{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_70346/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_70346","id":"gutenberg_70346","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/70346","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Archaeology & Anthropology","Category: History - Other","Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Hopi Indians -- Religion"],"text":"THE AL\u00d3SAKA CULT OF THE HOPI\n                                INDIANS\n\n                          By J. WALTER FEWKES\n\n    (From the American Anthropologist (N. S.), Vol. 1, July, 1899)\n\n                               NEW YORK\n                          G. P. PUTNAM\u2019S SONS\n                                 1899\n\n\n\n\n                THE AL\u00d3SAKA CULT OF THE HOPI INDIANS[1]\n\n                          By J. WALTER FEWKES\n\n\n                             Introduction\n\nA little over ten years ago an Indian living near Keam\u2019s Canyon,\nArizona, informed Mr T. V. Keam, who for several years had been making\na collection of Hopi curiosities, that there were two idols in a\ncave near the ruins of the old pueblo of Awatobi. Mr Keam, supposing\nthese images to be so ancient that they no longer were used in the\nHopi ritual, especially as they were reported from a point ten miles\nfrom the nearest pueblo, visited the place, and brought the idols to\nhis store, several miles distant. When the removal of these objects\nbecame known, it created great consternation among some of the Hopi,\nand a delegation of priests from one of their villages begged Mr Keam\nto restore the figurines to them, stating that they were still used\nin their ceremonies. This request was immediately granted, and the\ntwo idols were borne away with great reverence by the priests, who\nsprinkled a line of meal on the ground along the trail as they returned\nhome. The images, however, have never been returned to their old shrine\nunder the Awatobi mesa, but a new fane has been found for them, the\nsituation of which is known to no white man.[2]\n\nFrom the late Mr A. M. Stephen\u2019s rough sketches, notes, and\nmeasurements of these images (which the writer has not seen), it\nappears that they are made of cottonwood, the larger one about four\nfeet tall, the other five inches shorter. Mr Stephen thought that they\nrepresented male and female, and his sketches of them show ground for\nthat belief. Each has a well carved head, from which arise two straight\nprojections which will be spoken of as horns.\n\nIn his studies of the Hopi Indians the author has several times visited\nthe shrine at Awatobi where these objects were once kept, finding it\na depression in a large bowlder, which was formerly walled up with\nmasonry, making a shelf upon which the images stood. The entrance to\nthis shrine faces the east, and the bowlder lies a few feet lower down\non the cliff than the foundation of the old mission church of San\nBernardino de Awatobi. By interrogating Indians regarding the images,\nhe has found that they represent beings called _Al\u00f3sakas_, the cult\nof which, once practised at Awatobi, still survives in the rites of\nthe modern Hopi pueblos. Many legends concerning _Al\u00f3saka_ have been\ncollected, but only during the last few years has the author witnessed\nceremonies connected with their cult. As a result of these observations\na suggestion in regard to its significance is offered.\n\nThe distinctive symbolic feature of these images is the horns (_\u00e1la_)\nabove referred to, from which they take their name. There is a\npriesthood at Walpi called the _Aalt\u00fb_ or Horn-men (to whom the name\n_Al\u00f3saka_ is also given), who are the special guardians of the cult and\nwho perform rites which throw light on its nature. These _Aalt\u00fb_, in\ntheir personifications of _Al\u00f3sakas_, wear on their heads close-fitting\nwicker caps,[3] on which are mounted two large, artificial, curved\nprojections made of buckskin, painted white, and resembling horns of\nthe mountain sheep[4] which, in certain of their actions, the _Aalt\u00fb_\nimitate.\n\nThe three Walpi ceremonies in which we find survivals of the _Al\u00f3saka_\ncult are the Flute, the New-fire, and the Winter Solstice, which are\nespecially instructive in a study of its significance.\n\n\n                  Personations of Al\u00f3saka as Escorts\n\nIn the Flute and New-fire ceremonies the role of the personators of\n_Al\u00f3saka_ is that of an escort who leads the columns of dancers or\nprocessions of priests.\n\nThe personation of _Al\u00f3saka_ in the Walpi Flute-dance was by a member\nof the _\u00c1sa_ clan, who, on the fifth day of the ceremony, drew a\nline of ground corn and made rain-cloud symbols along the path by\nwhich altar objects were carried from one place to another. He made\na line of meal across the trail by which one enters Walpi, in order\nto symbolically close it to visitors on the seventh day, when the\nhistoric reception of the Flute chief by the Bear and Snake chiefs was\ndramatized, and brushed away this meal when the Flute chief was invited\nto enter the pueblo at that time. He also \u201cclosed\u201d the trail a second\ntime when the Flute priests marched into the pueblo, and brushed the\nmeal away as they proceeded. On the last day he led a procession of\npriests to the Sun spring (_T\u00e1wapa_), where a ceremony of wading into\nthe water was performed, and escorted it back to Walpi on the afternoon\nof the last day, when the public Flute exercises were conducted. He\nsprinkled a line of meal over which certain sacred objects were carried\nfrom the Flute altar to the roof of the house, and led the priests as\nthey bore these objects from place to place. There are only obscure\nhints regarding the nature of the _Al\u00f3saka_ cult in these acts.\n\nIn the New-fire ceremonies we find _Al\u00f3saka_ filling the role of\nescort, and also that of tyler at the kiva hatches. He escorted the\npublic dancers, visited the trails, and drew lines of meal across them\nto prevent strangers from entering the pueblo. He inspected these\ntrails from time to time, guarded the ladder while the new fire was\nbeing kindled, and carried it to the other kivas. These duties are\nthose of warriors, but _Al\u00f3saka_ was not armed, nor is the mountain\nsheep which he represents a probable personation of a warrior.\n\nIt is interesting to note that there is no _Al\u00f3saka_ escort of the\nFlute priests in their public dances at the Middle Mesa, and, judging\nfrom photographs, it would seem that there is a like absence at Oraibi,\nwhich may be due to the absence of certain clans. Thus, one of the\nchiefs of the _Aalt\u00fb_ or _Al\u00f3saka_ society at Walpi belongs to the\n_\u00c1sa_ clan of Tanoan extraction limited to the East Mesa. The first\ncolonists of this clan were essentially warriors, and their performance\nof escort duty may be a survival of former times.\n\nAs there are two chiefs of equal standing in the _Aalt\u00fb_ priesthood,\none of the _\u00c1sa_ and the other of the Bear clan (one of the oldest in\nWalpi), it would seem that there are two phases of the cult, and that\nthe function of _Al\u00f3saka_ as an escort is distinct from an older one\ncommon to other Hopi villages.\n\n\n                Germinative Element in the Al\u00f3saka Cult\n\nThe germinative element of the _Al\u00f3saka_ cult, which we may regard\nas an ancient phase, was introduced into Awatobi and the other Hopi\npueblos by a group of clans from the far south. These clans, called\nthe _Patu\u00f1_, or Squash, founded the pueblo of Mico\u00f1inovi,[5] where the\n_Al\u00f3saka_ cult is now vigorous, and were prominent in Awatobi where it\nwas important. There is one episode of the elaborated New-fire ceremony\nwhich is traced to these southern clans; this concerns a figurine,\ncalled _Talatumsi_, kept in a shrine under the cliffs of Walpi and\nespecially reverenced by the _Aalt\u00fb_ or _Al\u00f3saka_ priests.\n\nIn the elaborated New-fire rites, called the _Na\u00e1cnaiya_, just after\nthe fire has been kindled by frictional methods in the _Mo\u00f1kiva_ before\na man personating the Fire-god, one of the _Aalt\u00fb_ brought into the\npueblo, from the shrine in which it is kept, the image of _Talatumsi_\nwrapped in a white blanket with prayer-sticks in its girdle. This was\nset on the kiva hatches, one after another, where it remained several\ndays; rites were performed about it, during which it was sprinkled\nwith meal in prayer, and later reverentially carried by the _Aalt\u00fb_\nback to its shrine, where it was set in position to remain until the\nnext quadrennial ceremony. This image is supposed to represent, not\n_Al\u00f3saka_, but the bride of _Al\u00f3saka_, the maternal parent of the\n_Aalt\u00fb_ society about whom cluster so many folktales. She is the cultus\nheroine of that society,\u2014one of their ancestors,\u2014and her effigy is\nbrought into the pueblo in November, every four years, by one of their\nnumber, just as we may suppose the images of _Al\u00f3saka_ were brought\ninto old Awatobi when the New-fire ceremony was celebrated in that\nill-fated pueblo.\n\nThe Hopi have another shrine at which they worship in the New-fire\nceremony, but instead of an image this contains a log of silicified\nwood called _Tuwapontumsi_, \u201cEarth-altar-woman.\u201d Exactly who this\npersonage is, the author has not yet discovered, but it is instructive\nto know that among the Hopi totems which he obtained, one of the men\ngave as his signature a figure of a lizard, a circle representing the\nearth, and a horned human figure which was called _Tuwapontumsi_. As\nthis figure recalls that of _Al\u00f3saka_, and as the shrine of the being\nit represents is visited at the same time as that of _Talatumsi_ by\npriests guided by _Al\u00f3saka_, it is not impossible that _Tuwapontumsi_\nis connected with the _Al\u00f3saka_ cult.\n\nA visit to this shrine was made by the two phallic societies,\n_Tataukyam\u00fb_ and _W\u00fcw\u00fctcimt\u00fb_, directly after the kindling of the new\nfire in the chief kiva at Walpi. They were led by a man personating\n_Al\u00f3saka_, and after praying at the shrine they marched in single file\nto the site of Old Walpi, on the terrace below the present pueblo, and\nencircled the mounds of this old habitation four times, sprinkling\nprayer-meal as their leader, _Al\u00f3saka_, directed. This place is\ncalled a _s\u00edpap\u00fb_, and below it are thought to dwell the ancients.\nThe prayers were addressed to the old men who have died. \u201cDown below\nus they dwell,\u201d said an old priest. \u201cThere the ancients dwell,\u201d said\nhe, patting the ground with his foot. \u201cWe are now praying to them.\u201d\nThere are many facts which show the existence of ancestor worship among\nthe Hopi, but the author never heard it stated more clearly by the\npriests than the night he accompanied the phallic societies[6] to the\nancient site of Walpi in the celebration of the New-fire ceremonies in\nNovember, 1898.\n\n\n                     The Bird-man in the Soy\u00e1lu\u00f1a\n\nOne of the most striking features of the rites of the Winter Solstice\nceremony in the chief kiva is the personation, before an altar, of\na Bird-man who is thought to represent a solar god. This episode at\nWalpi has been elsewhere described,[7] but as at Oraibi it immediately\nprecedes certain rites directly related to the _Al\u00f3saka_ cult, a few\nnotes on the personation of the Bird-man in the latter pueblo will be\nintroduced.\n\nAbout 10 P.M. on the day called _T\u00f3tokya_, the chief day of all great\nceremonies, this man, preceded by two others, passed into the kiva,\nhis entrance being announced by balls of meal thrown through the\nhatchway upon the floor, falling near the fireplace. The two men seated\nthemselves, one on each side of the ladder, which was grasped in one\narm. The Bird-man who followed had his face painted white, and in his\nmouth was a whistle with which he continually imitated the call of a\nbird, probably the eagle. He first stood on the upraise in the floor,\ncalled the spectators\u2019 part, then squatted on the floor near the right\npole of the ladder. He carried feathers in his hands,[8] and, moving\nhis arms up and down, imitated the motion of wings, as if flapping them\nlike a bird.\n\nWhile he was performing these avian movements, the spectators sang\na stirring song and the Bird-man slowly advanced to the middle of\nthe room, imitating the gait of a bird and crouching in a squatting\nattitude. The motion of the wings and the bird-cries continued, the\npersonator now and then raising his arms and letting them fall with a\nquivering motion. Once in the middle of the room he laid the feathers\non the floor and remained there for a short time without moving. He\nthen arose and danced for a long time, accompanied by a woman who held\nin one hand an ear of corn which she gracefully waved back and forth.\nShe followed the Bird-man as he moved from place to place, and at the\nclose of the dance took her seat near the right wall of the kiva where\nshe sat before the Bird-man entered the room.\n\nAfter the woman had taken her seat, the Bird-man continued the wing\nmovements with his arms, stretching them at full length and then\ndrawing them back to his body. He then proceeded to a pile of sand\nin a corner near the upraise; taking pointed sticks or reeds in his\nhand and halting before this mound of sand, he threw first one, then\nanother, of the sticks into the sand, all the time imitating a bird in\nthe movements of his body and simulating the bird-calls with a whistle.\nHe then went to the _Soy\u00e1lu\u00f1a_ woman who had danced with him; squatting\nbefore her, he uttered the strange bird-calls, and, making a pass,\nraised the small sticks which he carried from her feet to her head\nseveral times. He then returned to the mound of sand and again shot the\nsticks into it, after which he returned to the woman. This was repeated\nseveral times. The bird personator then returned to the middle of the\nkiva, before the altar, and, taking a bow and some arrows, danced for\nsome time, while all the assembled priests sang in chorus. As the\nBird-man danced, he raised the bow, fitted an arrow to it, faced the\nnorth, and drew the bowstring as if to shoot. This was repeated six\ntimes, the performer pointing the arrow to the cardinal directions in\nprescribed sinistral sequence.\n\nAt the close of this part of the performance the songs ceased and the\nBird-man took a seat before the altar, while a priest at his right\nlit a conical pipe and blew through it, on the body of the Bird-man,\nclouds of tobacco smoke. This smoke was not taken into the mouth, but\nthe smoker placed the larger end between his lips, and blew through\nthe tube, causing the smoke to issue from a small hole at the pointed\nend.[9] After prayers by one or more of the priests, the Bird-man again\ndanced before the altar, at the same time imitating the movements of\nwings with his arms and bird-calls with a whistle in his mouth. He then\nleft the room and the calls could be heard as he went outside.\n\nThis proceeding is interpreted as a symbolic dramatization or\nrepresentation of the fertilization of the earth, and is an example of\nhighly complicated sympathetic magic by which nature powers of sky and\nearth are supposed to be influenced.[10] The Bird-man, called _Kw\u00e1taka_\nor _Kw\u00e1toka_,[11] is an old war-god, and possibly a sun god, the return\nof whom the Winter Solstice ceremony commemorates.\n\nThe evidence that the Bird-man personates a sun or sky god is derived\nmainly from morphological symbolism, and in support of the theory there\nare here introduced a figure of the most common Hopi sun symbol, also\nrepresentations of dolls of a sun god, and _Kw\u00e1taka_ whom the Bird-man\npersonates.\n\nThe common sun emblem (plate XXV, _a_) is a round disk with a woven\ncorn-husk margin in which are inserted feathers of the eagle radiating\nat all angles. From the four quadrants project sticks\u2014the ends of an\nequal-armed cross. This disk has the following design painted upon\nit: The upper part is separated from the lower by a horizontal line,\nand the space above is divided into two parts by a perpendicular\nline, while the mouth is represented in the lower space by an\nhourglass-shaped figure. Two marks represent eyes. This disk is worn\non the backs of men personating the sun, in many rites, and is found\npainted on the screens used in the _Pal\u00fcl\u00fcko\u00f1ti_ ceremony. It is the\nordinary sun symbol in Hopi pictography.\n\nMany conventional modifications of this symbol are common. The painted\ndesign is often omitted and the disk reduced to a circle, while\nthe feathers are dropped, or concentrated in clusters in the four\nquadrants. In the sand picture of _Powalaw\u00fb_[12] the sun symbol is\nmade of concentric zones of sand of different colors with arrow-shaped\nextensions in the four quadrants. Again, the circle may be absent, when\nthe four extensions in its quadrants remain, forming a cross called a\n_tokpela_. This highly conventionalized form of the sun is often found\ndepicted on shields as a warrior\u2019s symbol.\n\nThus, while the equal-armed cross sometimes becomes a sun symbol, this\nby no means implies that the cross may not also have other meanings.\nThe signification of symbols depends on association, and the simple\nemblem described may have an entirely different meaning in other\nassociations. There is no more constant decoration used in the\nornamentation of ancient Hopi pottery than the cross, yet to interpret\nthis simple figure as invariably a sun symbol would be absurd, for it\nmay mean the sky, the four world-quarters, the four winds, the sun, or\na star; or it may be employed simply as an insignificant decorative\nmotive. Such simple designs as the cross, the circle, or the triangle,\nin primitive symbolism, may often be regarded as simply qualitative\nand are so used in pictography, their true meaning in specific\ncases depending on their association with other figures. In certain\nassociations a circle is a sun symbol, in others an earth symbol;\nan equal-armed cross with a figure of a rapacious bird sometimes\nrepresents the sun, in other instances the four cardinal points, which,\nwith the Hopi, are purely terrestrial directions or positions on the\nhorizon.\n\n[Illustration: PL. XXV\n\n  HOPI SUN SYMBOLISM\n\n  _a_, Common Hopi sun symbol. _b_, \u201cBig-head,\u201d a solar god. _c_,\n  Kw\u00e1taka, bird with sun symbolism. _d_, Ahole.]\n\nReturning to the common symbol of the sun, or the disk with painted\ndesign and radiating peripheral eagle feathers, we find on comparing\nit with the symbolism of the head of a sun god (plate XXV, _b_), a\nclose similarity. Among the features common to both are the markings\non the upper half of the face, the radiating feathers, and the cross\nextensions. The marks on the sun disk, indicating eyes, are here\nreplaced by balls, but of greater importance in future comparison, the\nmouth or double triangle is represented by a curving beak. The reason\nfor the substitution of this form of mouth is apparent in a comparison\nwith the head of the doll of _Kw\u00e1taka_ (plate XXV, _c_), where a bird\u2019s\nhead, wings, and tail are all represented. The symbolic design on the\nbody of this bird doll is strictly comparable with those on the two sun\nsymbols previously mentioned. The radiating feathers are replaced by\ntail and wings, while the head is suggested by the curved beak of the\nsecond symbol. A comparison of these three figures leads to the belief\nthat they are three different sun symbols.\n\nThe fact that the last is called _Kw\u00e1taka_, and that the Bird-man in\n_Soy\u00e1lu\u00f1a_ was given the same name, supports the theory that the\nlatter is a solar god. In his performance he does not, to be sure,\nwear a mask with solar symbols, but he imitates a bird in action and\nvoice. He is a patron of warriors, like the sun; he is the first god to\nreturn, and the _Soy\u00e1lu\u00f1a_ is a celebration to cause the sun to return.\nThe eagle or a raptorial bird is the sun bird; the sun fertilizes the\nearth, and the ceremonial acts of the Bird-man at the Winter Solstice\ndramatize fertilization. In short, the conclusion to which studies of\nthe ceremonial acts of the Bird-man, reinforced by those of comparative\nsymbolism, have led me, is that the Bird-man personates the sun or a\nsolar deity.\n\n\n                   Ceremony with the Al\u00f3saka Screen\n\nAfter the bird personator had retired, a short interval elapsed, all\nthe spectators of the previous rites remaining seated. A screen was\nthen handed through the kiva hatchway and propped upright near the\nfireplace with blocks of clay and stones. This screen (plate XXVI) was\nestimated to be between four and five feet long, by about three feet\nwide, and was decorated on the side turned toward the fireplace and the\nraised floor of the kiva. The entire middle of the screen was occupied\nby a picture of _Al\u00f3saka_, identical with that on the sun-shield used\nin the Walpi _Soy\u00e1lu\u00f1a_.[13] The head of this figure bore two curved\nhorns, with two fan-shaped lateral attachments; the chin was painted\nblack; in the right hand an ear of corn was represented, and in the\nleft a _mo\u00f1kohu_ or whitened slab of wood with attached feathers.\n\nA triple rain-cloud symbol was depicted on the screen above the head\nof the _Al\u00f3saka_ figure, and to the left were four parallel bars with\na vertical row of four dots. In the lower left-hand corner there was\na symbolic picture of the sun, and on the right side of _Al\u00f3saka_\nappeared an elongated figure which possibly may have represented\na sprouting seed. To each side of the screen were attached four\nartificial flowers, and to the upper edge a number of hoops covered\nwith raw cotton, possibly representing snow. A conventional symbol\nof corn was drawn on the lower part of the screen, and the surface was\ncovered with various seeds, as corn, beans, etc., fastened with clay.\n\n[Illustration: PL. XXVI\n\n  Drawn by Mary M. Leighter\n\n  SCREEN OF THE AL\u00d3SAKA]\n\nThe rites performed before this screen were of a very simple nature,\nand one of the most important was the scraping of the seeds from the\nlower part into a tray after certain prayers and other observances. To\nthe seeds in the basket was added a small quantity of raw cotton taken\nfrom the top of the screen, which was then carried out of the kiva.\n\nThe ceremony before the screen is interpreted as a prayer to _Al\u00f3saka_\nfor rain, snow, fertilization of seed, and abundant harvests,\nsymbolized by the figures on it and the rites performed before it.\nThese ceremonies are very appropriately introduced in connection with\nthose of the Rain-cloud people, since both came from the south and were\nbrought by related clans.[14]\n\n\n                   Ceremony with the Al\u00f3saka Shield\n\nIn the Walpi variant of the _Soy\u00e1lu\u00f1a_ or Winter Solstice ceremony,\nwe have not as yet observed a ceremony with the _Al\u00f3saka_ figure\ncomparable with that with the screen just described; but there\nis a shield upon which is painted an almost identical figure of\n_Al\u00f3saka_.[15] The nature of the rites in which this shield is used is\nimperfectly known, and the character of the _Al\u00f3saka_ worship in the\npueblos of the Middle Mesa is yet to be investigated.\n\n\n                          Pictures of Al\u00f3saka\n\nThe symbolism of _Al\u00f3saka_ is shown in a rude drawing made by one of\nthe Hopi to illustrate a legend, and it represents this being on a\nrainbow, on which he is said to have traveled from his home in the\nSan Francisco mountains to meet an Awatobi maid. Above the figure of\n_Al\u00f3saka_ is represented the sun, which is drawn also on the screen\nabove described, for _Al\u00f3saka_ is intimately associated with the sun,\nas are all the other horned gods, _Ahole_, _Calako_, _Tu\u00f1wup_, and the\n_Natackas_. An interesting detail of the symbolism of this picture of\nthe sun is the crescents under the eyes, which are found also on dolls\nrepresenting the mother of the gods, _Hahaiw\u00fcqti_, an Earth-goddess of\nfirst importance. The personators of _Al\u00f3saka_ paint a white crescent\nunder the left eye.\n\nThere is good authority for the belief that the conventional symbol\nof _Al\u00f3saka_ is a profile view of a budding squash-blossom\u2014a\ncentral bud and two lateral leaves. When this symbol becomes highly\nconventionalized, or made of rectangular instead of curved lines, it\nconsists of a straight line with a triangle on each side, and is then\nthe same symbol of generation that is painted with red iron oxide on\nthe breast, arms, and thighs of the two phallic societies in the public\nNew-fire ceremony.\n\nAs an idea of the nature of _Al\u00f3saka_ may be discovered from\nmorphological symbolism, let us examine the figures of a few of the\nhorned \u201cgods\u201d in the Hopi Olympus.\n\nThe first group of horn-headed gods to which reference may be\nmade are the pictures found on altars in the ceremonies called\n_Nim\u00e1n_ and _Powam\u00fb_. At Walpi these pictures are said to represent\n_Tu\u00f1wupkatcina_,[16] a name which may be of Tanoan origin. Figures\nof _Tu\u00f1wup_ have two lateral horns on the head, to the tips of which\nrepresentations of feathers are sometimes appended. On the top of\nthe head, between these two horns, there is represented a crest of\nradiating feathers, and on the forehead a broadheaded arrow which is\nsometimes modified to resemble the symbolism on the face of the figures\nof the sun painted on disks.\n\nThe _Tu\u00f1wup_ type of horned gods includes the _Calako-taka_, _Natacka_,\nand one or two others. The mask of _Ahole_, who flogs the children\nduring the _Powam\u00fb_ celebration, has the same two lateral horns and\nrepresentation of radiating feathers over the crown of the head, but\ninstead of sagittaform marks on the forehead there is a colored band\nfrom ear to ear across the face, as shown in plate XXVI, _d._\n\nIt is probable that these horned gods have close kinship and are\npossibly identical, _Ahole_ being simply a name of the personification\nby a masked man, and _Tu\u00f1wup_ that of the picture of the same on the\naltar. The horned _Al\u00f3saka_ does not belong to this type of horned\n\u201cgods,\u201d although it has two horns on the head both in graven images and\nin pictures.\n\n\n                           Myths of Al\u00f3saka\n\nIt will be seen from the preceding account that the _Al\u00f3saka_ rites\nare well developed in the ceremonies of the New-fire and Winter\nSolstice, in which the clans from the south who joined the Hopi are\nwell represented, or in which religious societies and ceremonial\nparaphernalia brought by the _Patu\u00f1_, _P\u00edba_, _P\u00e1tki_, and related\nclans have preeminence. Study of the _Al\u00f3saka_ myths reveals an\nexplanation of the meaning of this relationship.\n\nDuring his valuable studies among the Hopi, the late A. M. Stephen\nobtained an _Al\u00f3saka_ legend which is recorded in his notes on the Keam\ncollection, and is here quoted with explanations obtained by the author\nsince Mr Stephen\u2019s death.\n\n\u201cAt the Red House in the south[17] internecine wars prevailed, and the\ntwo branches of the _P\u00e1tki_[18] people separated from the other Hopi\nand determined to return to the fatherland in the north.[19] But these\ntwo branches were not on the best of terms, and they traveled northward\nby separate routes, the [later settlers of] Mico\u00f1inovi[20] holding to\nthe east of the [later settlers of] Walpi.\n\n\u201cThe _P\u00e1tki_ traveled north until they came to Little Colorado river,\nand built houses on both its banks.[21] After living there many years\nthe factional dissensions, which seem to have ever haunted these\npeople, again broke out, and the greater portion of them withdrew still\nfarther north and built villages the ruins[22] of which are still\ndiscernible not far from the site of the villages their descendants\ninhabit at present.\n\n\u201cThe Squash [Mico\u00f1inovi] also trended slowly northward, occupying,\nlike all their legendary movements, a protracted period of indefinite\nlength\u2014years during which they planted and built homes alternating with\nyears of devious travel. They grew lax in the observance of festivals,\nand _Muinw\u00fb_ inflicted punishment upon them. He caused the water to\nturn red, and the color of the people also turned red; he then changed\nthe water to blue, and the people changed to a similar color. The Snow\n_katcina_ appeared and urged them to return to their religion, but\nthey gave no heed to him, so he left them and took away corn. _Muinw\u00fb_\nthen sent _Pal\u00fcl\u00fcko\u00f1_,[23] who killed rabbits and poured their blood\nin the springs and streams, and all the water was changed to blood and\nthe people were stricken with a plague. They now returned to their\nreligious observances, and danced and sang, but none of the deities\nwould listen to them.\n\n\u201cA horned _katcina_[24] appeared to the oldest woman and told her that\non the following morning the oldest man should go out and procure a\nroot, and that she and a young virgin of her clan should eat it. After\na time she (the old woman) would give birth to a son who would marry\nthe virgin, and their offspring would redeem the people. The old woman\nand the virgin obeyed the _katcina_, and the former gave birth to a son\nwho had two horns upon his head. The people would not believe that the\nchild was of divine origin; they called it a monster and killed it.\n\n\u201cAfter this all manner of distressing punishments were inflicted upon\nthem, and wherever they halted the grass immediately withered and\ndried. Their wanderings brought them to the foot of the San Francisco\nmountains, where they dwelt for a long time, and at that place the\nvirgin gave birth to a daughter who had a little knob on each side of\nher forehead. They preserved this child, and when she had grown to be a\nwoman, the horned _katcina_[25] appeared and announced to her that she\nwould give birth to horned twins, who would bring rain and remove the\npunishment from their people. This woman was married, and the twins,\na boy and a girl, were born; but she concealed their divine origin,\nfearing they would be destroyed.\n\n\u201cThe _Patu\u00f1_ [Squash][26] now moved to the Little Colorado where they\nbuilt houses and met some of the _P\u00e1tki_ people to whom they related\ntheir distresses. A wise man of the _P\u00e1tki_ came over to them, and on\nseeing the twins at once pronounced them to be the _Al\u00f3saka_. They had\nno horns up to this time, but as soon as this announcement was made,\ntheir horns became visible and the twins then spoke to the people and\nsaid that it had been ordained that they were to be unable to help\ntheir people until the people themselves discovered who they were.\nThe _Patu\u00f1_ were so enraged to think that the _Al\u00f3saka_ had been with\nthem, unknown so many years, that they killed them, and still greater\nsufferings ensued.\n\n\u201cThey again repented, and carved two stone images of the _Al\u00f3saka_\nwhich they painted and decked with feathers and sought to propitiate\nthe mother. She was full of pity for her people, and prayed to the\nSky-god[27] to relieve them. A period elapsed in which their sufferings\nwere in great measure abated.\n\n\u201cThe _Patu\u00f1_ then sought to join the _P\u00e1tki_ clans, but the _P\u00e1tki_\nwould not permit this, and compelled them to keep east of Awatobi.\n\n\u201cMany ruins of phratry and family houses of the _Patu\u00f1_ people exist\non the small watercourses north of the Puerco at various distances\neastward from the present village of Walpi. The nearest are almost\nfifteen miles, the farthest about fifty miles.[28]\n\n\u201cTheir wandering course was now stayed. When they essayed to move\nfarther eastward, a nomadic hunting race who occupied that region\nbesought them not to advance farther. Their evil notoriety had\npreceded them, and the nomads feared the malificent influence of\ntheir neighborhood. It would seem, however, that instead of hostile\ndemonstrations the nomads entered into a treaty with them, offering to\npay tribute of venison, roots, and grass-seeds, if they would abstain\nfrom traversing and blighting their land, to which the _Patu\u00f1_ agreed.\n\n\u201cBut these unfortunate wretches were soon again embroiled in factional\nwarfare which finally involved all the Hopi, and the stone images of\nthe _Al\u00f3saka_ were lost or destroyed. Famine and pestilence again\ndecimated them, until finally the _Al\u00f3saka katcina_ appeared to them\nand instructed them to carve[29] two wooden images, but threatening\nthem that if these should be lost or destroyed all the people would\ndie.\u201d\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nMany other but widely divergent legends exist regarding _Al\u00f3saka_, a\nnumber of which are associated with the pueblo of Awatobi, which was\nformerly one of the most populous Hopi towns. At one time this village\nexperienced drouth and famine, and _Al\u00f3saka_, from his home in the San\nFrancisco mountains, observed the trouble of the people. Disguised as\na youth he visited Awatobi and became enamored with a maiden of that\ntown. Several times he visited her, but no one knew whence he came or\nwhither he went, for his trail no one could follow. The parents of the\ngirl at last discovered that he came on the rainbow, and recognized him\nas a divine being. The children of this maid were horned beings, or\n_Al\u00f3sakas_, but their identity was not at first recognized.\n\nLike all the cultus heroes, _Al\u00f3saka_ is said, in legends, to have been\nmiraculously born of a virgin. His father was the Sun, his mother an\nEarth-goddess, sometimes called a maiden. Like many gods, he traveled\non the rainbow; he lived at Tawaki, the house of his father, the Sun,\nor the San Francisco mountains.\n\nIt would seem from all these stories that the _Al\u00f3saka_ cult was\nvigorous in Awatobi, the ill-fated pueblo where the zealous Padre\nPorras lost his life in 1633, and that it was of southern origin,\nhaving been introduced into Awatobi by one of the phratries from the\nsouth which lived in the now ruined pueblos on the Little Colorado. The\nmost complicated survival of the _Al\u00f3saka_ cultus is to be expected\nin the Middle Mesa pueblos, because the phratry which introduced it\nfounded some of these pueblos[30] and still survives there. The result\nof an examination of many _Al\u00f3saka_ myths would seem to be a conclusion\nthat he is a cultus hero of clans which came from the south.\n\n\n                       Totemic Aspect of Al\u00f3saka\n\nThe _Al\u00f3saka_ cult may be regarded as another form of that totemic\nancestor worship which appears in all Hopi mythology and ritual. The\nmale and female _Al\u00f3sakas_ are supposed to be ancestors of a cult\nsociety called the _Aalt\u00fb_, and are represented symbolically in the\nritual by graven images, pictures, or personations by men. The name\n_Al\u00f3saka_ is simply a sacerdotal name used in this society, but it is\napplied to a similar conception found in the worship of other societies\nunder other names.\n\nIn the Snake-Antelope societies of the Hopi the male and female parents\nare called _Tc\u00fca-tiyo_ (Snake-youth) and _Tc\u00fca-mana_ (Snake-maid),\nwhich beings are personated in the secret exercises of the Snake dance\nby a boy and a girl appropriately clothed.\n\nIn the Flute ceremony the cult society ancestors are called the\n_Le\u00f1ya-tiyo_ (Flute-youth) and _Le\u00f1ya-mana_ (Flute-maid), who are\nrepresented symbolically by images on the altars and by a boy and two\ngirls in the public exhibition.\n\nIn the _Lalakonti_ ceremony these two ancestral personages are\nrepresented in a symbolic way by images on the altar and by sand\npictures on the floor, and by a man and two girls in the public\ndance. These personages are called by the _Lalakonti_ society the\n_Lakone-taka_ and the _Lakone-manas_ respectively.\n\nIn the _Mamzraut\u00fb_ society they are called the _Marau-taka_ and\nthe _Marau-manas_, and are symbolically represented on the altar\nby figurines and in the public dance by a boy and a maid called\nthe _Palahiko-mana_ whose headdress with symbolic clouds and\nsquash blossoms so closely resembles that of _Calako-mana_, or the\nCorn-maid,[31] that it is difficult to distinguish the two.\n\nIn the great _katcina_ cult these two personages are called\n_Anwucnoshotaka_ and _Hahaiwuqti_, or \u201cMan of all the Crow clans,\u201d and\n\u201cMother of _katcinas_,\u201d respectively; but as this cult is very complex\nin the East Mesa towns, and is celebrated by many amalgamated cult\nsocieties, there are various other names for these two ancestors.\n\nIt is instructive to consider somewhat more in detail this aspect of\nthe Hopi _katcina_ cult in the two great characteristic festivals\ncalled _Powam\u00fb_ and _Nim\u00e1n_.\n\nReviewing the Hopi calendar it is found that _katcina_ worship appears\nin ceremonies from December to July, inclusive, and while none of the\nfestivals between July and December is a true _katcina_, the majority\nof those during the remainder of the year bear this name. As expressed\nby the Hopi priests, the _Nim\u00e1n_ ceremony celebrates the departure of\nthe _katcinas_ from the pueblos, to which they do not return for about\nsix months. This _Nim\u00e1n_ (\u201cDeparture\u201d) ceremony of the _katcinas_\nis celebrated in July, and no _katcinas_ are personated in the Hopi\npueblos until December. The time of the return of these supernaturals\nis not as distinct as that of their departure, and they may be said to\nstraggle back in the December and January rites; but their return in\nforce takes place in the February ceremony called _Powam\u00fb_ which is\nmade up wholly of characteristic _katcina_ exhibitions.\n\nIt is of some interest to determine the month of the return, for there\nare _katcina_ personations in December (_Soy\u00e1lu\u00f1a_) and during the\nJanuary moon, and it may be held that their appearance in the former\nproves that the advent of these worthies occurs in the month named. The\nchief participants in the December rite (and the same may be said of\nthe January ceremony) are not distinctive _katcinas_, or rather there\nare other ceremonies not belonging to this cult in their composition,\nand no special distinctive _katcina_ altars are erected. In the\n_Powam\u00fb_, however, there is a true _katcina_ altar which is essentially\nthe same as that set up in the _Nim\u00e1n_ when the _katcinas_ leave the\npueblo. _Powam\u00fb_ may thus be regarded as the official celebration of\nthe return, and from that time to July these personages dominate the\nritual. But the rites of intervening moons are not all necessarily pure\n_katcinas_, even if _katcinas_ participate in them. Thus, in the March\nceremony, _Pal\u00fcl\u00fcko\u00f1ti_ (_Unkwanti_), they are again subordinate. This\nis not a pure _katcina_, but that of another cult into which they have\nstraggled or to which they have been added in the course of evolution.\nThere are only two great _katcina_ celebrations, _Powam\u00fb_ and _Nim\u00e1n_,\nboth controlled by the _katcina_ chief, both with a true _katcina_\naltar, both free from other Hopi cults.\n\nSome of the differences between the _Powam\u00fb_ at Walpi and the other\nHopi pueblos are due to the introduction of masked personifications at\nWalpi which are absent elsewhere. This may be explained as follows:\nNear Walpi there are two other pueblos\u2014one Tanoan, the other peopled by\ndescendants of Tanoan clans, neither of which has exerted an influence\non the other pueblos. These Tanoan colonists have brought their own\n_katcinas_ to the East Mesa of Tusayan, and while they possess no\naltar of this cult they contribute their distinctive _katcinas_ to the\nWalpi _Powam\u00fb_. In the January ceremony they do the same, and while\nthe Walpi priests are celebrating in that month a true Hopi Flute or\nSnake rite, Hano and Sitcomovi contribute masked _katcinas_ which\ncomplicate the ceremony.[32] Hence the _Powam\u00fb_ rites at Walpi became\nmore complicated than those performed elsewhere at the same time,\nbecause of the proximity of two pueblos in which there are variations\nin the _katcina_ cult that are peculiar to them; and as it is probable\nthat the _katcina_ rites in other pueblos have not been affected by\n_\u00c1sa_ and Hano clans, we should expect to find in them a less complex\npresentation of the rites of the _katcina_ cult.\n\nThis is also in accordance with tradition, for the _Honani_ clans,\nwhich introduced the _katcina_ cult from Kicuba, went first to Oraibi,\nfrom which pueblo the cult was distributed to the other pueblos. The\nWalpi _katcina_ altar is simple as compared with that at Oraibi; it has\nno figurines because it is derivative, and the same fact may explain\nwhy Walpi has but one _Powam\u00fb_ altar while Oraibi has several. The\nWalpi _katcina_ altar is simpler than that of Oraibi,[33] because\nderivative, but the _katcina_ personations in this pueblo are more\nnumerous and varied because the _\u00c1sa_ and other Tanoan clans have\ncontributed many new forms.\n\nIf we separate from the Walpi _Powam\u00fb_ the elements introduced by _\u00c1sa_\nand Hano clans, we find in it the same personages as in the Oraibi\ncelebration\u2014_Ahole_, a Sun-god who flogs the children; the _katcina_\ncultus hero; _Hahaiwuqti_, the old woman, and _Eototo_. The last\nmentioned, a cultus hero of the _Kokop_ people and a tutelary god of\nSikyatki,[34] was an early addition to the Walpi ritual before the\n_Powam\u00fb_ was celebrated. He was historically the first _katcina_ to\ncome to the pueblo, as he now leads the procession of masked priests in\ntheir dramatization of their advent and exit. Under the name _Masauuh_\nhe invaded the Snake rites, and as _Eototo_ he became a masked\npersonage in the _Powam\u00fb_ and the _Nim\u00e1n_ when these ceremonies were\nadded to the Walpi ritual.\n\n\n                             _Conclusions_\n\n1. There survives in the Hopi ritual a worship of horned beings called\n_Al\u00f3sakas_, which once existed at the now ruined pueblo of Awatobi.\n\n2. The purpose of the rites performed in this cult is to cause seeds,\nespecially corn, to germinate and grow, and to bring rain to water the\nfarms.\n\n3. The _Aalt\u00fb_ priesthood at Walpi, who personate _Al\u00f3sakas_, perform\nduties suggestive of those of warriors.\n\n4. The intimate relationship of _Al\u00f3saka_ rites with those of the\nRain-cloud clans supports legends that they were at one time associated\nand brought from southern Arizona by the Squash people who formerly\nlived with or near the Rain-cloud people along Little Colorado river.\n\n5. The _Al\u00f3saka_ cult is a highly modified form of animal totemism, and\nthe _Al\u00f3saka_ represents the mountain sheep.\n\n\n                   The Knickerbocker Press, New York\n\n\n\n\n                              FOOTNOTES:\n\n[1] These studies were made under the auspices of the Bureau of\nAmerican Ethnology.\n\n[2] The author has been told that they were deposited among the\nfoothills of the coffin-shaped mesa southwest of Awatobi.\n\n[3] See _Fifteenth Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology_,\nplate CX.\n\n[4] The mountain sheep or mountain \u201cgoat\u201d was formerly abundant in the\nmountains which form the watershed between Gila and Little Colorado\nrivers, and Casta\u00f1eda speaks of seeing and following them after\nleaving Chichilticalli, probably in the White mountains. This animal\nwas no doubt well known to the clans who lived in the southern parts\nof Arizona, before they migrated northward, and worship of it was the\noriginal form of the _Al\u00f3saka_ cult.\n\n[5] They also founded the pueblo of Tcukubi, the ruins of which are\nstill to be seen on the Middle Mesa.\n\n[6] The two societies called the _Tataukyam\u00fb_ and _W\u00fcw\u00fctcimt\u00fb_\nare termed phallic because they wear on their breasts, arms, and\nlegs, figures of human phalli, and carry in their hands realistic\nrepresentations of the external female organ of generation cut out\nof wood or watermelon rind. The former society was introduced from\nAwatobi by Tapolo, the chief of the Tobacco clan; the latter by the\nSquash clans, now extinct in Walpi. Both these clans originally came\nfrom the banks of Little Colorado river near Winslow; the Tobacco\nfrom Cakwabaiyaki, now in ruins at the mouth of Chevlon Fork. See\n_Smithsonian Report_ for 1896.\n\n[7] See _American Anthropologist_, vol. XI, p. 20; also _American\nAnthropologist_, N. S., April, 1899.\n\n[8] At Walpi he has a line of feathers tied along his arm.\n\n[9] A similar method of smoking has previously been described in an\naccount of the sixteen songs sung by the Antelope priests in their kiva\non each day of the Snake dance at Walpi.\n\n[10] A pantomimic prayer or symbolic representation by which man\nshows his wishes to the gods by acting out what he desires instead\nof verbally petitioning them. This ceremony comes fairly within a\ndefinition of religious rites found in Tylor\u2019s _Primitive Culture_ (p.\n363): \u201cIn part they [religious rites] are expressions and symbolic\nperformances, the dramatic utterance of religious thought, the gesture\nlanguage of theology.\u201d The interpretation of savage rites as a sign\nlanguage to the gods, and the relation of the altar to primitive\nceremony have been ably discussed by Major Powell, to whom the writer\nis greatly indebted for a proper understanding of the significance of\nprimitive altars. (See _American Anthropologist_, N. S., vol. I, p. 26\net seq.)\n\n[11] The word _Kw\u00e1taka_ admits of the following derivation: _Kw\u00e1hu_,\neagle; _t\u00e1ka_, man, = Eagle-man; or, more probably, _kw\u00e1hu_, eagle;\n_tokpela_, the cross, symbol of the sky. This cross or four-pointed\nstar appears on many ancient pictures of _Kw\u00e1taka_. (See _Smithsonian\nReport_, 1896, pl. xlviii.)\n\n[12] _Powalaw\u00fb_ is a part of the Oraibi _Powam\u00fb_ ceremony which has\nnever been described.\n\n[13] _American Anthropologist_, vol. XI, 1898, pl. ii.\n\n[14] This relationship is yet to be determined at Oraibi, and the\nstatement is derived from studies of the sociology of the East Mesa\npueblos.\n\n[15] _American Anthropologist_, vol. XI, 1898, p. 23.\n\n[16] _Tu\u00f1_ (Tewa), sun; _wupo_ (Hopi), great = \u201cgreat sun _katcina_.\u201d\n\n[17] Pal\u00e1tkwabi, a legendary home on the Gila.\n\n[18] Probably the Squash and Rain-cloud clans.\n\n[19] Even the southern clans are supposed to have originally emerged\nfrom the underworld through the Grand canyon, but after their emergence\ndrifted into the south, just as the white men, who are said to have\nemerged from the same place, went to the far east.\n\n[20] This indicates that the two groups referred to were the Squash and\nRain-cloud clans, for the former later settled on the Middle Mesa and\nthe latter joined the Snake people at Walpi.\n\n[21] Homolobi, near Winslow, Arizona. The several pueblos which these\nclans built and inhabited in their migration to Walpi were Ku\u00f1chalpi,\nUtcevaca, Kwi\u00f1apa, Jettypehika (Navaho name of Chaves Pass and also the\ntwo ruins at that place called Tcubkwitcalobi by the Hopi), Homolobi,\nSipabi (near one of the Hopi or Moki buttes), and Pakatcomo.\n\n[22] The last pueblo inhabited by the _P\u00e1tki_ people before they joined\nthe Walpi is now a ruin called Pakatcomo in the valley south of the\nEast Mesa near the wash. It is a small ruin, not more than four miles\naway, and its mounds are easily seen from the mesa top.\n\n[23] The Great Serpent.\n\n[24] This was possibly the personation of the Sun or other solar deity.\n\n[25] The horned _katcina_ is supposed to be either the Sun or other\nsolar deity. The term katcina is often used in a very general way\nto mean any divine personage, but at Walpi this is believed to be\na secondary use of the name. Originally it was applied to certain\npersonifications introduced by clans from the east, and later came to\nhave a general application.\n\n[26] Throughout the legend these are called the Mico\u00f1inovi people, but\nfrom the fact that the original settlers of the pueblo were of the\nSquash clans, the name of these clans is substituted in the remainder\nof the legend for the name of the pueblo which they founded.\n\n[27] That is, to the Sun, their father.\n\n[28] There is here such marked contradiction of other legends that this\naccount must not be accepted as final. Probably Awatobi, and possibly\nother pueblos on the same mesa, had _Patu\u00f1_ clans in their populations.\n\n[29] These are the two images found at Awatobi which this account\nconsiders in the opening pages, and the principal reason why the people\nfrom the Middle Mesa were so solicitous concerning them is shown in the\nclosing paragraphs of the legend above quoted.\n\n[30] The Squash clan is extinct at Walpi.\n\n[31] In the horrible rites of the Aztec at their midsummer ceremony,\nHueytecuilhuitl, a girl personating the Corn-mother, was sacrificed\nbefore the hideous idol of Chicomehuatl and her heart offered to the\nimage. In the dances preceding her death this unfortunate girl wore\non her head an _amalli_ or \u201cpasteboard\u201d miter, surrounded by waving\nplumes, and her face was painted yellow and red, symbolic of the colors\nof corn. She was called _Xalaquia_ (pronounced _Shalakia_). The Hopi\nCorn-maid, represented by a girl with a rain-cloud tablet on her head\nand a symbol of an ear of corn on her forehead, is called _Calako-mana_\n(pronounced _Shalako-mana_).\n\n[32] The kiva rites are complicated at Walpi by the visits of these\npersonifications from the two neighboring pueblos.\n\n[33] It is much to be hoped that the very elaborate _Powam\u00fb_ of Oraibi\nwill be accurately described in detail. The indications are that it\nwill be found to be the most instructive of all presentations of this\nceremony.\n\n[34] Sikyatki was probably a flourishing pueblo when the Snake people\nfirst settled Walpi. The tutelary god was _Eototo_, or _Masauuh_, whom\nthe early Walpians overthrew and who gave them the site for their\npueblo. At the destruction of Sikyatki by the combined Horn-Snake\nand Horn-Flute people, some of the survivors settled at Walpi, and\ntheir descendants are intimately connected with the _Eototo_ cult\nwhich is incorporated in the _katcinas_. In the celebration of the\nSnake-Antelope ceremony he is known by the name of _Masauuh_, and a\nprayer-stick is made and consecrated to him at that time.\n\n\nTranscriber\u2019s Notes:\n\n  - Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_).\n  - Blank pages have been removed.\n  - Obvious typographical errors have been silently corrected.","title":"The Al\u00f3saka cult of the Hopi Indians","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":8227}