Chapter X: Introduction (6)

The ho´naaite gathering the hä´chamoni in his left hand and taking a pinch of meal with his right, stooped before the altar and south of the meal line and offered a silent prayer, and, after sprinkling the altar and hä´chamoni, he divided the offerings, holding a portion in either hand. The ti´ämoni and a companion then stooped north of the line of meal and facing the ho´naaite, clasped his hands with their right hands, holding their eagle plumes in their left and responded to a low litany offered by the ho´naaite, who afterwards drawing a breath from the plumes laid them upon the blankets over their left arms, the two men having wrapped their blankets about them before advancing to the ho´naaite. They then left the ceremonial chamber and walked a long distance through the darkness to deposit the offerings at a shrine of the Ko´pĭshtaia. The remaining members talked in undertones until the return of the absent ones, who, upon entering the chamber, stood before the altar and offered a prayer which was responded to by the ho´naaite. All the members then gathered before the altar and asked that their prayers might be answered. The woman and girl arranged bowls of food in line midway the room and south of the meal line and the feast closed the ceremonial at 2 o’clock. a. m.

SICK BOY IN CEREMONIAL CHAMBER OF GIANT SOCIETY.]

FOUR NIGHTS’ CEREMONIAL OF THE GIANT SOCIETY FOR THE HEALING
OF A SICK BOY.

The night succeeding the ceremonial of the Sko´-yo-Chai´-än (Giant Society) for rain the assembly began its ritualistic observances, which continue four consecutive nights, for the curing of the sick by the brushing process. During the afternoon a sand-painting was made in the east end of the room (compare sand-painting Giant Society, (Pl. XVIII_b_); ya´ya and stone fetiches were grouped upon the painting; a medicine bowl was placed before the ya´ya; bear-leg skins were deposited on either side of the fetiches and a white embroidered sacred Tusayan blanket was folded and laid by the bear-leg skins south of the painting. The five male members of the medicine division of the society had refreshments served early in the evening by the female members, and after supper the ti´ämoni, who is a member of the medicine division, placed a bowl of stewed meat and a basket of bread near the painting; the remainder of the food was stored in the northwest corner of the room for future consumption.

The five men formed in line back of the fetiches, the ho´naaite being the central figure; they had scarcely taken their seats, however, before the ti´ämoni brought a vase of water and a gourd from the west end of the room and set it before the sand-painting and returned to his seat; the ho´naaite, advancing, dipped six gourdfuls of water, emptying each one into the medicine bowl.[20]

The ho´naaite then passing to the north side of the painting stooped with bended knees, holding in his left hand two eagle plumes, and repeated a low prayer; then, taking a small piece of the bread, he dipped it into the stew and scattered it before the fetiches; and, taking more bread and a bit of the meat, he left the ceremonial chamber and threw the food as an offering to the animals of the cardinal points. The ti´ämoni then returned the bowl of meat and basket of bread to the far end of the room. Upon the return of the ho´naaite his vicar spread the Tusayan blanket upon the floor, some 5 feet in front of the painting. He next sprinkled a line of meal from the edge of the blanket nearest the painting to the bear fetich, which stood foremost on the painting; thence across the blanket and along the floor to the entrance on the south side and near the west end of the chamber; again, beginning at the center of the blanket he sprinkled a line of meal across the blanket to the south edge, and beginning again at the center he sprinkled a line of meal to the north edge and continued this line to the north wall. Then beginning at the line ending at the south of the blanket, he ran it out to the south wall (these four lines being symbolic of the four winds), and placed the bowl of meal in front of the painting and north of the line of meal. The meal having become somewhat exhausted, the pottery meal bowl was replaced by an Apache basket, containing a quantity of fresh meal, ground by a woman in an adjoining room, where a portion of the family had already retired. The basket of meal was received from the woman by the ti´ämoni, who stood to her left side while she ground the corn in the ordinary family mill. The remainder of the contents of the pottery meal bowl was emptied into the Apache basket, the portion from the bowl being deemed sufficient in quantity to lend a sacred character to the freshly ground meal. The ho´naaite then fastened about his neck a string of bears’ claws with a small reed whistle, having two soft white eagle plumes tied to the end, attached midway, which he took from a pile of bear-leg skins, having first waved the necklace around the white bear fetich, which stood to the front of the painting. Each member of the society then put on a similar necklace; two of the members fastened amulets around their upper right arms and two around their left arms. The ho´naaite rolled his blanket in a wad and sat upon it. The other members made similar cushions. The ti´ämoni, whose seat was at the south end of the line, crossed to the north side of the room, and taking a bit of red pigment rubbed it across his face and returned to his seat, each member rubbing a bit of galena across the forehead, across the face below the eyes, and about the lower part of the face. The paint was scarcely perceptible. It was put on to insure the singing of the song correctly. The ti´ämoni again crossed the room, and taking from the north ledge a bunch of corn husks, he handed them to the man who sat next to him, who was careful to manipulate them under his blanket, drawn around him. The writer thinks that they were made into funnels, in which he placed tiny pebbles from ant hills. The vice-ho´naaite, at the north end of the line, left the room, and during his absence the ho´naaite, taking a bunch of straws which lay by the bear-leg skins, divided it into five parts, giving a portion to each one present. He reserved a share for the absent member, who returned in a short time, bearing the sick child in his arms, being careful to walk on the line of meal; he set the child upon a low stool placed on the broad band of embroidery of the blanket. (Pl. XXI) The man then handed the basket of meal to the child, who, obeying the instructions of the vice-ho´naaite, took a pinch and threw it toward the altar with a few words of prayer to Ko´pĭshtaia. The vicar then returned to his seat, and the members, with eagle plumes and straws in their left hands and rattles in their right, began the ritual; they were nine minutes singing the first stanza, which was sung slowly and in very low tones, and at its close each one drew a breath from the eagle plumes and straws. The second stanza was sung louder and faster. The monotony of the song was broken by an occasional animal-like call, which was a request to the cougar of the north to give them power over the angry ants. The child was afflicted with a severe sore throat, caused by ants having entered his body when he was in the act of micturition upon their house, and ascending they located in his throat. After the second stanza the ho´naaite blew first on the right side of the child, then on his back, his left side, and his breast; the other members continuing the song to the accompaniment of the rattle. When he took his seat, the ti´ämoni and the man who sat next to him each drew a breath from their eagle plumes and straws, and dipping them into the medicine water, each one extended his plumes to the child, who drew a breath from them. The two men then resumed their seats. The ho´naaite, again dipping his plumes in the medicine water, passed the ends through the ti´ämoni’s mouth, and afterwards through the mouth of each member, the plumes being dipped each time into the bowl of medicine water. The men were occupied a few moments in drawing something from several of the bear-leg skins. All except the ho´naaite gathered around the altar, dancing and gesticulating in excessive excitement and blowing upon the whistles suspended from their necklaces. They constantly dipped their eagle plumes into the medicine water, throwing their arms vehemently about, sprinkling the altar and touching the animal fetiches with their plumes, and then placing the plumes to the mouths, absorbing from them the sacred breath of the animal. The ho´naaite with bowed head continued his invocations to the cougar of the north, seemingly unconscious of all that was going on about him. After maneuvering before the altar, the four men performed similar extravagances about the child, one of the men standing him in the center of the blanket, careful to place the boy’s feet in diagonal angles formed by the meal lines. Then the four left the room, carrying with them the material taken from the bear-leg skins. The ho´naaite did not cease shaking the rattle and singing during the absence of the four, who visited the house of the sick boy to purify it. Upon returning to the ceremonial room they threw their arms aloft, waving their plumes above them and then about the child, singing and growling, after which they resumed their seats in line with the ho´naaite, and joined him in the song to the accompaniment of rattles. After a few moments these four men and the ho´naaite surrounded the boy; the ho´naaite standing at the northeast corner of the blanket, and the ti´ämoni at the southeast corner, while the others formed a semicircle behind the boy. They all waved plumes and straws in their left hands over the invalid boy, and passed them simultaneously down his body from head to feet, striking the plumes and straws with rattles which they held in their right hands; and as the plumes and straws were moved down the boy’s body ants in any quantity were supposed to be brushed off the body, while in reality tiny pebbles were dropped upon the blanket; but the conjuration was so perfect the writer could not tell how or whence they were dropped, although she stood close to the group and under a bright light from a lamp she had placed on the wall for the purpose of disclosing every detail. The tiny nude boy standing upon the white embroidered blanket, being brushed with the many eagle plumes, struck with their rattles by five beautifully formed Indians, was the most pleasing scene of this dramatic ceremonial. The brushing of the child with the plumes was repeated six times, and he was then backed off the blanket over the line of meal and set upon the stool, which had been removed from the blanket, and was afterward given a pinch of meal and told to stand and look at the ants which had been extracted from his body, and to sprinkle the meal upon them. After this sprinkling he resumed his seat upon the stool. The ho´naaite stooped with bended knees at the northeast corner of the blanket and whispered a prayer and sprinkled the blanket. Each member with eagle plumes sprinkled the blanket with meal and carefully brushed together all the material which had fallen on the floor instead of the blanket, after which the ti´ämoni gathered the corners together, waved it over the child’s head, and left the room with it. All sat perfectly quiet, holding their rattles, eagle plumes, and straws in their right hands during the absence of the ti´ämoni. Upon his return he waved the folded blanket twice toward the group of fetiches and toward himself, then passed it twice around the child’s head, and finally laid it upon the pile of bear-leg skins at the south side of the painting. The child, who was ill and burning with fever, was led by the vice ho´naaite to the fetiches, which he sprinkled with meal, and was carried from the chamber and through an outer room to his mother at the entrance.

GAST LITH. CO. N.Y.

ALTAR AND SAND PAINTING.

KNIFE SOCIETY.]

The ho´naaite is not supposed to leave the ceremonial chamber throughout the four days and nights, as he must guard the animal fetiches and medicine. The other members are also supposed to spend much of the day and all of the night in watching the fetiches; but the writer is of the opinion that they all go to sleep after the feast, which is enjoyed as soon as the child leaves the chamber.

The only variation in the ceremonial on the second night was that the vicar dipped the bit of bread into the bowl of stew and scattered it to the animal fetiches, having previously lifted ashes from the fireplace and sprinkled the altar with them by striking the plume held in the left hand on the under side with the plume held in the right; then holding the plumes between his hands he repeated a long and scarcely audible prayer. After scattering the food to the animal fetiches, he dipped a piece of bread into the stew, left the house and threw the food to the cardinal points, as the ho´naaite had done the previous night, and, returning, removed the bowl of stew and basket of bread to the northwest corner of the room. He then swept the floor with his two eagle plumes, beginning some 18 inches in front of the altar (the line of meal remaining perfect to this point) to the point where the blanket was to be placed, and then laid the blanket and made the meal lines, the change in the drawing of these lines being that the line was begun at the line of meal which extended in front of the altar and ran over the blanket to the entrance of the room; then beginning in the center of the blanket, the line was extended across to the north wall, and again beginning in the center, a line was run across to the south wall. The writer mentions this deviation in the drawing of the meal lines, though she believes it was a mere matter of taste on the part of the worker. Instead of the vice ho´naaite receiving the child at the outer entrance, the man who sat between him and the ho´naaite brought the child into the room, and he was led out by the ti´ämoni. Upon this occasion, and on the third and fourth nights, the child walked into and out of the room, an indication that he was in better physical condition than on the first night of the ceremony. The songs on the second night were addressed to the bear of the west instead of the cougar of the north. The child did not seem to move a muscle throughout the ceremony, except when he stepped to his position on the blanket.

ALTAR OF KNIFE SOCIETY, PHOTOGRAPHED DURING CEREMONIAL.]

The scenes on the third and fourth nights were coincident with those of the second, with a few variations. The man who sat between the ho´naaite and his vicar dipped the ashes with his plumes and sprinkled the altar, and, returning to his seat, the vicar laid the blanket and sprinkled the meal lines in the same manner as on the previous night; he also procured the child. When dancing before the altar two men wore bear-leg skins on their left arms, and two others wore them on their right arms. It was noticed that the skins were drawn over the arms upon which the amulets were worn. Their dancing and incantations were even more turbulent and more weird than on the two former nights.

The songs the third night were addressed to the badger of the south and on the fourth to the wolf of the east.

RAIN CEREMONIAL OF THE KNIFE SOCIETY.

While the ho´naaite and his vicar sat during the morning making hä´chamoni they rehearsed in undertones the songs of their cult. The membership of this society consists at the present time of five men and two boys, and two novitiates, a man and a boy.

The sun was far to the west when the members came straggling in and the ho´naaite proceeded to set up the slat altar (Pl. XXII_a_). Then each man took from the wall a soiled buckskin sack. The well-wrapped ya´ya was first taken out and then other fetiches. After the ho´naaite had unwrapped his ya´ya he prepared the sand painting in front of the altar (Pl. XXII_b_). The five ya´ya were stood on the line specially made for them and a miniature bow and arrow laid before each ya´ya. The ho´naaite then grouped fetiches of human and animal forms, then the medicine bowl containing water and a basket of sacred meal. He then drew a line of meal which extended from the slat altar to a distance of 3 feet beyond the group of fetiches, his vicar afterwards assisting him with the additional fetiches. Two stone cougars 2 feet in length each were stood up on either side of the group. A cougar 12 inches long, with lightning cut in relief on either side, and a concretion, were then deposited before the group. Bear-leg skins were piled high on either side of the altar. The cloud bowl and reed were added, the two flat baskets of hä´chamoni and plume offerings shown in the sketch were afterwards deposited upon the backs of the cougars. While this arrangement was in progress the minor members returned the powdered kaolin and black pigment to the ancient pottery vases, from which they had been taken to prepare the sand-painting.

The ho´naaite consecrated the bowl of water by a prayer, and dropping in the six fetiches he dipped his eagle plumes into the water and striking them on the top with his rattle, sprinkled the altar; holding the plumes in the left hand and the rattle in the right, he sprinkled the cardinal points. The vicar formed a circle of meal, then sprinkled meal upon the circle and placed a cincture pad of yucca upon it, and holding the cloud bowl high above his head, he invoked the cloud people of the north, west, south, east, zenith, and nadir, and of the whole world, to water the earth. The bowl was then set upon the pad and a reed 8 inches long laid across it from northeast to southwest. The vice ho´naaite spread a small cloth and upon it reduced the bit of root which was to produce the suds to a powder, which he placed in a little heap in front of the cloud bowl. The ho´naaite, who had left the chamber, now returned with a parrot and a white stone bear 12 inches long; the bear was wrapped in a large fine white buckskin and the parrot was under the ho´naaite’s blanket. These were deposited before the altar (Pl. XXIII).

HO´-NA-AI-TE OF KNIFE SOCIETY.]

The ho´naaite (Pl. XXIV) stooped and, praying, sprinkled corn pollen upon the bear and parrot. The bear and the bird had eagle plumes attached to their necks with cotton cord. Those on the bear were on the top of the neck and those of the parrot hung under the beak. After the prayer the ho´naaite lighted a cigarette of native tobacco and corn husk from a stick some 5 feet long, held by a boy member, and puffed the smoke over the bear and parrot. He then extended the cigarette over the altar, afterwards waving it to the cardinal points. The vicar and boy sprinkled the bear and parrot with pollen from an abalone shell and the vicar dipped his eagle plumes into the medicine bowl and sprinkled them four times, then the altar, by striking the plumes with the rattle held in his right hand. The ho´naaite then puffed smoke into the cloud bowl and over the bear and parrot, and extended his cigarette to the cardinal points, and over the altar. The vicar lighted a similar cigarette from the long stick held by the boy, and standing to the west of the altar blew smoke over it, the ho´naaite standing and smoking to the right of him. The vicar laid the end of his cigarette by the cloud bowl and to the east of the line of the meal. The shell of corn pollen was then placed back of the altar and the ho´naaite’s eagle plumes and rattle laid beside it; a prayer before the altar by all the members closed the afternoon ceremony.

It will be noticed that the slat altar in Pl. XXV differs from that in Pl. XXIII. Both belong to the Knife Society and may be seen hanging side by side on the wall in the ceremonial chamber of the Quer´ränna, (Pl. XXVIII) which is also the official chamber of the Knife Society. The second was made in case of failure of the first. The vicar of this society is also ho´naaite and only surviving member of the Ant Society, and he, being anxious that the writer should see the sand painting of the Ant Society, prepared the painting for this occasion instead of the ho´naaite (Fig. 17). He also drew her a sketch of the painting of Ant Society for ceremonial held for the sick, which is here introduced (Fig. 18). This last may be described as follows:

_a_ represents meal painting emblematic of the clouds, _b_ and _c_ bear-leg skins laid either side of it. The remainder of painting is in sand. _d_: Ant chief clad in buckskin fringed down the arms and legs; he carries lightning in his left hand; his words pass straight from his mouth, as indicated by a line, to the invalid _e_, who sits at the opening of the ceremonial to the right of the painting. The ant chief speaks that the malady may leave the invalid. A song of this character is sung by the members of the society. The invalid then passes to the front of the altar and stands upon a sacred Tusayan blanket (position indicated by _f_), when the ho´naaite and other members of the society proceed with their incantations over him, imploring the prey animals to draw the ants to the surface of the body. When the ants have appeared and been brushed from the body then a song is addressed to the eagle _g_ to come and feed upon the ants. When the ants have been eaten by the eagle the invalid will be restored to health. The two circular spots _h_ represent ant houses. These, with the paintings of the ant chief and eagle, are gathered into the blanket upon which the invalid stood and carried some distance north of the village and deposited. After the blanket has been taken from the chamber the meal painting is erased by the ho´naaite brushing the meal from each of the cardinal points to the center with his hand; he then rubs the invalid’s body with the meal, after which the members hasten to rub their bodies with it, that they may be purified not only of any physical malady but of all evil thoughts.

When the writer entered the ceremonial chamber later in the evening food was being placed in line down the middle of the room. There were seven bowls, containing mutton stew, tortillas, waiavi, and hominy. There was also a large pot of coffee and a bowl of sugar. The ho´naaite, standing to the east of the meal line, which extended from the altar to the entrance, repeated a long grace, after which one of the boy members gathered a bit of food from each vessel, and standing on the opposite side of the line of meal, handed the food to the ho´naaite, who received it in his left hand, having transferred his eagle plumes to the right. He then left the house, and throwing the food to the cardinal points, offered it to the animal Ko´pĭshtaia, with a prayer of intercession to the cloud people to gather, saying:

“Ko´pĭshtaia! Here is food, come and eat; Ko´pĭshtaia, Cougar of the North, receive this food; Bear of the West, receive this food; Badger of the South, we offer you food, take it and eat; Wolf of the East, we give you food; Eagle of the Heavens, receive this food; Shrew of the Earth, receive this food. When you eat, then you will be contented, and you will pass over the straight road [referring to the passing of the beings of the ko´pĭshtaia over the line of meal to enter the images of themselves]. We pray you to bring to us, and to all peoples, food, good health, and prosperity, and to our animals bring good health and to our fields large crops; and we pray you to ask the cloud people to come to water the earth.”

ALTAR OF KNIFE SOCIETY, WITH HO´-NA-AI-TE AND VICE HO´-NA-AI-TE ON
EITHER SIDE.]

Upon returning to the ceremonial chamber, the ho´naaite, standing before the altar, prays to Ma´asewe, Úyuuyewĕ, and the six warriors of the mountains of the cardinal points to protect them from all enemies who might come to destroy their peace; and, standing at the end of the line of food, he offers a prayer of thanksgiving, holding his eagle plumes in his left hand. He then rolls his blanket into a cushion, sits upon it west of the line of meal and smokes a cigarette. The food having been brought in by the wives of the members, all present drew around and enjoyed the feast. That the minor members felt at liberty to join with their elders was indicated by the way in which they proceeded to help themselves.

The war chief came into the room soon after the beginning of the meal, wrapped in a fine Navajo blanket, and carrying his bow and arrows. He stood in front of the altar, on the west side of the meal line, and prayed. The vice-ho´naaite administered to the war chief a draft of the medicine water which had been prepared in the afternoon, and then handed him the official staff of the society (a slender stick some 2 feet in length), which he held with his bow and arrows until the close of the ceremonial. The war chief sat for awhile at the south end of the room, and then left to patrol the town and to see that no one not privileged entered or came near the ceremonial chamber. After the meal was finished the three boys removed the bowls to another room, and, upon their return, one of them swept the middle of the floor, destroying most of the meal line, leaving but 2 feet of it undisturbed in front of the altar. This line, however, was renewed by the vice-ho´naaite, who carried two eagle feathers and the meal bowl in his left hand, while he sprinkled the meal with the right, not for the purpose of furnishing a road for the beings of pai´ätämo and ko´pĭshtaia to pass over, for they had previously come to the images of themselves, but that the songs might pass straight over and out of the house.

The men now indulged in a smoke. The writer never observed Sia boys smoking in these ceremonials or at any other time. The cigarettes were lighted from the long stick passed by one of the boys, and after smoking, the ho´naaite and his younger brother put on white cotton embroidered Tusayan kilts as breechcloths, which they took from a hook on the wall, those of the other members being plain white cotton. The ho´naaite now took his seat back of the altar and lighted a second cigarette from the long stick, blowing the smoke over the altar. This smoke was offered to Pai´ätämo and Ko´pĭshtaia, the ho´naaite saying: “I give this to you; smoke and be contented.” He then administered medicine water to all present, dipping the water with a shell. The vice-ho´naaite, who received the last draft, drank directly from the bowl, and was careful not to leave a drop in it, after which the ho´naaite removed the six stone fetiches from the bowl. The process of preparing medicine water is substantially the same with all the cult societies, there not being in Sia nearly so much ceremony connected with this important feature of fetich worship as with the Zuñi and Tusayan. The six fetiches were returned to the buckskin bag and the ho´naaite resumed his seat behind the altar, the members and novitiates having already formed in line back of the altar, the official members each holding two eagle plumes in the left hand and a gourd rattle in the right. After a short prayer by the ho´naaite, the boy lifted ashes from the fireplace with his eagle plumes and placed them near the altar and east of the meal line; again he dipped a quantity, placing them west of the line of meal. As the chant opened, he stood west of the line and facing the altar, and an adult member stood on the east side, and each of them held an eagle plume in either hand and a gourd rattle also in the right. The boy dipped with the plumes the ashes which lay west of the line of meal and the man those which lay east of the line, and sprinkled toward the north by striking the plumes held in the left hand on the underside with the plume held in the right; again dipping the ashes, the boy sprinkled toward the west and the man toward the east; again lifting ashes, they passed to the south and sprinkled there; the boy then crossed to the east of the line of meal and the man to the west of the line, and when midway of the line the boy sprinkled to the east and the man to the west; then, dancing before the altar, they again lifted ashes and sprinkled to the north. When dancing, both eagle plumes were held in the left hand and the rattle in the right. Ashes were again lifted and thrown twice toward the zenith and then thrown to the nadir. The sprinkling to the cardinal points, zenith and nadir, was repeated fifteen times in the manner described. This was to carry off all impurities of the mind, that it might be pure; that the songs would come pure from the lips and pass straight over the road of meal—the one road. The man and boy having resumed their seats in the line, the vice-ho´naaite stood before the altar to the west side of the line of meal, shook his rattle for a moment or two, then waved it vertically in front of the altar, invoking the cloud people to come; he then waved the rattle from the west to the east, repeating the weird exhortation, his body being kept in motion by the bending of his knees, his feet scarcely leaving the ground. The rattle was waved three times from the west to the east, and then waved toward the west and toward the altar, the east and to the altar; then, raising the rattle high above his head, he formed a circle. This waving of the rattle was repeated sixteen times. Previous to each motion he held the rattle perfectly still, resting it on the eagle plumes which he held in the left hand.

After the sixteenth repetition he waved the rattle over the altar. The song during this time is an appeal to the cloud people of the north, west, south, east, and all the cloud peoples of the world, to gather and send rain to water the earth, that all mankind may have the fruits of the earth. The vicar then stood to the right of the ho´naaite, and the choir, rising, continued to sing. The ho´naaite, leaning over the altar, took two of the central ya´ya, one in either hand, and alternately raised them, keeping time with the song, now and then extending the ya´ya over the altar. The young novitiate held neither rattle or plumes. The boy at the east end of the line, having passed through two degrees, held his rattle in the right hand and in his left a miniature crook. The vicar who stood at the right of the ho´naaite and the man who stood to his left moved their rattles and feathers in harmony with his motion, the three swaying their bodies back and forth and extending their arms outward and upward. About this time it was noticed that the boys at the east end of the line had fallen asleep, and it was more than the man who sat next to them could do to keep them awake, although he was constantly brushing their faces with his eagle plumes. This little scene was something of a picture, as the boy whose shoulder acted as a support for the head of the other is the son of one of the most prominent and richest men in the pueblo, the other boy being the pauper referred to. The stanzas in this song were much longer than any before heard by the writer, and each closed with a quick shake of the rattle. The song continued an hour and a quarter, when the singers took a few moments’ rest, and again sang for thirty minutes; another few minutes’ rest, and the song again continued. In this way it ran from half past 9 o’clock until midnight. At its close one of the boys brought a vase of water and a gourd from the southwest corner of the room and placed it near the altar and west of the line of meal. The ya´niᵗsiwittänn̄i stood before the vase, and, lifting two gourdfuls of water, emptied them into the medicine bowl; emptying two gourdfuls, also, into the cloud bowl, he danced for a time before the altar, waving his plumes and rattle over it; he then emptied two more gourdfuls into the medicine bowl and two more into the cloud bowl, and resumed his dance. He did not sing while performing this part of the ceremony, but when emptying the water into the bowls he gave bird-like trills, calling for the cloud people to gather. Again he emptied two gourdfuls into the medicine bowl and two in the cloud bowl; and after dancing a moment or two he poured two more gourdfuls into the medicine bowl and two into the cloud bowl, and resumed the dance; again he emptied a gourdful into the medicine bowl and two into the cloud bowl; then he emptied three into the medicine bowl and drank twice from the bowl, after which he returned to his seat in the line, the boy restoring the vase to the farther corner of the room. Two small medicine bags were handed to each member from the altar, one containing corn pollen and the other corn meal of six varieties of corn: yellow, blue, red, white, black, and variegated. The bags were held in the left hand with the eagle plumes, that hand being quiet, while the rattle was shaken with the right in accompaniment to the song. After singing a few minutes, pollen and meal taken from the medicine bags were sprinkled into the medicine bowl. The choir did not rise and pass to the altar, but leaned forward on either side; and with each sprinkling of the meal and pollen a shrill call was given for the cloud people to gather; the ho´naaite, in sprinkling in his pollen, reached over the altar slats. The sprinkling of the pollen was repeated four times, the novitiates taking no part in this feature of the ceremony, although they were provided with the bags of pollen and meal. The ya´niᵗsiwittänn̄i danced before the altar and west of the line of meal without rattle or plumes, but continually hooted as he waved his hands wildly over the altar and dropped pebble fetiches alternately into the medicine and cloud bowls, until each bowl contained six fetiches; then, reaching behind the altar for his rattle and eagle plumes, he held an eagle plume and rattle in the right hand and an eagle plume in the left, and stirred the water and sprinkled the altar; then he stirred the water in the cloud bowl with the reed, and sprinkled the altar with it. The sprinkling of the altar from the medicine bowl and the cloud bowl was repeated six times.

After each sprinkling a quick shake of the rattle was given. The ho´naaite then reached over the altar slats, taking a ya´ya in either hand, and all stood and sang. In a moment the man to the right of the ho´naaite leaned over the west side of the altar, and, dipping his plumes in the medicine water, sprinkled the altar; he repeated the sprinkling four times, and when the two ya´ya were returned to the altar the ho´naaite dipped his eagle plumes into the medicine water, and sprinkled the altar by striking them on the top with the rattle held in the right hand. Each member then sprinkled the altar four times, with a wild exhortation to the cloud people, all apparently exhibiting more enthusiasm when sprinkling the altar than at any other time during the ceremonial. When the song closed two of the boys proceeded to prepare cigarettes, taking their places before the fireplace, and, tearing off bits of corn husks of the proper size, they made them pliable by moistening them with saliva. One boy made his cigarettes of native tobacco, which he took from an old cloth hanging on the wall; the other filled his with commercial tobacco. As the boys made cigarettes they tied them with ribbons of corn husks, simply to keep them in shape until the smokers were ready. The remaining native tobacco was returned to the old cloth and put in place upon the wall. About the time the boys had finished preparing the cigarettes, the vice-ho´naaite took his seat on his wadded blanket, in front of the cloud bowl and west of the line of meal. The man at the east end of the line dipped his eagle plumes into the ashes, holding a plume in either hand and striking the one held in the left hand on the under side with the plume held in the right, he sprinkled the head of the vicar, who was offering a silent prayer, and at the same moment the song opened to the accompaniment of the rattle. Previous to the vicar leaving the line, the ho´naaite removed a white fluffy eagle feather from one of the ya´ya, to which it had been attached with a white cotton cord, and tied it to the forelock of the vicar, who put into the cloud bowl the powdered root which was to produce the froth; then dipping the reed into corn pollen he sprinkled the altar. He placed a pinch of pollen into the upper end of the reed, and, turning that into the water, he put a pinch into the other end, and touched the four cardinal points of the cloud bowl with the corn pollen, and made bubbles by holding the hollow reed in the center of the bowl and blowing through it. This operation lasted but a few moments, when he began stirring the water with the reed, moving it from right to left, and never raising the lower end to the surface of the water, producing a beautiful egg-like froth. Not satisfied with its rising high above the bowl, he did not cease manipulating until the suds had completely covered it, so that nothing could be seen but a mass of snowy froth; fifteen minutes of continual stirring was required to produce this effect. He then stood the reed in the center of the froth, and holding an eagle plume in each hand danced before the altar vehemently gesticulating. He dipped suds with his two plumes and threw them toward the altar, with a wild cry, and again dipping suds he threw them over the altar to the north; a like quantity was thrown to the west, and the same to the south, the east, the zenith, and the nadir. He then dipped a quantity, and placing some on the head of the white bear and putting some over the parrot, he resumed his seat on the blanket and began blowing through the reed and beating the suds. In five minutes he stood the reed as before in the center of the bowl, then, dancing, he dipped the suds, placing them on the head of the bear and over the parrot; he then removed the remaining suds from the plumes by striking one against the other over the bowl (this froth is always referred to by the Sia as clouds). During this part of the ceremony the choir sang an exhortation to the cloud peoples. A boy now handed a cigarette of native tobacco to the vicar, who puffed the smoke for some time, extending the cigarette to the north; smoking again, he blew the smoke to the west, and extended the cigarette to that point; this was repeated to the south and east; when he had consumed all but an inch of the cigarette, he laid it in front of the cloud bowl and east of the meal line. The choir did not cease singing during the smoking, and when the bit of cigarette had been deposited, the vicar transferred his rattle to his right hand, keeping time with the choir. When the song closed he left his seat in front of the cloud bowl and stood by the west side of the altar, and removing the eagle plume from his head returned it to the ya´ya and took his seat near the fireplace. Two of the boys then lighted cigarettes of native tobacco with the long fire-stick, handing one to each member.

SHRINE OF KNIFE SOCIETY.]

In fifteen minutes the song was resumed and the man west of the ho´naaite dipped his eagle plumes in the medicine water and sprinkled the altar, repeating the sprinkling four times. In twenty-five minutes the song closed and the men enjoyed a social smoke, each man after lighting his cigarette waving it towards the altar. In twenty-five minutes the choir again sang, two boys standing in front of the altar, one on either side of the line of meal. The one on the west side of the line dipped his plumes into the medicine water and sprinkled the altar, and the one on the east side of the line dipped his crook into the medicine water and sprinkled the altar. They then dipped into the cloud bowl and threw the suds to the north; dipping suds again the boy west of the line threw the suds to the west, and the one east of the line threw the suds to the east; again dipping medicine water they passed to the south and threw the water to that point, the boy west of the meal line crossed to the east, and the one on the east of the line of meal crossed to the west, and returning to the altar they dipped suds, the boy to the west of the line throwing suds in that direction, and the boy east of the line throwing suds to that point; again dipping the medicine water they sprinkled to the zenith, and dipping the suds they threw them to the nadir; then the boy on the west of the line crossed to the east, and the one on the east of the line crossed to the west, and thus reversing positions they repeated the sprinkling of the cardinal points, zenith and nadir, twelve times, dipping alternately into the medicine water and the cloud bowl. With the termination of the sprinkling the song ceased for a moment, and by command of the ho´naaite the boys, each taking a basket of hä´chamoni, which were resting on the backs of the cougar fetiches either side of the altar, stood in front of the altar, one on the west side of the meal line and the other on the east, and holding the baskets in their left hands shook their rattles; they then held the basket with both hands, moving them in time to the song and rattles of the choir. The ho´naaite directed them to wave the baskets to the north, west, south, and east, to the zenith and the nadir; this they repeated twelve times and then deposited the baskets either side of the cloud bowl, and the vicar placed the bowl of medicine water two feet in front of the cloud bowl, on the line of meal, and taking one of the ya´ya in his left hand, he passed east of the line and, stooping low, he stirred the medicine water with an abalone shell, and then passed his hand over the ya´ya and drew a breath from it. The man at the west end of the line of worshipers now came forward and the vicar gave him a drink of the medicine water, then the man at the east end of the line received a draft. The boy who threw the suds with the plumes came next, and following him the boy (the pauper) who held the miniature crook; then the third boy advanced and drank; the man on the left of the ho´naaite following next, the ho´naaite came forward; he did not receive the water from the shell, but drank directly from the bowl; the vicar holding the bowl with his right hand placed it to the ho´naaite’s lips, the ho´naaite clasping the ya´ya, which was held in the left hand of the vicar; he then taking the bowl with his right hand and clasping the ya´ya with his left, held it to the lips of the vicar, who afterwards left the room, carrying with him the remainder of the medicine water and the ya´ya. He passed into the street and, filling his mouth with the water, he threw a spray through his teeth to the north, west, south, and east, the zenith and the nadir and then to all the world, that the cloud people might gather and water the earth. In a short time he returned and placed the bowl and ya´ya before the altar. The shell was laid east of the line of meal and in front of the cloud bowl. A cigarette was then handed the ho´naaite and, after blowing the first few puffs over the altar, he finished it without further ceremony, and taking the two baskets of plume offerings in either hand he stooped with bended knees a short distance in front of the altar and west of the line of meal. The two minor members wrapped their blankets around them and stooped before the ho´naaite on the opposite side of the meal line. The ho´naaite divided the offerings between the two, placing them on the blanket where it passed over the left arm; these offerings were to Pai´ätämo and Ko´pĭshtaia, and were deposited by the boys at the shrines of Kopĭshtaia (Pls. XXVI and XXVII). Food was now brought in by the boy novitiate, and with the feast the society adjourned at 3 o’clock in the morning.

SHRINE OF KNIFE SOCIETY.]

SOCIETY OF THE QUER´RÄNNA.

The Society of the Quer´ränna has a reduced membership of three—the ho´naaite, vicar, and a woman; and there is at the present time a novitiate, a boy of 5 years. Three generations are represented in this society—father, son, and grandson. The elder man is one of the most aged in Sia, and, though ho´naaite of the Quer´ränna and vicar of the Society of Warriors, and reverenced by his people as being almost as wise as the “Oracle,” his family is the most destitute in Sia, being composed, as it is, of nonproducing members. His wife is an invalid; his eldest son, the vicar of the Quer´ränna Society, is a paralytic, and a younger son is a trifling fellow. The third child is a daughter who has been blind from infancy; she is the mother of two children, but has never been married. The fourth child is a 10-year-old girl, whose time is consumed in the care of the children of her blind sister, bringing the water for family use, and grinding the corn (the mother and sister occasionally assisting in the grinding) and preparing the meals, which consist, with rare exceptions, of a bowl of mush. During the planting and harvest times the father alone attends to the fields, which are their main dependence; and he seeks such employment as can be procured from his people, and in this way exchanges labor for food. Every blanket of value has been traded for nourishment, until the family is reduced to mere tatters for garments. For several years this family has been on the verge of starvation, and the meagerness of food and mental suffering tells the tale in the face of each member of the household, excepting the worthless fellow (who visits about the country, imposing upon his friends). Even the little ones are more sedate than the other children of the village.

Nothing is done for this family by the clan. Close observation leads the writer to believe that the same ties of clanship do not exist with the Sia as with the other tribes. This, however, may be due to the long continued struggle for subsistence. Fathers and mothers look first to the needs of their children, then comes the child’s interest in parents, and brothers and sisters in one another. No lack of self-denial is found in the family.

The ho´naaite of the Quer´ränna is the only surviving member of the Eagle clan, but his wife belongs to the Corn clan, and has a number of connections. When the writer chided a woman of this clan for not assisting the sufferers she replied: “I would help them if I could, but we have not enough for ourselves,” a confirmation of the opinion that the clan is here secondary to the nearer ties of consanguinity. The care of one’s immediate family is obligatory; it is not so with the clan.

ALTAR OF QUER´-RÄN-NA SOCIETY.]

The house in which this family lives is small and without means of ventilation, and the old man may be seen, on his return from his daily labors, assisting his invalid wife and paralytic son to some point where they may have a breath of pure air. They are usually accompanied by the little girl leading her blind sister and carrying the baby on her back by a bit of an old shawl which the girl holds tightly around her.

Always patient, always loving, is the old man to those of his household, and the writer was ever sure of a greeting of smiles and fond words from each of these unfortunates. Not wanting in hospitality even in their extremity, they invited her to join them whenever she found them at their frugal meal.

The only medicine possessed by the Quer´ränna is se´-wili, which is composed of the roots and blossoms of the six mythical medicine plants of the sun, archaic white shell and black stone beads, turkis, and a yellow stone.

The preparation of this medicine and that of the other cult societies is similar to the mode observed by the Zuñi. Women are dressed in sacred white embroidered Tusayan blankets, and they grind the medicine to a fine powder amid great ceremony. When a woman wishes to become pregnant this medicine is administered to her privately by the ho´naaite, a small quantity of the powder being put into cold water and a fetich of Quer´ränna dipped four times into the water. A dose of this medicine insures the realization of her wish; should it fail, then the woman’s heart is not good. This same medicine is also administered at the ceremonials to the members of the society for the perpetuation of their race; and the ho´naaite, taking a mouthful, throws it out through his teeth to the cardinal points, that the cloud people may gather and send rain that the earth may be fruitful.

RAIN CEREMONIAL OF THE QUER´RÄNNA SOCIETY.