CLASSIFICATION OF KATCINAS

Before considering the various ceremonials in which the Katcinas appear, it may be well to say something of the nature of these supernatural beings which figure in them as made known by the testimony of some of the best-informed men of the tribe. The various legends which are told about them are numerous and can not be repeated here, but a few notions gathered from them may render it possible for the reader to better understand the character of the ceremonials in which they appear.

These deities are generally regarded as animistic and subordinate to the greater gods.[32] They have been called intercessors between man and the highest supernatural beings. There are misty legends that long ago the Katcinas, like men, came from the under world and brought with them various charms or náhü with which the Hopi are familiar. By some it is said that a Honáni (Badger) chief came up from the Átkyaa, or under world, in the center of a square whose four sides were formed of lines of Katcinas, and that he bore in his left hand a buzzard wing feather and a bundle of medicine hats on his back. The Katcinas recognized him as their chief, and became Katcina Honáni, Badger Katcinas.

The legend runs that in ancient times Hahaíwüqti[33] emerged from the under world followed by four sons, who were Katcinas, each bearing in his arms a pet called pálülükoñûh, plumed serpent. Following these four came other Katcinas with pets (pókomatü), of whom the following are mentioned:

One bearing pákwa, frog (water-eagle).

One bearing pátsro, water-bird.

One bearing pawíkya, duck.

One bearing pavákiyuta, water on the backs bearers, aquatic animals.

One bearing yüñ′ocona, turtle.

One bearing zrána, bullfrog.

One bearing pavátiya, young water bearer (tadpole).

The others with kwáhü (eagle), parrot, crow, cooper’s hawk, swallow, and night hawk.

The Súmaíkoli pets for the six directions are:

Sowüñwû, deer	Kwiníwi.
Pañ′wû, mountain sheep	Tevyüña.
Tcü′bio, antelope	Tatyúka.
Tcaízrisa, elk	Hópoka.
Sówi, hare	Omyúka.
Tábo, cottontail rabbit	Atkyántuka.

The first four Katcinas bear a startling yet foreign resemblance to the Navaho Etsuthçle.[34] The word pókomatü is difficult to translate, but “pets” seems a good rendering. Its usage is similar to that of certain Navaho words. A Navaho woman speaks of a favorite child as ciliⁿ; a man calls his pet horse ciliⁿ, and the shaman designates his fetich-emblem of a nature deity bĭliⁿ; a Hopi calls his dog póko. The pet of Tuñwup is depicted on the altar as elsewhere mentioned in my account of the reredos of the farewell Katcina at Walpi.[35]

BUREAU OF ETHNOLOGY.

FIFTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT. PL. CV.

THE NATACKA CEREMONY AT WALPI

In the Hopi conception of the All Katcina there seems to be an idea that they dwell in four terrestrial places or world-quarters.[36] This may be looked on as an application of a general idea of world-quarter deities so common among them.

Northwest, kwiníwi	Kicyúba.
Southwest, tevyüña	Nüvatikyaubi, San Francisco mountains.
Southeast, tatyúka	Wénima.
Northeast, hópoko	Nüvatikyaubi, San Mateo mountains.

If there is any one feature which distinguishes a Katcina it is the use, by some or all of the participants, of a mask or ceremonial helmet. The Katcinas are divided into two groups, the complete and the abbreviated; the former is constant year by year, the latter varying. Altars are present in the complete, absent in abbreviated presentations. A cloud-charm altar or invocation to the six world-quarter deities is sometimes made. Public announcements are not prescribed. The Tcukúwympkiya or clowns are generally present. Abbreviated Katcinas consist mainly of public dances in which Katcinas, Katcinamanas, and clowns take part. The páhos or prayer offerings are few in number. Ceremony ends with a feast; generally no altars. Típoni[37] is not brought out in public. It is possible that the fox-skin so universally worn by the animistic personifications called Katcinas hanging from the belt behind, is a survival comparable with the skin of the animal in which formerly, as in Nahuatl ceremonials, the whole body was clothed. In the case of Natácka, for instance, a skin is still worn over the shoulders. Conservatism in dress is tenaciously adhered to in religious paraphernalia among all peoples.

Roughly speaking we may say that the Katcina celebrations are characterized by the presence of the Tcukúwympkiyas (Tatcükti, Tcückütû, Paikyamû or clowns), which do not appear in the unmasked or nine days’ ceremonials. The epoch in which they remain among the Hopi is therefore approximately that from the winter to the summer solstices; that in which they are absent, from the summer to the winter solstices.[38]

I classify the Katcina celebrations into two large groups, which may be called the elaborate and the abbreviated, and have considered them in the following pages.