This ceremony commenced almost immediately after the close of the one
preceding. The rug was spread over the ground in front of the song priest;
four bunches of small sticks were brought in and laid in piles north,
south, east, and west of the rug. Four attendants took seats, each before
a pile of the wood, and scraped off the bark of their respective heaps;
they then cut twelve pieces 2 inches in length, except that cut by the
attendant who sat at the north, who made his about 1-1/4 inches long.
Being asked why he cut his shorter than the rest, he replied, "All men are
not the same size." The sticks were sharpened at one end and cut squarely
off at the other. In order that all of the sticks should be of the same
length they were measured by placing the three first fingers across the
stick. The fifth man sat immediately to the right of the song priest, who
took a hollow reed from the large medicine bag from which he cut four
pieces, each piece the breadth of his three fingers. The reed, which was
cut with a stone knife, was afterwards rubbed with native tobacco. Six
sticks of each of the piles had their square ends beveled; these
represented females. The attendant on the east side of the rug having
completed his twelve sticks, painted them white with kaolin finely ground
and mixed with water. The flat ends of the sticks were colored black; the
beveled parts were painted blue; around the lower end of the blue was a
bit of yellow which represented the jaw painted with corn pollen. Three
black dots were painted upon the blue for the eyes and mouth; the ground
color was laid on with the finger; the other decorations were made with
yucca brushes. The man on the south side colored his sticks blue. The tops
of six sticks were painted yellow, and six were black. The black ends were
those having the beveled spots. These spots were blue with a chin of
yellow; they also had the three black dots for eyes and mouth. The man to
the west colored his sticks yellow with the flat ends black; the beveled
spots of six of them were blue with a yellow chin and three black dots for
eyes and mouth. The sticks to the north were colored black; six of them
had the beveled parts colored blue with a yellow jaw, and three spots for
eyes and mouth; the six sticks that were not beveled had their flat tops
painted blue. All these sticks were laid on the rug with their flat ends
outward. The attendants who prepared the reeds, each reed being colored
for a cardinal point, filled them with balls of humming-bird feathers and
tobacco and lighted them with a crystal, when they were touched with corn
pollen. The reed for the east was white, the one for the south blue, that
for the west yellow, and that for the north black. Each reed was placed at
its appropriate point in line with the sticks. (See Pl. CXVIII.) The
theurgist then advanced, carrying a basket half filled with corn meal.
This he placed in the center of the rug; when kneeling on the edge of the
rug and beginning with the white sticks, he placed first the white reed in
the east side of the basket, and passing from this point around to the
right he placed the six offerings to the gods, then the six to the
goddesses. Next taking the blue tube at the south end he placed it to the
left of the white line of sticks, leaving sufficient space for the sticks
between it and the white tube; all the blue ones were placed in position
corresponding to the white. The yellow followed next, and then the black.
All were placed with their flat ends or heads pointed to the rim of the
basket. The theurgist deposited the basket in the niche on a pile of
turkey feather wands, the wands resting upon a large medicine bag. The
sticks and scraps left after making the tubes were carried out and
deposited without ceremony.
[Illustration]