{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_70076/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_70076","id":"gutenberg_70076","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/70076","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Archaeology & Anthropology","Category: Environmental Issues","Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Hopi Indians -- Religion","Hopi Indians -- Rites and ceremonies","Indians of North America","Indians of North America -- Arizona -- Rites and ceremonies","Snake dance"],"text":"\u2500\u2500 =1062= \u2500\u2500\n\n\n\n\n     THE TUSAYAN RITUAL: A STUDY OF THE INFLUENCE OF ENVIRONMENT ON\n                           ABORIGINAL CULTS.\n\n\n\n\n                                   BY\n\n\n\n\n                           J. WALTER FEWKES.\n\n\n\n\n                                \u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\n\n\n\n\n          FROM THE SMITHSONIAN REPORT FOR 1895, PAGES 683-700\n                       (WITH PLATES LXX-LXXIII).\n\n\n\n\n                                \u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\n\n\n\n\n                              WASHINGTON:\n                      GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE.\n                                 1896.\n\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n\n\n     THE TUSAYAN RITUAL: A STUDY OF THE INFLUENCE OF ENVIRONMENT ON\n                          ABORIGINAL CULTS.[1]\n\n\n                                \u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\n                          By J. WALTER FEWKES.\n                                \u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\n\n\nFootnote 1:\n\n  Saturday lecture in the Assembly Hall of the United States National\n  Museum, May 16, 1896.\n\nThe science called ethnology claims as its field of research the study\nof all racial characteristics of man. It deals not only with his\nphysical features, social grouping, and geographical distribution, but\nalso with the products of his hand and mind, his thoughts and feelings.\nNo race or individual is so low in the scale of being as to be utterly\ndevoid of some idea of the supernatural, and as this is a universal\nhuman characteristic it is naturally one of the subjects which presents\nitself for study by the ethnologist. The study of the evolution of\nsupernatural ideas, like that of all other human characters, ought not\nto be limited to a few favored races, nor should the term \u201creligion,\u201d in\nits scientific use, be restricted to any group or race of man. It must\nbe broad enough to embrace the supernatural conceptions of all men, low\nand high in the scale. No poor or insignificant grouping of men and\nwomen should be regarded too wretched to be studied, and the scientific\nman can not overlook any if he is loyal to scientific methods. A\ngeneralization which is built on limited knowledge of the religious\ncharacteristics of a few men or those of gifted races will as surely\nfail as a general law of linguistics based on the language of any one of\nthe great races to the neglect of others. There was a time when\nnaturalists overlooked the lowest animals in their studies of the\nevolution of organic life, but now it is universally recognized by\nbiologists that we must look to the most inferior animals for a solution\nof many problems connected with the highest. In studies of the\ndevelopment of the supernatural in the mind of man the same thing is\ntrue. The laws of the evolution of religious thought can not be\nscientifically studied if the culture of primitive man is neglected.\nUnless I am greatly mistaken, the roots of some of the purest spiritual\nconceptions reach far down into savage and barbarous stages of culture.\n\nWe are accustomed to designate the crude supernatural ideas of savage\nand barbarous peoples as cults, and every cult will be found on\nexamination to be composed of two complemental parts, known as mythology\nand ritual. Around the former group themselves the various beliefs\nregarding the supernatural, and about the latter the processes by which\nman approaches and influences these supernal conceptions. This bifid\nstrand runs through all supernatural ideas, from those of the savage to\nthe civilized man. As nature has thus united them, they must always be\nconsidered together in scientific studies. We have seen in one of the\nprevious lectures of this course how certain arts of man are affected by\nenvironment. I shall endeavor to show a connection between ceremonial\npractices and climatic conditions, which are, I take it, essential\nfactors of environment. For an illustration, I have chosen the influence\nof an arid climate upon the ritual of one cluster of American Indians.\n\nThere are certain common components of all cults which are as widely\nspread as the races of man and exist independently of surroundings,\nwhile there are others which are profoundly affected by environment. Our\nsubject especially deals with the latter, and as the ritual is capable\nof more exact scientific analysis, I have in mind to discuss the\nmodifications in it which can be traced to purely climatic causes.\n\nTo simplify the elements of the problem we must choose not only a\nprimitive form of ritual, but also as far as possible one which has been\nbut slightly modified by the introduction of foreign influences, and\nhence other environments. We must avoid as much as possible complexity\ndue to composition. It is a very difficult task to determine the\naboriginal cults of any primitive people, for modifications resulting\nfrom contact with other races are present almost everywhere we turn.\n\nEvery cluster or grouping of men known to me is composite in its\ncharacter. Yet the task is not wholly hopeless or beyond our powers. The\nwork before the American student is facilitated by the fact that we have\nstill living in our country surviving members of the American race who,\non account of isolation, have been slightly modified by foreign\ninfluences. I wish this afternoon to call your attention to one of\nthese, and to discuss the influences which environment has exerted on\ntheir ritual.\n\nThe people concerning whom I shall speak are commonly called the Mokis,\nalthough they prefer to be known as the Hopi. They live in a region of\nArizona, which from its discovery in the middle of the sixteenth\ncentury, has been designated Tusayan. The Hopi or Tusayan Indians belong\nto the so-called village or pueblo people\u2014the peculiar culture of\nprehistoric Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, and Utah. While what I shall\nsay especially concerns one group, it may in a general way be applied to\nthe culture of a wide territory called the pueblo area of the\nsouthwestern part of the United States. In a natural sequence a\ndiscussion of the effect of environment would follow a statement of the\ndistinctive characters of the physical features which characterize\nsurroundings; and in order that you may have an idea of the climatic\nconditions of Tusayan, let us take a few moments to consider these\npeculiarities of the environment. In physical features this province is\na part of the great arid zone of the Rocky Mountains, to which in former\ntimes was given the name of Great American Desert. It lies in the\nnortheastern part of Arizona, about 90 miles from the nearest village of\nwhite men on the south and about the same distance east of the Grand\nCanyon of the Colorado. On all sides it is isolated by dry deserts, a\ndreary extent of mountains, mesas, and arid plains about 6,000 feet\nabove the level of the sea. No permanent streams of water refresh these\nparched canyons or fields, and the surroundings of this isolated tribe,\norganic and inorganic, belong to those characteristic of desert\nenvironment. The rains are limited in quantity\u2014liable to fail at\nplanting times, although later in the summer pouring down in copious\ntorrents, that fill the depression by which the water is rapidly carried\naway from the thirsty fields. Springs of permanent water are small and\nweak, and when abundant, poor and hardly potable. In this unpromising\nland a few less than 2,000 Indians strive to maintain themselves by\nagriculture from a barren sandy soil which a white farmer would despise.\n\nNor is the unremunerative soil the only hostile environment with which\nthis industrious race of aboriginal farmers has had to contend. Incoming\nmarauders, in the form of nomadic enemies, have from prehistoric times\nharassed them, preyed on their farms, and forced them to adopt\ninaccessible mesa tops, high above their fields, for protection. Perched\non these rocky eminences they have erected seven stone villages in so\nclever a way that they seem to be a part of the cliffs. Animals in\ndesert surroundings as a protective device have taken on the color of\nthe soil, but these men have built their towns in the cliffs so deftly\nthat they seem to be parts of the mesas themselves. They have succeeded\nwell in this protective device, due to environment, for at a distance\nthe pueblos are indistinguishable from the cliffs on which they stand.\n\nI need not dwell on the forbidding aspect of the mesa tops on which\nthese villages are built. Not a sprig of verdure, drop of water, or\nfragment of fuel is to be found upon them. If there is one physical\nfeature which may be said to characterize Tusayan, it is the paucity of\nwater, or rather its unequal distribution in different seasons of the\nyear.\n\nThe character of animal life is also significant, for it is of such a\nnature as to exert a profound influence. A race dependent on animal food\nalone would have starved for game. The great ruminants, as the bison,\nwhich more than any other animal influenced the culture of the Indians\nof the great plains of the Mississippi, never visited this region. No\ndomesticated animals made pastoral culture possible. There were small\nrodents, many rabbits and hares, and a scanty supply of antelope in\ndistant mountains. Unpromising as was the soil for agriculture, the\nresources of the hunter were much less, and in this region man was\nforced to become an agriculturist.\n\nIt is, therefore, clear that the sedentary agricultural life of the\nTusayan Indian is the direct result of organic and inorganic\nsurroundings. Forced from some reason unknown to me to live in a land\nwhere animals were so few that he could not subsist from the products of\nthe chase, he found a possible food supply in plant life, and he\naccepted the inevitable. He adopted the life which environment\ndictated,[2] and accepting things as they were, worked out his culture\non the only possible lines of development. He raised crops of maize,\nmelons, and beans, cultivated and harvested various grains, but at times\nwhen other things failed found food in cacti and the meal of pi\u00f1on nuts.\nAccepting the inevitable, man\u2019s ritual became a mirror of that part of\nhis environment which most intimately affected his necessities. The\nirregularity of the rains, and the possibility that the corn may not\ngrow, developed the ritual in the direction indicated. As long as the\nprocesses of nature go on without change, no special rain or growth\nceremonials would develop. In a bountiful soil which never fails the\nfarmer, where the seed dropped in the ground is sure to germinate, and\nthe rains are constant, no ritual would originate to bring about what\nwas sure to come. But let natural processes be capricious, awake in a\nprimitive mind the fear that these processes may not recur, let him\nbecome conscious that the rains may not come, and he evolves a ritual to\nprevent its failure. He is absolutely driven to devise ceremonials by\nwhich to affect those supernatural beings whom he believes cause the\nrain and the growth of his crops. The cults of a primitive people are\nproducts of their necessities, and they become complicated as the\nprobability of their needs not being met are uncertain. The two needs\nwhich sorely pressed the Hopi farmer were rain to water his crops and\nthe growth and maturity of his corn. My problem, therefore, is to show\nby illustrations that the two components, rain making and growth\nceremonials, characterize the Tusayan ritual, as aridity is the epitome\nof the distinctive climatic features of the region in which it has been\ndeveloped.\n\nFootnote 2:\n\n  For a discussion of the relations between highest stages of culture in\n  aboriginal America and arid climate, see my article on Summer\n  Ceremonials at Zu\u00f1i and Moqui Pueblos, Bulletin Essex Institute, Vol.\n  XXII, Nos. 7, 8, 9. Salem, Mass.\n\nThere are, as before stated, certain elemental components of all cults\nwhich are as widespread as man, and apparently exist independently of\nclimatic conditions. These elements are psychical, subjective, and occur\nwherever man lives in deserts, islands, forests, plains, under every\ndegree of latitude and temperature. A more profound philosophical\nanalysis than I can make may resolve even these into effects of\nenvironment, but their universality would seem to show that they are not\ndue to the special climatic condition of aridity characteristic of\nTusayan. I do not regard it pertinent to my discussion to attempt to\nexplain their origin, but we can better appreciate the Tusayan ritual.\n\nThe genus _Homo_, emerging from genera of animals, most of which were\ntimorous and bodily weak, inherited from them a wonder and fear at\nanything unusual or uncanny. This dawning intelligence, influenced by\nsuch sentiments as wonder, fear, hope, and love, reached that mental\ncondition when, as pointed out by King, it ascribed all happenings about\nitself to luck.[3] His heritage was a mind unable to separate the normal\nfrom the abnormal, and everything to such a mind is mysterious, and all\nnature is regarded as living, but we can hardly suppose that in that\ncondition it deified or saw gods in everything. Man understood the\ncauses of few of the mysteries about him, and felt himself at the\ncaprice of chance. He was a consistent fatalist, overlooking good, for\nthat was normal, but associating the bad with chance. In this early\ncondition a stage of supernaturalism called fetishism, or the use of\ncharms, spells, amulets, mascots of various kinds to control chance,\narose. As far as I know, no race has wholly outgrown this condition, and\nthe lower we descend in the scale of humanity, either historically in\nour own race, or ethnographically among savages, the relative\npredominance of fetishism increases. There is no more constant element,\nnone following the same law of increase; the present forms of monotheism\nhave the least, the lowest savage the most. While at present there\nsurvives no people so degraded that fetishism is the only cult, those\nnearest that stage are the lowest in mental, moral, and social\nattainments. I need not remind you that at that early stage a fetish was\nnot an idol, it may or may not have had a regular form; a stone, a root,\nan amulet may serve as a fetish. In this stage of development every\nindividual came to believe that he had a certain protective charm. We\ncan hardly believe he had a system of gods or that he recognized such.\nLater in its evolution fetishism became incorporated with other higher\nelements, especially symbolism, but in its archaic conception this was\nimpossible.\n\nFootnote 3:\n\n  I find myself in accord with Mr. J. H. King, who has discussed this\n  subject at length in his work, The Supernatural; its Origin, Nature,\n  and Evolution. While there are several points in his discussion where\n  I can not see my way clear to accept his interpretations, I have in\n  others found my views almost coinciding with his. He has discussed the\n  subject in so scholarly a manner that the small space I can give to\n  this great subject might have been better occupied with quotations\n  from his volumes. His work should be thoughtfully studied by everyone\n  interested in this subject.\n\nThe highest outgrowth of pure fetishism was the shaman or medicine man.\nIt was recognized that certain men were gifted with occult powers beyond\ntheir fellows, and were more potent to control happenings. But this\nmedicine man made use of impersonal amulets, not personal spirits.\n\nThe second stage in the growth of the supernatural was a belief in a\nspirit[4] or double of man, the concept of animism. When through dreams\nand other psychical phenomena man recognized his soul, he immediately\nextended his concept to animals, plants, stones, all things, and thus\neverything was thought to have an intangible double, soul. Man sought to\nally himself with some one of these souls; if a hunter, some animal\nspirit, for instance, as an aid. This became his totem, and everything\ncame to be a totem of power depending on needs of man. As fetishism was\nthe archaic condition in the groping of the human mind, totemism was the\nfollowing, and both evolved together, mutually reacting on each other\nand interdigitating in their development.\n\nFootnote 4:\n\n  The recognition of spirit was of very early date, and is regarded by\n  Sir J. Lubbock, Dr. Tylor, and Herbert Spencer as characteristic of\n  all supernaturalism. Mr. King, however, seems to me to have advanced\n  strong reasons to show that fetishism may have antedated animism.\n  Although I have adopted his view, I am sure there is much to be said\n  on the other side.\n\nAs the inevitable outgrowth of animism and its twin brother totemism\ncame ancestor worship. Totemism and animism are sometimes limited to\nanimal worship, from the fact that zoomorphic totems naturally were\nchosen by hunters, but especially among agricultural people totems of\ncorn, rain, and the like replaced zoomorphic forms. The forces of nature\nthus became totems\u2014sun, moon, earth\u2014some with animal, others with human\npersonalities. A totem of a family became a tutelary god, and groups of\ntutelary gods with a regal head became a council of gods as among the\nold Greeks.\n\nPolitical and religious conceptions kept pace, a patriarchal head of the\nfamily was reflected in the mythology. A king suggested a monotheism.\nIsolated phratries living in groups like the prehistoric pueblos\nrecognized no supreme political chief; their system was feudal; they\nwere too low for monotheism. I believe there is no good evidence to\nprove that they ever advanced higher in the evolution of mythology than\na form of totemism, in which powers of nature under anthropomorphic or\nanimal disguises were worshiped.\n\nI have said that the ritual of man can not be separated from his\nbeliefs; it is incomprehensible alone. Let us, therefore, glance at the\nmythology of the Tusayan Indians. These people had never, when\nunmodified by European influences, advanced higher than the worship of\nanthropomorphic powers of nature, although all lower forms of worship,\nas of animals, ancestors, and fetishism, were prevalent. As far as I\nhave studied the beliefs of the Tusayan Indians, I find no evidence that\nthey recognized monotheism or the existence of a Great Spirit, creator\nof all things. With them as elsewhere among American Indians whenever we\nfind a knowledge of a Great Spirit we see, as pointed out by Mr. R.\nDorman,[5] \u201cNothing more than a figure of European origin reflected and\ntransformed almost beyond recognition in the mirror of the Indian mind.\u201d\nIt is suggestive that the Indian knows only the name, he has no stories\npertaining to him, but when you inquire about creation you elicit myths\nof the works of a spider woman or the birth of men from the caverns of\nthe earth. A conception of a Great Spirit, wherever reported from savage\npeople of North America, is the work of missionaries, soldiers, or\ntraders.[6]\n\nFootnote 5:\n\n  Anthropological Institute, Journal, Vol. XI, page 361.\n\nFootnote 6:\n\n  Considerable evidence has been adduced, mainly from documentary\n  sources, that the more civilized people of Central America attained in\n  Precolombian times the monotheistic stage of supernatural concepts,\n  and if that evidence is unimpeachable it would not be improbable that\n  traces of the same should be found among pueblos. Unfortunately,\n  however, the evidences on this point are none too strong, the\n  probabilities that the writers and the documents did not eliminate\n  their own interpretation too great. The pueblos at present have an\n  idea of a supreme spirit, but there is every reason to believe it is\n  of exotic derivation in the time since Coronado. However honest may be\n  the modern priest who may say that he learned from his grandfather\n  certain current beliefs, the crucial test of their prehistoric\n  character must come from proof that the grandfather\u2019s testimony is\n  correct. The sources of error in stories passed down by word of mouth\n  through many generations are too many to permit us to pin much faith\n  to traditions reputed to be of great age.\n\nAll cosmogony begins with a created earth and that earth is mother of\ngods and men. From the under world, a cavern in the earth, men crawled\nto the surface through an opening called the sipap\u00fb. Races, like\nindividuals, grew or were born; there is no hint as to how mother earth\nwas created.\n\nThe highest supernatural beings were deified forces of nature endowed\nwith human or animal forms. Among these were sky gods, earth gods, and\ntheir offspring in the early times when the race of man was young. The\npueblos deified the sun and called him father of all, and so important\nis the place that he plays in their beliefs that they are ordinarily\ncalled sun worshipers. They endow him with human form, speaking of the\ndisk as his mask. Each day he is thought to rise from his home in the\nunder world and at night sinks into a western house. The pueblo Indians\nlive in houses. Their chief supernatural has a house, as indicated by\ntheir use of this word for his place of rising and setting. The sun is a\nbeneficent being all powerful to bring the rains. In other parts of\nAmerica among warriors he is appealed to to destroy enemies. Among those\npeople whose environment necessitates rain he is regarded as all\npowerful for that purpose. Like ancient Aryans, the Tusayan Indians pray\nto the rising sun for blessings, but the meaning of the word \u201cblessing\u201d\nis always rain, that the farms may be watered and the crops grow to\nmaturity. The worship of the sun, therefore, is of great importance; it\npervades all the ritual, but it is always with one intent\u2014the\nover-powering need of the agriculturist for rain in a desert\nenvironment.\n\nAs I have used the word \u201cprayer,\u201d it may be well for me to point out the\nsignification of this word among these people. We are dealing with a\nrace in that stage of culture where the symbolism is all-important.\nTheir word for prayer is, \u201cscatter,\u201d that is, to scatter sacred meal.\nWhen a Tusayan priest addresses a supernatural being of his mythology he\nbelieves he must do so through the medium of some object as a prayer\nbearer; he breathes his wish on meal and throws this meal to the god.\nThe prayer bearer is thought to have a spiritual double or breath body\nwhich carries his wishes. It is an old idea with him, reaching back to\nfetishism, for his breath with the talismanic words is the spell which\nbrings the desired results. It must be mentioned, however, that\noftentimes ethical ideas are associated with Tusayan prayers for rain,\nand I have frequently heard the priests at the close of their songs for\nrain exclaim, \u201cWhose heart is bad, whose thoughts are leaving the\nstraight path,\u201d and as they bewailed that the rains were delayed,\nsorrowfully resumed their songs and incantations.\n\nAn individual intrusts his prayer to sacred meal, but a society of\npriests has a more powerful charm. In the formal worship by a society of\npriests this prayer bearer becomes more complicated by appendages. It is\nfurnished with accessories, all of which are symbolic. The meal is\nplaced in a corn-husk packet surrounded with symbolic charms, feathers\nof birds which love water, herbs which grow in damp places. Such a\nprayer bearer with symbolic attachments is called a paho, and as if to\nbetray its meaning in its name, the exact translation of this word is\nthe water-wood, the wood which brings the water. These prayer sticks\nhave many different forms, but are always called by the generic name,\nwater-sticks. As their form becomes complicated by reason of symbolic\naccessories, their manufacture is an act which takes time, and as the\nprescribed symbols are known only to the initiated, their construction\ngives rise to a complex series of secret rites. The paho itself is a\nsacred object, consequently whittlings from it, fragments of string,\ncorn husks, or feathers, used in its construction, are also sacred and\nmust not be profaned. They are, therefore, carefully gathered up and\ndeposited with a prayer in some sacred place.\n\nThe simple act of breathing a prayer on a pinch of meal is all\nsufficient in an individual\u2019s use of prayer meal, but in the complicated\npaho this simple act is insufficient in their belief. The prayer bearer\nintrusted with the prayers of a community of priests must be laid on an\naltar, smoked upon, prayed over, and consecrated by song before it is\ndeemed efficacious. The production of this altar, the fetishes which\nstand upon it, the formal rites attending the ceremonial smoke, and the\ncharacter of the songs thus develop each its own complex series of\nrites. Lastly, even the casting of the meal has led to complications.\nThe paho must be offered to the god addressed in a dignified manner\nworthy of its object and the care used in its consecration. A special\ncourier carries it to a special shrine. He is commissioned to his task\nwith formal words, and he places his burden in the shrine with\nprescribed prayers. It has thus been brought about that the manufacture,\nconsecration, and final deposition of the elaborate paho or stick to\nbring the rain occupies several hours, and when repeated, as it is in\nall great ceremonies for several consecutive days, makes a complicated\nseries of rites.\n\n[Illustration:\n\n  PLATE LXX.\n  A TUSAYAN PAHO.\n]\n\nThe ritual of the Tusayan Indians is composite as their blood kinship.\nPeoples from other parts of the arid region have joined the original\nnucleus, each bringing its rites and its names of the sun god. Each of\nthese components clung to their own ceremonials, and thus several series\nof rites developed side by side, adding new names to supernatural beings\nalready worshiped. This state of things is not peculiar to Tusayan. Ra,\nthe Egyptian sun god, has not more aliases than Tawa, the solar deity of\nthe Mokis. So receptive is the Pueblo system in point of fact that they\nare quite willing to ingraft the Christian ritual on their own, and in\nsome of the modified pueblos of the Rio Grande we find the two\ncoexisting. The sun especially has many names among these people,\nattributal or incorporated, derived from colonists among them. While it\noftentimes puzzles the student to identify them, it causes no trouble to\nthe primitive mind, who gladly accepts the medicine of all people,\nfriends or enemies. Of synonyms of the sun, one of the most potent is\ncalled the Heart of the Sky.\n\nIn the mythology of the American Indians the worship of a mythic serpent\nis widely associated with that of the sun. Among the Pueblos this\nserpent appears as the Great Plumed Snake. This personage was a marked\none in the Mexican and Central American mythologies. He is found carved\nin stone on the stately ruins of Chiapas and Yucatan, painted in fresco\non the necropolis of Mitla, and represented in stucco on the fa\u00e7ades of\nother high temples of Mexico. As the most powerful of all the divinities\nof the Nahuatl and Aztec peoples, he has crept into all the mythologies\nwhere traces of Nahuatl words can be detected. In Tusayan the Great\nPlumed Serpent is a powerful deity to bring the rain, and is associated\nwith lightning, his symbol. By simple observation the untutored mind\nrecognizes that rain follows lightning, and what more natural than that\nit should be looked upon as the effect. He therefore worships lightning\nbecause of this power. The course of the lightning in the sky is zigzag\nas that of the snake, both kill when they strike. The lightning comes\nfrom the sky, the abode of the sun and rain god, and the simple\nreasoning of the Tusayan Indian supposes some connection between the\nlightning, snake, and rain. The sustenance of the primitive\nagriculturist comes from the earth, and if the soil is nonproductive the\nsun and rain are of no avail. The Tusayan Indian thus recognizes the\npotency of the earth and symbolically deifies it as the mother.\nConsequently earth goddesses play important roles in his mythology, and\nhere likewise the composition of the tribe shows itself in the many\nnames by which the earth mother is designated. We find her called\n\u201cMother of Germs,\u201d \u201cOld Woman,\u201d \u201cSpider Woman,\u201d \u201cCorn Maid,\u201d \u201cGrowth\nGoddess.\u201d Strangely enough to us, but by no means strange to a primitive\nmind, this latter is associated with fire; for in the Indian conception\nfire itself is a living being, and what is more natural than association\nof fire and growth?\n\nBefore we pass to a consideration of the lesser gods of Tusayan there\nremains to be considered, among those of primary importance, a strange\ncollection of concepts, the direct outgrowth of sun worship. I refer to\nwhat are known as the gods of the world quarters or cardinal directions.\n\nThe constant observation of the sun has led to an intimate study of the\nposition of this luminary in different seasons, especially in his\nvariation in places of rising and setting. As is well known, the sun, on\naccount of the obliquity of the ecliptic, rises and sets at different\npoints on the horizon at different dates, varying with latitude, between\ncertain distances north and south. The intervals on the horizon between\nextreme northern and southern azimuth is mapped out by a society of sun\npriests, who note the tree, hillock, or depression in the horizon from\nwhich the sun rises or into which he seems to sink at each interval, and\nthus determine the time for ceremonials with surprising accuracy year by\nyear. The solstitial points of the sun on the horizon thus came to be\ncardinal points, two of which are called sun houses.[7]\n\nFootnote 7:\n\n  The horizontal positions of the sun at the solstices were probably\n  recognized as cardinal by other peoples of agricultural life. The\n  reader who is interested to follow this subject further is referred to\n  various works on the orientation of Egyptian temples.\n\nAs the four solstices are marked epochs in the sun worship of an\nagricultural people, the points of rising and setting at these times, or\ntheir cardinal points, are associated with minor deities, offspring of\nsun and earth. These are the positions of the sun houses. Naturally, his\nchildren live in these four world quarters, and from that primitive idea\nis evolved the worship of the so-called world-quarter deities which play\nsuch a prominent part in the Tusayan ritual.\n\nAncestor worship has developed into an elaborate system of minor\nsupernaturals called Katcinas, most powerful, in their conception, to\nbring blessings, another name in their vocabulary for rain. It would be\ninstructive to trace the origin and define the character of these beings\nif time permitted. Their name is legion, their ceremonials complicated.\n\nIn addition to the deification of the forces of nature, totems of\nanimals, and ancestral personages, Tusayan supernal concepts are almost\ninfinite in variety and number, many of which are simply modified\nfetishes, the heritage of archaic conditions. To define the character of\na tithe of these concepts would be a task too technical for general\ndiscussion. Among a people where gods are so numerous, every hostile one\nmust be appeased, no beneficent personage forgotten. From one end of the\nyear to another there is almost a constant round of ceremonials, to\ndescribe which in detail would tax your patience.\n\nFortunately, however, these ceremonials admit of a classification. In\none way we may say that the ritual of a people is the sum of all\nceremonials which recur with precision in successive cycles. The time\ncommonly adopted by primitive people is a natural epoch, the year\ndetermined by the course of the seasons.\n\nMinor divisions of this year, or months, are characterized each by a\nspecial ceremonial, so that roughly speaking we may say that each\nceremonial year at Tusayan is composed of thirteen great ceremonial\nevents, one for each lunar revolution.\n\nIn the most elaborate of these monthly ceremonials occur rites lasting\nsixteen days, with four additional days for purifications. In the\ncelebration of many the time is curtailed, but no moon shines over\nTusayan without witnessing a religious festival of great complexity and\nprescribed precision, which is repeated every year at the same time.[8]\n\nFootnote 8:\n\n  For analysis of the Tusayan calendar, see Provisional List of Annual\n  Ceremonies at Walpi. Internationales Archiv f\u00fcr Ethnographie, Bd.\n  VIII, Heft. V and VI. Leyden, Holland.\n\nFrom this complicated series I will choose two great ceremonials to\nillustrate the two most important phases of the influence of aridity.\nThese two occur in consecutive months, August and September, are both\ncelebrated in extenso, and will for that reason give a fair idea of the\nnature of the elaborate components. Both are characteristic of Tusayan,\nalthough represented in a somewhat modified form in other pueblos.\n\nThe first is called the Snake Dance, the second the Lalakonti. The one\nis performed by male priests, the other by female; the former an\nelaborate prayer for rain, the latter for growth and an abundant harvest\nof maize. Both in their respective way illustrate the modifications\ndeveloped by the climatic conditions. So complicated are they, however,\nthat I must limit myself to the barest sketch of some of their more\nstriking features.\n\nNo better ceremony could be chosen to illustrate the effect of the arid\nenvironment than the well-known Snake Dance, the most weird rite in the\nTusayan calendar. This dance occurs every summer on alternate years in\nfive of the Tusayan villages, and although a dramatization of an\nelaborate sun-serpent myth is so permeated by rain ceremonials that it\nhas come to be an elaborate prayer for rain.\n\nThe worship of the serpent occupies a most prominent place in the ritual\nof all barbarous people where each environment has stamped it with\nspecial significance. Among the Tusayan Indians there are most\ncomplicated rites of ophiolatry, in March,[9] where six effigies of the\nGreat Plumed-headed Snake are exhibited in the secret rooms in\nconnection with symbols of the sun, in a strange dramatization. These\nceremonials, however, have to do with the fertilization of maize and\nmight well be chosen to illustrate rites which pertain to the\nnecessities of agricultural people.\n\nFootnote 9:\n\n  The Pal\u00fcl\u00fckonti; A Tusayan ceremony. Journal of American Folk Lore,\n  October-December, 1893.\n\nIt is to that ceremony[10] where reptiles are carried fearlessly by the\nsnake priests, their younger brothers, as they believe, to which I\nespecially refer, and to which I wish to call your attention. It is\nimpossible for me in the limited time at my disposal to give even a\nsketch of this complicated rite, so weird and startling in its character\nas to rival the most heathen ceremony in the wilds of Africa. Yet this\nuncanny dance in all human probability will be performed in August of\nthe present year in our own country in a Territory which justly aspires\nto be a State. The participants in it by treaty obligations are citizens\nof the United States and their children pupils of the public schools.\n\nFootnote 10:\n\n  For an account of the Snake Dance at Walpi, see Journal of American\n  Ethnology and Arch\u00e6ology, Vol. IV; Houghton, Mifflin & Co., Boston. I\n  have elsewhere pointed out the small part which the Great Plumed\n  Serpent plays in this ceremony, and the absence of fetishes or idols\n  of this personage in the secret portions of the ceremony. The only\n  symbol of the plumed snake which is found is on the kilts of the snake\n  priest. As nearly as I can judge of its place in the components of\n  primitive supernatural concepts, it seems to be an example of animal\n  totemism and ancestor worship in which special powers to bring the\n  rains are believed to belong to the reptiles, descendants, like the\n  living participants, of a snake mother. The conditions are so often\n  paralleled in the beliefs of other primitive people that there seems\n  to be no exception among the Hopi. Cf. King, op. cit., Vol. I, pages\n  165-207.\n\nThere is little doubt, however, that this survival of aboriginal\nceremonials will soon become extinct, although up to the present time it\nhas been but little modified by the new environment which the white men\nare bringing to the Tusayan Indians. The ceremony is not a haphazard or\ntemporary invention of priests to entertain, but a part of a serious,\nprecise ritual which has survived from prehistoric times to our day.\nFifteen years ago the existence of this dance was practically unknown,\nand to-day, after searching study, comparatively little has been\ndiscovered. It may be wholly abandoned before the scientific man is able\nto collect material enough to make out what it all means.\n\nIn order to consider some of the elements of rain-making rites in the\nSnake Dance and accompanying secret ceremonials, let us first turn to\nthe altars used in this dramatization. The celebration of this uncanny\nrite is performed by two religious societies or brotherhoods, which are\nknown as the Antelope and Snake priests. The secret ceremonials of each\nof these priesthoods are very complicated and are performed in\nsubterranean rooms called kivas into which uninitiated are debarred\nentrance. Each of these societies has in its own kiva an altar of\ncomplicated nature about which the ceremonials of a secret character are\nperformed.\n\nThe altar of the Antelope priests is of especial interest to us in\nconsidering the rain-making motives of the ritual. It consists of an\nelaborate mosaic or picture made of six different colored sands spread\non the floor and surrounded by a border of the same material.\n\nThe picture represents sixteen semicircular figures of four different\ncolors, the symbols of rain clouds of the four cardinal directions. From\none side of this composite picture are drawn parallel lines representing\nfalling rain. This sand picture, with accompanying fetishes, is known as\nthe rain-cloud altar, the home of the rain clouds.\n\n[Illustration:\n\n  ALTAR OF THE ANTELOPE PRIESTS IN THE SNAKE DANCE.\n  PLATE LXXI.\n]\n\nSeated about this altar for seven consecutive days the Antelope priests\ndaily sing sixteen songs to consecrate prayer sticks, which are later\ndeposited in shrines to the rain gods. These prayer bearers consist of\ntwo sticks painted green and tied together midway in their length. At\nthe point where they are bound is fastened a small packet of sacred\nmeal, while to the same is also bound a feather of the wild turkey. This\nfeather is aptly chosen, for the turkey is associated in their mythology\nwith a time or place when the surface of the earth was muddy, and as\nthey say the black tip of the feather was colored by the turkey dragging\nhis tail in the black mud. To this prayer bearer is likewise attached\ntwo herbs\u2014one male, the other female\u2014plants which love the water. There\nare many other prescribed details in the manufacture of this prayer\nstick with which I will not weary you, but there is one point which may\nbe of interest. The prayer bearers or prayer sticks of the first day are\nmade as long as the longest finger of the left hand, and are carried to\nfour shrines of the cardinal points, each of which is about 7 miles from\nthe pueblo. The length of these prayer sticks diminish each day, and in\nthe same ratio the distance of the shrines decreases. On the last of the\nseven days the prayer stick is the length of the ultimate joint of the\nmiddle finger, and the shrines in which they are placed are just outside\nthe town. The intent of the prayers and songs intrusted to these prayer\nsticks is for rain. The courier who carries them each day is an\nimportant priest, and his explanation of why he proceeds in certain ways\nin his duty may interest you.\n\nHe runs swiftly through the whole circuit except when kneeling at the\nshrines, and is barefooted and naked, that the rain gods may notice him\nand respond with equal haste to the prayers which he bears. He loosens\nhis hair and lets it hang down his back, symbolic of the way in which he\nbelieves the rain gods carry the falling rain which his hair symbolizes.\nHe makes the far circuit on the first day because rain gods dwell far\naway beyond all cultivated fields. He runs in a circle that all the rain\ngods may see him. The priests hope the rain deities may notice their\ncourier who bears their offerings to the shrines, and that each day they\nmay come nearer. Hence, on each succeeding day the courier travels on a\nshorter circumference. It is thus they wish the rain clouds to approach\nnearer and nearer and pour down their contents on their houses and\nfields, that the dry river beds may be swollen with water and all\nfarmers hear the pattering rain.\n\nConsider one of the many episodes about the altar in the consecration of\nthe prayer offering. Smoking, as is well known, was in Precolumbian\ntimes a ceremonial custom among the aborigines of the Southwest, and in\nthe ritual of the present pueblos every great rite opens and closes with\na formal smoke. The pipe lighter is an important functionary, next in\nrank to the chief, and in passing the pipe certain prescribed usages are\nalways followed and terms of relationship exchanged. The sixteen songs\nof which I have spoken are divided into two groups of eight each by a\nunique observance\u2014the smoking of the great cloud pipe. In this ceremony\nfour different kinds of herbs are loaded into a conical pipe, and at a\nsignal the pipe lighter passes a live coal to the chief, who places it\nin the larger end, kneels down behind the altar, places the larger end\nof the bowl in his mouth and blows four long whiffs through the pipe\nupon the sand picture of the altar. The smoke thus formed is called the\nrain cloud, which it symbolizes, and the act a prayer to bring the rain.\n\nLet us consider the final public event of the Snake Dance, that so often\ndescribed, when the snake priests handle venomous reptiles, apparently\nwithout fear, in the presence of spectators. This uncanny proceeding has\nthe same intent as the secret rites of which we have spoken\u2014a ceremony\nfor rain. The reptiles are believed to be elder brothers of the priests,\nand they are gathered from the fields on four successive days to\nparticipate in the ceremonies. It is believed that these reptiles have\nmore power to influence supernatural beings than man, and as the acme of\nthe whole series of nine days\u2019 observances they are thrown in a heap on\nthe ground in a circle of sacred meals, and the chief of the antelopes\nsays a prayer to the struggling mass, after which they are seized by the\npriests and carried to the fields commissioned to intercede with rain\ngods to send the desired rains. In fact, the whole series of rites which\nmake up the snake celebration is one long prayer of nine days\u2019 duration,\nfilled with startling components the details of which would weary rather\nthan instruct you.\n\nLet us, therefore, turn to another component of the Tusayan ritual which\noccurs each year in the month following that in which the Snake Dance\noccurs, the ceremony of the women priests for the maturation of the\ncorn. I refer to the September rites called the Lalakonti, celebrated by\na priesthood of the same name.\n\nThe ceremony for growth of the crops, which is practically for the\nharvest of maize, is directly the outgrowth of those climatic conditions\nwhich have made the Tusayan people agriculturists. A failure of this\ncrop means starvation, and maize is far from a spontaneous growth in\nthose desert sands. Hence the elaborate nature of the appeals to the\nsupernatural beings which control this function. This great ceremony is\nnaturally of special concern to women, the providers. The corn is the\nmother, the corn goddess the patron deity of women; the women are chiefs\nin this their special ceremonial. In turning over the mass of details\nwhich have been recorded concerning the festival of the Lalakonti it has\nseemed to me that I could not better illustrate the points which I\nespecially desire to develop than to explain the altar used by these\nwomen priests in this ceremony.\n\nThe altar[11] is erected in a subterranean secret chamber entered by a\nladder through the middle of the roof; and around this altar are\nperformed many rites the intent of which is an appeal to the gods of\ngrowth for abundant harvests.\n\nFootnote 11:\n\n  For description of the Lalakonti altar, and ceremonials performed\n  about it, see American Anthropologist, April, 1892. Washington, D. C.\n\n[Illustration:\n\n  PLATE LXXII.\n  THE LALAKONTI ALTAR.\n]\n\n[Illustration:\n\n  FOUR EFFIGIES OF THE LALAKONTI ALTAR.\n]\n\n[Illustration:\n\n  PLATE LXXIII.\n  SYMBOLIC FIGURES OF RAIN CLOUDS ON TILE USED IN SNAKE DANCE.\n]\n\nThere are two upright slats, painted with symbolic designs, among which\nthe figures of the rain cloud and falling rain and the lightning which\naccompanies the rainstorm are most prominent. Back of the altar are\nsticks serving as symbols of the lightning, the zigzag ones representing\nthe forked and the straight the sheet lightning. Two coronets, one on\neach side of the altar, are worn by two of the chiefs and they are made\nin the form of rain-cloud symbols, semicircles from which parallel lines\nrepresenting falling rain are drawn. Here, therefore, we see several\nrain symbols in prominent places. But the ceremony in which this altar\nis used is primarily one for the growth of corn; let us examine the\nobjects in it with that thought in mind.\n\nFour effigies or idols between the uprights of the reredos represent the\nfollowing personages: The one to the right is the goddess of growth. She\ncarries in her belt prayer offerings for abundant harvests. At her feet\nis an effigy of the corn mountain, colored with different colored corn,\nsince all kinds of corn are under her control. In her left hand she has\na small jar of holy water, since corn can not grow without moisture. The\nfigure at her left is the patron goddess of the society who celebrate\ngrowth ceremonials, the ancestral deified totem of the fraternity. At\nher left is the corn goddess, since corn is the one cereal whose growth\nis desired. This figurine bears on her head the symbol of the ear of\nmaize. No field of corn may be harvested without the protection of the\nwarrior in a country harassed by enemies, and the fourth effigy\nrepresents the god of war, whose effigy naturally has a place on this\naltar. The white meal which is sprinkled on the heads of all the idols\nrepresents the prayers of the faithful, for as each priest approaches\nthe altar she breathes her prayer on sacred meal and scatters it on the\nheads of the effigies. These prayers are for a good harvest, a\nsuccessful crop and abundant rains.\n\nThere are three objects in front of the images which are the badges of\nthe priests, called the \u201cmothers.\u201d In advance of these, spread on the\nfloor, is an elaborate picture, made of different colored sands,\nrepresenting on one side the Earth Goddess, and on the other the\nWatcher, or little War God. Connected with the altar is a bowl with\nterraced rim, used as a medicine bowl, and a single upright ear of maize\nwith a feather, a kind of standard, which is placed at the pathway of\nthe kiva to warn uninitiated persons not to intrude on the mysteries\nwhich are performed about the altar.\n\nThe influence of arid climatic conditions is shown in the character and\nintent of symbols. The conventional figure of the rain clouds and\nfalling rain is depicted more than any other on various paraphernalia of\nworship. It is painted on the altars, drawn in sacred meal on the floor\nof his sacred rooms, or kivas, embroidered on ceremonial kilts. The\npriest wears it on his marks and paints it on the body. It is an\nomnipresent symbol.\n\nBy a natural connection it is often replaced by figures of animals or\nplants associated with water. The frog and tadpole appear when the rain\nis abundant, and for that reason the priest paints the figures of these\nanimals on his medicine bowl, or places effigies of it on the altar. In\ncertain rites he makes clay balls, in which he inserts small twigs,\nwhich he believes will change into tadpoles, and deposits them along dry\nwater courses for the same reason, that rain may come. So shells from\nthe great ocean are likewise esteemed as bringers of water, and\nfragments of water-worn wood are carefully cherished by him for a like\npurpose. The dragonfly which hovers over the springs, the cotton-wood\nwhich grows near the springs, the flag which loves the moist places,\nbecomes a symbol of water. Water itself from the ocean or from some\ndistant spring, in his conception, are all powerful agents to bring\nmoisture. There can be but one reason for this\u2014the aridity of his\nsurroundings. Not alone in pictoral symbols does he seek to bring the\nneeded rains. The clouds from which rain falls are symbolized by the\nsmoke from the pipe in his ceremony, and he so regards them. He pours\nwater on the heads of participants in certain ceremonials, hoping that\nin the same way rain will fall on his parched fields. Even in his games\nhe is influenced by the same thought, and in certain races the young men\nrun along the arroyos, as they wish the water to go filled to their\nbanks.\n\nTo our ways of thinking these are absurd ways in which to bring the\nrain, but to a primitive mind it is a method consecrated by tradition\nand venerated from its antiquity.\n\nSymbolic figures of maize, the national food of the Hopi Indians, are no\nless common on ceremonial paraphernalia than those of rain. Maize is\npainted on the masks of sacred dancers and represented by effigies on\naltars. It gives names to several supernatural beings. Every babe, when\n20 days old, is dedicated to the sun and receives an ear of corn as its\nsymbolic mother. The badges or palladia of religious societies are ears\nof corn wrapped in buckskin\u2014symbolic, no doubt, of the time when seed\ncorn was the most precious heritage and preserved by the chiefs. The\nforemost supernatural being in the Tusayan Olympus is the Corn Maid, who\nis figured on food bowls, baskets, and elsewhere.\n\nIt can hardly be necessary for me to adduce more facts in support of the\nhypothesis that these two elements of the Tusayan ritual which reflect\nthe climatic surroundings are ceremonials for rain and those for the\ngermination, maturation, and abundance of agricultural products. The\nnecessities of life have driven man into the agricultural condition, and\nthe aridity of the climate has forced him to devise all possible means\nat his control to so influence his gods as to force them to send the\nrains to aid him. Wherever we turn in an intimate study of the\nceremonials of the Tusayan Indians we see the imprint of the arid\ndeserts by which they are surrounded, always the prayer for abundant\ncrops, and rains for his parched fields.\n\nWhen one makes the Tusayan ritual a special study he finds it\nwonderfully complicated in the development of details. No Hopi priest\nlives who understands the meaning of all these details, nor does he care\nfor an explanation of them. There are two fundamental factors, however,\nwhich he can comprehend, and these are always on his lips when an\nexplanation of the ritual is solicited. We cling to the rites of our\nancestors because they have been pronounced good by those who know. We\nerect our altars, sing our traditional songs, and celebrate our sacred\ndances for rain that our corn may germinate and yield abundant harvest.\n\nThe town crier calls at dawn from the house top the following\nannouncement, which is the key to the whole explanation of the Tusayan\nritual:\n\n \u201cAll people awake, open your eyes, arise,\n  Become Talahoya (child of light), vigorous, active, sprightly.\n  Hasten clouds from the four world quarters;\n  Come snow in plenty, that water may be abundant when summer comes.\n  Come ice and cover the fields, that after planting they may yield\n     abundantly;\n  Let all hearts be glad;\n  The knowing ones will assemble in four days;\n  They will encircle the village dancing and singing their lays * * *\n  That moisture may come in abundance.\u201d\n\nI have limited myself to showing that the arid climatic conditions are\nreflected from the rites of one tribe of Indians, and it would be\ninstructive to see whether these facts are of importance from the\ncomparative side. There are other equally arid regions of the globe\nwhere we might justly look for the same results if this climatic\ncondition is as powerful in the modification of cults as implied. There\nare marked similarities in the climate of Arabia, of Peru, and of\nAssyria, and as a consequence startling resemblances in their rituals.\nBut there are many differences; and we thus detect that our analyses of\ncauses has not been complete or ultimate, for we have limited it to but\none powerful element in the modifications of ceremonials.\n\nEnvironment is a complicated nexus of influences, organic and inorganic,\nthreads of which we can successfully trace a certain distance, but which\neludes as we go further. There are many effects where causes remain to\nbe discovered, and many climatic influences on cults have yet to be\nclearly discerned.\n\n                  *       *       *       *       *\n\nA few words more and I have done. Theories among civilized men, like\nthings among savages, may become fetishes. It would be lamentable if\nenvironment should become a word to conjure with, or if we should use it\nto cover ignorance of that which we can not explain. I have tried to\nshow that one highly complicated ritual is so plastic that it responds\nto climatic conditions, but there are elements in it due to some other\nunknown cause. Because climatic conditions explain certain modifications\nin human culture the tendency would be to strive to make it do duty in\nexplaining all. Such a generalization is premature and unscientific. The\ntheory that differences of species of animals and plants were due to\nclimatic influences may have satisfied the early students of evolution\nbefore Charles Darwin pointed out the law of natural selection.\nEnvironment is a factor which profoundly affects animals, but a struggle\nfor existence in which the fittest survive is a law of evolution.\n\nSo environment is a potent influence on the culture of man, but there\nare laws, as yet not clearly made out, back of it which control the\nevolution of man.\n\nWhen in the struggle for existence the fittest came to be measured by\ndegrees of intelligence, and no longer by superiority of bodily\nstructure, climatic conditions were still powerful to modify and\nstimulate thought. The increase in intelligence due to these agents did\nnot develop a new species, for, to whatever heights he rises, man still\nremains _Homo sapiens_. If, then, the specific identity of all\nindividual men on the globe to-day is true, the superstitions which we\nhave studied are errors of minds like our own, but imperfectly developed\nand modified by environment. In her mistakes, said the great naturalist\nGeoffroy St. Hilaire, nature betrays her secrets. By a study of\nerroneous working of the mind and their probable causes we can discover\nthe nature of mind. Below all ceremonials among all men, savage or\nbarbarous, may be traced aspirations akin to our own since they spring\nfrom our common nature. Until some philosopher shall arise who can so\nanalyze environment as to demonstrate that the great religious teachers\nof man, who, suddenly appearing, have stimulated the race to great\nbounds in progress, were solely the products of surroundings, we may\nbelieve that there is another most potent influence behind environment\ncontrolling the development of culture. Throughout all history man, from\nhis own consciousness, has recognized that controlling influence to be\nhigher than environment, and no science nor philosophy has yet succeeded\nin banishing the thought from his mind.\n\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n\n\n \u25cf Transcriber\u2019s Notes:\n    \u25cb Missing or obscured punctuation was silently corrected.\n    \u25cb Typographical errors were silently corrected.\n    \u25cb Inconsistent spelling and hyphenation were made consistent only\n      when a predominant form was found in this book.\n    \u25cb Text that:\n      was in italics is enclosed by underscores (_italics_).","title":"The Tusayan ritual : $b A study on the influence of environment on aboriginal cults","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":9368}