Fig. 46—Staff of Pawíkkatcina.
At sunrise on the 29th two offerings were deposited, and each of the twenty-three Katcinas placed his nakwákwoci in a shrine.
Ceremonials attending visits of people from adjacent or remote pueblos are simple but interesting. The following reception ceremony of visitors from a distant pueblo not of their own people was noted: In the progress of the summer dances of Walpi in 1892 I observed the ceremonial reception of several Zuñis who came over to assist in the Húmiskatcina. They were formally “received” in the Wikwaliobi kiva by Íntiwa,[109] Kópeli, Hóñyi, Pauatíwa, and Lésma. Íntiwa gave their headman a twig of spruce, to which Lésma tied four nakwákwocis.[110] Íntiwa sprinkled it with sacred meal and laid it in front of the Zuñis, and finally all smoked together. This was said to be a formal act of reception.[111]
The reception ceremony of the Pawíkkatcinas when they returned from Cipaulovi was as follows: At 4 p. m. Pauatíwa’s father, a very old man, sat on the edge of the mesa looking west and north toward Cipaulovi. He called my attention to a line of men coming along the trail. When the line halted on the last rise before the trail ascends to the top of the mesa we went down to welcome them.
Fig. 47—Helmets, ear of corn, and spruce bough arranged for reception ceremony.
Each Katcina placed his helmet in one of two parallel lines arranged along the trail, and in front of the two lines he laid the spruce bough which he carried. In front of this pile of spruce boughs an ear of corn was placed in the trail not far from the helmets. All the Katcinas then marched around the line in a sinistral circuit, sprinkling sacred meal upon the masks, corn, and spruce boughs and throwing a pinch along the trail in advance of the ear of corn. The circuit around the line of helmets was sinistral, as in all Hopi ceremonials.
Nine old men then formed a circle at the left of the corn and smoked, sitting in a squatting posture.[112] No one was allowed to go up the trail before this ceremony was completed, and one who attempted to do so was warned back. A short address of welcome was spoken by the priests to the leader of the Katcinas, and at sunset they put on their masks and marched to the plaza of Sitcomovi. They first danced on the southern, then on the eastern, and lastly on the western sides of the plaza, omitting the northern side. The priests sprinkled the Katcinas with sacred meal, observing the sinistral ceremonial circuit as they passed around the line. A small spruce tree, upon which nakwákwocis were tied, had been placed near the middle of the plaza.
The Katcinas and Katcinamanas then adjourned to the kiva, where they unmasked, placing their helmets in a row and the spruce boughs in the middle of the kiva.[113] The two priests seated themselves on the uprise, one on each side of the ladder.