The song was now resumed, and dipping the wand he held in the basket of water the boy sprinkled the masks, beginning at the north end and east row. The girl repeated the same. The east row of masks was sprinkled twice. When the children sprinkled the middle and west rows, the ceremony was always begun at the north end of each line of masks; again dipping their wands in the water, the boy beginning at the north side and the girl at the south, they sprinkled the inmates of[pg 256] the lodge. The children were very awkward, and were rendered more so by the many scoldings given them for their mistakes. The sprinkling of the people was continued until the water was exhausted. The lodge was also sprinkled at the cardinal points. The song never ceased throughout this ceremony. The girl and boy, taking the position first assigned them, an attendant, with a reed filled with sacred tobacco, puffed the smoke over the masks, smoking each mask separately on the east row; the middle and west rows he hurriedly passed over. While this was being done an attendant took a pinch from all the different foods and placed what he gathered into a basket in the niche behind the song-priest.[5] After the masks had been smoked, the attendant puffed the smoke over all the people, beginning on the north side of the lodge. During the smoking the song ceased, but was resumed when the attendant took his seat. At the close of the song sacred meal was mixed with water in a Zuñi pottery bowl. This meal is made of green corn baked in the earth and then ground. During the preparation of this medicine mixture the song-priest sang: "This food is mixed for the people of the rocks! We feed you with this food, O people of the rocks!" The theurgist then dipped his forefinger into the mixture, and running his hand rapidly over the masks from north to south, he touched each mouth; each line was passed over four times. The invalid dipped his three first fingers into the basket, and placing them in his mouth, sucked in his breath with a loud noise. This was repeated four times by the invalid and then by each of the attendants, when all the inmates of the lodge were expected to partake of the mixture. This was done with a prayer for rain, good crops, health, and riches. All hands now participated in the feast.
| FOODS BROUGHT INTO THE LODGE. | |
|---|---|
| Da'ttuneilgaij | Pats made of wheat flour and fried. |
| Tab'aestch'lŏnni | Corn meal pats wrapped in corn husks and boiled. |
| Tanä'shkiji | Thick mush boiled and stirred with sticks. |
| Nänesk'ädi | Tortillas. |
| Ta'bijai | Four small balls of corn meal wrapped in corn husks and boiled. |
| Insi'dok'ui | Corn bread with salt, made from the new corn, wrapped in corn husks and baked in ashes. |
| Tkäditin | White corn meal mush. |
| Klesa'hn | Corn meal dough in rectangular cakes baked in ashes, hot earth, or sand. |
| Tsëste'lttsoi | Cakes some fourth of an inch thick made from sweet corn mixed with goat's milk and baked on a hot rock. |
| Tseste' | Bread made of corn first toasted and then finely ground and made into a thin batter which is baked upon a highly polished lava slab. The crisp gauzysheets are folded or rolled. |
| Tki'neshpipizi | Small balls of corn meal mush. |
| To'tkonji | Corn meal cakes one-fourth of an inch in thicknessof old corn, baked in a pan; they are seasonedwith salt. |
| Ãlkaandt | A bread made from sweet corn which is first parchedthen ground on a metate and then chewed bywomen and girls and placed in a mass in a flatbasket; this must be either of yellow or whitecorn, the blue corn is never used for this purpose.A mush is made of either white or yellow cornmeal and the former preparation which has becomeyeast is stirred into the mush. A hole is then dugin the ground (near the fire) and lined with shucksinto which the mush is poured, it is then coveredwith shucks after which earth is thrown over itand a large fire built which burns all night. Inthe early morning the cinders and coals are removedwhen the bread is found to be baked. |
| Tkleheljoe | Yeast is prepared for this bread in the same manneras that for the Ãlkaandt except that the corn isbaked instead of parched. The yeast is thenmixed with meal into a stiff dough and baked incorn husks, four pats are placed in each package. |
| Ta'nätnil (beverage) | Is the same preparation as the yeast used in theÃlkaandt except in this case a drink is made ofit by pouring boiling water over it. |
| Diz'etso | Peaches (fresh or dried) stewed.There were also several large bowls of stewed mutton. |
Little groups of threes and fives were formed over the floor of the lodge; others less fortunate were closely packed together around the outer edge of the lodge and could procure their food only through the generosity of their neighbors. The girl and boy left the lodge after having partaken of the sacred meal mixture. After refreshment the song-priest lifted each mask with his left hand beginning with Hasjelti, and first extending his right hand, which held a fine large crystal, toward the heavens, he touched the under part of each mask with the crystal; four times he passed over the masks. The choir sang but no rattle was used. The crystal was afterward placed on the rug opposite the basket of feathers. The food vessels were removed and the song continued for a time when the song-priest repeated a long low prayer, after which the song was resumed, and thus the night was consumed in prayer and song over the masks.
FIFTH DAY.
FIRST CEREMONY.
A basket of yucca suds was prepared by an attendant, who cleansed his hands of the suds by pouring a gourd of clear water over them; he then put a handful of the suds upon the head of a man who stood before him, nude with the exception of a breech cloth, after which the man washed his head from a water jug which was held over the head of the[pg 258] bather by the attendant. The bather covered his body with the suds, and the contents of the jug was emptied on the floor of the lodge by the attendant. The man dressed himself in the ordinary cotton clothing with rare beads around his neck, and a leather pouch held by a band of mountain sheep skin over his shoulders; he knelt before a bowl of white kaolin which he spread over his face; he then took his seat between two attendants, the one to the right of him holding a pinch of native tobacco and the one on the left holding corn meal in the palms of the right hands.
At early dawn the buffalo robe at the entrance of the lodge was slightly dropped from the doorway to admit the rays of approaching day. The masks which had been sung and prayed over all night were laid away in the niche behind the song-priest. The little girl who performed the previous night returned to the lodge, but I could not see that she was there for any purpose save to eat some of the remaining food, which had been gathered into two large parcels and left by the old woman who removed the vessels after the feast. A red blanket was laid and upon it a piece of white cotton. A reed five inches in length and twice the diameter of the others heretofore used was prepared. The reed was colored black in the usual manner and filled with a feather ball and tobacco. It was lighted with the crystal and touched with the pollen. Upon the completion of the tube the invalid took his seat on the west side of the rug, the attendant who prepared the tube sitting on the west side; he took from one pouch four white shell beads and from another a turquoise bead; he looped a cord of white cotton yarn some three feet long around the pollen end of the tube and fastened to the loop two wing feathers of the Arctic blue bird, one from the right wing and one from the left, and a tail feather from the same bird and three feathers from a bird of yellow plumage, the right and left wing and tail feather. The five beads were strung on the string, the turquoise being the first put on; these were slipped up the cord and two under tail-feathers and a hair from the beard of the turkey were fastened to the end of the string with a loop similar to that which attached it to the tube. (See PL CXIX.). This was the great (cigarette) offering to Hasjelti and must be placed in a canyon near a spring, for all birds gather at the waters. This was offered that the song-priest might have his prayers passed straight over the line of song. This offering secures the presence of this most valued god and so fills the mind of the song-priest with song and prayer that it comes forth without hesitation and without thought, so that he may never have to think for his words. A small quantity of each variety of sand used in decorating was placed on a husk with a little tobacco, and on these a pinch of corn pollen; the tube was then laid on the husk and the string and feathers carefully placed. Two additional feathers, the under tail of the eagle and turkey, were laid on the husk. A blue feather was dipped in water, then in pollen, and rubbed twice over these feathers; an attendant folded the parcel and[pg 259] the song-priest received it and touched it to the soles of the feet, knees, palms, breast, and back and mouth of the invalid; he then put a pinch of the pollen into the invalid's mouth, and a pinch on the top of the head; he placed the folded husk in the invalid's hand, and stood in front of him and whispered a long prayer which the invalid repeated after him. The manner of holding the husk has been previously described. The man with painted face received the husk from the theurgist, who returned to his seat and at once opened the chant with the rattle. At the close of the chant the holder of the husk touched the soles of the feet, palms, etc., of the invalid with it and left the lodge. This precious parcel was taken three miles distant and deposited in a canyon near a spring where there is a luxuriant growth of reeds. Prayers were offered by the depositor for health, rain, food, and good fortune to all. Only the theurgist and his attendants and a few of the near relatives of the invalid were present at this ceremony.
