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
[15] One of the differences in custom between Hopi and Tewa women is
the method of making their coiffures. Unmarried girls of Walpi and
Hano dress their hair in the same manner, with whorls above the ears.
Married women have different ways of wearing their hair in the two
pueblos. During the wedding ceremonies at Hano the mother of the
bride, in the presence of guests, combs her daughter's hair, or that
part of it on the front of the scalp, over the face, so that it hangs
down like a veil. She ties the hair on the back of the head in two
coils, one of which hangs on either side, but the hair before the face
she cuts on a level with the chin, beginning at the top of the ears.
The hair which remains is too short to be done up in coils, and is
simply brushed to one side or the other. Among Hopi married women all
the hair is included in the two coils, and the "bang" is absent.
[16] The names of many Tewa women end in _pobi_, corresponding with
the Hopi _si_, a contracted form of _sihû_, in women's names, as
Hoñsi, Nasiumsi, etc.
[17] Among the Hopi the moon (Tewa _p'o_) is called _müiyaûh_; new
moon, _müiyakatci_; first quarter, _müiyachaunacapti_; full moon,
_müiyanacapti_. An eclipse of the moon is spoken of as _müiyaûh moki_,
"dead moon." There was a total eclipse of the moon visible at Walpi
near the end of December, 1898, when the full moon arose partially
obscured. This, said Sikyatala, was bad for the Americans who dwell in
the far east, but not for the Hopi. A "dead moon," when in the
meridian of the Hopi pueblos, is considered _kalolamai_, "bad."
[18] _The Winter Solstice Ceremony at Walpi_, op. cit.
[19] The _Asa_ people are also called the _Tcakwaina_ clans. The ruins
of their old village, near the western point of Awatobi mesa, are
called Tcakwaina-ki. Its walls do not appear above the surface.
[20] The particular ceremony of the _Pakab_ peoples is the _Momtcita_,
a single day's rite which occurs just after the _Soyaluña_, under
direction of Pautiwa. Connected with this ceremony are the
performances of the "stick swallowers" or _Nocoto_ priests who were
thought to be extinct at Walpi, but Eewa is chief of the _Nocotana_
priests, and the society includes Wikyatiwa, Talahoya, Sikyaventima,
and others. They still practice stick-swallowing. Pautiwa is chief of
the _Kalektaka_, a warrior priesthood. He belongs to the Eagle clan of
the _Pakab_ phratry, which may be related to the _Awata_ or Bow clan
of the former pueblo of Awatobi.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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