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.
ELABORATE KATCINAS
Under the head of elaborate Katcinas[39] may be included:
- Soyáluña.
- Katcina’s return.[40]
- Powámû,
- Pálülükoñti.
- Nimánkacma.