Transcriber’s Note Italic text displayed as: _italic_ THE KATCINA ALTARS IN HOPI WORSHIP BY J. WALTER FEWKES _Chief, Bureau of American Ethnology_ FROM THE SMITHSONIAN REPORT FOR 1926, PAGES 469-486 (WITH 3 PLATES) [Illustration: Decoration] (PUBLICATION 2904) UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE WASHINGTON 1927 [Illustration: PLATE 1 WALPI SIX DIRECTIONS ALTAR] THE KATCINA ALTARS IN HOPI WORSHIP By J. WALTER FEWKES, _Chief, Bureau of American Ethnology_ [With 3 plates] INTRODUCTION The present article is the fifth of a series published in the annual reports of the Smithsonian Institution on the composition of Hopi worship. The Hopi, the name meaning peaceful, belong to the Pueblo stock and are agricultural Indians. They are descendants of the Arizona cliff dwellers and have preserved to the present many survivals of their ancient worship. The object of the series of five papers above referred to is to record a few of their rites in sun, fire, and ancestor ceremonies that have survived to the present time. The Pueblos performed their secret ceremonies in subterranean rooms called kivas that were entered from the roof. It is customary for the priest in the course of the ceremonies to erect an altar, so called, on which is placed their _tiponi_, or sacred badge of office, surrounded by various fetishes, idols, and wooden objects bearing symbols. Here are placed all sacred objects possessed by the fraternity of priests who celebrate the rite. There are four Hopi villages or pueblos that perform the rituals independently, the sacred paraphernalia differing in each. From a study of these altars it is possible for us to learn the aim of their various ceremonies. The present paper compares the four Katcina altars for this purpose. That element of pueblo worship known as the Katcina forms fully one-half of the Hopi ritual, beginning with the arrival of the Katcinas or masked dancers in January or February, and lasting until their departure in July, inclusive. It is distinguished from other components by the presence of masked participants called Katcinas, supposed to be personators of the ancients, or “others.” The yearly departure of these worthies from the villages is celebrated in July by a great religious observance called the Niman or Farewell Katcina ceremony; their arrival by several rites, one of the most striking of which is called Powamu, or “Bean Planting.” At the times of their arrival and departure there are erected in the kiva of each of the four villages which celebrate them, the same altars, about which certain secret rites are performed. Our knowledge thus far is limited to four of the five Katcina altars,[1] and there still remains the altar of Cuñopavi, regarding which nothing has yet been recorded.[2] [Illustration: EXPLANATION OF PLATE 2—Katcina Altar at Oraibi