The Winter Solstice Altars at Hano PuebloFewkes, Jesse Walter
Religion
The Winter Solstice Altars at Hano Pueblo
Fewkes, Jesse Walter
Hopi Indians -- Religion; Indian mythology -- North America; Indians of North America -- Arizona
Both Anote and Satele procured a few ears of differently colored corn
and shelled them upon the rain-cloud picture, sprinkling the grains
evenly over the meal design, and adding a few to the back of the Great
Snake. Squash and melon seeds were likewise distributed in the same
way. The vase from which the stone effigies and other images were
taken was then placed near the base of the middle rain-cloud picture,
and a large quartz crystal was added on the left. A conch, which the
author presented to the chief, was placed on the right of this vase.
Anote then swept the floor north of the fireplace, and as he sang in a
low tone Satele drew a straight line of meal from near the right pole
of the ladder across the floor to the middle of the altar. He placed
along this line, at intervals, four feathers, and near where it joined
the altar he stretched a string, with an attached feather, called the
_pütabi_.[29] He then sprinkled a line of pollen along this trail of
meal.
Anote's medicine-bowl was set just in front of the middle rain-cloud
figure; the clay pedestal with inserted upright feathers stood before
the left, and a basket-tray with prayer-meal before the right
rain-cloud figure.
ALTAR IN THE TEWAKIVA AT HANO
The altar (plate XIX) in the _Tewakiva_ was begun about 10 A.M. on the
Assembly day, and was made by Pocine,[30] assisted by his uncle,
Puñsauwi, both members of the _Nañ-towa_, or Sand clan.
The preparations began with the manufacture of a clay effigy of the
Great Snake similar to but larger than that made by Anote in the
_Moñkiva_. The clay was moistened and kneaded on the floor, and then
rolled into a cylinder about three feet long, blunt at one end and
pointed at the other.
[Illustration: AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST No. 8., Vol. 1, PL. XIX
Drawn by MARY M. LEIGHTER
ALTAR IN THE TEWAKIVA AT HANO]
Four clay balls were made at the same time. One of these later served
as the base of a standard (_natci_) which was subsequently placed each
morning on the kiva hatch to warn the uninitiated not to enter. The
other three were placed back of the altar and supported the sticks
called the altar-ladders, which will be considered later.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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