I have elsewhere mentioned that every modern Tusayan ceremony opens
and closes with a ceremonial smoke, and it is apparent that pipes were
highly prized by the ancient Sikyatkians.
The form of pipe used in most ceremonials today has a bowl with its
axis at right angles to the stem, but so far as I have studied ancient
Pueblo pipes this form appears to be a modern innovation.[158] To
determine the probable ancient form of pipe, as indicated by the
ritual, I will invite attention to one of the most archaic portions of
the ceremonies about the altar of the Antelope priesthood, at the time
of the Snake dance at Walpi:[159]
"The songs then ceased, and Wí-ki sent Ká-tci to bring him a light.
Ká-tci went out, and soon returned with a burning corncob, while all
sat silently awaiting Wí-ki's preparation for the great _Ó-mow-ûh_
smoke, which was one of the most sacred acts performed by the Antelope
priests in these ceremonials.
"The _wu-kó-tco-ño_ is a huge, stemless pipe, which has a large
opening in the blunt end, and a smaller one in the pointed. It is five
inches long, one inch in diameter at the large aperture, and its
greatest circumference is seven and a half inches. The pipe is made of
some black material, possibly stone, and as far as could be seen was
not ornamented. The bowl had previously been filled with leaves
carefully gathered from such places as are designated by tradition. In
the subsequent smokes the ashes, "dottle," were saved, being placed in
a small depression in the floor, but were not again put in the pipe.
"Wí-ki took the live ember from Ká-tci and placed it in the large
opening of the pipe, on the leaves which filled its cavity. He then
knelt down and placed the pipe between the two _tí-po-nis_, so that
the pointed end rested on the head of the large fetish, between the
ears. Every one remained silent, and Wí-ki blew several dense clouds
of smoke upon the sand altar, one after another, so that the picture
was concealed. The smoke was made by blowing through the pipe, the
fire being placed in the bowl next the mouth, and the whole larger end
of the pipe was taken into the mouth at each exhalation.
"At the San Juan pueblo, near Santa Fé, where I stopped on my way to
Tusayan, I purchased a ceremonial headdress upon which several spruce
twigs were tied. Wí-ki received some fragments of these with
gratitude, and they formed one of the ingredients which were smoked in
the great _ó-mow-ûh_ pipe. The scent of the mixture was very fragrant,
and filled the room, like incense. The production of this great
smoke-cloud, which is supposed to rise to the sky, and later bring the
rain, ended the first series of eight songs.
[Illustration: BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY