Jesse Walter Fewkes

“ So likewise tobacco smoke is a sacrifice, the burning of rare herbs, or the pine needles in the “New Fire” ceremony.
The act of sacrificing animals or human beings is not a part of their present ritual, but a knowledge of its efficacy exists. They have legends of human sacrifice on rare occasions in the past. The killing of an animal and smearing the body of the man representing Masawuh with its blood, at the time of Lieutenant Brett’s visit to Oraibi in 1891, is an instance of animal sacrifice. Several survivals of animal sacrifices in warrior ceremonies might be quoted from legends. ”

“ I have shown in preceding papers that both the symbols and figurines on Katcina altars refer to the sun, rain clouds, and the fertilization, growth and maturation of corn. It has likewise been made evident that the ceremonial acts of the priests are employed to affect the supernaturals who control these elements or produce these necessities.
The priests strive to reproduce traditional ceremonials without innovations, and are guided in their presentation by current legends. ”

“ That element of pueblo worship known as the Katcina forms fully one-half of the Hopi ritual, beginning with the arrival of the Katcinas or masked dancers in January or February, and lasting until their departure in July, inclusive. It is distinguished from other components by the presence of masked participants called Katcinas, supposed to be personators of the ancients, or “others.” The yearly departure of these worthies from the villages is celebrated in July by a great religious observance called the Niman or Farewell Katcina ceremony ”

“ A Hopi prayer combines two elements of ceremony—prayer proper and sacrifice, the former spoken or not, the latter always expressed by symbols. As they are an agricultural people, their aboriginal wealth is an agricultural product, as corn. Their poverty of corn and the requirement of their ritual necessitated sacrifices of meal, a highly practical substitution. ”

“ In the Hopi ritual three methods of representing supernatural personages are adopted. First, personifications by men, women, and children. Second, representations by images or idols. Third, representations by pictures, conventionalized objects, or symbols. These three methods may coexist; they are interchangeable, and may be phylogenetically connected in the development of rituals. ”

“ The symbolism of images on the left side of the Katcina altars of Miconinovi and of Oraibi is highly conventionalized, but clearly enough developed to show that the images represent the same Rain-Germ Goddess who, in some ceremonials, is personified by a girl; in others by a similar image. This image is called the Rain-Germ (Corn) [20] Maid because in the most elaborate representations of her this bifid nature is strongly indicated by symbolism. Her idol on the Miconinovi Flute altar has four symbols of corn on the body, and bears three rain cloud tablets on the head. ”

“ The tiponi, or palladium of the Katcinas is placed on a hillock of sand at the right of the same picture. There are no idols or images of anthropomorphic forms on this altar, and unless the stone implements may be so interpreted, no lightning symbols. The Niman altar at Cipaulovi [9] is very simple, but the essentials of a Katcina altar are included. The two prominent symbols are those representing rain clouds and growing corn, which are elaborated in the more complicated Katcina altars and may be regarded as embodying the two main aims of Katcina celebrations. ”

“ In other secret rites, not considered in this article, the first method is employed as in Powamu. Personifications in public dances are ordinarily masked, and as a rule Katcinas doff their masks when they dance in kivas. In certain instances, however, the mask is worn in kiva ceremonials.
[14] I regard them as complicated symbols, not intrinsically objects of worship.
[15] In the public dance she is represented by a girl, but there is a beautiful instance in this ceremony where the third method is substituted for the first in the public dance. ”

“ Each sacerdotal society tells the story of its own hero bringing from that land a bride, who transmitted to her son the knowledge of the altars, songs, and prayers, which forced the crops to grow and the rains to fall in her native country. ”

“ In the ceremonies with unmasked personifications, or those celebrated yearly between July and January which are not Katcinas, an attempt is made to reproduce rites which legends declare the cultus or ancestral heroes saw in the lands they visited, which lands are reputed to be variously situated, but generally in the underworld, to augment the efficacy of the ceremonies. ”

“ Sitcomovi and Hano have no Niman Katcina, nor do they celebrate the Tusayan ritual in its entirety. The word Katcina is used to designate both a dance and a participant in a dance. Between July and January there are no Katcina rites in Tusayan.
[2] I have been interested to discover what proportion of the whole number of Hopi ceremonials have been described, and the results are such as to allay any conceit that we know much about the subject. Without considering the abbreviated ceremonials there are in the ritual 12 which are of nine days duration. ”

“ Hahaiwuqti was asperged, smoked upon and sprinkled with meal, and presented with a paho accompanied with a prayer, after which the priests returned to their room and the “Old Woman” went away to the west. A few minutes later men disguised as Eototo and Ahul approached the kiva hatch near which some unknown Katcina had made in meal on the ground a cross and rain cloud. Eototo rubbed meal on each of the four sides of the kiva hatchway [33] and poured water into the kiva entrance from the sides, as I have described in my accounts of the Walpi and Cipaulovi Niman Katcina. ”

“ The other idol, likewise known in various ceremonials by tutelary sacerdotal aliases, is the male cultus hero, the fructifying principle symbolized by lightning and personified according to the society, by such supernaturals as Cotokinungwu, Puukonhoya, Tcuatiyo, Lentiyo, and the like. ”

“ Of these there are 40 of which we know nothing, save their existence; 15, fragments of which have been described; and 5 which have been fairly well studied. There are about 30 Hopi altars which have never been figured or described, or as far as I know seen by ethnologists. It thus appears that there is plenty of material in this province to occupy the students of primitive ritual for some time to come. An adequate comprehension of the Hopi Katcina ritual requires a consideration of five different modifications of the same altars.
[3] The image of Cotokinungwu in the Oraibi flute altar (q. v.) ”

“ The Katcinas are tolled along by meal deposited on the trail by the priests. A trail is closed by a line of meal at right angles to the same.
[33] Those in one of the kivas received meal (prayers) and nakwakwocis (personal prayers) . Hahaiwuqti gave them the basket she bore and the objects remaining in it, upon which at the close of the ceremony, all the priests smoked (prayed) .
[34] From the belts of Humis the priests took a sprig of spruce. This is only customary after the Humis Katcina dance. (Journ. Amer. Ethnol. and Archæol., Vol. II, No. 1.) ”

“ A yellow reed, a paho-stand, [Pg 481] and a ball made of powdered pikumi. [27] Intermediate between these, also with a quaternary arrangement, there is a ball made of clay painted black in which a feather is attached, a blackened reed, and a stone arrow point. ”