Sacred-Texts  Native American  Zuñi Religion  Bunzel Index 

ZUÑI RITUAL POETRY

By RUTH L. BUNZEL

From The Forty-Seventh Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology, 1929-1930, the Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C.

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CONTENTS

* The items marked with an asterisk are presented in text with interlinear and free translation; the others text and free translation only.

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ZUÑI RITUAL POETRY

By RUTH L. BUNZEL

INTRODUCTION

THE NATURE AND FUNCTION OF PRAYER

Spoken prayer in Zuñi is called t?ewusu p?ena:we, "prayer talk." This includes personal prayers, all the set prayers of rituals, chants, the origin myth in its ritual forms, the "talk" of komosono and other set speeches. It is also used for urgent requests. (t?ewusu p?eye?a--" he speaks prayers, i. e., begs, implores.")

Prayer is never the spontaneous outpouring of the overburdened soul; it is more nearly a repetition of magical formulae. A good deal has already been said (p. 493) about the rôle of prayer in the ritual. The prayers constitute the very heart of a ceremony. Like fetishes, they are sacred and powerful in themselves. Their possession is a source of power; their loss or impairment a great danger. Zuñis will describe esoteric ceremonies fully and vividly, but there are two thing which they are equally reluctant to do--to exhibit sacred objects or to repeat the words of a prayer. There is much less reticence about songs, except for a few special, secret songs. Prayer frequently forms part of set rituals. Then whether publicly declaimed or muttered so as to be inaudible to profane ears, the efficacy of the prayer depends in no small measure on its correct rendition. The prayers for individual use, such as accompany offerings of prayer meal, food, or prayer sticks, requests for medical service, etc., are also fixed in form and content, although they are individually varied in degree of elaboration. "Some men who are smart, talk a long time, but some are just like babies." There are certain other occasions on which men can display their skill in handling the poetic medium when they are visited in their houses by the katcinas; when they are called upon to take part in the games of the Koyemci; when they are appointed to office; or otherwise signaled out for honor or blessing by the supernaturals. In such cases one must improvise quickly and handle correctly the ritual vocabulary, rhythms, characteristic long periods, and, above all, speak without any hesitation or fumbling and for as long as possible. There is no time limit, no admonitions to be brief and to the point.

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The set prayers must be formally learned--they are not just picked up. The most formal instruction is that connected with the transmission of the prayers of the Ca?lako. Each kiva has a Ca?lako wo?le, who, among his other duties, keeps the prayers. Immediately after the winter solstice the Ca?lako appointees come to him to be taught the necessary prayers. The wo?le meets with them for the four nights following each planting of prayer sticks, and as often besides as may be necessary. The Saiyataca party, whose ritual is the most elaborate, meets every night. Most of this time is given to the "long talk," the litany that is declaimed in the house of the host on the night of their final ceremonies. There are many other prayers that accompany all their activities-prayers for the making and planting of prayer sticks, for getting their mask from the people who keep it and returning it, for various stages in dressing and in their progress toward the village, for the dedication of the house, for blessing the food, for thanking the singers and the hosts, for going away. How ever, the "long talk" and the "morning talk" are chanted aloud in unison and must be letter perfect. The method of instruction is for the wo?le to intone the prayer, the pupils joining in as they can. One-half of the chant is taken each night. The phraseology of the prayers is so stereotyped that the principal difficulty in learning a long prayer is to keep the sequence. For this purpose certain cult groups have special mnemonic devices. The K^äklo "talk" recorded in text by Mrs. Stevenson is such a record. It is an outline naming in order the various personages called and the places visited, it being assumed that the performer can fill in the outline from his knowledge of the poetic forms. It takes the men appointed to impersonate the gods all of the year to learn their prayers. As the time for the ceremony approaches great concern is felt, and sometimes the ceremony is postponed because the men are not ready. On the night after the ceremony the men go once again to the wo?le and give the prayer back. They recite it for him. At the close he inhales, and they do not, and so he takes from them the spirit of the prayer.

The instruction in prayers that are not publicly performed is less formal. Boys learn the a, b, c's of religious participation, including elementary prayers, from their fathers. After initiation into a medicine society a man goes at once to his ceremonial father to learn to make the prayer sticks of the society, and at the same time learn prayers for the making and offering of prayer sticks. He makes some payment to his father for this information--a shirt or a headband or a few pieces of turquoise. Women do not make their own prayer sticks, but they go similarly to their "fathers" to learn the required prayers. So every additional bit of knowledge is acquired. As more esoteric information is sought, the expense for instruction increases

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greatly. A certain old man in one of the priesthoods knew a particular prayer and the order of events in a rarely performed ceremony. He refused to teach these things to anyone. When he was very old and his death was expected his colleagues wished to learn this prayer from him. He was finally persuaded to teach them for a consideration. The woman member of the priesthood contributed a woman's shawl, the men things of greater value, to his fee. He taught the prayer but withheld the other information, and finally died without communicating it. Sometimes a man who is apt and curious and wealthy may collect prayers, the way men in other societies accumulate oil paintings or other works of art, and eventually turn them to profit. The cost of most information is not so excessive that a poor man can not, with the practice of a little thrift, acquire whatever he wishes to know.[1] He can, if he wishes, and if he has friends, learn the prayers of the Ne?we:kwe without actually joining their society. His ceremonial affiliations restrict his right to use these prayers, but many men go to expense to learn prayers they have no intention of using. The Saiyataca texts recorded in the following pages and many others were given me by a man who had never impersonated Saiyataca and never expected to. They were verified after the informant's death by the Saiyataca wo?le, who wondered how and why the informant had learned them. I myself heard the actual chant twice after recording the text and know it to be correct.

ZUÑI POETIC STYLE

As might be expected, prayers are highly formalized in content and mode of expression. Nearly all prayers are requests accompanying offerings. They have three sections, which always appear in the same order: A statement of the occasion, a description of the offering, and the request. In long and important prayers the statement of the occasion is a synoptic review of ritual acts leading up to the present moment of a ceremony. Thus, Saiyataca's chant begins with a description of the winter solstice ceremony when the appointment was made and follows the Saiyataca party through all the minor ceremonies of the year, even enumerating the various shrines at which prayer sticks were offered. The prayers over novices at their initiation ceremony begin with a formal description of their illness and cure. In prayers which do not mark the culmination of long ceremonies the statement of the occasion may be no more than a statement of the time of day or the season of the year, and some veiled allusion to the special deities who are being invoked.

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There is always a formal request for all the regular blessings--long life, old age, rain, seeds, fecundity, riches, power, and "strong spirit." This formal request closes the prayer. Any special request, such as those for summer storms and winter snows, safety in war, rescue from disease, precede this. Requests that are strictly personal never figure in prayer. One prays always for "all good fortune," never for special and particular benefit. The only exceptions are in the case of prayers in sickness and the prayer of a widower to his dead wife with the request that she should not pursue him.

Zuñi prayers are distinctly matter of fact. They deal with external events and conditions rather than inner states. Outside of the request, their content is limited to two fields: Natural phenomena, such as sunrise, sunset, dawn, night, the change of seasons, the phases of the moon, rainstorms, snowfall, the growth of corn; and ritual acts, especially the making of prayer sticks, setting up of altars, and transfer of authority. Rituals of a more intimate and personal character, such as fasting and abstinence, are never mentioned. In their prayers Zuñis do not humble themselves before the supernatural; they bargain with it.

There are regular stereotyped phrases for all things commonly alluded to in prayer. The sun always "comes out standing to his sacred place," "night priests draw their dark curtain," the corn plants "stretch out their hands to all directions calling for rain," the meal painting on an altar is always "our house of massed clouds," prayer sticks are "clothed in our grandfather, turkey's, robe of cloud." Events are always described in terms of these stereotypes, which are often highly imaginative and poetic.[2] These fixed metaphors are the outstanding feature of Zuñi poetic style. There are not very many of them; they are used over and over again, the same imagery appearing repeatedly in one prayer. A prayer recorded by Cushing more than 50 years ago contains all of the same stereotypes and no turns of expression different from those in use to-day. A comparison of Cushing's texts[3] with mine shows a rigidity of style in oral tradition.

The sentence structure is that of continued narrative in the hands of a particularly able story-teller. Zuñi is a language that is very sensitive to skillful handling. Oratory is a recognized art, and prayer is one of the occasions on which oratory is used. The best prayers run to long periods-the longer the better, since clarity of expression is not necessary, nor particularly desirable.

Zuñi, like Latin, is a highly inflected language and can handle effectively involved sentences that can not be managed intelligibly in

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English. These features, which are difficult enough of translation in prose, are emphasized in the poetry. The long period is a characteristic feature. The typical Zuñi word order is subject, object, verb; the verb always holding the final position. The usual method of expressing temporal or causal subordination is by means of participial or gerundive clauses, fully inflected, preceding the principal proposition. These participial clauses are impossible in English. In the translation it has been necessary, therefore, to break up the original sentences. Thereby an important and effective stylistic feature is unavoidably lost. But the reader should think of the Zuñi sentences rolling on like the periods of a Ciceronian oration to their final close.

Another difficulty of translation, which will be alluded to frequently in the following pages, is the impossibility of translating the word plays with which the texts abound. To quote one example: The root lhea: means, in its intransitive inflection, to wear or hold in the hand; in its transitive inflection, to clothe or to give into the hand. There the sentence li:lh ho? t?o? telik^inan a:lhea?u means both, "I here hand you these prayer sticks," or "I clothe you with these prayer sticks." Folk tales and religious beliefs utilize this double entendre. It is believed, for instance, that when people neglect to plant prayer sticks to the gods their clothing wears out. The passage where the word cipololon:e is used with the double meaning of "smoke" and "mist" is a striking example. The suppliant offers smoke of the sacred cigarette to the rain makers. They are conceived as taking the cigarette and smoking in turn. They "send forth their smoky breath," i. e., mist or fog.

Word play is used with still greater subtlety in the description of the prayer-stick offering. Many Zuñi roots are neutral; i. e., can be inflected to form both nouns and verbs.[4] ikwi: is to tie something about something else; ikwin:e, literally a tying about, is the usual word for belt. To say, therefore, "I tie the cotton about it," is precisely the same as to say "I belt him with a cotton belt." So the whole image of the making of the prayer stick or the dressing of an idol is built up linguistically. It is very difficult to tell how much is word play, how much metaphor, and how much is actual personification. The Zuñi finds these ambiguities intriguing.

This leads us to the third form of word play, the deliberate use of ambiguity, both verbal and grammatical. There are passages where subject and object are deliberately confounded, although there are excellent means for avoiding such ambiguity. These sentences are perfectly grammatical and can be correctly interpreted in two ways.

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The use of obsolete or special words has occasioned some difficulty. The expression k^?acima t?apela for ladder is one case. Tapela, the Zuñis say, is an "old word" for ladder. T?apelan:e, however, was a load of wood tied up as it used to be in the days when wood was brought on foot. Wood is no longer brought in this way, but the word, fixed in metaphor, has survived. There are a number of similar examples. In such cases the old translation has been retained.

It has been impossible, of course, to render the original rhythm. One characteristic feature, however, has been retained, namely, its irregularity, the unsymmetrical alternation of long and short lines. Cushing, in his commendable desire to render Zuñi verse into vivid and intelligible English verse, committed the inexcusable blunder of reducing the Zuñi line to regular short-line rhymed English stanzas. If one were to choose a familiar English verse form it should be the line of Milton or, better still, the free verse of the King James version of the psalms. I have tried to retain the sense in the original of the fluidity and variety of the verse form. In reading the translations one must be mindful of Zuñi methods of declamation. The short lines are declaimed slowly and with marked emphasis, the long lines are spoken rapidly, unaccented syllables are slurred or elided, and the word accents pile up on each other. The two types of line are like the booming of the surf and the rushing of the brook.

Zuñi poetry has no feminine endings.[5] The heavy accent with noticeable lengthening on the final syllable can not be transferred to English. The translation therefore suffers greatly from loss of sonority and vigor. In the original every line is like the declaration of a creed--an effect which no translation can adequately render. It is interesting to note that although the natural cadence of Zuñi is trochaic, the poetic rhythm is predominantly iambic. The principal word accent in Zuñi is invariably on the first syllable, with a secondary accent, in words of four or more syllables, on the penult. The final syllable is always unaccented, yet the important poetic stress is always on the final syllable of the line, which gives the verse a curious syncopated quality, very difficult of reproduction. The final syllable is usually distinguished by prolongation and a high falling tone.

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I. PRAYERS TO THE ANCIENTS

AN OFFERING OF FOOD TO THE ANCESTORS

The offering of food to the dead forms an important part of Zuñi household ritual. Cushing states that a bit of food is offered in the fire at each meal by all partaking, and that no child is weaned until he is able to make this offering with a suitable prayer. At the present time the practice is by no means universal. It is made, with very little ceremony, by priests and the female heads of their houses. The female heads of houses holding ceremonial objects make offerings to these objects before serving food. Each appointee to ceremonial office makes offerings at nightfall in the river, about a mile west of Zuñi. The food thus offered is carried by the river to the supernaturals at the village of the masked gods. Offerings of food are conspicuous at any ceremonial meal, and each man holding ceremonial office receives a package to be offered later in the river. With offerings in the house no prayer is spoken-at most only a few words are mumbled: "Eat; may our roads be fulfilled," or "May we be blessed with life. " With outdoor offerings, long prayers are spoken. Offerings, whether of food, corn meal, or prayer sticks, are never made specifically to one's own ancestors, but to the ancestors.

After the crops are harvested in fall ghosts' day or grandmothers' day is announced by the sakisti (sacristan of the ancient mission church).[2] On this day large quantities of food are prepared, only products of that year's harvest being used, a lamb of that spring's lambing, bread made of new wheat and corn, and anything else that has been raised. The melons are gone by that time, but some are always saved for the grandmothers. Before eating the evening meal women make their offerings in the fire, a few ears of corn, a dish of lamb stew, a loaf of bread, a roll of paper bread. After dark the men take even greater quantities to the river. The following prayer is used, probably, with this special offering.

This day my children,
For their fathers,
Their ancestors,

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5 For you who have attained the far off place of waters,[3]
This day
My children
Have prepared food for your rite.
10 Now our sun father
Has gone in to sit down at his sacred place.[4]
Taking the food my children have prepared at their fireplaces
(I have come out.)
15 Those who hold our roads,[5]
The night priests,[6]
Coming out rising to their sacred place
Will pass us on our roads.
20 This night
I add to your hearts.
With your supernatural wisdom
You will add to your hearts,
Let none of you be missing
25 But all add to your hearts.
Thus on all sides you will talk together.
From where you stay quietly
Your little wind-blown clouds,
Your fine wisps of cloud,
30 Your massed clouds you will send
forth to sit down with us;
With your fine rain caressing the earth,
With all your waters
You will pass to us on our roads.
With your great pile of waters,
35 With your fine rain caressing the earth,
With your heavy rain caressing the earth,
You will pass to us on our roads.
My fathers,
Add to your hearts.
40 Your waters,
Your seeds,
Your long life,[7]
Your old age
You will grant to us.

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45 Therefore I have added to your hearts.
To the end, my fathers,
My children:
You will protect us.
All my ladder descending children [8]
50 Will finish their roads;
They will grow old.
You will bless us with life.

THE PREPARATION OF PRAYER STICKS AT THE WINTER SOLSTICE

Twice during the winter solstice ceremony each adult male makes prayer sticks. The first time he makes for himself offerings to the sun, and to the ancestors. For the grown women of the family he makes offerings for the moon and the ancestors; children offer to the ancestors. If he is a member of a society he makes the special offering appropriate to his rank in the society. These solstice offerings are quite different from monthly society offerings.

The offerings of each family are deposited in an excavation in the family field, generally the cornfield, despite the fact that these are at greater distances from the village. After the offerings are made everyone is supposed to abstain from animal food, in addition to the usual requirement of sexual continence. Abstinence from meat is required because of the offering to the sun, which employs only downy feathers, which are especially potent and carry with thorn the pledge of abstinence. Among the younger people only those who belong to societies fast from meat. The others would consider it wrong to do so. "While we were away at school we ate meat, and it is a bad thing to break one's custom."

On the fourth day each initiated male offers to the katcinas, and each male society member offers to the beast gods. These offerings are made in the cornfield or in the fields to the east of the village. That night, after dark, special offerings are made in the corrals for the increase of horses, cattle, and sheep, for clothing and ornaments, and for medicine. Each man uses a different kind of stick and guards this secret knowledge jealously.

There are prayers to be said at each stage of the process of prayer stick making. Prayers are always offered to the trees before cutting the sticks. Corn meal is offered to the "lucky" tree. This is not cut, but another is taken. The rest of the prayers are generally

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omitted until the stick is finished. Then the following brief prayer is spoken over it before it is set aside until the time comes to plant it:

This many are the days
Since our moon mother
Yonder in the west[9]
Appeared, still small;
When but a short space yet remained
Till she was fully grown,
Then out daylight father,[10]
Pekwin of the Dogwood clan,
For his sun father
10 Told off the days.
This many days we have waited.
We have come to the appointed time.
My children,
15 All my children,
Will make plume wands.
My child,
My father,[11] sun,
20 My mother, moon,
All my children will clothe you with prayer plumes.[12]
When you have arrayed yourselves in these,
With your waters,
25 Your seeds
You will bless all my children.
All your good fortune
You will grant to them all.
To this end, my father,
30 My mother:
May I finish my road;
May I grow old;
May you bless me with life.

AN OFFERING OF PRAYER STICKS AT THE WINTER SOLSTICE

This many are the days
Since at the new year
For those who are our fathers,

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5 Tcu'eto:we,[14]
The days[15] were made.
From all the wooded places
Breaking off the young straight shoots
Of the male willow, female willow,
10 In our hands we held them fast.
With them we gave our plume wands human form.
With the striped cloud wing
The one who is our father,
Male turkey,
15 We gave our plume wands human form.[16]
With the flesh of our mother,
Cotton woman,
Even a poorly made cotton thread,
20 With this four times encircling the plume wands,
And tying it about their bodies,
We finished our plume wands.
Having finished our plume wands
25 And offering our fathers their plume wands
We make their days.[17]
Anxiously awaiting their days.
We have passed the days.
After a little while
30 Your massed clouds,
Your rains,
We shall desire.
We have given you plume wands.
That with your waters,
35 Your seeds,
Your riches,[18]
Your long life,
Your old age,
You may bless us--
40 For this I have given you plume wands.
To this end, my fathers,
May our roads reach to dawn lake;[19]
May our roads be fulfilled;
May we grow old;

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45 To where the road of our sun father goes
May our roads reach;
May our roads be fulfilled;
May we grow old;
50 May we be blessed with life.

A MONTHLY OFFERING OF PRAYER STICKS

At each full moon (in some societies at the new moon) each member of a society offers prayer sticks. In addition to special offerings prescribed by the society there are two to four short black sticks for the ancestors and, for males, one similar black stick, with the addition of a duck feather, for the katcinas. The sticks are buried in the corn field or at Red Earth, a point on the river bank east of the town. The prayer sticks are deposited with the following prayer, which was secured from one of the headmen of the Wood Society.

This many are the days
Since our moon mother,
Yonder in the west
Appeared still small.
When she became fully grown
Seeking yonder along the river courses
The ones who are our fathers,
Male willow,
Female willow,
Four times cutting the straight young shoots,
To my house
I brought my road.
This day,
With my warm human hands
I took hold of them.
I gave my plume wands human form.
With the striped cloud tail
Of the one who is my grandfather,
The male turkey,
With eagle's thin cloud tail,
With the striped cloud wings
And massed cloud tails
Of all the birds of summer,
With these four times I gave my plume wands human form.
With the flesh of the one who is my mother,
Cotton woman,
Even a poorly made cotton thread,
Four times encircling them and tying it about their bodies,
I gave the plume wands human form
With the flesh of the one who is our mother,
Black paint woman,
Four times covering them with flesh,
I gave my plume wands human form.
In a short time the plume wands were ready.
Taking the plume wands,
I made my road go forth.
Yonder with prayers
We took our road.
Thinking, "Let it be here,"
Our earth mother
We passed upon her road.
Our fathers,
There on your earth mother,
There where you are waiting your plume wands
We have passed you on your roads.
There where you are all gathered together in beauty
Now that you are to receive your plume wands,
You are gathered together.
This day I give you plume wands.
By means of your supernatural wisdom
You will clothe yourself with the plume wands.
Wherever you abide permanently,
At the place of the first beginning,
Touching one another with your plume wands,
You will bend down to talk together.
From where you abide permanently,
Your little wind-blown cloud,
Your thin wisps of cloud,
Your hanging stripes of cloud,
Your massed up clouds, replete with living waters,
You will send forth to stay with us.
They will come out standing on all sides.
With your fine rain caressing the earth,
With your weapons, the lightning,
With your rumbling thunder,
Your great crashes of thunder,
With your fine rain caressing the earth,
Your heavy rain caressing the earth,
With your great pile of waters here at Itiwana,[20]
With these You will pass us on our roads.
In order that you may come to us thus
I have given you plume wands. My fathers,
When you have taken your plume wands,
With your waters,
Your seeds,
Your riches,
Your power,
Your strong spirit,
Will all your good fortune whereof you are possessed,
Me you will bless.

Corn meal is then sprinkled on the prayer sticks with the following prayer:

This day, my fathers,
I have given you plume wands.
The source of our water of life.
The source of our flesh,
Flesh of the white corn
Prayer meal
I give to you.
Taking your plume wand,
Your prayer meal,
with your waters,
Your seeds,
Your riches,
Your long life,
Your old age,
With all your good fortune
You will bless us.
This is all.

PRAYERS TO DEAD WIFE, WITH OFFERINGS OF PRAYER MEAL AND PRAYER STICKS

When a man's wife dies for four days he observes the most stringent taboos. He remains continent; he abstains from eating meat, grease, and salt. He sits alone, away from the fire, and must not be touched. He should not speak or be spoken to. Each morning at dawn he drinks an emetic and goes out on the eastern road to offer black corn meal to the dead spouse. He holds the black meal in the left hand, passes it four times over his head, and throws it away as rite of exorcism. Then, using the right hand, he scatters white meal, and prays. These taboos are the same as those offered by a warrior who has taken a scalp, and are directed to the same ends, the removal of contamination and the propitiation of the ghost. The ghost, who is lonely, will try to visit her husband in dreams. To prevent this he uses black corn meal, "to make the road dark" or "to forget."

After the four days he plants prayer sticks and resumes normal life. For 12 months he should remain continent, lest the dead wife become jealous. During this period he is "dangerous." At the end of this period he has intercourse with a stranger to whom he gives a gift, the instrument for removing the contamination. She throws this away. Next day both plant prayer sticks. If he desires to shorten the period, he gets some man with esoteric knowledge to make him especially potent prayer sticks two or four sets-planted at intervals of four days, which are offered to the dead wife with the following prayer. These same rites are observed also by a widow and a warrior who has taken a scalp.

This is the only example which has come to my knowledge of any offering made to an individual, and even in this the ancestors are included. This prayer is also used with offerings of prayer sticks to the dead, on the fourth day after death, the day in which the spirit is believed to reach the land of the dead.[21]

My fathers,
Our sun father,
Our mothers,
Dawn
5 As you arise and come out to your sacred place,
I pass you on your road.
The source of our flesh,
White corn,

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10 Prayer meal,
Shell,
Pollen,
I offer to you.
Our sun father,
15 To you I offer prayer meal.
To you we offer it.
To you we offer pollen.
According to the words of my prayer
Even so may it be.
20 There shall be no deviation.
Sincerely
From my heart I send forth my prayers.
To you prayer meal,
Shell I offer.
25 Pollen I offer.
According to the words of my prayer
Even so may it be.
Now this day,
My ancestors,
You have attained the far-off place of waters.[22]
This day,
5 Carrying plume wands,
Plume wands which I have prepared for your use.
I pass you on your roads.
I offer you plume wands.
10 When you have taken my plume wands,
All your good fortune whereof you are possessed
You will grant to me.
And furthermore
You, my mother,[23]
15 Verily, in the daylight
With thoughts embracing,
We passed our days
Now you have attained the far-off place of waters.
I give you plume wands,

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Plume wands which I have prepared for your use.
Drawing your plume wands to you,
And sharing my plume wands,
Indeed, under no conditions shall you take anyone away. 24
Among all the corn priests' ladder descending children,
All the little boys,
The little girls,
30 And those whose roads go ahead,
Was one, perhaps even a valuable man,
Who, his heart becoming angry be cause of something,
Injured you with his power.[25]
35 That one only you will think to drag down.
All of your good fortune whatsoever
May you grant to us.
40 Preserving us along a safe road,
May our roads be fulfilled.

II. PRAYERS TO THE SUN

PRAYER AT SUNRISE

Now this day,
My sun father,
Now that you have come out standing to your sacred place,
5 That from which we draw the water of life,
Prayer meal,
Here I give to you.
Your long life,
Your old age,
10 Your waters,
Your seeds,
Your riches,
Your power,
Your strong spirit,
15 All these to me may you grant.

PRESENTING AN INFANT TO THE SUN

On the eighth day of life an infant's head is washed by his "aunts"--that is, women of his father's clan, his most important ceremonial relatives. Corn meal is placed in his hand and he is taken outdoors, facing the east, at the moment of sunrise. Corn meal is sprinkled to the rising sun with the following prayer, spoken by the paternal grandmother:

Now this is the day.
Our child,
Into the daylight
You will go out standing.
5 Preparing for your day,
We have passed our days.
When all your days were at an end,
When eight days were past,
Our sun father
10 Went in to sit down at his sacred place.
And our night fathers
Having come out standing to their sacred place,
Passing a blessed night
15 We came to day.
Now this day
Our fathers,
Dawn priests,
Have come out standing to their sacred place.

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Our sun father
Having come out standing to his sacred place,
Our child,
25 It is your day.
This day,
The flesh of the white corn,
Prayer meal,
To our sun father
30 This prayer meal we offer.
May your road be fulfilled
Reaching to the road of your sun father,
When your road is fulfilled
35 In your thoughts (may we live)
May we be the ones whom your thoughts will embrace,
For this, on this day
To our sun father.
40 We offer prayer meal.
To this end:
May you help us all to finish our roads.

THE P?EKWIN SETS THE DATE FOR THE SUMMER SOLSTICE

Before the summer solstice the p?ekwin makes daily observations of the sunset from a shrine east of the village. When the sun sets behind a certain point in the mesa he begins to count days with offerings of prayer sticks. There are six such offerings according to Mrs. Stevenson.[1] At dawn of the morning following the last offering he announces from the highest housetop in Zuñi that the summer solstice will take place after eight days.

Now that those who hold our roads,
Dawn ancients,
Youths,
Matrons,
5 Maidens,
Over their sacred place,
Have raised their curtain.
Here, on the corn priests' housetop
I stand up.
10 My fathers,
My sun father,
We have made your days.
Divine ones,
Remember your days.

{p.637}

15 When this many days, eight days, are past,
On the ninth day.
All together
We shall reach your appointed time.
This many days anxiously waiting
20 You shall pass the days.
I think it is this many days, eight days,
And then on the ninth day.
You will grant that all of us finish our roads.

PRAYER OF THE FIRE KEEPER AT THE WINTER SOLSTICE

The keeper of the New Year fire is appointed by the priests on the ninth day following the p?ekwin's announcement of the solstice. This is the day on which all people cut prayer sticks. During the day he collects wood from houses in the village and in the evening builds the New Year fire in he'?iwa kiva. On this evening the images of the gods of war are taken to the kiva for their all-night ceremony. The fire keeper must be a man of the Badger clan or a child of that clan. He is called tsu'pal-i'lona (the one who has the blood pudding; the fire is his tsu'palon:e, or blood pudding). During the ensuing ten days he must observe continence and eat no meat or other animal food. He sleeps and eats at his own house, but returns to the kiva to tend the fire, which must be kept burning throughout the period. He visits every house in the village to get wood for his fire.

At sundown on the ninth day of the second period[2] he comes to the kiva. Here p?ekwin has made a meal painting and set up an altar. When all the priests have arrived p?ekwin goes to summon the impersonators of P?a'utiwa and the four Sa'yalhia. They come unmasked, their masks having been taken to the kiva earlier in the day.

At sunset Ci'tsuk^a and Kwe'lele, gods from the east, enter the village from the east. They dance for a few minutes on the roof of the kiva and then go in. After brief prayers they go to the house of the Great Fire Society to eat. The masks belong to this society, and the impersonators must be chosen from the Great God order of the society.

Late at night they are again summoned to the kiva. Here are the priests, the impersonators of P?a'utiwa and the Sa'yalhia, men of the Dogwood and Sun clans who dress P?a'utiwa, and singers from He'iwa kiva. With Ci'tsuk^a and Kwe'lele go the headmen of the Great Fire Society and a group of singers from that society. The two choirs sing alternately and Kwe'lele and Ci'tsuk^a dance. The fire keeper sits all night beside the fireplace, within a circle of meal across which he must not step.

[2. See p. 535.]

{p. 638}

At the first sign of dawn P?a'utiwa dresses. When he is ready the chief of the Great Fire Society kindles fire with the ancient drill which Kwe'lele carries. As soon as the fire appears Kwe'lele lights his torch. The fire keeper takes a brand from his fire and, accompanied by Kwe'lele with his torch, p?ekwin, Ko'mosona, P?a'utiwa, and the four Sa'yalhia, goes out to the east. At a point well beyond the last house they pause. The fire keeper lays down his brand, and Kwe'lele extinguishes his torch. All pray and sprinkle meal. Then the party returns to the kiva.

This is the sign to the village that the fire taboo is ended, and immediately everyone hastens to take out their fire and sweepings. When they return to the kiva the fire keeper and p?ekwin pray. Then the people go to their houses to take out the fire from their hearths. They return immediately, and the masked gods dance until daylight. At this time anyone may enter the kiva to receive the blessings of the gods.

The following prayer is spoken by the fire keeper when he returns from the east in the morning. It was dictated by a member of the Great Fire Society.

This many are the days
Since the sun, who is our father,
Stood yonder beside his left hand sacred place.[3]
5 Then our fathers
Having prepared plume wands for the rite of their ancestors,
And having breathed their prayers upon the plume wands,
With their sacred cigarette,
Their prayer meal
10 My fathers
Laid hold of me.
When the sun who is our father
Had yet a little space to go
To go in to sit down at his sacred place,
Our two fathers,
16 The ones who hold the high places,[4]
Once more assuming human form.
With their sacred possessions,
With their house chiefs,
Their p?ekwins,
Their bow priests,
With all of these,
They made their roads come in,

{p. 639}

25 And sat down quietly.
Then the one who is my daylight father
Laid hold of me.
Presenting me yonder to all the directions,
30 He seated me,
Giving me the world.
After a blessed night
We came to day.
Next day
35 Saying, "Let it be now,"
Our two fathers
Yonder passed their elder brothers on their roads.[5]
As they counted up the days for us
40 Eagerly awaiting their days
We passed the days.
When all of their days were past,
Then our two fathers
K^?ä'wulhia P?a'utiwa
45 We passed at their middle day.
Yesterday
When our sun father
Had yet a little space to go
To go in to sit down at his sacred place,
Yonder our fathers of all directions,
Water bringing birds,[6]
P?ekwin, priest,
From where he stays quietly
55 Making his road come forth,
Making his road come hither,
Thinking, "Let it be here,"
Fashioned his fathers massed cloud house,[7]
60 Spread out their mist blanket,
Sent forth their life-giving road,
Prepared their spring.
Then our two fathers,
K^?a'wulhia
65 P?a'utiwa
To his house chiefs,
His p?ekwins,
To his bow priests,
To all of these,

{p. 640}

70 Made his road come in.
They sat down quietly.
Yonder toward the east,
To our two fathers
White masked god,[8]
75 Black masked god,[9]
To where they were made ready
The prayers reached;
Carrying their waters,
Carrying their seeds,
80 Making their road come hither,
Going along one road,
They sat down quietly.
After a blessed night,
With our children we came to day.
85 When the ones who are our fathers,
Dawn old men,
Dawn youths,
Dawn boys,
Dawn old women,
90 Dawn matrons,
Dawn maidens,
Dawn girls,
Had risen standing to their sacred place,
95 Saying, "Let it be now,"
Four times
Drawing up our grandmother,[10]
And making her arise,
Making her go ahead
100 Yonder toward the east
With prayers
We made our roads go forth.
How the world will be,
How the days will be,
105 We desired to know.
Perhaps if we are lucky
Our earth mother
Will wrap herself in a fourfold robe
Of white meal,
110 Full of frost flowers;
A floor of ice will spread over the world,
The forests,
Because of the cold will lean to one side,
115 Their arms will break beneath the weight of snow.
When the days are thus
The flesh of our earth mother
Will crack with cold.
Then in the spring when she is replete with living waters

{p. 641}

120 Our mothers,
All different kinds of corn
In their earth mother
We shall lay to rest.
With their earth mother's living waters
125 They will be made into new beings;
Into their sun father's daylight
They will come out standing;
Yonder to all directions
130 They will stretch out their hands calling for rain.
Then with their fresh waters
(The rain makers) will pass us on our roads.
Clasping their young ones in their arms
They will rear their children.
135 Gathering them into our houses,
Following these toward whom our thoughts bend,
With our thoughts following them,
140 Thus we shall always live.
That this may be
Eagerly we have awaited your day.
Now that all their days are at an end,
145 Eagerly waiting until another day shall come,
We shall pass our days.
Indeed it is so.
Far off someone will be my father,
The divine one,
150 He of the Badger clan.
Asking for his life-giving breath
His breath of old age,
His breath of waters,
His breath of seeds,
155 His breath of fecundity,
His breath of all good fortune,
Asking for his breath.
And into my warm body
Drawing his breath,
160 I shall add to your breath.
Do not despise the breath of your fathers,
But into your bodies
Draw his breath,

{p. 642}

165 That yonder to where the life-giving road of your sun father comes out
Your roads may reach;
That you may finish your roads;
For this I add to your breath.
170 To this end, my fathers,
My children,
May all of you be blessed with light.

{p. 643}

III. PRAYERS TO THE UWANAMMI

Four days after the summer solstice the priesthoods begin their series of retreats to pray for rain. Each set in turn goes in at the house where their sacred bundle is kept. The four chief priesthoods associated with the four cardinal points go in for eight days each. They are followed by the p?ekwin, who goes in for four days. He is followed by the bow priest, who observes a 4-day retreat, although he does not stay in his house. After these the minor priesthoods, "the darkness people," follow in fixed order. They go in for four days each. The last come out about the first week in September, which is near the end of the rainy season.

Retreats always start in the evening, generally after sunset, and nights only are counted. They end at sunrise on the fourth or eighth morning following. The day before the retreat begins is spent by the priests in making prayer sticks. These are tied together in the after noon, and shortly before sunset the chief priest accompanied by an associate leaves to plant them in a distant spring. They return late at night. They go immediately into the inner room set aside for their retreat, where the other members have already assembled.. The chief priest sets up his altar--a meal painting, one or more feather-wrapped com fetishes, pots of black paint that have been brought from the underworld, stone knives, thunder stones, and finally the sacred bundle itself.

The first of the two prayers below is said with the offering of corn meal when gathering willow sticks, the second on setting the sacred bundle on the altar. They were dictated by a former member of the priesthood of the water serpent, and have been verified by a priest of the priesthood of the south.

PRAYER OF A PRIEST ON GOING INTO RETREAT

This day
Desiring the waters of our fathers,
The ones who first had being,[1]
In our house
Having prepared prayer meal,
Shells,
Corn pollen,
Hither with prayers
We made our road come forth.
This way we directed our roads.
Yonder on all sides our fathers,
Priests of the mossy mountains,
All those whose sacred places are round about,
Creatures of the open spaces
You of the wooded places,
We have passed you on your roads.
This day
Prayer meal,
Shell,
Corn pollen
We offer to you, my fathers.
Offering these to you,
Four times we offer them to you.

{p. 644}

You of the forest,
You of the brush,
All you who in divine wisdom,
Stand here quietly,
Carrying your waters
You will go before
Thus to Itiwana
Our roads will go.
The water filled rooms of your daylight children
Your road will enter.
Sitting down quietly,
After a blessed night
With us, your children,
You will come to day.
To-morrow
When he who holds our roads,
Our sun father,
Coming out to stand at his sacred place
Passes our roads,
Then we shall pass one another on our roads.
The divine ones
From wherever they abide permanently
Will make their roads come forth.
They will come.
And where they sit down quietly
All of us shall pass one another on our roads.
For our fathers,
Our mothers,
Those who first had being,
And also for our fathers,
Rain maker priests,
Rain maker p?ekwins,
Rain maker bow priests
For their rite
We shall give our plume wands human form.
We have given our plume wands human form,
With the massed cloud wing
Of the one who is our grandfather,
The male turkey,
With eagle's thin cloud wings,
And with the striped cloud wings
And massed cloud tails
Of all the birds of summer;
And with the flesh of the one who is our mother
Cotton woman,
Even a rough cotton thread,
A soiled cotton thread
With this four times encircling our plume wands
And tying it about their bodies,
We have given our plume wands human form.
Then also with the flesh of our mother,
Black paint woman,
Covering them with flesh,
We have prepared our plume wands.
When our plume wands were ready,
Saying, "Let it be now."
Taking our plume wands,
Our plume wands which had been finished,
Rising, we came out of our house.
With prayers we made our roads come forth.
At the place called since the first beginning
Rock wedge,[2]
Where our fathers,
Rain maker priests,
In their rain-filled inner rooms[3]
Were all gathered together in beauty
To receive their plume wands,
There we passed them, on their roads.
Passing them on their roads
There we gave our fathers plume wands,
Our fathers,
By means of their divine wisdom
Laid hold of their plume wands.
On all sides
They will talk together, touching one another with the plume wands,[4]
Yonder at the north encircling ocean
You will hold discourse together touching each other with them.
And then also
Yonder at the west encircling ocean,
You will hold discourse together,
Touching one another with them,
And then also yonder toward the south,

{p. 645}

You will hold discourse together,
Touching one another with them;
Then also yonder toward the east,
You will hold discourse together, touching one another with them.
Then also above
You will hold discourse together, touching one another with them;
And then also in the fourth womb,[5]
You will hold discourse together, touching one another with them.
You will encircle the world with your discourses.
My fathers,
Grasping your plume wands,
You will see your plume wands.
You will see whether they have been finished with precious paint,[6]
Or else are unfinished.
With your spittle,
With your flesh,
With your divine wisdom,
They will be made over afresh into human beings;
They will be strong.
From wherever you abide permanently
You will make your roads come forth.
Your little wind blown clouds,
Your thin wisps of clouds,
Your great masses of clouds
Replete with living waters,
You will send forth to stay with us.
Your fine rain caressing the earth,
Your heavy rain caressing the earth,
Here at Itiwana,
The abiding place of our fathers,
Our mothers,
The ones who first had being,
With your great pile of waters
You will come together.
When you have come together
Our mothers,
Our children,
All the different kinds of corn,
Nourishing themselves with their father's waters
Tenderly will bring forth their young.
Clasping their children[7]
All will finish their roads.
Then our children,
Our ladder-descending children,
Will gather you in.
Into all their houses.
You will make your roads enter.
To stay there quietly.
Then also tenderly
Their young will multiply
Multiplying our young,
Those toward whom our thoughts are bent,
You will live.
You will not think to hurry to some other place.[8]
Indeed, this shall not be.
But always in their houses
You will remain at rest.
In order that our children's thoughts may be bent to this,
For this you are our father,
You are our mother;
For this you who first had being,
Perpetuating your rite of the first beginning
Sit here quietly.
Holding all your country,
Holding all your people,
You sit here quietly.
Even as you sit here quietly,
Even as you listen to us,
We pray to you.
With your words,
Divine ones,
With your words
You hold all your people.
Do not let any one fall from your grasp[9]
When he has gone but a little ways!
In order that this may not be,
Our father,
Our mother,
The one who first had being,
Even as you listen to us
We pray to you.
Our father,
Our mother,
The one who first had being,
Keeping your days,
Your days that have already been made,

{p. 646}

We pass our days.
Whenever your days are at an end,
Then we shall fulfill our thoughts.
Our mother,
The one who first had being,
To wherever you abide permanently,
To your fourth inner room,
You will make your road go in.
Then again, holding your country,
Holding your people,
You will sit down quietly for us,
Therefore as children to one another
We shall always remain.
My child,
My mother,
According to my words,
Even so may it be.
Do not let go of your people;
Let not your thoughts be thus.
Let no difficulty befall any of our daylight children,
Our ladder descending children,
When they have gone but a little ways on their road!
That this may not be
I commission[10] you with my prayers.
Because of my words
You will sit down quietly.
This many are the days,
And when your days are at an end,
You will sit down quietly.
Although we say we have fulfilled your thoughts
No! we have not yet fulfilled your thoughts.
Our office never lapses.
When we come to another day,[11]
Then again eagerly awaiting your rite
We shall pass our days,
For the winter eagerly waiting
We shall pass our days.
This is all.
Thus with plain words,
My father,
My mother,
My child,
Thus you sit down quietly.[12]

{p. 656}

PRAYER OF A PRIEST DURING HIS SUMMER RETREAT

This many are the days,
Since those who are our fathers,
Those who are our mothers,
The ones who first had being
5 k^?ä'etoew:
Tcu'eto:we
Had kept for them their days.
This many days,
Anxiously waiting,
10 We passed our days.
When all these days were past,
Now we have come to the ap
pointed time.
Our fathers,
Our mothers,
15 In your fourth inner room
You stay quietly.
This day we have reached the appointed time.
Our fathers,
20 Our ancestors,
Yonder, you who were priests
when you were alive,
We have reached your appointed time.[13]
This day
25 Your day has been made.
The one who is my father,
The one who is my mother,
Four times I shall hold you fast.

{p. 657}

30 This day
With the flesh of the white corn,
Prayer meal, commissioned with our prayer,
This day with prayer meal
35 Four times we shall spread out the mist blanket.[14]
We shall fashion the house of massed clouds,
We shall fashion the life-giving road,
Four times we shall fashion your spring.
40 This day,
My father,
My mother,
Four times I shall set you down quietly.
Four times you will sit down quietly.
45 Holding all your world,
Holding all your people,
Perpetuating your rite had since
the first beginning,
You will sit down quietly among us.
When you have sat down,
50 At your back,
At your feet,
We shall sit down beside you.
Desiring your waters,
Keeping your days for this
55 We shall pass our days.
Our fathers,
Rain maker priests,
Rain maker P?ekwins,
From wherever you abide permanently
60 You will make your roads come forth.
To the one whom you call father,
To the one whom you call mother,
Four times with all your waters
65 To us your mother,
Your fathers,
You will come.
In order that you may thus come to us,
Our father,

{p. 658}

70 Our mother,
Perpetuating your rite had since the first beginning,
This one[15] sits quietly here.
Your day is made.
Keeping your days we pass our days.
75 Our mothers,
The ones who first had being
Keeping your days,
We pass our days.
That all our fathers,
80 Our mothers,
Our children,
That all these may be filled with the water of life,
Anxiously awaiting the making of your days,
85 We have passed our days.
Our children,
All the different kinds of corn,
All over their earth mother
Stand poor at the borders of our land.
90 With their hands a little burnt,
With their heads a little brown,
They stand at the borders of our land.
So that these may be watered with fresh water
95 We keep your days.
That all our children
May nourish themselves with fresh water
Carefully they will rear their young.
100 And when our daylight children
Have nourished themselves with fresh water
We shall live happily
All our days.
This is all.
105 Thus speaking plain words
I set you down quietly.

THE P?EKWIN GOES INTO RETREAT

The retreat of the p?ekwin follows next after the priests of the four directions. He is priest of the sun, and is associated, according to Mrs. Stevenson, with the zenith. This association, however, does not seem firmly fixed.

{p. 659}

The p?ekwin has no eton:e or priestly bundle. He has pots of black paint brought from the underworld and undoubtedly other ceremonial paraphernalia. But his altar lacks the water and seed-filled reeds which constitute the most sacred and potent possessions of the other priests. He is thought to be so pure in heart that he has no need of magic to make his prayers effective. Therefore, before going into retreat he plants his prayer sticks not at a spring, but in his corn field. He does not bring back a jug of the sacred water of some spring to place on his altar. For the first part of his retreat "he tries himself." He sits down before an altar consisting only of his paint pots on a painting of meal. It lacks even the bowl of medicine water. As soon as the first rain falls he may mix his medicine in the fresh rain water. If no rain falls, he must continue until the end without even this frail aid to prayer. He is tested at each retreat, and it is always a point of special note whether or not his days are blessed with rain.

The following prayer is recited at the beginning of his retreat. The first part is spoken outside when he plants his prayer sticks, the latter half after he returns to his home.[16]

This many are the days,
Since the new year,
The cycle of the months of our fathers,
The ones that first had being.
This many days
We have awaited our time.
It has come to summer.
My fathers,
My mothers,
10 The ones that first had being,
Your day goes on.
Not long ago,
At the middle of the year[17]
I made my fathers' days.[18]
15 This many were the days of the rain makers of all directions,
And now that my fathers' days are at an end,
20 Yonder, wherever the roads of the rain makers come forth,[19]
Where people pray to finish their roads,
There you stand at the borders of our land,
Male willow, female willow.
Four times breaking off the straight young shoots,

{p. 660}

25 To my house
I brought my road.
Sitting down quietly,
Throughout a blessed night
With our children[20] we came to day.
30 This day, my fathers,
You who here were p?ekwins,
You who used to take care of the world,
You who used to be chiefs of the downy feather,[21]
35 And furthermore, my sun father,
My child,
This day,
When you came out standing to your sacred place,
40 This day
In my house
For your rite
I fashioned plume wands in human form.
With the striped cloud wing of my father,
45 Male turkey,
With the striped cloud wing of oriole, p?ekwin priest,[22]
Arid blue jay, p?ekwin priest,
And the wings of all the different birds of summer,
With these four times
I gave my plume wands human form.
With the flesh of my mother,
My grandmother,
55 Yucca fiber,
Cotton woman,
Even a soiled cotton thread,
With these I gave my plume wands human form.
With the flesh of the one who is my mother,

{p. 661}

60 The one who first had being,
Black paint woman,
With her flesh making the flesh of my plume wands,
I gave them human form,
Saying, "Let it be now."
65 Taking my plume wands,
The plume wands which had been prepared,
I made my road come forth.
I made my road go forth.
Somewhere in my water-filled fields[23]
70 I passed my earth mother on her road.
My fathers,
My ancestors,
You who used to be p?ekwins,
You who used the downy feather,
You who used to take charge of the world,
75 And furthermore my child,
My father,
Sun,
My child, my mother, moon,
My fathers,
80 Divine ones,
This day
I give you plume wands.
Taking your plume wands,
There where you abide permanently,
85 Clasping them in your arms,
Caressing them,
With your supernatural wisdom,
You will distribute them amongst you.
After a little while
To my house
90 My road will reach.
Making your days, I shall pass the days.

[He deposits the plume wands, then he returns to his ceremonial house, sets up his altar, which consists of dishes of sacred black paint and bowls of prayer meal. The prayer continues:]

This day, my fathers,

{p. 662}

95 You who are my child, sun,
You who are my mother, moon,
This day
I have passed you on your roads.
This day, upon the flesh of the white corn,
Prayer meal,
Breathing my prayers
Four times I have spread out your mist blanket;
I have fashioned your cloud house;
105 I have fashioned your road.
Now that this is at an end
Your days are made.
After a little while
From where you abide permanently
110 You will make your road come forth.
Yonder from the south,
Where, they say, is the abiding place of summer,
My fathers,
Send forth your quick breath.[24]
115 Send forth your massed clouds to stay with us,
Stretch out your watery hands,
Let us embrace!
To Itiwana you will come
With all your people,
120 Hiding behind your watery shield[25]
With all your people;
With your fine rain caressing the earth,
With your heavy rain caressing the earth,
Carrying your weapons,
125 Your lightning,
(Come to us!)
Raise the sound of your thunders!
At Itiwana
With your great pile of waters
May you pass me on my road.
That this may be
I have made your days.
When your days are at an end,
Meeting me with all your waters,
May you stay with us,

{p. 663}

135 Do not cause people to speak ill of your days,[26]
But with waters caressing the earth
Let your days be filled.
With your waters
140 You will pass me on my road.
Those which all my ladder descending children
Have sown with magical rites,
All the different kinds of corn,
Yonder all over their earth mother,
145 They stand poor at the borders of our land.
With their hands a little burnt,
With their heads brown,
They stand poor at the borders of our land.
That these may be nourished with fresh water,
150 Thus runs the thought of my prayer.
When the time of my days is at an end,
Though I say "my days are at an end,"
No--it is not so.
155 Waiting anxiously until another day comes
We shall pass the days.
My fathers,
Now I have fulfilled your thoughts.
This is all.

THE BOW PRIEST IN RETREAT IN SUMMER

On the day the p?ekwin comes out of retreat in summer the bow priest begins to count days. He is not a rain priest. He has no altar; he has no rain-making fetish; his sacred possessions are associated rather with war. Therefore, instead of remaining in meditation and prayer in his ceremonial house, he makes offerings at the various shrines of the gods of war on mountain tops around Zuñi. The first day he goes to the north, to Twin Mountains; the second day to the west--the place actually visited is a shrine to the south on a knoll near the road to the Salt Lake. The third day he goes to the south, Face Mountain, a shrine southeast of Zuñi; the fourth day to the east, a knoll near the Black Rock road. At each of these shrines he offers corn meal and turquoise with prayers for rain and fertility. He offers these in his capacity of priest rather than as warrior.

{p. 664}

This many days,
Making the days of my two fathers,
The ones who hold the high places,[27]
5 Keeping their days,
I have lived.
My fathers,
Rain maker priests,
Rain maker p?ekwins
And you, far off at the fourth rim of the encircling ocean,
10 You who are our fathers, rain maker bow priests,
Tsik^?ähiya,[28] K^?älhawani,[28]
From wherever you abide permanently
Send forth your misty breath;
Your little wind blown clouds,
15 Your thin wisps of cloud,
Your black streaks of cloud,
Your masses of clouds replete with living waters,
You will send forth to stay with us.
With your fine rain caressing the earth,
With your heavy rain caressing the earth,
20 With your great pile of waters here at Itiwana
You will pass us on our roads.
Desiring this, my fathers,
I have made your days.
25 When you pass me on my road
All my ladder descending children
Will refresh themselves with your living waters.
That the crowns of their heads may sometimes be wet with dew,
In order that this may be
You, my fathers, yonder on all sides,

{p. 665}

30 You who dwell in high places,
For this you live at sacred places
Round about on all the mossy mountains.
My fathers,
To all your ladder descending children
35 You will grant your power.[29]
In order that my children may have strong hearts
It is now your day.
From wherever you stay permanently
Your massed clouds filled with living water, may you send forth.
40 Making your road come forth from
where you stay permanently,
With your rain caressing the earth,
With your terrible lightning,
Make your thunders resound!
45 At Itiwana may you pass me on my road.
When you have passed me on my road,
My mothers,
My children,
All the different kinds of corn,
50 Nourishing themselves with their fathers' waters,
Tenderly will bring forth their young.
When they have finished their roads,
When they are old,
55 My children,
My ladder descending children,
Will bring in their children,
All the different kinds of corn,
Into their houses.
That they may always be the ones toward whom our thoughts bend,
60 For this all my children carefully have reared their young.
All my children
Will make their roads come into their houses.
Staying there permanently,
Your young increasing,
You will always remain.

{p. 666}

65 That the thoughts of my ladder
descending children
May bend to this,
That this may be,
My fathers,
Thus runs the thought of my prayer.
Thus all my children
70 May always be well provided with seeds.
Desiring this,
I watch over our daylight fathers,
The ones who here have in their keeping
The rites of our fathers,[30]
Those who first had being,
Our daylight fathers,
Who perpetuate the rites which they hold in their keeping,
The rites of those who first had being;
80 Sitting down among my daylight fathers
Watching over my fathers--
That one am I.
My fathers,
You know me well.
85 Do not let me be a poor person.[31]
My fathers,
You who hold the high places, your representative am I.
I have a bandoleer,[32]
I have an armlet;[33]
90 Because of this
I am my father's mouth.[34]
All my ladder descending children,
All of them I hold in my hands,
95 May no one fall from my grasp
After going but a little ways--
Those yonder toward the east,
In all the villages that stand against the place of the rising sun,

{p. 667}

100 Even to all those villages
That stand against the place of the setting sun,
Even every little bug,
Even every dirty little bug,
Let me hold them all fast in my hands,
105 Let none of them fall from my grasp--
In order that this may be,
My fathers,
I ask you for life.
May my children's roads all be fulfilled;
May they grow old;
110 May their roads reach all the way to dawn lake;
May their roads be fulfilled;
In order that your thoughts may bend to this,
Your days are made.
Now your days are at an end.
Whatever I have wished
115 I have spoken
All our prayers which we have completed for each other;
Thus I have fulfilled our thoughts.
Eagerly awaiting until it shall be another day,
Until the winter,
120 I shall now pass my time.
My fathers,
Your waters,
Your seeds,
Your riches,
Your power,
Your strong spirit,
All this you will grant us;
May my road be fulfilled,
May I grow old,
Even until I go with strong hands grasping a bent stick,[35]
Thus may I grow old.

{p. 668}

IV. PRAYERS OF THE WAR CULT

THE BOW PRIEST MAKES PRAYER STICKS AT THE WINTER SOLSTICE

My two fathers,
You who dwell in high places[1]
Ma?ase:wi[2]
Uyuye:wi
5 For you it is the new year.
Since it is the new year,
All the beings that dwell in mossy mountains,
The beings who dwell in shady places,
The forest beings,
10 The brush beings,
Oak being
Willow being[3]
Red willow being[3]
lhanilhkowa being[3]
15 Cottonwood being
Taking the straight young shoots of all these,
These we shall make into prayer plumes.
For my fathers,
20 The divine ones,
I have destined these prayer plumes.
When my fathers
The divine ones
Take hold of their prayer plumes,
25 When they clothe themselves with their prayer plumes,
Then all to my children
Long life,
Old age,
All good fortune whatsoever,
30 You will grant;
So that I may raise corn,
So that I may raise beans,
So that I may raise wheat,
So that I may raise squash,
35 So that with all good fortune I may be blessed.

{p. 669}

PRAYERS BEFORE GOING ON A WAR PARTY

Before going on the warpath the bow priests are summoned to their ceremonial house. The chief bow priest addresses them:

Now this many days
Because of the thoughts of the enemy
Our thoughts have been troubled;
5 Our appetite has failed.
This very day
That by which they live,
Turquoise,[4]
To my fathers I have offered
At all their abiding places.
11 Yonder into the enemy's country
We shall take the warpath.
Because of the enemy,
Because of their thoughts,
15 We wish in vain see one another,[5]
We can not see him of whom we think.
Because it is thus,
To be avenged
We have made up our minds.
20 My children,
You shall set your minds to be men.
You shall think to provide yourselves with good weapons.
Then, perhaps, we shall have the good fortune,
To get that which we wish,
25 That for which we ask--
Namely that with the enemies' flocks,
Their clothing,
Their precious stones,
Their good shell beads,
30 That with these our houses may obtain hearts,
For this we have sent forth our prayers.
Waiting anxiously until the appointed time shall come,
Cleansing our hearts,
Cleansing our thoughts,
35 Thus shall we live.
Indeed we shall not be alone.
Because yonder all about
Abide our fathers.

{p. 670}

40 Spreading word about among them,
You will think to give them good turquoise.
To this end, my children,
Through all the time set aside for them,
Eagerly you will await their day.
After a good night
May you come to day.
And to-morrow
50 After a good day may you come to evening.
And as each day comes,
Eagerly may you wait their day.
55 May your thought not be vacillating.
Indeed, though I call myself poor,
Far off I shall have someone for my father.
60 For there is one who by virtue of the dry bow[6]
Holds us all as his children.
His representative am I.
Asking for life from him
65 I shall add to your breath.
And furthermore,
Emerging into the daylight
Yonder on all the mossy mountains
All about they have set their sacred places,[7]
70 The ones who hold the high places,
Ahayuta yellow,[8]
Blue,
Red,
White,
75 Many colored,
The dark one,
These were bow priests.
Holding us as their children
80 They abide in all their sacred places
round about.
To all these places
Sending forth my prayer to them,

{p. 671}

I ask for their life-giving breath,
85 Their breath of old age,
Their breath of riches,
Their breath of waters,
Their breath of seeds,
Their breath of fecundity,
90 Their breath of power,
Their breath of strong spirit,
Their breath of all good fortune of which they are possessed--
Asking for their breath,
95 And into my warm body drawing their breath,
I shall add to your breath.
To this end, my children:
May You be blessed with life.

The date for starting is set. Any man who wishes to join the party tells the bow priests, and the destination is determined according to the size of the party. During the interval offerings are made by the bow priests at the various shrines referred to in the preceding prayer. The night before they leave all volunteers meet at the ceremonial house of the bow priests. Each man deposits prayer meal, corn pollen, and some precious material--shell, turquoise, red paint, or iridescent black paint--in each of four corn husks. These are immediately taken to four distant shrines, by the elder and younger brother bow priests, the war chief, and the society chief of the bow priesthood. On reaching the shrine the emissary says:

How are you this evening?
(He answers himself, speaking in the person of the god:)
Happy. Have you come? Sit down.
Now, indeed, you have passed us on our roads.
5 Indeed, words not too long your words will be.
If you let us know what they are,
Always we shall remember them.
Is it not so?
THE MAN: Indeed it is so.
10 As you know,
To all your different abiding places
I have gone about,
With words of taking our road into
the enemy's country.
15 To-morrow upon that
The sun will arise.
THE GOD: Is that so?
That must not be,
We can not part with you.

{p. 672}

20 THE MAN: Nevertheless there is no choice.
To do that very thing I have made up my mind.
And furthermore,
Thinking to bring you fine shell,
Prayer meal,
Corn pollen,
Red paint,
Sparkling paint,
Eager for this I have passed my days.
30 Now this day
We have reached the appointed time.
Therefore we have passed you on your road.
THE GOD: Is that so?
Nevertheless, in spite of your speaking thus,
35 We can not part with you.
We have your plume wands,
We have your shells,
We have your prayer meal.
THE MAN: Yes, that is why I have spoken words
40 Of going to the enemy's country.
Because on account of the enemy's thoughts
Our children have been destroyed.
45 Our flocks have been destroyed.
Because of the enemy's thoughts,
We wish to see our relatives,
And thinking of them we fail in it.
50 THE GOD: Is that so?
Very well, although we cherish you,
You think thus.
Our elder brothers yonder,
The ones who abide in different places,
55 Do they also know it?
THE MAN: Yes, certainly.
At all their abiding places,
I have bent down to speak to them.

{p. 673}

60 THE GOD: Well, the one who is my elder brother,
The one who stays at Long House Top,
Does he know?
THE MAN: Yes, at a time when he knows it I pass you on your road.
THE GOD: The one at Echo's abiding place, does he know?
THE MAN: Yes, even when he knows,
I have passed you on your road.
65 THE GOD: The one who stays Where the rainbow bends over,
Does he know?
THE MAN: At a time when he knows,
I have passed you on your road.
THE GOD: Those yonder, where all talk together,
Do they know?
THE MAN: Yes, when they already know,
70 I have passed you on your road.
THE GOD: Very well. Now, perhaps, you have taken thought for
your good weapons?
THE MAN: Yes, I have taken thought.
THE GOD: Very well,
75 Our father, our child,
You shall set your mind to be a man.
Truly you shall not be alone.
Perhaps all your fathers,
80 In all their different abiding places,
Are in agreement.
THE MAN: Now this night,
My prayer meal,
My shell,
85 My corn pollen,
My sparkling paint,
My red paint,
My water roll,[9]
You have taken.
90 If you let me know how the world will be
How the days will be
That I shall always remember.

{p. 674}

He goes off a little way, and sitting down waits for an omen. The four messengers return at the same time to the ceremonial house and report what they have seen. Plans are made according to the divinations.

PRAYERS OF THE SCALP DANCE

Whenever an enemy is killed the slayer, if not already a member of the bow priesthood or one of the other two warrior societies, the Hunters (Saniak^?äkwe) or the Cactus Society (K?ocikwe), must immediately join the bow priesthood to protect himself from the malevolence of the slain enemy. The initiation takes place in the course of the scalp dance which is held to celebrate the victory. The purpose of the scalp dance is twofold. First, to purify the scalper from the contaminating contact with the dead and make him safe for human association and by placing him under the protection of the war gods, through membership in their cult, the bow priest hood, save him from pursuit by the ghost; the second purpose is to propitiate the dead enemy, strip him of his power for evil, and turn to good account his potentialities as a rain maker. This propitiation of the scalp is primarily the office of the scalp chief, who also retains guardianship of the scalps reposing in the scalp house.

Accompanying these important secret rites of purification and propitiation are the great public festivities. Throughout the twelve days of the ceremony unrestrained merrymaking accompanied by sexual license is indulged in by young and old of both sexes. These three strands run side by side, all culminating in the great ceremonies of the final day.

The order of events in this long and elaborate ritual has been described in the accounts by Mrs. Stevenson[10] and Doctor Parsons[11] with varying emphasis on the different aspects, according to the affiliation of the informants.

For convenience in reading the following prayers the events may be briefly summarized.

The returning war party camps overnight outside the village. At dawn four men chosen to announce their return ride toward the village uttering their war cry. They are met by the scalp chief, who inquires concerning the exploits of the war party.

During the day the scalp chief secretes the scalp at a distance from the village in a diminutive shelter of brush. The scalper and his "elder brother," the member of the bow priesthood who has "caught " the novice, take turns in watching over it. Toward evening they go through a sham conflict and take the scalp, bringing it to a place on the plain where p?ekwin has prepared an altar. Here they are met

{p. 675}

by men and women appointed to take part in the coming ceremonies, the priests, the scalp chief, the bow priesthood, the Ant Society, the guardians of war bundles, and the male populace. There is ceremonial smoking by all present. Prayer sticks are planted by the scalper in a near-by ant hill, and many songs are sung and prayers offered. Finally the scalp is placed on the foot of the aunt of the scalper, who kicks it four times. Encircling the village four times, in counterclockwise circuit, the party goes in. The scalp is set upon a tall pole in the plaza amid general rejoicings, and the period of festivity is announced first by p?ekwin and then by the bow priest.

The scalper goes into retreat in the ceremonial house of the bow priests. For four days he eats no meat or grease or any hot food. He sits away from the fire, sleeps little, does not speak, and is untouchable. He drinks emetics and goes out each morning to pray for deliverance from the scalp. He must also observe the sexual taboos placed upon the widowed.[12] The woman who brought in the scalp must also observe all these taboos. The days are spent in preparation for the final ceremonies.

On the fifth day the scalp is washed by two men appointed for this purpose. Thus is the enemy received into the company of the rain makers who Eve in the scalp house. Meanwhile the public festivities have begun. There are public dances each day, two selected groups performing on alternate days, while at night young and old of both sexes dance about the scalp pole.

About the sixth day a man of the Deer clan and a man of the Bear clan start work on the images of the gods of war. On the twelfth night these and all their paraphernalia are taken into the house of the bow priests. Here, in an all-night ceremony, the novice is finally taken into their company to share their supernatural prerogatives, including the special protection of the gods of war.

The following day is the "great dance." The images of the gods of war, the various war bundles, and the chief priestly bundles are set up on an altar in the plaza, behind which sit all the high officials of the Zuñi hierarchy. Throughout the day various dancers take turns in dancing before this altar. Toward evening the bow priests sing the songs given them at the institution of their society by the gods of war.

After this the altar is demolished and the meal painting obliterated. The sacred bundles are returned to the houses where they are kept. The images of the gods of war are taken to their houses by members of the bow priesthood, and next day carried to appropriate shrines (not the ones that are visited during the winter solstice). Late at night the scalp is removed from the pole by the scalp chief and deposited by him in the scalp house, with special prayers for protection in his dangerous office.

{p. 676}

The following prayers represent but the least fragment of this complex ritual. They deal almost entirely with the office of scalp chief; that is, the propitiation of the scalp. They were dictated by an old man, a son of a former scalp chief, now deceased.

At dawn the scalp chief meets four men who announce the return of the war party:[13]

Now, neglecting your children,
Neglecting your wives,
Yonder into the country of the enemy
You made your road go forth.
5 Perhaps one of the enemy,
Even one who thought himself virile,
Under a shower of arrows,
A shower of war clubs,
10 With bloody head,
One of the enemy,
Reached the end of his life.
Our fathers,
Beast bow priests,
15 Took from the enemy,
His water-filled covering.[13a]
Now you will tell us of that,
And knowing that we shall live.
20 Is it not so?

The four announcers reply:

Indeed it is so.
Neglecting our children,
Neglecting our wives,
Yonder into the enemy's country
25 We made our road go forth.
Indeed it is so.
We started out.
We went.
Yonder at Rock Cave we arrived.
30 There we spent the night.
Early next day we arose.
We went on.
At Ox-Eye-Place

{p. 677}

35 We arrived.
There we spent the night.
Next day we went on.
Yonder at Cattail Spring we arrived.
There, when we arrived at their camp site,
We attacked them.
There this one,
(And one of the enemy)
Fought together. . . .

(The account breaks off here. The informant lacked imagination to continue the narrative of the exploits of the war party.)

In the evening the scalp is brought into the village.[14] At the close of the ceremonies on the plain the scalp chief deposits in an excavation between two mounds of bread which he collected earlier in the day at the houses of the priests. The offering is specifically to the slain Navaho.

This day
Into the corn priests'[15] country,
You will make your road enter.
With the fruit of the corn priest labor
5 You will add to your heart.[16]
So that if any of the corn priests
ladder descending children
Should by mistake cut off you road,[17]
No evil consequence [18] may come to him because of it.
10 And furthermore,
You who are my grandfather,
Male turkey, [19]
Weakening the enemies' hearts,
You will remain here always.
15 So that your children,
Their breath drifting hither only,
When they attain their house,
They will make their roads come in.[20]
Longing for them
20 You will live.
To this end, add to your hearts.

{p. 678}

After the scalp has been set up in the plaza the p?ekwin addresses the people:

Now this day
This many of the children of the corn priests,
Neglecting their children,
Neglecting their wives,
5 Went out yonder into the enemy's country.
Then suddenly, one of the enemy,
Even one who stayed quietly in his hut,
10 Even one who thought himself a man,
In a shower of arrows,
In a shower of stones,
In a shower of war clubs,
With bloody head,
15 The enemy
Reached the end of his life.
The ones who are our fathers,
Beast bow priests,
With their claws,
20 Tore from the enemy
His water-filled covering.
Into the country of the corn priests
The enemy made his road enter.
25 Four times encircling the town,
The corn priests water-filled court
He made his road enter,
In the corn priests' water-filled court
30 Setting him up,
When his days are made,
Eagerly you shall await his time.
When all the enemy's days are passed,
35 When those who are our fathers,
Rain maker priests,
With their fresh waters
Have sprinkled the enemy,[21]
40 Whenever his day is made,
Tirelessly unwearied
You shall pass the time.
For indeed, the enemy,

{p. 679}

45 Even though he was without value,
Notwithstanding he was a being of this kind
Yet he was a water being;
He was a seed being.
50 Desiring the enemy's waters
Desiring his seeds
Desiring his wealth
Eagerly you shall await his day.
55 Whenever his days are made,
Throughout the days,
Throughout the nights,
Tirelessly, unwearied,
60 You shall live.
Indeed, even though you ache from singing,
Even though you fain would sleep,
In order to win the enemy's waters,
65 His seeds,
His wealth,
His power,
His strong spirit,
To win these.
70 Throughout the nights
Throughout the days,
Tirelessly, unwearied
You shall live.
Then indeed, if we are lucky,
To some little corner
Where the dust lies thick,
(You will steal away.)
In order to procreate sturdy[22] men
And sturdy women,
Tirelessly you will live.
To procreate strong males,
To procreate sturdy females,
85 To be the ones toward your thoughts may bend,
Eager for this,
You will keep the days.
For indeed, the enemy,
Even though on rubbish[23]

{p. 680}

90 He lived and grew to maturity,
By virtue of the corn priests' rain prayers
(He becomes valuable;)
Indeed, the enemy,
Though in his life
95 He was a person given to falsehood,
He has become one to fortell
How the world will be,
How the days will be.
That during his time,
100 We may have good days,
Beautiful days,
Hoping for this,
We shall keep his days.
105 Indeed, if we are lucky,
During the enemy's time
Fine rain caressing the earth,
Heavy rain caressing the earth,
(We shall win.)
110 When the enemy's days are in progress,
The enemy's waters,
We shall win,
His seeds we shall win,
His riches we shall win,
His power,
115 His strong spirit,
His long life,
His old age,
In order to win these,
120 Tirelessly, unwearied,
We shall pass his days.
Now, indeed, the enemy,
Even one who thought himself a man,
In a shower of arrows,
125 In a shower of war clubs,
With bloody head,
The enemy,
Reaching the end of his life,
130 Added to the flesh of our earth mother.
Beast bow priests,
With their claws,
Tore from the enemy
His water-filled covering.

{p. 681}

135 Then the enemy
Into the corn priests' country
Made his road enter.
Now shout!
O ------------.
Again--
O ------------.
Again--
O ------------.
Once more--
O ------------.
P?u-hu hu
Huh hu
We ------------

The elder brother bow priest addresses the people in the same vein. Then the scalp chief offers to the scalp a handful of bread saved from his earlier offering.

Now, this day
That you have been set up
In the corn priests' rain-filled court,
All the children of the corn priest
5 Will be dancing for you.
All the children of the corn priest
Will pass you on your road.
They will add to your heart.
10 Should anyone by mistake touch you
May no evil consequence befall him because of it.
With this fruit of the corn priests' labor
Add to your heart.
Your long life,
15 Your old age,
Your waters,
Your seeds.
Grant them.
To cleanse the thoughts
20 Of whoever has angry thoughts,
For this you will stand up here.

After four days the scalp is washed at any spring outside the town or in the river. Care is taken that the water used for the washing does not flow back into the river to bring death to those who drink of it. The scalp washer bites the scalp to get the power of the beast gods. "He acts like an animal," and therefore he does not need, in order to save his life, to observe the taboos generally required by contaminating contact with the dead. Prayer sticks are planted before the ceremony. At the conclusion the bowl is broken and cast away

{p. 682}

and offerings of food are thrown about on the ground. During the ceremony of washing, the choir sings new songs made for the occasion and the scalp washer prays:

Now this day
Our sun father,
Having come out standing
To his sacred place,
A little space yet remains
Ere he goes in to sit down at his other sacred place.
Now four times raising our niece,[21]
10 And making her stand up,
Her road going first,
Hither with prayers,
We have made our road come forth.
Here, near by, our fathers,
15 Rain maker bow priests,
Where your watery road comes forth,
Where you are waiting,
We have passed you on your road.
We have offered you plume wands.
20 Taking your plume wands,
With them you will take firm hold
Of the enemy's water-filled covering.
With your fresh water
25 You will sprinkle him.
Then again, if your hands go first,
Our hands following,
We shall meet no evil consequence.[25]
You who are our fathers,
30 Rain maker bow priests,
K^?älhawan:i,
Tsik^?ähaya,
K?upictaya
Beast bow priests,
35 By virtue of your thoughts
The enemy
Reached the end of his life.
When with your clear water
You have sprinkled the enemy,

{p. 683}

40 When into the corn priests' country
He has brought his road,
When in the corn priests' water-filled court
He has been set up,
All the corn priests' children
45 With the song sequences of the fathers,
Will be dancing for him.
And whenever all his days are past,
Then a good day,
50 A beautiful day,
A day filled with great shouting,
With great laughter,
A good day,
With us, your children,
55 You will pass.
Thus the corn priests, children
Winning your power,
Winning your strong spirit,
Will come to evening.
To this end, my fathers,
60 Now let us take hold of our niece.

After the dancing of the last day the scalp chief takes down the scalp. He and his associates remain in hiding on the outskirts of the village until midnight. Then they proceed singing to the scalp house. Each has under his tongue several grains of black corn to prevent pursuit by the ghost.[26] The scalp chief places the scalp in the jar in the scalp house and prays:

Now this many are the days
Since the enemy
Reached the end of his life.
Our fathers,
5 Those who hold the high places,
Beast bow priests,
Tore from the enemy
His water-filled covering.
Into the corn priests' country,
They made his road enter.
10 And in the corn priests' water-filled court
Standing him up,
They made his days.
This many are the days.
And when the set number of days
had all been counted up,

{p. 684}

15 Way back, when all these days had past,
The ones who are our fathers,
Rain maker priests,
With their clear water
Took firm hold of him.[27]
20 Again in the corn priests' court
Setting him up, they made his days.
This many days
The corn priests' children
25 With their fathers' song sequences
Have consumed in dancing.
Then yesterday,
When the number of their days was at an end,
Those who are our fathers,
30 The two who hold the high places,[28]
With their elder brothers' plume wands,
Their prayer feathers,
Their shells,
In these wrapping themselves they renewed their human form.[29]
35 Holding their world,
Holding their people fast,
Sitting down quietly,
With us their children
After a blessed night[30]
They came to day.
40 This very day
When he who is our sun father,
Coming out standing to his sacred place
Passed us on our roads,
45 Saying, let it be now,
Those who are our fathers,
The ones that first had being,[31]
Came out standing
Into the daylight of their sun father.
Near by, in the corn priests' court,
Our two fathers,
The ones who hold the high places,
With all their sacred things

{p. 685}

55 Made their roads enter.
Yonder from all sides,
Those who are our fathers,
All the water bringing birds,
P?ekwins, priests,[32]
60 Made their roads come forth.
They made their roads come hither.
With his hand,
With his heart
His fathers' cloud house he fashioned,[33]
Their mist blanket he spread out,
65 Their life-giving road he sent forth,
Their perfect spring he prepared;
Then our two fathers,
Those who hold the high places,
With their house chiefs,[31]
70 Their p?ekwins,
Holding all their sacred things
Sitting down quietly
Throughout a blessed day,
With us, their children, they came to evening.
75 When the one who is our sun father
Had gone in to sit down at his sacred place,
And our night fathers,
Our night mothers,
80 Night priests,
Slowly rising to their sacred place,
Had passed us on our roads,
We passed you on your road.
85 You, Navaho priests,[35] have died.
Truly during your lives
You dealt falsely,
Although that was your nature in life,

{p.686}

90 Recently, by virtue of the corn priests water-bringing words,
You have passed one another on your road.
When you reveal to us[36]
How the days will be,
How the world will be,
Knowing that,
We shall pass our days.
To this end, my nieces,[37]
Add to your hearts.
So that your people you may waft hither only,
So that you may speed them hither,
On this do not fail to fix your thoughts.[38]
This is all.

He deposits the scalp in the scalp house, replaces the cover and comes back to the village. On his way back he mounts to four housetops, leaving on each a grain of black corn "to make his road dark." At his own house the ladder has been turned upside down. As soon as he has mounted it, it is righted so that the ghost can not follow him up. He comes into the house without speaking, hangs up his blanket and goes right out. Standing on the housetop facing the east, holding in his hands what yet remains of the black corn, he prays:

This many are the days
Since our children
Neglecting their little ones,
Neglecting their wives,
5 Yonder into the enemy's country
Made their road go forth.
Presently, even where the enemy
Stayed peacefully in their huts
Our fathers,
10 The ones who hold the high places,
Having commanded the enemy to be as women,
In a shower of arrows,
A shower of war clubs,
15 With bloody head,
The enemy reached the end of his life.
Our fathers,
Beast bow priests,

{p. 687}

20 With their claws,[39]
Tearing from him his rain filled covering,
Commanded him to be the one to count those who have their homes above--
All little sparkling stars.[40]
The enemy,
30 Having added to the flesh of our mother earth,[41]
Hither into the corn priests' country,
He made his road go.
35 When his road came here to Itiwana,
Our two mothers,
Taking hold of him fast,
The country of the corn priests,
Four times successively encircling
Into the corn priests' rain filled court
Making their roads come in,
There they set him up.
His days were made.
45 When we had lived eagerly awaiting his days,
The rain maker priests,
With their fresh water,
50 Took firm hold of the enemy.
Then the days were made
For those who hold the high places.
Through all these days,
Mindful of their days,
55 You came to the time.
Then yesterday,
Our two fathers,
Those who hold the high places,
Once more assuming human form,
60 After a blessed night
With us their children
They came to day.
This day[42]
When he who is our sun father

{p. 688}

65 Has come out standing to his sacred place,
Saving, let it be now,
Our two fathers,
The ones who hold the high places,
70 Yonder will pass their elder brothers on their roads.
Wherever they pass the divine ones on their roads
Taking their places,
They will sit down quietly.
75 Yonder on all the mossy mountain tops,
All about they will have their sacred places.
All the forests
All the brush
Being made representatives in prayer
80 That all the corn priests' children
May hold fast to life;
That this may be so,
The divine ones,
Taking one another's places,
Sit down quietly.
85 Holding all their world,
Holding all their people fast,
They will sit down quietly.
And then also these others,[42]
Asking in prayer for life for their children
They will add to our breath,
Seeking our relatives,
Our elders,
Near-by in all their houses
95 Wherever they lie sleeping,
These they will hold fast.
will have their
And also our children,
Those who watch over the ones through which we prosper,[44]
100 Those who for the sake of their children,
For the sake of their flocks
Yonder on all sides
Wander over their earth mother,
Who even on the bare ground stand at the edges of our land--

{p. 689}

105 All these also they will hold fast.
I have sent forth my prayers.
Our children,
Even those who have erected their shelters
At the edge of the wilderness,
110 May their roads come in safely,
May the forests
And the brush
Stretch out their water-filled arms
To shield their hearts;
115 May their roads come in safely;
May their roads all be fulfilled,
May it not somehow become difficult for them
When they have gone but a little ways,
120 May all the little boys,
All the little girls,
And those whose roads are ahead,
May they have powerful hearts,
Strong spirits;
125 On roads reaching to Dawn Lake
May you grow old;
May your roads be fulfilled;
May you be blessed with life.
130 Where the life-giving road of your sun father comes out,
May your roads reach;
May your roads be fulfilled.

Taking out the black corn, he passes it around four times in front of him. Reentering the house, he repeats the prayer, still holding the corn in his hand. At the end, he again passes it around counter clockwise before him, as a rite of exorcism, and sets it aside to be planted in spring. Then his aunts wash his head and bathe him. The following day he deposits prayer sticks at amitolan t?ep?o?ulikwi (where the rainbow bends over), a shrine to the gods of war, located in the canyon southwest of Zuñi. The prayer is similar.

V. PRAYERS AND CHANTS OF THE PRIESTS OF THE
MASKED GODS. I

THE COMING OF K^ÄKLO

In former times the preliminary initiation of small children took place every fourth year. In these years the chief of the cult group in charge of the K^äklo ritual received from the priests at the winter solstice a prayer stick commanding his participation.

The ceremony is held in March or April. Eight days before the actual whipping of the children K^äklo appears to announce the approaching ceremony and command those concerned to prepare for it. In each kiva he intones a long chant describing in great detail the mythological sanction of the, coming ceremony.[1] After visiting all the kivas he departs.

After eight days he comes again. Again he visits each kiva, repeating his chant. At dawn he is ready to depart. As he leaves, the gods who perform the initiation ceremonies appear and enter the village.

The following prayer is spoken by the impersonator of K^äklo at some time during his preparations for his ceremony, probably at the moment of taking out the mask before his second appearance.

This many are the days
Since the moon who is our mother
Yonder in the west a small thing
First became visible.
When she reached maturity
5 Then the one who is my father,
K^äklo, p?ekwin priest,
perpetuating his rite had since the first beginning--
Yonder from his perfect mountain
Made his road come forth.
10 He made his road come hither.
Into Itiwana his road entered,
There, wherever the roads of his children come forth
He made his road enter.
His words came forth.

{p. 691}

15 All the ladder descending children of the corn priest
Desire the breath of their fathers,
Priests of the masked gods;
Since somehow it was not clear to which clan they belonged,
20 K^äklo, p?ekwin priest, made his road come hither.
To all the ladder descending children of the corn priests (he came)
In order that their children may have someone whom they call their second father,
That they may have one whom they call their second mother,
25 Now that they have sent for us
For this we have passed you on your roads.
I have told off the sequence of your days,
Anxiously awaiting your time,
I have told off the sequence of your days.
30 Seemingly now all the eight days are past,
It is the ninth night,
Now all of us
Shall pass you on your roads.
We shall pass a blessed night together,
And to-morrow,
35 When our sun father
Has come forth standing to his sacred place,
Throughout a blessed day,
We shall come to evening.
When our children
Into the corn priest's court have brought their roads,
40 Our fathers,
Priests of the masked gods,
With their powerful weapons
Four times will strike our young ones,
In order that this may be
45 We have passed you on your roads.
This is all.
Thus with plain words
We have passed you on your road.
To-morrow

{p. 692}

50 Our young ones
The plume wands of their fathers,
Priests of the masked gods
They will fashion into human form.
When to our fathers,
55 Priests of the masked gods,
We have given these plume wands,
Then making their days,
Keeping their sacred days,
We shall pass our days.
60 And so, our fathers,
Your long life,
Your old age,
Your power,
Your strong spirit,
65 You will give to us,
So that we may be people blessed in all things.
Yonder toward the place of dawn
We shall give our fathers prayer meal.
70 Anxiously waiting we shall pass our days.
When all their days are at an end
With our clear water
We shall bind our children fast,
So that their roads may reach to dawn lake
75 So that our young ones' roads may be fulfilled.

PRAYER OF THE IMPERSONATOR OF P?A'UTIWA

P?autiwa is the katcina chief at Katcina village. It is he who determines the order of masked rituals and dances, and sends forth masked beings to dance for his daylight children at Zuñi. The great masked ceremonies are held e