The term “winged figures” is here employed to designate all flying
creatures, as birds, insects, and bats, even though they belong
zoologically to different groups of animals. Among the prehistoric Hopi,
insects and birds were designated by similar symbols and when highly
conventionalized sometimes merge into one another. It was the custom
of Sikyatki potters to give more attention to specific than generic
characters of flying creatures, distinguishing different kinds of
birds by the form of their feathers. The symbol of a turkey, an eagle,
or a hawk feather was distinct from that of an owl, and each kind of
a bird had its own special symbolic marking, especially indicated in
the different kinds of feathers. Thus it occurs that Sikyatki bird
designs, instead of being realistically represented, are often so highly
conventionalized that the genus can not be identified.
[Illustration: FIG. 25.—Turtle.]
The flight of birds, like the movement of serpents, is regarded as
mysterious, and anything mysterious or uncanny has always profoundly
affected the mind of primitive man. The chief visible characteristics
connected with the flight of a bird are wings and feathers, and the
kind of feathers of a particular bird led to their association with
the supposed magic power of the bird itself among both the ancient and
modern Hopi. Different kinds of feathers have different powers; thus the
feathers of the turkey, for example, among the modern Hopi, are potent in
inducing rain; those of the eagle or the hawk pertain especially to the
power of the sun; a breast feather of an eagle is chosen as an individual
prayer bearer. The feathers of an owl, like the owl itself,[14] are
generally regarded as having a sinister influence; but sometimes the
feather of this bird is beneficial, it is believed, in making peach trees
yield abundantly. From the variety of feather designs and the frequency
with which they occur in modern Hopi ceremonies[15] it is evident that
the Sikyatki people, like their descendants, attributed special magic
power to different kinds of these objects.
[Illustration: FIG. 26.—Clouds and tadpoles.]
[Illustration: FIG. 27.—Tadpoles.]
In their simplest forms bird symbols are little more than triangles,
the tail feathers being represented by appended parallel lines, which
are mere suggestions of birds and may be designated as cursive forms.
Such simple pictures of birds sometimes have, in addition to the
appended parallel lines referred to, an angular or a curved line or hook
extending from one of the angles of the triangle to represent a beak.
Such triangular bird figures may be free or attached; in the latter case
they are suspended from other figures or rise from the corners of a
rectangular design when one of the triangles may be without tail or beak
appendages, another may have parallel lines, while a third may take a
form readily recognizable as that of a bird. The form of the beak and the
claws of bird figures also varies, the claws often appearing as simple
crosses or crescents. The beak is sometimes toothed, often hooked like
that of a raptorial bird. The bird is designated by the combination of
the beak, claws, and body, as well as the feathers.