoots. Between 9 and 10 oclock Owana zrozrokatcina and Wupámokatcina appeared separately, each making a solitary tour of the village. They were not masked, but so wrapped in blankets that their masks were not visible.
At 10 oclock the Hano clowns and Natácka group came to Walpi and performed the same ceremony as the Walpi group, which has been described. There was informal singing in all the kivas.
_January 31_—During this day the masks of Hililikatcina and Soyókmana were painted. After dark a masked man (Katcina not known) rushed through the pueblo, and shortly after Tümac and her two sons (Tuñwúpkatcina), unmasked, ran through the pueblo hooting. About 9 oclock delegates from Sitcomovi, with a drum and rattles, made the rounds of Walpi and carried on a dialogue with the kiva chief.
At 10 oclock 18 Tcakwaínakatcinas came to the Móñkiva from Hano. They were naked, save a breechcloth, but their bodies and limbs were ornamented with white zigzag markings. They wore fillets of a dozen or more yucca bands around the head, and necklaces in profusion on their necks. They passed in succession into the kivas, dancing a few minutes in each, and returned home shortly before midnight.
_February 1_—Several tíhus (dolls) were carved in the kivas, to be distributed to the children as in the Nimánkatcina. Tumac and her sons went around the pueblo about half past 7 oclock, as on former evenings.
In the Tcivatokiva 14 men and a boy about 10 years of age, with Pauwatíwa as chief, whitened their faces, bound a fillet around their foreheads, and made curious crescentic marks on their cheeks. They afterward danced and sang. Sitcomovi priests, beginning at the Móñkiva, made formal visits to each kiva in Walpi. There were 12 of these men and they were decorated like those of the Tcivatokiva. They sang Síohúmiskatcina songs, but wore no masks. They later visited the Sitcomovi kivas. The Tcivatokiva people then put on their kilts, tied on their turtle-shell rattles, took their juniper staffs and gourd rattles, and, led by Pauwatíwa, went to the Álkiva, and later to all the other kivas, where they danced and sang Pawik (duck) Katcina songs. Pauwatíwa sprinkled meal on the Katcinas from Sitcomovi before they began, and the chiefs of the other kivas did the same to those who visited them before they opened their dance.
_February 2_—This afternoon 8 girls, assisted by the men, washed the walls of the Móñkiva with a thin mud made of valley sand. The following girls took part in this work: Kaiyónsi, Humisi, Humíta, Lénho (a woman), Leúnaisi, Tuvéwaisi, Hokwáti, and Hónka. The girls also made mud designs, lightning symbols, and hand-prints on the rafters of the room.
Tuñwúpkatcina[68] (personified by Takála) arrayed himself as follows: He donned trousers made of cotton cloth and wrapped himself in a blanket, under which he concealed all his paraphernalia. He received two bunches of yucca with about twelve or fifteen leaves in each bunch, and concealing them under his blanket hastened off to the northeastern end of the village. There he arrayed himself, and at 5 p. m. he returned, running back and hooting as he came, until he halted at the court, where he kept trotting up and down, marking time. He wore a mud-head helmet with a black band across the eyes, and parrakeet feathers on the top of the head. Turkey-tail feathers were arranged radiating horizontally from the crown to the back of the head. He wore also a cotton shirt and a kilt girded with a white belt (wukókwena). He had yellow clay on his legs and a tortoise-shell rattle below each knee. His moccasins were painted black. A whip or bunch of yucca with the butts in front was held in each hand.
The children who were flogged were brought to Tuñwup in the following way: The mother, sometimes accompanied by the father, led the child to the court, and if it were a boy the godfather took him in charge. He gave the lad an ear of corn, his tcótcnunwa, and a handful of prayer meal, and led the frightened child close up to Tuñwup. The godfather prompted the boy, who cast his handful of meal on or toward Tuñwup. The godfather also cast meal on the same personage and then divested the boy of all his clothing and presented the lad with his back toward Tuñwup, who all this time had maintained his trotting motion but without advancing. Tuñwup then plied one of his yucca wands vigorously, giving the boy five or six forcible lashes on the back. After this was over the godfather withdrew the screaming boy and tied a nakwákwoci to his scalplock. The mother was standing by and hurriedly covered her son, frightened with his punishment, and led him home, but the mother was careful to see that he carried his tcótcnunwa in his hand.
If the child were a girl, her godmother led her up to Tuñwup, but her little gown was not taken off; only the mantle was removed for the flogging. Notwithstanding this, however, the blows were delivered with enough force to cause considerable pain, but her crying probably resulted as much from fright as from physical suffering. The godmother led the little girl back to her home, after having cast meal on Tuñwup, and was very careful that the child carried her tcótcnunwa.
There were five children of age varying from about eight to ten years who were thus flagellated. After each boy was flogged the godfather cast meal toward Tuñwup and then held out his own bared arms and legs successively, which Tuñwup lashed four or five times with all his might; but no women were submitted to this flagellation. Several men who had some ailment also went up to Tuñwup, and casting meal upon him received lashes on their bare arms and legs.
The man who personified Tuñwup exercised considerable discretion in performing his duty. In the case of a little girl who showed more than ordinary fear, he simply whirled his yucca whip over her head without touching her, and then motioned her away; but on the arms and legs of the adults he laid his whip without restraint. When all had been flagellated, Pauwatíwa came up from his kiva and gave Tuñwup a handful of meal and a nakwákwoci, who then trotted off, going outside the pueblo, possibly to preserve the illusion among the children that he was a real Katcina who had visited the pueblo from afar.
For four successive mornings the flagellated child was taken to a point on the mesa called Talatiyuka and there deposited a nakwákwoci in a shrine and cast meal toward the sun. During this time the child was not permitted to eat salt nor flesh, but on the fourth day a little before sunset this abstinence ceased, and the child might henceforth look upon Katcinas and sacred objects in the kivas without harm.
The primary significance of the flogging seems to be that until children have acquired sufficient intelligence or are eight or ten years of age, they are made to believe that the Katcinas, appearing at each dance, are superhuman visitors, and they are never permitted to see an unmasked Katcina. When they have matured enough or have sufficient understanding, they are instructed that the real[69] Katcinas have long since ceased their visits to mankind and are merely impersonated by men; but they acquire that knowledge at the expense of a sound flogging, such as I have just described.
At 10 oclock six Tcü′tckütü (clowns), accompanied by Píptuku, who was dressed as an old woman and wore an old mask, passed about the pueblo from one kiva to another. These six persons entered the Móñkiva, and Píptuku, after some urging, followed them. One of the Tcü′tckütü was sent out, and the other five in succession took a pinch of ashes in the left hand from the fireplace, and poising it as if taking aim at something through the hatch struck off the ashes with the right hand.
A few minutes later four Wuwíyomokatcinas wearing characteristic masks appeared at the kiva hatch with turkey feathers radiating vertically around the upper part. They carried móñkohus[70] and an undressed skin pouch. Their leader, Silánktiwa, was without costume, and Cálako, Kwátcakwa, and seven other unmasked persons followed. Their faces and bodies were whitened, the hair hanging loose, and limbs bare. They wore plumes of gaudy feathers on their heads, were arrayed in white kilts, and held crooks in their hands. A personage called Eótoto[71] preceded them, and Hahaíwüqti, continually talking, followed. The procession was closed by a warrior (Kaléktaka),[72] who carried a bundle of arrows in one hand and a bow and arrows in the other, and frequently hooted. The uncostumed chorus, composed of about twelve persons, accompanied by a drummer, followed in a cluster.
When the leading Wuwíyomo came to the Móñkiva he threw down the hatchway a ball of moist meal, which struck the middle of the floor. After this announcement he was clamorously invited by those within the chamber to enter, which he did, followed by the others. Each Wuwíyomo bore a bundle of deer scapulæ, which he clanked as a rattle, and all were sprinkled with meal by Íntiwa as they entered the kiva. They afterward filed to the western side of the room where the plants were growing; they sang for about five minutes, all standing.
When Eótoto entered the chamber he made on the floor with meal four symbols of the rain cloud, one in advance of the other, and each of the Cálakos squatted on one of these symbols. The chorus, remaining outside, continued their song for a few minutes, while the Wuwíyomos were singing. Those who had last entered the kiva then passed out in the same order, and as they did so were sprinkled with meal, and each of the four Wuwíyomos was handed a nakwákwoci. They then visited the other Walpi kivas, where no observations were made, but the same ceremonials were probably repeated. After this they went off to perform the same ceremonies in the kivas of other villages on the mesa.
At 11 oclock a group of 12 men and a boy from Hano, costumed but accompanied by an uncostumed fiddler,[73] visited all the kivas in succession. Their bodies were painted white and they had plumes in their hair, but were unmasked. Each wore a fox skin depending from the loins, was barefoot, and carried a gourd rattle in the right hand and a sprig of spruce in the left hand. Their visits were expected, but they personated no especial Katcina and after their departure, the men in the Móñkiva rehearsed a song.
_February 3_—No ceremonial took place throughout the day. The walls of the kivas were renovated by the girls with a wash of mud, and every kiva on the mesa was replastered in this way during the festival.
_February 4_—This day the manufacture of tíhus (dolls) went on in all the kivas, and there was a continuation of the replastering and decoration of the walls of these chambers.
At 9 oclock a dialogue similar to that above recorded on the 29th of January took place between Hahaíwüqti and the kiva chief. The former wished to go among the children, but was told that it was very dark and the children were asleep. She was finally prevailed on to wait until the morrow.
At 10 p. m. 20 unmasked persons,[74] men and women with flowing hair, from Sitcomovi visited all the Walpi kivas. Each of the male personators carried a narrow green tablet (pavaíyikaci),[75] fringed with long red hair and decorated with a symbol of the sun painted in colors. Each had a gourd rattle, and a stick about 2 feet long, to the end of which was attached half a gourd painted to represent a squash blossom, was held in the right hand. The 10 men personating women were not costumed. The leader carried a large Oraibi basket tray with a broad, brightly colored handle. In this was an effigy of a bird.