While one of the two figures shown in plate CXXIX, _e_, is valuable as
affording additional and corroborative evidence of the character of
the ancient coiffure of the women, its main interest is of a somewhat
different kind. Two figures are rudely drawn on the inside of the
basin, one of which represents a woman, the other, judging from the
character of the posterior extremity of the body, a reptilian
conception in which a single foreleg is depicted, and the tail is
articulated at the end, recalling a rattlesnake. Upon the head is a
single feather;[128] the two eyes are represented on one side of the
head, and the line of the alimentary tract is roughly drawn. The
figure is represented as standing before that of the woman.
With these few lines the potter no doubt intended to depict one of
those many legends, still current, of the cultus hero and heroine of
her particular family or priesthood. Supposing the reptilian figure to
be a totemic one, our minds naturally recall the legend of the
Snake-hero and the Corn-mist-maid[129] whom he brought from a mythic
land to dwell with his people.
The peculiar hairdress is likewise represented in the figures on the
food basin illustrated in plate CXXIX, _c_, which represent a man and
a woman. Although the figures are partly obliterated, it can easily be
deciphered that the latter figure wears a garment similar to the
_kwaca_ or dark-blue blanket for which Tusayan is still famous, and
that this blanket was bound by a girdle, the ends of which hang from
the woman's left hip. While the figure of the man is likewise
indistinct (the vessel evidently having been long in use), the nature
of the act in which he is engaged is not left in doubt.[130]
Among the numerous deities of the modern Hopi Olympus there is one
called Kokopeli,[131] often represented in wooden dolls and clay
images. From the obscurity of the symbolism, these dolls are never
figured in works on Tusayan images. The figure in plate CXXIX, _d_,
bears a resemblance to Kokopeli. It represents a man with arms raised
in the act of dancing, and the head is destitute of hair as if covered
by one of the peculiar helmets, used by the clowns in modern
ceremonials. As many of the acts of these priests may be regarded as
obscene from our point of view, it is not improbable that this figure
may represent an ancient member of this archaic priesthood.
The three human figures on the food basin illustrated in plate CXXIX,
_f_, are highly instructive as showing the antiquity of a curious and
revolting practice almost extinct in Tusayan.
As an accompaniment of certain religious ceremonials among the Pueblo
and the Navaho Indians, it was customary for certain priests to insert
sticks into the esophagus. These sticks are still used to some extent
and may be obtained by the collector. The ceremony of stick-swallowing
has led to serious results, so that now in the decline of this cult a
deceptive method is often adopted.
In Tusayan the stick-swallowing ceremony has been practically
abandoned at the East Mesa, but I have been informed by reliable
persons that it has not wholly been given up at Oraibi. The
illustration above referred to indicates its former existence in
Sikyatki. The middle figure represents the stick-swallower forcing the
stick down his esophagus, while a second figure holds before him an
unknown object. The principal performer is held by a third figure, an
attendant, who stands behind him. This instructive pictograph thus
illustrates the antiquity of this custom in Tusayan, and would seem to
indicate that it was once a part of the Pueblo ritual.[132] It is
possible that the Navaho, who have a similar practice, derived it from
the Pueblos, but there are not enough data at hand to demonstrate this
beyond question.
Regarding the pose of the three figures in this picture, I have been
reminded by Dr Walter Hough of the performers who carry the wad of
cornstalks in the Antelope dance. In this interpretation we have the
"carrier," "hugger," and possibly an Antelope priest with the unknown
object in his hand. This interpretation appears more likely to be a
correct one than that which I have suggested; and yet Kopeli, the
Snake chief, declares that the Snake family was not represented at
Sikyatki. Possibly a dance similar to the Antelope performance on the
eighth day of the Snake dance may have been celebrated at that pueblo,
and the discovery of a rattlesnake's rattle in a Sikyatki grave is yet
to be explained.
One of the most prominent of all the deities in the modern Tusayan
Olympus is the cultus-hero called Püükoñhoya, the Little War God. Hopi
mythology teems with legends of this god and his deeds in killing
monsters and aiding the people in many ways. He is reputed to have
been one of twins, children of the Sun and a maid by parthenogenetic
conception. His adventures are told with many variants and he
reappears with many aliases.
[Illustration: BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY