THE ALÓSAKA CULT OF THE HOPI
INDIANS
By
J. WALTER FEWKES
(From the American Anthropologist (N. S.), Vol. 1, July, 1899)
NEW YORK
G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS
1899
THE ALÓSAKA CULT OF THE HOPI INDIANS[1]
By J. WALTER FEWKES
Introduction
A little over ten years ago an Indian living near Keam’s Canyon, Arizona, informed Mr T. V. Keam, who for several years had been making a collection of Hopi curiosities, that there were two idols in a cave near the ruins of the old pueblo of Awatobi. Mr Keam, supposing these images to be so ancient that they no longer were used in the Hopi ritual, especially as they were reported from a point ten miles from the nearest pueblo, visited the place, and brought the idols to his store, several miles distant. When the removal of these objects became known, it created great consternation among some of the Hopi, and a delegation of priests from one of their villages begged Mr Keam to restore the figurines to them, stating that they were still used in their ceremonies. This request was immediately granted, and the two idols were borne away with great reverence by the priests, who sprinkled a line of meal on the ground along the trail as they returned home. The images, however, have never been returned to their old shrine under the Awatobi mesa, but a new fane has been found for them, the situation of which is known to no white man.[2]