The environment of the pueblos of Tusayan and of Cibola is so similar
and the rain-cloud worship so imperative in both that, a priori, we
should expect the rain-cloud symbol to be as frequent in Zuñi as in
Walpi. I am much surprised therefore in studying the description of
Zuñi ceremonials to find nothing said of the characteristic Hopi
symbols of the rain clouds, the semicircles and the parallel lines of
falling rain (plate CVIII). If the rain clouds at Zuñi are limited
to the terraced[126] figures found on the prayer-meal bowls and the
same made in sacred meal we certainly have a significant difference
between the symbolism of these two peoples. In Tusayan there is not
one of the great religious festivals where the semicircular clouds and
falling rain do not appear as symbols. Thus far students of the Zuñi
ceremonials have not figured one instance in which they are used.[127]
The short account of the effigy of the Plumed Snake (Kólowisi) with
attendant ceremonials at Zuñi, by Mrs Stevenson, shows the existence
of archaic rites with the Plumed Serpent which have been observed in a
different form (Pálülükoñti) at Tusayan. The time of the year when the
Zuñi effigy is brought to the kivas on a rude altar is not given; nor
is the special name of the ceremony. The conch shell is similarly used
to imitate the voice of the Plumed Serpent at Zuñi, as at Walpi, in the
Soyáluña and the Pálülükoñti. In neither of these ceremonials, however,
have the effigies been observed to be carried ceremonially about the
pueblos of the Tusayan mesas. The symbolism of Pálülükoñti and Kólowisi
seems to differ, judging from published accounts and symbolism on Zuñi
and Hopi pottery. I find no intimation of the horn on the head of Zuñi
pictures of the Plumed Snake, and the arrowhead decoration fails on
the body. The two crescents which are common on the body of the Zuñi
figures have not been observed in Hopi pictographs or effigies.
It would seem both from legendary and other reasons that there has not
been the warmest friendship between the inhabitants of Tusayan and
Cibola. This is not to be wondered at, for only on rare occasions has
there been good feeling between two pueblos even of the same speech.
The massacre of Awatobi at the hands of the other Hopi has been told
elsewhere, and even at the present day Oraibi is not on the best of
terms with the other Hopi towns. The legends of the Hopi are full
of quarrels of one pueblo with another, and bitter hatred sometimes
developing into bloody wars in which their own kindred were attacked
and pueblos destroyed.
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