The Katcina altars in Hopi worshipFewkes, Jesse Walter
Religion
The Katcina altars in Hopi worship
Fewkes, Jesse Walter
Hopi Indians -- Religion; Hopi mythology
After their departure, two “mudheads” (Koyimse) and three Katcinas,
two men wearing Humis, Jemes, Katcina masks and one the maskette
and apparel of the female Humis, approached the kiva entrance.[34]
Then came personifications of Ana, Hehea, and two Tacab Katcinas.
Following these were three lame Howaik Katcinas, masked as their
predecessors, and clearly designated by appropriate symbolism.
At each new arrival the priests in the kiva responded, emerged from
their room, and treated these visitors as they had their leader,
Hahaiwuqti.
As the masked personages left the village they passed westward.[35]
When the priests had retired to their kiva for the last time they
smoked on the presents left by their strange visitors, and the
chief divided the gift Eototo had brought into 10 bundles, and gave
one package to each Powamu priest. Then followed minor events, as
taking down the altar, which do not now concern us. The departure of
Hahaiwuqti and her band closed the main ceremony.[36]
It certainly seems legitimate to conclude that this acme of the
Powamu is a dramatic representation embodying the aim of the whole
ceremony. It is a visit of Hahaiwuqti in her disguise as known to
Katcinas, followed by her children bringing gifts and receiving
prayers. What other prayers are more appropriate to Hahaiwuqti
than petitions for abundant crops, or what gifts more desirable
than those Eototo[37] gave in a symbolic way, viz: water and
sprouting vegetation? The rejuvenescence of nature is always to a
primitive mind akin to sorcery, and believed to be brought about
by the sorcerer’s arts, and hence this ceremony takes place in
the Powako-muyamuh, or Wizard Moon, which gives it its name by
syncopation, Powamu.[38]
CONCLUSIONS REGARDING THE PLACE OF KATCINAS IN TUSAYAN WORSHIP
We are justified in regarding the Katcinas as spirits of the dead, or
divinized ancestors, shades or breath-bodies of those who once lived,
as mortuary prayers clearly indicate. The theory of ancestor worship
gives us a ready explanation for the fact that ancestral spirits
are represented by masked persons, and as a corollary, a suggestion
regarding the significance of the different symbolism of those masks.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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