It sometimes happens in Hopi dramatization that pictures of supernatural
beings and idols of the same take the place of personations by priests.
For instance, instead of a girl or a woman representing the Corn maid,
this supernatural is depicted on a slab of wood or represented by a
wooden idol. One of the best-known figures of the Corn maid (Shalako
mana) is here introduced (pl. 89) to illustrate the relation of old
Awatobi and existing Hopi symbolism; a modern figure (108) of this Corn
maid, painted on a wooden slab, is sometimes carried by the Walpi women
in their dance. Figures of the Awatobi germ god, Alosaka, otherwise
called Muyinwû,[62] are depicted on the slabs used by most of the women
at that time.
The different designs on the slab under consideration (pl. 89) are
indicated by letters and explained as follows: _a_ represents a circular
fragment of the haliotis or abalone shell hanging midway from a figure
of an ear of corn, _c_. The cheeks are tattooed or painted with
characteristic figures, _cb_, the eyes rectangular of different colors.
The letter _d_ is a representation of a wooden ear pendant, a square,
flat body covered on one side with a mosaic of turquoise sometimes
arranged in figures. The letter _e_ is the end of a string by which the
ceremonial blanket is tied over the left shoulder, the right arm being
free, as shown in the illustration. Over the right shoulder, however, is
thrown a ceremonial embroidered kilt, _fb_.
The objects in the hands represent feathers and recall one type of
the conventional feathers figured in the preceding pages. The letters
_fr_ represent falling rain embroidered on the rim of the ceremonial
blanket and _rc_ the terraced rain clouds which in _arc_ become rounded
above; _g_ represents a turquoise at the end of a string of turquoise
suspended from shell necklaces _sn_; _m_ represents the butterfly and is
practically identical with the decorations on dados of old Hopi houses;
_s_ represents a star; _sb_ represents shell bracelets, many examples of
which occur in ruins along the Little Colorado; _ss_ is supposed to have
replaced the key patterns which some authorities identify as sprouting
beans. There are commonly nine rectangular markings, _nc_, on the upper
border of the embroidered region of ceremonial blankets and kilts, each
of which represents either a month or a day, by some said to refer to
ceremonial or germ periods.[63]
The Shalako mana figures have not yet been found in the unmodified Little
Colorado ware, but homologous figures have been found in the Rio Grande
area.
The design (pl. 88, _d_) with a horn on the left side of the head and a
rectangle on the right, the face being occupied by a terrace figure from
which hang parallel lines, reminds one of the “coronets” worn on the head
by the _Lakone_ maids (manas) in the Walpi Basket dance of the Lalakoñti.
The horn in the coronet is without terminal appendages, although a
feather is tied to it, and the rectangle of plate 88, _d_, is replaced
by radiating slats spotted and pointed at their ends, said to represent
the sunflower. The whole design in plate 88, _d_, represents a bird,[64]
recalling that of the figure Marautiyo on one of the appended slabs of
the altar of the Walpi Marau ceremony. In this altar figure we find not
only a horn on the left side of the head, but also a rectangular design
on the right.
On the corresponding right-hand side of this altar we have a picture
of Marau mana (Shalako mana). It will thus appear that when compared
with the Lakone coronet the figure on the Shongopovi bowl represents
a female being, whereas when compared with the figure on the Marau
altar it resembles a male being. There is, therefore, something wrong
in my comparison. But the fact remains that there survive in the two
woman’s festivals—Lakone maid’s coronet and Marau altar—resemblances to
prehistoric Hopi designs from Shongopovi. Moreover, it is known that the
Marau fetishes are stated by the chief Saliko to have been introduced
from Awatobi into Walpi by her ancestor who was saved at the massacre of
that town in 1700.
The life figures of the Tanoan epoch, or that following the overthrow
of Sikyatki, can be made out by a study of modern Hano pottery. Perhaps
the most complex of these is that of the Corn maid, Shalako mana.
Shalako mana plays a great rôle in the Mamzrauti, a ceremony derived
from Awatobi, and figures representing her are common designs made on
Hano pottery. Designs representing this being are common on the peculiar
basket plaques made at the Middle Mesa and dolls of her are abundant.
The constant presence of her pictures on basket plaques at the Middle
Mesa would also seem to show an ancient presence in the Hopi country, and
indicate an identity of pottery designs from ancient Shumopavi with those
from the East Mesa and Awatobi.[65]
One of her modern Walpi ceremonies has such pronounced Awatobi symbolism
that it may be instanced as showing derivation; viz., the New-fire
festival.[66] The women of the Marau and the men of the Tataukyamû regard
themselves kindred, and taunt each other, as only friends may without
offence, in this festival, and the Tataukyamû often introduce a burlesque
Shalako mana into their performances.
The designs painted on the bodies and heads of several modern dolls
representing Corn maids are symbols whose history is very ancient in the
tribe. For instance, those of feathers date back to prehistoric times,
and terraced designs representing rain clouds are equally ancient. The
dolls of the Corn maid (Shalako mana) present a variety of forms of
feathers and the headdresses of many dolls represent kachinas, and show
feathers sometimes represented by sticks on which characteristic markings
are painted, but more often they represent symbols.[67]