The germinative element of the _Alósaka_ cult, which we may regard
as an ancient phase, was introduced into Awatobi and the other Hopi
pueblos by a group of clans from the far south. These clans, called
the _Patuñ_, or Squash, founded the pueblo of Micoñinovi,[5] where the
_Alósaka_ cult is now vigorous, and were prominent in Awatobi where it
was important. There is one episode of the elaborated New-fire ceremony
which is traced to these southern clans; this concerns a figurine,
called _Talatumsi_, kept in a shrine under the cliffs of Walpi and
especially reverenced by the _Aaltû_ or _Alósaka_ priests.
In the elaborated New-fire rites, called the _Naácnaiya_, just after
the fire has been kindled by frictional methods in the _Moñkiva_ before
a man personating the Fire-god, one of the _Aaltû_ brought into the
pueblo, from the shrine in which it is kept, the image of _Talatumsi_
wrapped in a white blanket with prayer-sticks in its girdle. This was
set on the kiva hatches, one after another, where it remained several
days; rites were performed about it, during which it was sprinkled
with meal in prayer, and later reverentially carried by the _Aaltû_
back to its shrine, where it was set in position to remain until the
next quadrennial ceremony. This image is supposed to represent, not
_Alósaka_, but the bride of _Alósaka_, the maternal parent of the
_Aaltû_ society about whom cluster so many folktales. She is the cultus
heroine of that society,—one of their ancestors,—and her effigy is
brought into the pueblo in November, every four years, by one of their
number, just as we may suppose the images of _Alósaka_ were brought
into old Awatobi when the New-fire ceremony was celebrated in that
ill-fated pueblo.
The Hopi have another shrine at which they worship in the New-fire
ceremony, but instead of an image this contains a log of silicified
wood called _Tuwapontumsi_, “Earth-altar-woman.” Exactly who this
personage is, the author has not yet discovered, but it is instructive
to know that among the Hopi totems which he obtained, one of the men
gave as his signature a figure of a lizard, a circle representing the
earth, and a horned human figure which was called _Tuwapontumsi_. As
this figure recalls that of _Alósaka_, and as the shrine of the being
it represents is visited at the same time as that of _Talatumsi_ by
priests guided by _Alósaka_, it is not impossible that _Tuwapontumsi_
is connected with the _Alósaka_ cult.
A visit to this shrine was made by the two phallic societies,
_Tataukyamû_ and _Wüwütcimtû_, directly after the kindling of the new
fire in the chief kiva at Walpi. They were led by a man personating
_Alósaka_, and after praying at the shrine they marched in single file
to the site of Old Walpi, on the terrace below the present pueblo, and
encircled the mounds of this old habitation four times, sprinkling
prayer-meal as their leader, _Alósaka_, directed. This place is
called a _sípapû_, and below it are thought to dwell the ancients.
The prayers were addressed to the old men who have died. “Down below
us they dwell,” said an old priest. “There the ancients dwell,” said
he, patting the ground with his foot. “We are now praying to them.”
There are many facts which show the existence of ancestor worship among
the Hopi, but the author never heard it stated more clearly by the
priests than the night he accompanied the phallic societies[6] to the
ancient site of Walpi in the celebration of the New-fire ceremonies in
November, 1898.