From this time the child eats no animal food for four days. The plume which has been placed on the child's head in the kiva during the initiation is not removed till the fourth morning after the planting of the feathers, when he again goes over the road with his guardian, who deposits the plume from the child's head with a prayer, which is repeated by the child.
Thus ends this remarkable initiation of the Zuñi male child into the order of the Kōk-kō. This is really mainly done by sponsors, and he must personally take the vows as soon as he is old enough.
VOLUNTARY INITIATION INTO THE KŌK-KŌ.
After the first initiation of a boy into this order, he is left to decide for himself when he will assume the vows made for him by his sponsors, though the father and the godfather do not fail to impress upon the boy the importance of the second initiation, which occurs at an annual ceremonial; and when the boy has declared his determination to enter the order, if the Kōk-kō upon seeing him deem him too young, he is ordered to return to his home and wait awhile till his heart has become more wise. For this ceremonial the godparents and the boys assemble in the Kiva of the North. Each boy in turn takes his position to receive his whipping, which is necessary for initiation. The godfather, standing, bends his right knee, which the boy clasps, bowing his head low. The godfather holds the two ends of the blanket and buckskin tightly around the boy, while each of the four Sai-ā-hli-ā in turn give him four strokes across the back with a bunch of the yucca blades. Two of the Kō-yē-mē-shi stand by and count the strokes; the others are in the plaza outside, indulging in their primitive games, which excite much merriment among the large assemblage of people. After each boy has received the chastisement and all are again seated, the four Sai-ā-hli-ā pass in turn to each boy. Each one taking off his mask, places it over the head of the boy, handing him his Spanish bayonets. The boy strikes the Kōk-kō once across each arm and once across each ankle. The Kōk-kō does not speak, but the boy is instructed by his guardian, who talks to him in a whisper, telling him not to be afraid, but to strike hard. The eyes of the boys open wide as the Kōk-kō raise their masks and for the first time familiar faces are recognized. The Kōk-kō leave the kiva after revealing their identity to the children, and running, around the village use their switches indiscriminately, with a few exceptional cases. I saw a woman whipped, she taking the babe from her back and holding it in her arms. This woman requested the whipping that she might be rid of the bad dreams that nightly troubled her. After the Sai-ā-hli-ā leave the kiva the children are called by the priest of the Kōk-kō and told to sit in front of him and the other priests, including the High Priest of Zuñi. This august body sits in the kiva throughout the ceremony. The Priest of the Kōk-kō then delivers a lecture to the boys, instructing them in some of the secrets of the order, when they are told if they betray the secrets confided to them they will be punished by death; their heads will be cut off with a stone knife; for so the Kōk-kō has ordered. They are told how the Kōk-kō appeared upon the earth and instructed the people to represent them. The priest closes by telling the children that in the old some boys betrayed the secret and told that these were not the real gods, but men personating the Kōk-kō, and when this reached the gods the Sai-ā-hli-ā appeared upon the earth and inquired for the boys. The people then lived upon the mesa tō-wā-yäl-län-ne. The mothers declared they knew not where they had fled. The Kōk-kō stamped his feet upon the rocky ground and the rocks parted, and away down in the depths of the mountain he found the naughty boys. He ordered them to come to him and he cut off their heads with his stone knife. This story is sufficient to impress the children that there is no escape for them if they betray the confidence reposed in them, for the Kōk-kō can compel the rocks to part and reveal the secrets.
A repast is now served to the priests and the boys and others in the kiva. The food is brought by the wives and sisters of the four Sai-ā hli-ā to the hatch way and carried in by the Kōk-kō, who have returned to the kiva. The feast opens with a grace said by the priest of the Kōk-kō, who immediately after collects upon a piece of Hē-wi (a certain kind of bread) bits of all the food served. This he rolls up and places by his side, and at the conclusion of the feast he carries it to a distance from, the village over the road to the spirit lake and making a hole in the ground he deposits it as an offering to the gods. Each child goes to the godfather's house, where his head and hands are bathed in yucca suds by the mother and sisters of the godfather, they repeating prayers that the youth may be true to his vows, &c. The boy then returning to his own home is tested by his father, who says, "You are no longer ignorant; you are no longer a little child, but a young man. Were you pleased with the words of the Kōk-kō? What did the priest tell you?" The boy does not forget himself and reveal anything that was said, for the terror overhanging him is too great.
When a youth is selected to personate the Kōk-kō he is instructed in regard to the decorating of the mask he is to wear. When this is done he goes at night to the proper kiva and seated between two instructors he learns the song and prayers. In committing songs and prayers to memory the novice holds a tiny crystal between his thumb and forefinger for a while, then he puts it into his mouth, and at the conclusion of the instruction he swallows it. This insures the remembrance of the prayers and songs, and he awakes the following morning with them indelibly impressed upon his mind. The pupil is then struck across each arm and across each ankle with the yucca blades.
There are very few women belonging to the order of the Kōk-kō. I think there are now only five in Zuñi. When a woman of the order becomes advanced in age she endeavors to find some maiden who will take upon herself the vows at her death. Selecting some young woman, she appeals to her to be received into the order of the Kōk-kō. The maiden replies, "I know nothing concerning the mysteries of the order. You must talk to my father." After the father is spoken to, he in turn spends the night in explaining the duties of the position to his daughter and that the gods would be displeased if she should marry after joining the Kōk-kō. Assuming the Kōk-kō vows is entirely optional with the girl. It is never her duty, but a special privilege which is rarely accepted. If she accepts she passes through both ceremonials described. She chooses her godfather, who gives her for the first ceremony a woman's blanket and for the second a woman's dress, a white blanket, a quantity of blue yarn, a woman's belt, a buckskin, a sacred blanket, and the mask she is to wear. But even here in Zuñi, where the people are so controlled by the priests and have such a superstitious dread of disobeying the commands of the Kōk-kō, women have been guilty of desecrating their sacred office and marrying. At present there is a woman of the order of the Kōk-kō married to a Navajo. She is of course forever afterwards debarred from joining in the ceremonials, but she is permitted to live among her people with no other punishment than their indignation.
INDEX.
Gilbert, G.K., visit of, to Zuñi [540]