The introduction of dramatization as an explanation of the warrior celebration is theoretic, therefore not insisted upon, and is at least plausible until a better interpretation is suggested. It has in its support the evidence drawn from a comparative study of ceremonials. In the light of this theory the return and departure of the Katcina has a new significance, and may be regarded as a modified sun myth. At the winter solstice the sun and his attendant deities have reached their most distant point, and turned to come back to the pueblos. In the mid-summer the solar deity approached them; he was near them, and in appreciation of this fact, which means blessings, the poor Hopi made his offering;[47] danced the Snake dance, asking the snake to bring the rain, believing he was no longer hostile or at enmity with the sun. But the withdrawal of the gods (Farewell Katcinas) could not be delayed by these rites, and the sun each day drew farther from them. The Katcinas (gods) departed; the bright, beneficent summer gave place to cold, dreary winter; life was replaced by death. In this most critical epoch the warriors, the most potent human powers of the pueblo, performed their ceremony to bring back the beneficent god and his train. The Nahuatl priest called a similar ceremony “Teotleco,” the god comes—“The dead god is reborn,” says Duran. The gods (Katcinas) come, say the Hopi (Soyáluña, all assemblage; derived from co, all; yuñya, assemblage). The Nahuatl priest sprinkled meal on the floor of the teocalli, and when he saw in the meal the footprint of the War god, the leader of the divinities, he announced the fact. The Hopi priest still continues to sprinkle sand on the kiva floor during the ceremony. [Illustration: PL. CVI HAHAÍWÜQTI, NATÁCKA, AND SOYÓKMANA] KATCINA’S RETURN The first celebration of the Katcinas in the spring, several months after their departure,[48] took place in that division of the year called the Pamüyawû,and is known as Mohti Katcínumyüñya, or “First Katcina assembly.” I have called it the Return Katcina. It follows directly after the winter páho making of the Snake-Antelope or Flute societies, which varies in character according to whether the Snake or the Flute society gives the presentation that year. In 1893 it followed the Snake páho making, and in 1894 that of the Flute. It may be called a composite, abbreviated assembly of Katcinas. During the day Katcina masks were renovated in the kivas of the mesa, and there were visitations at all the kivas by the personators in the coming celebration. Women and children crowded the spectators’ quarters of these rooms, and the performances lasted from 10 oclock in the evening until 2 oclock of the following morning. Previously to the exhibition in the kivas, men personating different Katcinas visited the following points to make hómoya or meal offerings and to say appropriate prayers: