The Katcinas, irrespective of the special personage depicted, wear a broad cotton sash with knotted strings at the proximal end. In this belt spruce branches are held. A fox-skin depends from the belt, and turtle-shell rattles on the leg are invariably part of a Katcina’s costume. Moccasins and heel bands are prescribed and bodily decoration with pigments is common, but none of the above are characteristic of special kinds of Katcinas. The mask is in general the one distinctive characteristic of a definite personification.
SÍOCÁLAKO
The Shálako is one of the most important observances at Zuñi, and is partially described by Cushing in an article on his life in Zuñi.[96] An exhaustive account, however, has never been published. The Hopi occasionally celebrate a Cálako, which from its name and other reasons is undoubtedly an incorporated modification of this ceremonial, as the Tusayan legends distinctly state.[97] The following pages give an outline of the Hopi presentation as a contribution to the comparative study of Pueblo ritual. A complete account of the Shálako at Zuñi is a great desideratum before it is possible to undertake close comparisons.
The presentation of Cálako is not an annual event at the East mesa of Tusayan, but occurs after long intervals of time. The paraphernalia are kept in a house in Sitcomovi and belong to the Badger clan. The house in which they are deposited is the property of Koĭkáamü, the daughter of Masiúmtiwa’s eldest sister, now deceased, and the wími likewise belong to her by descent.
The chiefs of all the gentes in Walpi and Sitcomovi, the chief of the Katcinas, and one or two others from Hano assembled in this house on the 16th of July, 1893, and made a large number (over two hundred) of páhos for use in the ceremonials to be described.
Early on the morning of the next day the masks and effigies of Siocálako were renovated and carried to the spring called Kwañwába (sweet water), which is situated on the Zuñi trail southward from the mesa. In a modern house owned by a Sitcomovi family[98] at this spring the masks were repainted and the hoops which were used to make a framework for the bodies were set around with eagle feathers.
The effigies which were used in personifications were made up of masks or helmets of the ordinary size for the heads and a crinoline-like[99] framework of willow hoops for the bodies. These masks were made from narrow shreds of leaves of the agave plaited together diagonally, and this plaited frame was covered with a painted buckskin upon which the symbolism of the Síocálako was delineated. The projecting beak of the face had a movable under jaw, which was hinged and manipulated with a string. The helmet was attached to a staff forming a backbone, 3½ feet long, by which it was carried. The series of crinoline hoops or supports of the blankets which formed the body were about fifteen in number, the upper being about the size of the helmet, the lower 4½ feet in diameter. A tü′ihi or large white embroidered mantle was draped about the upper hoops or the shoulders, and a gray fox-skin was hung around the neck, which was likewise profusely decorated with shell necklaces.
The man who acted the part of bearer walked inside the crinoline, freely supporting the effigy by the staff or backbone, holding it at such a height as to permit the lowest hoop with its attached feathers to reach to his knees. Each effigy bearer was bareheaded, and although hidden from view, was decorated with the white kilt of a typical Katcina.
An uncostumed chief led the four giants in single file toward the mesa, followed by a large number of men dressed as mud-heads or Tatcü′kti, who were called “Koyímse,” a term adapted from their Zuñi name.[100] All who had sufficient knowledge of the idiom spoke Zuñi, and the procession reached the Sun spring (Tawápa) at about sunset. It was there met by two priests, Taláhoya and a nephew of Masiúmtiwa, who were to act as conductors. All were welcomed and homoya (prayers) were recited and much sacred meal was sprinkled. Headed by the two conductors the procession climbed the trail to the top of the mesa, and from thence marched into the main court of Sitcomovi by the northeastern entrance, near which the men bearing the four giant effigies, together with the mud-heads, halted. The latter were closely huddled together in four groups, drumming with deafening noise on as many drums.
The Katcina chief, Íntiwa, and a man personifying Eótoto[101] then drew four circles with intersecting lines of meal on the ground at the north side of the court in the positions indicated. This was followed by a command of Hahaíwüqti, who signaled with an ear of corn for the first (kwiníwi, north) Cálako effigy to advance. He did so with a short, rapid step, and halted over the first circle of meal. The “bearer” bobbed the effigy up and down so that the feathers which had been fastened to the lower hoop of the crinoline touched the ground. The bearer then stooped and rested the end of his staff on the ground, holding it upright. The other three giant impersonators were then brought up, one at a time, by Hahaíwüqti. As each settled to its position the bearer cried “Ho!” six times in a shrill falsetto, and rapidly snapped the beak of the effigy he bore by means of a string. The Cálakos were then sprinkled with meal by the chiefs and others, after which the effigies were moved one by one to circles of meal on the southern side of the plaza. Six times this removal was repeated, each time attended by ceremonials similar to those mentioned above.