"dances" is completed in perhaps four years; a few dances indeed may
have even longer intervals, but these dances do not seem to fall in
the calendar and are held whenever decided upon by the proper chief.
Some of the dances alternate also, the Snake Dance, for instance,
being held one year and the Flute Dance the following year. For half
the year, from August to January, the actors in the ceremonies wear
masks, while for the remainder of the year the dancers appear
unmasked; and as every ceremony has its particular costumes, ritual,
and songs, there is great variety for the looker-on in Tusayan. So
many are the ceremonies, which differ more or less in the different
villages, and so overwhelming is the immemorial detail of their
performance, that one might well despair of recording them, much less
of finding out a tithe of their meaning.
There is grouped around these dances the lore of clans in the bygone
centuries, innumerable songs and prayers and rites gathered up here
and there in the weary march, strewn with shells of old towns of the
forgotten days. No fear that this inexhaustible mine will be delved
out by investigators before it disappears utterly; the wonder is that
it has survived so long into this prosaic age of anti-fable. We have
here the most complete Freemasonry in the world, which, if preserved,
would form an important chapter in the history of human cults, and in
the opinion of enlightened men, it should have a record before the
march of civilization treads it in the dust.
The searcher for truth at the bottom of the Hopi well is likely to
get various answers. Seeing the importance of the sun in Hopi thoughts
and rites, one feels inclined to say "sun worship," but the clouds,
wind, rain, rocks, springs, rivers that enter into this paganism make
for "nature worship"; then the birds and beasts give "animal worship";
the plants for food and ceremony, "plant worship"; the snake means
"serpent worship," and the communion with deified ancestors shows
"ancestor worship" with unmistakable plainness.
The oldest gods in the Hopi conception of the unseen world are the
deified manifestations of Nature and the natural objects that force
themselves to his notice. The lightning, the cloud, the wind, the
snow, the rain, the water, the rainbow, the dawn, the fire, all are
beings. The sun, the moon, certain planets and constellations, and the
sky are beings of power. The surface of the earth is ruled by a mighty
being whose sway extends to the underworld and over death, fire, and
the fields; springs, rivers, and mountains have their presiding
deities. Among animals also there are many gods,--the eagle, bear,
deer, mountain lion, badger, coyote, and mole among the rest. Among
the insects the butterfly, dragonfly, and spider are most important,
the latter as the Spider Woman or Earth Goddess. She is spouse of the
Sun and as mother of the warrior culture heroes of the race is revered
by the Hopi. To the plants, however, the list of beings does not
extend, except in few instances, as the Corn Maid or Goddess of Corn,
and perhaps to the Goddess of Germs. There are beings of the six
directions; a god of chance in games and of barter; gods of war and
the chase; a god of the oven, and endless beings, good and bad, that
have arisen in the Hopi fancy as the centuries rolled by with their
changes of culture.
At some period a group of beings called _Kachinas_ and new to Hopi
worship was added to the pantheon. Most of these were brought in by
the Badger clans, as tradition relates, from the East, which means the
upper Rio Grande, and some were probably introduced during the great
westward migrations of other clans from that region. The _Kachinas_
are believed to be the spirits of ancestors in some part, but the
_Kachina_ worship is remarkable for the diversity of beings that it
includes, from the representation of a tribe as the Apache _Kachina_,
to the nature beings as the sun, but many of them are not true
Kachinas. (See Chapter X, Intiwa, p. 227.)
As might be anticipated from the fact that the Hopi are made up of
clans and fragments of clans of various origin, each with its separate
ideas and practices, their beliefs and customs as to the unseen world
show a surprising variety and include those of lower and higher
comparative rank. One idea, however, running through all the
ceremonies gives a clue to their intention, obvious to any man of the
Southwest, be his skin white or brown, the desire for rain so there
shall be food and life. To wheedling, placating, or coercing the
agencies which are thought to have power to bring rain all the
energies of the Hopi are bent. Included among these petitions are
prayers for other things that seem good and desirable, and the
ceremonies also embrace such episodes as the installing of a chief, or
the initiation of novitiates, the hunts, races, etc.
From these ceremonies, which fall under one or the other of the
thirteen moons, we may select the more striking for a brief
description of their more salient features.
No one can determine which ceremony begins the Hopi calendar, but
perhaps the Soyaluna, celebrated at the last of December, should have
the honor. Not because it nearly coincides with our Christmas, but
because it marks the astronomical period known as the winter solstice,
an important date which ought by right to begin the new year. Few
strangers see the Soyaluna, but those who have braved the winter to be
present say that it is one of the most remarkable of the Hopi
ceremonies. All the kivas are in use by the various societies taking
part, and while there is only a simple public "dance," there are
dramatic observances of surprising character going on in the meeting
places.
When the faint winter sun descends into his "south house," which is a
notch in the Elden Mesa near Flagstaff, there is great activity in the
Hopi pueblos, and as in our holiday season the people exchange
greetings of good wishes and make presents of _nakwakwoshi_,
consisting of a downy eagle feather and long pine needles tied to a
cotton string. December is a sacred month when all occupations are
limited and few games are allowed, so that the Soyal is at the center
of a "holy truce," a time of "peace on earth and good will to men,"
but strangely celebrated by pagan sun-worshippers. For the Soyal is
peculiarly a ceremony brought to Hopiland by the Patki people who came
from the south where in past centuries they worshipped the god of day.
The warrior societies of the pueblos have made this their great
festival and are most prominent in its celebration.
In the principal kiva the customary elaborate ritual has been
conducted for nine days by the Soyal fraternity, which is made up of
members of the Agave, Horn, Singers, and New Fire societies. At one
end of the kiva is placed the altar, consisting of a frame with
parallel slats on which are tied bunches of grass, and in these
bunches are thrust hundreds of gaudily painted artificial flowers. On
the top are bows covered with cotton, representing snow clouds. Before
the altar is a pile of corn laid up like a wall which has been
collected in the village to be returned filled with fertility after
the ceremony. Before the corn wall is a ridge of sand on which are set
corn fetiches of stone and wood. The medicine bowl and many pipes,
feather prayer-sticks, etc., are in position on the floor. There is
also in the Walpi ceremony a performance of the Great Feathered
Serpent who thrusts his grotesque head through an orifice in the
screen and roars in answer to the prayers of the priests.
After a series of musical songs accompanied by rattles, flutes,
whistles, and bull-roarers, and interspersed with prayers, there is an
initiation of novices. Then enters the first bird man, elaborately
costumed, whose postures and pantomime imitate a bird. Next come
another bird man and the Soyaluna maid who perform a strange dance,
then comes Eototo, the forerunner of the _Kachinas_, bearing corn, and
this episode closes with a stirring dance of the priests around the
fireplace accompanied with song.
Next occurs the fierce assault by members from the different kivas on
the Soyal shield-bearer. With wild yells and dramatic action they
thrust their shields against the sun shield as in deadly combat, but
the sun shield-bearer forces them back and vanquishes them in turn.
This remarkable drama represents perhaps the driving of the sun back
into his northward path, so that he may bring life to the Hopi. The
Soyal public dance is performed by a _Kachina_ and two _Kachina_ maids
and is simple compared with the elaborate, multicolored pageant of
other dances. At the close of the public ceremony the corn is
distributed to the villagers, and for four days consecrated pahos are
placed in the shrines, some for the dead and some for increase of
flocks, corn, peaches, and all good things spiritual and temporal and
the people feast and are happy.
In February comes a ceremony called Powamu with its introductory
ceremony called Powalawu. Some expectancy of the coming activities in
the fields is in the air and hence, as the name indicates, the
ceremony relates to getting ready, preparing the fields, etc. One of
the chief features is the sprouting of beans in the kivas and the
distribution of the sprouts to various persons. Another is the
initiation of youthful candidates, accompanied by severe flogging with
yucca switches at the hands of ferocious _Kachinas_. The ceremony
lasts nine days and is presided over by the chief of the Powamu
fraternity assisted by the _Kachina_ chief. In the kivas various rites
are carried on and altars of bright-colored sand are made. The most
interesting event is the recital of the myth of the Powamu on which
the ceremony is based. This account is given by a costumed priest who
represents the _Kachina_ Muyingwa, the god of germs, and relates to
the wanderings of certain clans and their arrival in Tusayan.
On the ninth and last day bands of different _Kachinas_ roam the
village, some furnishing amusement to the people and others bringing
terror to naughty children, while still others go about distributing
bean sprouts or on various errands. With this ceremony the joyous
season of the _Kachinas_ begins. Dr. Fewkes says:[4]
The origin of this feast dates from the adventures of a hero of
the _Ka-tci-nyu-muh_, "_Ka-tci-nia_ people." The following legend
of this people is preserved. While the group of gentes known by
this name was on its travels, they halted near the San Francisco
Mountains and built houses. During this moon the hero went out to
hunt rabbits, and came to a region where there was no snow. There
he saw another _Ka-tci-na_ people dancing amidst beautiful
gardens. He received melons from them, and carrying them home,
told a strange story of a people who inhabited a country where
there were flowering plants in midwinter. The hero and a comrade
were sent back, and they stayed with these people, returning home,
loaded with fruit, during February. They had learned the songs of
those with whom they had lived, and taught them in the kib-va of
their own people.
[4] For an extended study of this ceremony see The Oraibi Powamu
Ceremony by H. R. Voth, Publication 61, Field Columbian Museum,
Chicago, 1901, and Tusayan Katcinas by Dr. J. Walter Fewkes,
15th Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology.
The Great Plumed Serpent who appears in the mythology of many American
tribes is the chief actor in the Palulukong ceremony, which is held in
March. It is a serpent drama in which the sun also has high honor. The
actors are masked, as the ceremony is under the control of the
_Kachinas_, who are adept at theatrical performances when represented
by the fertile-minded Hopi.
The clans have gathered in their respective kivas, where painting of
masks and other paraphernalia, rehearsals, etc., have continued for
several days. In the kiva which is for the nonce to be the theater, a
crowd of visitors have assembled, and in the middle of the room two
old kiva chiefs sit around the fire, which they feed with small twigs
of greasewood to produce an uncertain, flickering light.
The arrival of the first group of actors is heralded by strange cries
from without the kiva, and a ball of corn meal thrown down the
hatchway is answered with invitations to enter. The fire is darkened
by a blanket held over it, and the actors climb down the ladder and
arrange their properties. The fire tenders drop the blankets, and on
the floor is seen a miniature field of corn made by fastening sprouted
corn in clay pedestals. Behind this corn field is a cloth screen
decorated with figures of human beings, corn, clouds, lightning, etc.,
hung across the room, and along the screen six openings masked by
flaps. On either side of the screen stand several masked men, one
dressed as a woman holding a basket tray of meal and an ear of corn. A
song begins and the actors dance to the music; the hoarse roar of a
gourd horn resounds through the kiva, and instantly the flaps in the
screen are drawn up and the heads of grotesque serpents with goggle
eyes, feather crest, horn, fierce teeth, and red tongues, appear in
the six openings. Farther and farther they seem to thrust themselves
out, until four feet of the painted body can be seen. Then as the
song grows louder the plumed snakes sway in time to the music, biting
at each other and darting toward the actors. Suddenly they bend their
heads down and sweep the imitation cornfield into a confused heap,
then raise their wagging heads as before, and it is seen that the
central serpent has udders and suckles the others. Amid the roars of
the horn and great excitement offerings of meal and prayers are made
to the plumed serpents. The actor dressed as a woman and who
represents the mother of the _Kachinas_ now presents the corn and meal
to the serpents as food and offers his breasts to them.
Now the song diminishes, the effigies are drawn back, and the flaps
with the sun symbol painted on them let down; the blankets are again
held around the fire, the spectacle is dismantled, the actors file
out, and the people among whom the corn hills have been distributed
wait for other actors to appear, while foreign visitors wonder at the
mechanical skill displayed in constructing and manipulating the
effigies.
Now Tewan actors from Hano give a remarkable buffalo dance. They wear
helmets, representing buffalo heads, and are clad in black sheep
pelts. In their hands they hold zigzag lightning wands, and to the
beat of a drum dance with characteristic postures; with them dance a
man and boy dressed as eagles, who give forth shrill bird calls. This
dance is an introduction from Rio Grande Pueblos.
After them comes another group of actors clothed in ceremonial kilts
and wearing helmet masks. They are called the "Stone War Club
_Kachinas_" and with them are two men dressed as women; one,
representing the Spider Woman, dances before the fire with graceful
movements of the arms and body to the sound of singing and the beat of
a drum. At the close of the dance she distributes seeds of corn,
melons, and useful plants.
The fourth act is that of the Maiden Corn Grinders. First, two masked
men bring down the ladder bundles containing two grinding slabs and
grinding stones and arrange them on the floor. After them come two
masked girls in elaborate ceremonial attire, followed in a little
while by a line of masked dancers who form the chorus. At a signal the
chorus begins to sing and posture while the maids grind corn in time
with the song. They then leave the mills and dance in the middle of
the room with graceful movements, pointing at the audience with ears
of corn, while the bearers of the mill stones put pinches of meal in
the mouths of the spectators.
The fifth act is somewhat like the first, except that there are two
huge snakes, and several of the actors as chorus, with knobs of mud on
their masks, wrestle with the snakes in a most realistic fashion and
afford great entertainment.
After this act another set of performers gives a more remarkable
serpent drama. Back of the field of corn on the floor are seen two
large pottery vases, and, as if by magic, the covers of the vases fly
back, and from them two serpents emerge, swoop down and overthrow the
corn hills, struggle with each other and perform many gyrations, then
withdraw into the vases. In the dim light of the kiva fire the cords
by which the serpents are manipulated cannot be seen, and the realism
of the act is wonderful. In other years the acts are even more
startling, as when masked men wrestle with serpents which seem to try
to coil about their victims. The actor thrusts one arm in the body of
the snake in order to give these movements, while a false arm is tied
to his shoulder. Sometimes also the corn-maid grinders are represented
by joined figures surrounded by a framework. They are made to bend
backward and forward and grind corn on small _metates_. At times they
raise one hand and rub meal on their faces, like the Hopi corn
grinders in daily life, while above them on the framework two birds
carved from wood and painted are made to walk back and forth. On the
day of the public dance the corn maids attended by many masked
_Kachinas_ grind in the dance plaza.
The Great Plumed Serpent who has control of all the waters of the
earth and who frequents the springs, once, as the legend goes, caused
a great flood and was appeased only by the sacrifice of a boy and
girl. (See Myths.) The home of this monster was in the Red Land of the
South, whence some of the Hopi clans came. Dr. J. Walter Fewkes
believes that the great serpent of Mexican and Central American
mythology is this same being, which shows the debt of the Hopi to the
culture of the south.
Now the _Kachinas_ throng the pueblos and a perfect carnival reigns
with the joyful Hopi. There is a bewildering review of the hosts of
the good things and bad, interwoven with countless episodes. Songs of
great beauty, strange masked pageants, bright-tinted _piki_ and
_Kachina_ bread attract powerfully three of the senses, and the Hopi
enjoy the season to the full with the knowledge that the growing crops
thrive toward perfection in the fields below the mesa.
The _Kachinas_ are the deified spirits of the ancestors, who came from
San Francisco Mountains and perhaps from the Rio Grande and other
places, to visit their people. Their name means the "sitters," because
of the custom of burial in a sitting posture, and they resemble "The
watchers sitting below" of _Faust_. They are believed to guard the
interests of the Hopi and to intercede with the gods of rain and
fertility. Their first coming is in December at the Soyal ceremony,
and others continue to come till August when the great Niman, or
Farewell _Kachina_, is celebrated with songs, dances, and feasting.
These deified spirits, or _Kachinas_, are personated by Indians who
sometimes go outside the town, dress themselves in appropriate
costume, present themselves at the gate, and are escorted through the
streets with great fun and frolic. Every few days there is a new
arrival and a fresh festival. Each year there is something new, and
the Indians rack their inventive genius to produce the most startling
masks and costumes. The _kachinas_ admit of any character in the
extensive Hopi mythology. Almost any character from a clown to a god
can be introduced, and there are songs belonging to each. Every male
Hopi takes some part in the _kachinas_, and all dates and distances
are cancelled when these dances are in progress.
The _kachina_ dances promote sociability among the pueblos. The Walpi
boys, for instance, may give a representation of a _kachina_ at a
neighboring pueblo in return for a like expression of good-will on
some other occasion. It goes without saying that there is a friendly
rivalry among the pueblos, each striving to give the best dance. Like
his white brothers, the Indian works harder at his amusement than at
almost anything else.
These dances also show the cheerful Hopi at his best,--a true,
spontaneous child of nature. They are the most characteristic
ceremonies of the pueblos, most musical, spectacular, and pleasing.
They are really more worthy of the attention of white people than the
forbidding Snake Dance, which overshadows them by the element of
horror.
In July the _kachinas_ take their flight, and with a great culminating
ceremony the Hopi bid them farewell. The Niman, or Farewell ceremony,
begins about July 20th and lasts nine days, like the four great
ceremonies between August and November, and like them also having a
regular secret ritual in the kivas. Instead, however, of one day or so
of public ceremony, the Niman furnishes many surprises and sallyings
forth to the amusement of the populace. Delegates hurry on very long
journeys for sacred water, pine boughs, and other essentials for the
use of the priests. Sad indeed is the state of the Hopi that fate
detains, and strong must be circumstances that prevent his reunion
with his people at this great festival.
The Niman public dances which follow the eight days of kiva rites are
imposing spectacles. The first takes place before sunrise and the
second in the afternoon. There are many _kachinas_ in rich costumes,
wearing strange helmets and adorned in many striking ways. They carry
planting sticks, hoes, and other emblematic paraphernalia. A number
are dressed as female _kachinas_. These furnished an accompaniment to
the song by rasping sheep's scapulæ over notched sticks placed on
wooden sounding boxes. The male and female dancers stand in two lines
and posture to the music, and the former turn around repeatedly during
the dance. The children especially enjoy the dance, because the
_kachinas_ have brought great loads of corn, beans, and melons, and
baskets of peaches, which are gifts for the young folks, and dolls,
bows, and arrows are also given them. The dance is repeated in the
afternoon in another plaza, after which the procession departs to
carry offerings to a shrine outside the town and the drama of the
Farewell _kachina_ is over.
With the coming of the different clans, each having some ceremony
peculiar to itself, and held at a certain time in the year, there must
have been an adjustment of interests to fit the ceremonies to the
moons, as we now see in the Hopi calendar. This may explain the fusing
of the Snake-Antelope ceremonies and the two Flutes, which come in
August, and the assignment of the two groups to alternate years. It is
to be expected also that rain ceremonies would preponderate in the
Southwest, and by mutual concessions the clans making up the Hopi
would arrange their rites to fit in the month when the rain-makers are
needed. Thus, the women's ceremonies in September and October would
not need to be disturbed, perhaps to the relief of the obscure Hopi
who, like Julius Cæsar, reformed the calendar.
The Snake and Flute ceremonies of the Hopi are most widely known,
since at this season of the year most travelers visit Tusayan, and
besides, the Snake Dance, from its elements of horror, has
overshadowed other ceremonies that are beautiful and interesting.
Still, the Snake Dance is unique, and in its unfolding displays virile
action and the compelling force of man over the lesser animate
creation, giving to the drama a certain grandeur not observed in other
ceremonies. No form of language is capable of describing it. Those
who have seen it make it an unforgettable episode in their lives.
Those who have made it a study declare that the mind of man has never
conceived its equal.