Sun worship plays a most important part in modern Tusayan ritual, and
the symbol of the sun in modern pictography can not be mistaken for
any other. It is a circle with radiating feathers on the periphery and
ordinarily with four lines arranged in quaternary groups. The face of
the sun is indicated by triangles on the forehead, two slits for eyes,
and a double triangle for the mouth. This symbol, however, is not
always used as that of the sun, for in the Oraibi _Powalawû_ there is
an altar in which a sand picture of the sun has the form of a
four-pointed star. The former of these sun symbols is not found on
Sikyatki pottery, but there is one picture which closely resembles the
latter. This occurs on the bowl illustrated in plate CLXI, _c_. The
main design is a four-pointed star, alternating with crosses and
surrounded by a zone in which are rectangular blocks. While the
identification may be fanciful, its resemblances are highly
suggestive. The existence of a double triangle adjacent to this figure
on the same bowl, and its likeness to the modern mouth-design of sun
pictures, appears to be more than a coincidence, and is so regarded in
this identification.
In the design shown in plate CLVIII, _a_, one of the elaborate ancient
sun figures is represented. As in modern symbols, the tail-feathers of
the periphery of the disk are arranged in the four quadrants, and in
addition there are appended to the same points curved figures which
recall the objects, identified as stringed feathers, attached to the
blanket of the maid (plate CXXIX, _a_). The design on the disk is
different from that of any sun emblem known to me, and escapes my
interpretation. I have used the distribution of the feathers on the
four quadrants as an indication that this figure is a sun symbol,
although it must be confessed this evidence is not so strong as might
be wished. The triangles at the sides of two feathers indicate that a
tail-feather is intended, and for the correlated facts supporting this
conclusion the reader is referred to the description of the vessels
shown in plate CXXXVIII.
It would appear that there is even more probability that the picture
on the bowl illustrated in plate CLVIII, _b_, is a sun symbol. It
represents a disk with tail and wing feathers arranged on the
periphery in four groups. This recalls the sun emblems used in Tusayan
at the present time, although the face of the sun is not represented
on this specimen. There is a still closer approximation to the modern
symbol of the sun on a bowl in a private collection from Sikyatki.
In plate CLVIII, _c_, the sun's disk is represented with the four
clusters of feathers replaced by the extremities of the bodies of four
birds, the tail-feathers, for some unknown reason, being omitted. The
design on the disk is highly symbolic, and the only modern sun symbol
found in it are the triangles, which form the mouth of the face of the
sun in modern Hopi symbolism.
One of the most aberrant pictures of the sun, which I think can be
identified with probability, is shown in the design on the specimen
illustrated in plate CXXXIV, _b_. The reasons which have led me to
this identification may briefly be stated as follows:
Among the many supernaturals with which modern Hopi mythology is
replete is one called Calako-taka, or the male Calako. In legends he
is the husband of the two Corn-maids of like name. The ceremonials
connected with this being occur in Sichomovi in July, when four giant
personifications enter the village as have been described in a former
memoir. The heads of these giants are provided with two curved horns,
between which is a crest of eagle tail-feathers.
Two of these giants, under another name, but with the same symbolism,
are depicted on the altars of the _katcinas_ at Walpi and Mishoñinovi,
where they represent the sun. A chief personifying the same
supernatural flogs children when they are initiated into the knowledge
of the _katcinas_.
The figure on the bowl under discussion has many points of resemblance
to the symbolism of this personage as depicted on the altars
mentioned. The head has two horns, one on each side, with a crest,
apparently of feathers, between them. The eyes and mouth are
represented, and on the body there is a four-pointed cross. The
meaning of the remaining appendages is unknown, but the likenesses to
Calako-taka[150] symbolism are noteworthy and important. The figure on
the food bowl illustrated in plate CXXXIV, _c_, is likewise regarded
as a sun emblem. The disk is represented by a ring in the center, to
which feathers are appended. The triangle, which is still a sun
symbol, is shown below a band across the bowl. This band is decorated
with highly conventionalized feathers.
[Illustration: BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY