PLATE 35
Black design on red jar by Antonita Roybal (the small drawing above shows how this design is applied to the olla).
SYMBOLISM[52]
Symbolism of one kind or another, plays a very important part in the existence of the Pueblo Indian. It is generally agreed that even the minor acts of everyday life have a certain religious symbolic meaning. For example, the gourd spoons, or kajepes, used in moulding pottery, must apparently be consecrated before they may be used. Similarly, a new technique in pottery making must pass through a period of consecration before it becomes completely established. On the other hand, white men often overemphasize the importance of symbolism in studying any civilization whose customs and philosophy differ radically from their own.
In the light of what is known of the mental attitude of the Pueblo Indian, it would not be unreasonable to assume that the designs on their pottery have some symbolical meaning. Whether this symbolism is in any sense religious, or is merely the symbolism of conventionalization of design, is an open question.[53] It is probable that vessels made before the time when pottery became to some extent an article of commerce between the Indian and the tourist, bore designs of symbolical meaning. It may be that the vessels made today for their own use also have such meanings, but there is every reason to believe that much of the ware now turned out by the San Ildefonso potters for sale to tourists bears designs of no special meaning.
It is true that through bitter experience, the Indians have learned to guard carefully their religious and secular philosophy, and it would require many years of study, living with them, to gain an intimate knowledge of their beliefs. If, however, there are definite meanings associated with the designs upon commercial pottery, the inhabitants of San Ildefonso have become past masters of the art of concealment.
An attempt to obtain some idea of the general reason why vessels are decorated and of what was taking place in the mind of the painter while at work, proved wholly fruitless. Inquiries as to the meaning of whole designs, figures, and elements met with three kinds of response. One family, who have enjoyed considerable contact with investigators of Indian customs, were ready and eager with explanations of the meanings of various elements. They could not, however, explain the meaning of the entire design upon any vessel. Other potters met the inquiry with a frank statement of ignorance, such as “I don’t know”, or “Ask the men, the women don’t know”. A third group exhibited great uncertainty. These people would usually translate the questions into Tewa for the benefit of the rest of the Indians present. Then, after much laughter and discussion, the potter would sometimes offer a meaning, at other times say nothing. One old man explained with great gusto that the design which he had just finished upon a small globular olla represented four small clouds sailing across the sky, one behind the other, from west to east. His manner was very similar to that which one of us might adopt in telling an improbable yarn to a particularly guileless listener.
Some potters gave meanings for whole figures. Another potter, however, composed her figures as the work advanced, evidently with no clear idea, when she began it, of the ultimate form of the figures and therefore probably with no idea in regard to their meaning. It has been suggested that minor variation in similar figures on the same vessel have some meaning. The more probable explanation would seem to be that these variations are due to the lack of a visible pattern. At one time a potter was distinctly annoyed because she noticed, after completing a figure, that she had filled the wrong part of a small detail.