(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.
He set this tray on the floor near the fireplace, and after the chief
of the kiva had sprinkled the visitors with meal a male and a female
personator advanced from the western end of the kiva to the fireplace.
The man picked up the basket on the butt end of his stick and presented
it to the woman, who held it in both hands and danced a few moments,
while all the others sang. She then laid the tray down and passed to
the northern side of the chamber, the man retiring to the southern
side. After the other couples had performed the same ceremony they left
the kivas.
Immediately after their departure 28 personators from Hano entered.
These consisted of male and female deities, the latter personated by
men. The former passed to the southern, the latter to the northern
side of the kiva. Each of the male personages wore a yucca fillet on
his head and his legs were decorated with clay streaks; he wore white
kilts and girdles, with dependent fox-skins. They also had tortoise
rattles on the legs and carried a gourd rattle in the right hand. Their
costume was as follows: They were without masks; the hair was loose and
an imitation of a squash blossom was tied therein. The face was not
colored, but on the right shoulder curving to the breast was daubed
a mass of blue and green pigment. On the left shoulder and over the
breast they were painted with yellow, and bright red streaks were drawn
from the neck down the center of the breast and middle of the back.
The upper part of the right arm was colored yellow, the left forearm
green, the upper part of the left arm green. These colors were reversed
on the right arm. The right leg also was yellow and the left leg was
green with two contrasting bands below the knee. The hands, waist, and
upper portion of the thighs were whitened. They likewise wore white
kilts tied with girdles (wukokwéna and nanelkwéna). A gray fox-skin
depended from the loins. Each had a tortoise shell rattle on the right
leg and on the left leg generally a garter to which small sleigh-bells
were attached. Their moccasins were blue or green. In his right hand
each carried a blue or green painted rattle, and in the left a sprig
or small branch of spruce. Those personating females neither wore
fox-skins nor held anything in the left hand. The female personators
carried in the left hand a bundle of straw held well up before the
face. After they had been sprinkled with meal they began to sing, and
the couple in the center on the west side joined hands, holding them
above the head—the female with the palm turned up, the male with the
palm down and fingers imbricated. They advanced close to the fireplace
and then returned to their respective places. The personators executed
this figure four times in sequence and then went out.
[Illustration: PL. CVIII.
A. HOEN & CO. LITH.
KATCINA MASK WITH SQUASH BLOSSOM APPENDAGE AND RAIN CLOUD SYMBOLISM.]
Immediately after this presentation the delegation from the Móñkiva,
led by a masked person, entered. The bodily decorations of these were
not uniform; one had a figure of a gourd drawn on his breast, another
zigzag lines, and still another parallel bars. The males carried a
gourd rattle in the right hand; they wore no fillets on the head but
allowed the hair to hang loosely. The female personators held a bunch
of straw[76] and a sprig of spruce in the left hand, carrying it high
up before the face. They sang the same song and executed the same
figure as that already mentioned in the account of the presentation by
the men from the village of Hano. The groups finished their visits at
about midday.
_February 5_—At earliest dawn (5 a. m.) either the chief or one of his
elders roused all the sleepers in the kiva, and each spread his blanket
beside his basin of growing plants. He then carefully plucked the
plants, one by one, so as not to bruise either stalk or roots. He laid
them on the blanket in an orderly pile, the leaves together. The sand
which remained in the basin was carried to some place where children
would not see it, and the vessels were dried before the kiva fire and
hidden away in the houses out of sight of the prying eyes of the young
ones.
Nearly all the plants were tied with a yucca shred and a sprig of
spruce (symbol of a Katcina), in neat bundles, leaving loose bights of
the yucca by which to hold them. Each priest also tied up the dolls
which he had made. All traces of the soil in which the corn had been
forced to sprout had disappeared long before dawn.
The presents (dolls) which were made in the Tcivatoki were then
distributed by a man personifying Pawíkkatcina, under the instruction
of those who had fashioned them. The distributing Katcinas of the
Nacabki were two Nüváktcinas,[77] and the same did this duty with
the dolls in the Móñkiva. For the Álkiva two Tcoshühüwûh performed
this duty. These Katcinas and two persons called Kawaíka (Keres)
from Sitcomovi bustled about the pueblo on their errands and the
distribution was finished about sunrise. The men did not speak when
they approached a house with their gifts, but hooted after the
customary manner of Katcinas.
Almost half an hour before sunrise the Soyókmana passed around the
kivas, holding a dialogue at the hatchways with the chiefs inside.
She wore a black conical mask with red mouth and white teeth, and was
costumed as an old woman. In the right hand she bore a crook 7 feet
long, at the end of which were tied many shells. In the left hand
she carried a knife smeared with rabbit blood. Hü′hüwûh also held
a dialogue with the kiva chiefs and made gifts of watermelons and
squashes to various persons.
At 11.30 a. m. Soyókmana, Hahaíwüqti, and the Natáckas (plate CVI) made
a visit to all the houses. They were followed by two Hehéakatcinas[78]
with bags and pouches of food recently received, and after them
followed three black and two white Natáckas. These five went together
and were constantly in motion, moving or beating time with their feet.
The strange company went to each house demanding food, and when it was
refused or poor quality offered the Natáckas uttered a hoot like an
owl, and at the same time Soyókmana whistled. They refused to leave a
house until proper food had been given them, and if a child who had not
been ceremonially flogged appeared with the mother its eyes were shaded
by the mother’s hand while she presented food to the Natáckas.
Between 12 and 1 oclock Íntiwa, assisted by Hoñyi and Letaiyo,
finished making twelve sets of cákwa (blue) páhos, most of which were
composed of two sticks of uniform diameter, and only one set showed
the flat face characteristic of the female. They likewise made twelve
nakwákwoci hotomni, consisting of a twig about 2 feet long from which
four nakwákwocis depended at intervals, and twelve simple feathered
strings. When these were finished Íntiwa placed them in a tray of meal
beside the sípapû and brought from the paraphernalia closet of the kiva
six ears of corn of different colors, his típoni, two nákwipis and as
many aspergills, two or more rattles, and other bundles containing the
remaining paraphernalia of the cloud-charm altar.