The Religious Life of the Zuñi Child

by Matilda Coxe Stevenson

BIRTH CUSTOMS.

Having now briefly sketched the mythology relating to the ceremonials to be described, I invite your attention to the main subject of the present paper: the Religious Life of the Zuñi Child.

First we will notice the birth customs.

Zuñi child life may be divided into two parts. One I will call the practical or domestic; the other, the mythologic or religious. The former is fairly exemplified in the habits, customs, games, and experiences of our own domestic child life. The other is essentially different; in it are involved the ceremonials, legends, and myths which surround the Zuñi child from its birth.

Previous to the birth of a child, if a daughter be desired, the husband and wife proceed together to the "mother" rock, and at her feet make offerings and prayers, imploring her to intercede with the great father, the Sun, to give to them a daughter, and that this daughter may grow to be all that is good in woman; that she may be endowed with the power of weaving beautifully and may be skilled in the potter's art. Should a son be desired, the couple repair to the shrine above, and here, at the breast and heart of the "father" rock, prayers and plume sticks are offered that a son may be given them, and that he may have power to conquer his enemies, and that he may become distinguished in the Kōk-kō and other orders, and have power over the field to produce abundant crops. In both cases the sacred meal is sprinkled, and, should the prayer not be answered, there is no doubt that the heart of one or the other was not earnest when the prayer was offered.

The Zuñi child is born amid ceremony. At its birth only the maternal grandmother and two female doctors are present. After the birth of the child, the paternal grandmother enters, bearing as offerings to the new born babe a large pottery bowl and inside of it a tiny blanket. She then prepares warm suds of yucca root in the bowl, in which she bathes the infant, at the same time repeating a prayer of thanks for the life that has been given them and praying for the future of the child. She then rubs the entire body of the child, except the head, with warm ashes held in the palm of the hand and moistened with water. This process is repeated every morning during infancy and the same paste is put upon the face of the child until it is several years old. I would remark that this paste is seldom noticed upon the older children because it is put on in the morning and drying soon is brushed off by the child. It is asserted by the Zuñi that in four days after the birth of a child the first skin is removed by exfoliation and is supplanted by a new one. After applying the ashes, the paternal grandmother places the infant in the arms of the maternal grandparent, who performs other offices for the little one and wraps it in a piece of cotton cloth. The paternal grandmother prepares a bed of warm sand by the right side of the mother (leaving a cool spot for the child's head); she then receives the infant and lays it upon its bed, and over it she arranges the little blanket which she brought; she then places upon the sand and at the right side of the child an ear of white corn; if the child be a girl, the mother, or a three-plumule, corn is selected; if a boy, the father, or single ear, corn. The fourth day after the birth the child is again bathed in the yucca root suds by the same grandmother, who again repeats a long prayer. During the first ten days of the child's life the paternal grandmother remains in the daughter-in-law's house, looking after the mother and helping in the preparation of the feast that is to occur. On the morning of the tenth day the child is taken from its bed of sand, to which it is never to return, and upon the left arm of the paternal grandmother it is carried for the first time into the presence of the rising sun. To the breast of the child the grandmother carrying it presses the ear of corn which lay by its side during the ten days; to her left the mother of the infant walks, carrying in her left hand the ear of corn which lay by her side. Both women sprinkle a line of sacred meal, emblematic of the straight road which the child must follow to win the favor of its gods. Thus the first object which the child is made to behold at the very dawn of its existence is the sun, the great object of their worship; and long ere the little lips can lisp a prayer it is repeated for it by the grandmother.

The Zuñi are polytheists; yet, while they have a plurality of gods, many of whom are the spirits of their ancestors, these gods are but mediums through which to reach their one great father of all—the Sun.

BUREAU OF ETHNOLOGY.

FIFTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. XX.

2 PĀ-OO-TĪ-WA.

1 KŌ-YĒ-MĒ-SHI.

3 SAI-Ā-HLI-A.

ZUÑI MASKS AND KŌ-YĒ-MĒ-SHI.

Returning to the house, the paternal grandmother again bathes the child in yucca suds; then, for the first time, the little one is put into the cradle. The baby's arms are placed straight by its sides, and in this position it is so strapped in its cradle that it cannot even move a hand. These cradles have hood-shaped tops, and over the whole thick coverings are placed, so that the wonder is the child does not smother. The cradle is usually deposited in some safe corner, and the baby is left to sleep or amuse itself with its infantine thoughts. The cradle is sometimes attached to two ropes to form a swing, and when the mother becomes conscious of the child's awakening she uncovers its head at times and the tiny thing casts its eyes around. On the tenth morning both parents of the child are bathed in suds of yucca, the whole body of the mother but only the head of the father. This office is also performed by the paternal grandmother. The immediate blood relations (female only) then assemble at the infant's home; that is, all the household of the father's house and those of the mother's house. Each woman from the father's house brings to the baby a gift of a little blanket. This select gathering partakes of a feast, which is presided over by the maternal grandmother. At the close of the feast the infant is carried by the oldest sister of the father to the paternal grandmother's house, where it is presented to the paternal grandfather, who prays to the Sun (Yä-tō tka) to send down blessings upon the child.