Archeological Expedition to Arizona in 1895 Part 17

The figure is represented as kneeling, and the four parallel lines are possibly comparable with the prayer-sticks placed in the belt of the Germ G.o.ddess on the _Lalakonti_ altar. In her left hand (which, among the Hopi, is the ceremonial hand or that in which sacred objects are always carried) she holds an ear of corn, symbolic of germs, of which she is the deity. The many coincidences between this figure and that used in the ceremonials of the September moon, called Lalakonti, would seem to show that in both instances it was intended to represent the same mythic being.

There is, however, another aspect of this question which is of interest. In modern times there is a survival among the Hopi of the custom of decorating the inside of a food basin with a figure of the Corn-maid, and this is, therefore, a direct inheritance of ancient methods represented by the specimen under consideration. A large majority of modern food bowls are ornamented with an elaborate figure of Calako-mana, the Corn-maid, very elaborately worked out, but still retaining the essential symbolism figured in the Sikyatki bowl.[127]

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FLAT DIPPERS AND MEDICINE BOX FROM SIKYATKI]

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 ill.u.s.trated 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 dest.i.tute 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 ill.u.s.trated 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 ill.u.s.tration 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 princ.i.p.al performer is held by a third figure, an attendant, who stands behind him. This instructive pictograph thus ill.u.s.trates 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 Puukonhoya, the Little War G.o.d. Hopi mythology teems with legends of this G.o.d 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.

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DOUBLE-LOBE VASES FROM SIKYATKI]

The symbolism of Puukonhoya at the present day consists of parallel marks on the face or body, and when personated by a man the figure is always represented as carrying weapons of war, such as a bow and arrows. Images of the same hero are used in ceremonies, and are sometimes found as household G.o.ds or penates, which are fed as if human beings. A fragment of pottery represented in the accompanying ill.u.s.tration (figure 263), shows enough of the head of a personage to indicate that Puukonhoya was intended, for it bears on the cheek the two parallel marks symbolic of that deity, while in his hands he holds a bow and a jointed arrow as if shooting an unknown animal. All of these features are in harmony with the identification of the figure with that of the cultus-hero mentioned, and seem to indicate the truth of the current legend that as a mythologic conception he is of great antiquity in Tusayan.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 263--War G.o.d shooting an animal. (Fragment of food bowl.)]

In this connection it may be instructive to call attention to two figures on a food bowl collected by Mr H. R. Voth from a ruin near Oraibi. It represents a man and a woman, the former with two horns, a crescent on the forehead, and holding in his outstretched hand a staff. The woman has a curious gorget, similar to some which I have found in ruins near Tusayan, and a belt like those still worn by Pueblo Indians. This smaller figure likewise has a crescent on its face and three strange appendages on each side of the head.

Another food basin in Mr Voth's collection is also instructive, and is different in its decoration from any which I have found. The character of the ware is ancient, but the figure is decidedly modern. If, however, it should prove to be an ancient vessel it would carry back to the time of its manufacture the existence of the _katcina_ cult in Tusayan, no actual proof of the existence of which, at a time when Sikyatki was in its prime, has yet been discovered.

The three figures represent Hahaiwuqti, Hewuqti, and Natacka exactly as these supernatural beings are now personated at Walpi in the _Powamu_, as described and figured in a former memoir.[133]

It is unfortunate that the antiquity of this specimen, suggestive as it is, must be regarded as doubtful, for it was not exhumed from the ruin by an archeologist, and the exact locality in which it was found is not known.

THE HUMAN HAND

Excepting the figure of the maid's head above described, the human hand, for some unknown reason, is the only part of the body chosen by the ancient Hopi for representation in the decoration of their pottery. Among the present Tusayan Indians the human hand is rarely used, but oftentimes the beams of the kivas are marked by the girls who have plastered them with impressions of their muddy hands, and there is a _katcina_ mask which has a hand painted in white on the face. As in the case of the decoration of all similar sacred paraphernalia, there is a legend which accounts for the origin of the _katcina_ with the imprint of the hand on its mask. The following tale, collected by the late A. M. Stephen, from whose ma.n.u.script I quote, is interesting in this connection:

"The figure of a hand with extended fingers is very common, in the vicinity of ruins, as a rock etching, and is also frequently seen daubed on the rocks with colored pigments or white clay. These are vestiges of a test formerly practiced by the young men who aspired for admission to the fraternity of the Calako. The Calako is a trinity of two women and a man from whom the Hopi obtained the first corn, and of whom the following legend is told:

"In the early days, before houses were built, the earth was devastated by a whirlwind. There was then neither springs nor streams, although water was so near the surface that it could be found by pulling up a tuft of gra.s.s. The people had but little food, however, and they besought Masauwuh to help them, but he could not.

"There came a little old man, a dwarf, who said that he had two sisters who were the wives of Calako, and it might be well to pet.i.tion them. So they prepared an altar, every man making a _paho_, and these were set in the ground so as to encircle a sand hillock, for this occurred before houses were known.

"Masauwuh's brother came and told them that when Calako came to the earth's surface wherever he placed his foot a deep chasm was made; then they brought to the altar a huge rock, on which Calako might stand, and they set it between the two pahos placed for his wives.

"Then the people got their rattles and stood around the altar, each man in front of his own paho; but they stood in silence, for they knew no song with which to invoke this strange G.o.d. They stood there for a long while, for they were afraid to begin the ceremonies until a young lad, selecting the largest rattle, began to shake it and sing. Presently a sound like rus.h.i.+ng water was heard, but no water was seen; a sound also like great winds, but the air was perfectly still, and it was seen that the rock was pierced with a great hole through the center. The people were frightened and ran away, all save the young lad who had sung the invocation.

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UNUSUAL FORMS OF VASES FROM SIKYATKI]

"The lad soon afterward rejoined them, and they saw that his back was cut and bleeding and covered with splinters of yucca and willow. The flagellation, he told them, had been administered by Calako, who told him that he must endure this laceration before he could look upon the beings he had invoked; that only to those who pa.s.sed through his ordeals could Calako become visible; and, as the lad had braved the test so well, he should thenceforth be chief of the Calako altar. The lad could not describe Calako, but said that his two wives were exceedingly beautiful and arrayed with all manner of fine garments. They wore great headdresses of clouds and every kind of corn which they were to give to the Hopi to plant for food. There were white, red, yellow, blue, black, blue-and-white speckled, and red-and-yellow speckled corn, and a seeded gra.s.s (_kwapi_).

"The lad returned to the altar and shook his rattle over the hole in the rock, and from its interior Calako conversed with him and gave him instructions. In accordance with these he gathered all the Hopi youths and brought them to the rock, that Calako might select certain of them to be his priests.

The first test was that of putting their hands in the mud and impressing them upon the rock. Only those were chosen as novices the imprints of whose hands had dried on the instant.

"The selected youths then moved within the altar and underwent the test of flagellation. Calako lashed them with yucca and willow. Those who made no outcry were told to remain in the altar, to abstain from salt and flesh for ten days, when Calako would return and instruct them concerning the rites to be performed when they sought his aid.

"Calako and his two wives appeared at the appointed time, and after many ceremonials gave to each of the initiated five grains of each of the different kinds of corn. The Hopi women had been instructed to place baskets woven of gra.s.s at the foot of the rock, and in these Calako's wives placed the seeds of squashes, melons, beans, and all the other vegetables which the Hopi have since possessed.

"Calako and his wives, after announcing that they would again return, took off their masks and garments, and laying them on the rock disappeared within it.

"Some time after this, when the initiated were a.s.sembled in the altar, the Great Plumed Snake appeared to them and said that Calako could not return unless one of them was brave enough to take the mask and garments down into the hole and give them to him. They were all afraid, but the oldest man of the Hopi took them down and was deputed to return and represent Calako.

"Shortly afterward Masauwuh stole the paraphernalia, and with his two brothers masqueraded as Calako and his wives. This led the Hopi into great trouble, and they incurred the wrath of Muiyinwuh, who withered all their grain and corn.

"One of the Hopi finally discovered that the supposed Calako carried a cedar bough in his hand, when it should have been willow; then they knew that it was Masauwuh who had been misleading them.

"The boy hero one day found Masauwuh asleep, and so regained possession of the mask. Muiyinwuh then withdrew his punishments and sent Palulukon (the Plumed Snake) to tell the Hopi that Calako would never return to them, but that the boy hero should wear his mask and represent him, and his festival should be celebrated when they had a proper number of novices to be initiated."[134]

Several food basins from Sikyatki have a human hand depicted upon them, and in one of these both hands are represented. On the most perfect of these hand figures (plate Cx.x.xVII, _c_) a wristlet is well represented, with two triangular figures, which impart to it an unusual form. From between the index and second finger there arises a triangular appendage, which joins a graceful curve, extending on one side to the base of the thumb and continued on the other side to the arm. The whole inside of the basin, except the figure of the hand and its appendage, is decorated with spattering,[135] and on the outside there is a second figure, evidently a hand or the paw of some animal.

This external decoration also has a triangular figure in which are two terraces, recalling rain-cloud symbols.

One of the most interesting representations of the human hand (figure 354) is found on the exterior of a beautiful bowl. The four fingers and the thumb are shown with representations of nails, a unique feature in such decorations. From between the index finger and the next, or rather from the tip of the former, arises an appendage comparable with that before mentioned, but of much simpler form. The palm of the hand is crossed by a number of parallel lines, which recall a custom of using the palm lines in measuring ceremonial prayer sticks, as I have described in a memoir on the Snake dance. In place of the arm this hand has many parallel lines, the three medial ones being continued far beyond the others, as shown in the figure.

QUADRUPEDS

Figures of quadrupeds are sparingly used in the decoration of food bowls or basins, but the collection shows several fine specimens on which appear some of the mammalia with which the Hopi are familiar.

Most of these are so well drawn that there appears to be no question as to their identification.

One of the most instructive of these figures is shown in plate Cx.x.x, _a_, which is much worn, and indistinct in detail, although from what can be traced it was probably intended to represent a mythic creature known as the Giant Elk. The head bears two branched horns, drawn without perspective, and the neck has a number of short parallel marks similar to those occurring on the figure of an antelope on the walls of one of the kivas at Walpi. The hoofs are bifid, and from a short stunted tail there arises a curved line which encircles the whole figure, connecting a series of round spots and terminating in a triangular figure with three parallel lines representing feathers.

Perhaps the strangest of all appendages to this animal is at the tail, which is forked, recalling the tail of certain birds. Its meaning is unknown to me.