ISLETA PAINTINGS ?F* S**" 'V*y "Old man bear is waiting for his time to come, waiting over at the hills west sideof plaza, he will be alone, he has bear hand skin on both hand and eagle wing feathers.He is holding prayer stick which he will place when he comes to hold in middle ofdance plaza. When he comes in village he makes all kinds of noise . . . then he runeast, north, west, south, in middle he places prayer feather." ISLETAPAINTINGS With Intro duct ion and C ommentary by ELSIE CLEWS PARSONS Edited by Esther S. Goldfrank SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION WASHINGTON, D. C. 1962 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGYBulletin 181 To ESTHER S. GOLDFRANK and JULIAN H. STEWARD to whom I owe the opening of Isleta FOREWORD For over two decades, and more than any other person, Dr. Elsie Clews Parsonsinfluenced the course of ethnological research in the Pueblos of the Southwest.She began her investigations in Zuni in 1915, and until shortly before her death in1941 she made frequent visits to the "living" Pueblos, both western and eastern,indefatigably and meticulously collecting comparative data on their social and cere-monial life. Her scientific enthusiasm drew many of her colleagues to the area ( pre-eminently Dr. Franz Boas to the Keres ) ; and her generosity, spiritual no less thanfinancial, permitted many a young student to become an independent?and some-times controversial?observer of Pueblo society.As Dr. Parsons indicates in her Introduction, information on the Pueblos is noteasy to come by, for all aspects of Pueblo life are highly ceremonialized and underpriestly direction. Among them the Eastern Pueblos were least responsive to inquiry.Isleta has been no exception.In the fall of 1925 Dr. Parsons asked me to "crack" Isleta in one month! After9 days of frustration, I found one man willing to talk, but our meetings weremade so difficult by members of the community that we were forced to continuethem in Albuquerque, 13 miles away. Six months later, Dr. Parsons returned tothe Southwest and to the investigation of Isleta. Except for a Laguna immigrant,her major contact was with the one man I had worked with previously. It wasprimarily on the basis of her interviews with him, also conducted outside the Pueblo,that she wrote her "Isleta, New Mexico," which was published in the 47th AnnualReport of the Bureau of American Ethnology.In 1936 a copy of this Report came to the notice of an Isletan townsman. In aletter, forwarded to Dr. Parsons by Dr. Julian H. Steward, then with the Bureau ofAmerican Ethnology, he expressed his approval of the text, but criticized the lackof illustrations. And he said he could?and for a price he would?remedy thisdeficiency.Any anthropologist who has worked in the Pueblos could forgivably be skepticalof such intentions. But Dr. Parsons, whatever her doubts, had the curiosity and theimagination?those essential adjuncts of successful scientific investigation?to tellhim to go ahead. In 5 years the artist, who in compliance with his own requestwill remain nameless, sent Dr. Parsons well over 100 watercolors of extraordinaryinterest and beauty. IXSMITHSONIAN nr.? A aetMinstitution DEC 4 1962 In a memorandum, dated September 1941, Dr. Parsons writes: "Pictures andCommentary and Introduction in order." This is why I have made no radicalchanges in her manuscript. However, for greater ease in reading, I have incorporatedin her Commentary the "captions" originally placed under the pictures, and wherethe pictures were not available at the time of printing, I have included elsewhererelevant excerpts from the accompanying Commentary. I have also added a fewfootnotes which carry my initials and I have placed between brackets my remarksinserted in the text (remarks in brackets in the quotations are Dr. Parsons'). I havenot sought to make the spelling or capitalization in the quotations consistent, norhave I italicized any Indian or Spanish words in them, preferring to permit the artist'stranscriptions to stand as he made them. But I have italicized the first use of non-English words in Dr. Parsons' observations. Finally, I have included among thereferences certain relevant publications that have appeared since her death.Needless to say, after a delay of 20 years, it is a great satisfaction to know thatthese paintings will now become available not only to scientists and artists and thosewho have felt the enchantment of the Southwest, but to all who want to under-stand another people and another way of life. Many persons and institutions havemade this possible. I should like to thank the American Philosophical Society forpermitting the use of these paintings and Mr. Rene d'Harnoncourt, director of theMuseum of Modern Art, for housing them while they were in New York and forhis efforts to find support for their publication. He, like Dr. Parsons, hoped theywould all appear in color, but the great cost ruled out this desirable mode of presen-tation. I am most grateful to the Bollingen Foundation for making it possible toprint a few of the pictures in color and thus give a better realization of the artist'srange and personality. I also want to thank the Bureau of American Ethnology,particularly Dr. Matthew W. Stirling (the former director), who so quickly under-stood the extraordinary value of these paintings, and Dr. Frank H. H. Roberts, Jr.(the present director), and Mr. Paul H. Oehser, chief of the Smithsonian Institution'sEditorial and Publications Division, who have been so helpful in getting this volumeinto print. Mr. Frank Dobias was of greatest assistance in matters of design, andMrs. Eloise B. Edelen handled the endless editorial details with patience and ingen- uity. My deepest gratitude goes to Dr. Elsie Clews Parsons and the nameless Indian artist to whom we owe these remarkable "Isleta Paintings."Esther S. Goldfrank.New York, N. Y.April 8, 1960. CONTENTS Foreword, by Esther S. Goldfrank ixIntroduction 1Commentary and paintings 13Birth 14Curing 32Death 50Ceremonial cycle:Corn groups 78Moieties 98Christmas 104Kings' Day 116Medicine societies 120Round House 144Laguna kachina 160Crop protection 164Irrigation 170Racing 186War 206Planting and crop 220Fertility burlesque 230Hunting 240Isleta kachina 264Harvest 278All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day 282Stone fetishes 288Prayer sticks and prayer feathers 292Annotated Glossary of Isleta Terms, by George L. Trager 295References 299 LIST OF PAINTINGS Frontispiece. Old Man Bear.1. Before the birth, Indian way2. Before the birth, White way 173. Woman in labor 194. Midwife burning the cord 215. Midwife and doctor who motion infant in all directions 236. Midwife, doctor, and their pay 257. Mother performing rite of exorcism, infant's "aunt" in attendance 278. "Aunt" presenting infant to Sun and naming him 299. Corn Group Chief confirming infant's name 3110. Placing infant born crippled or paralyzed in cow's stomach to cure him 3311. Ant doctor curing man of red ants 3512. Medicine men curing woman at home 3713. Fourth night of cure 3914. A Corn Group Chief gives cornhusk filled with meal and a cigarette to aMedicine Society Chief15. Medicine Chief's helper getting stones red hot for the sweat "hogan" 4316. Preparing for sweat bath 4517. Medicine Chief leading patient to river for sweat bath 4718. Curing woman of toothache in Bound House at night 4919. Turning mirrors to wall at death 5120. Corn Group Chief singing and helper making meal road for spirit of deceasedto leave by 5321. "Aunt" brushing hair of deceased 5522. Laying out dead Corn Group Chief 5723. The wake 5924. Funeral procession "125. Carrying body of deceased to church and grave 6326. Funeral of child 6527. Burial 6728. Pounding the corpse "929. Final prayer at grave '130. Corn Fathers taking out bowls with offerings for the deceased 7331. Moiety Chief praying for rain over burial cairn of unbaptized infant 7532. Feeding infant ghost 7733. White Corn Chief and helper asking permission from Salt Circle to hold 79ceremony IX}34. White Corn Chief casting meal to Sun before sunrise 8135. A Corn Group "son" asking Yucca Old Woman for permission to dig up oneof her "family" "3 xiii 36. "Son" carrying yucca to Corn Chief's ceremonial chamber 8537. "Mothers" with offerings for Water People visiting river early in the morning 8738. White Corn Chief and his helpers praying at river; Yellow Corn Chief andhis helpers following close by 8939. "Mothers" washing hair of Corn Chief 9140. Corn Chief and helpers "calling the Sun" 9341. Corn Chief "holding the Sun" 9542. Corn Chiefs receiving gifts of food at close of their ceremony 9743. "Little old women" washing the Chief's hair in the kiva of the Black Eyes . 9944. "Little old women" getting water from river for medicine ceremony of Chiefof the Red Eyes 10145. Medicine ceremony of Chief of the Black Eyes 10346. "Washing" the Child Jesus 10547. Virgin and Child being carried back to church 10748. Santa Maria dance in church on Christmas Eve 10949. Christmas Eve dancers approaching altar of Virgin and Child 11150. Child receiving offerings and being "breathed from" after Christmas Evechurch dance and midnight Mass 11351. Hot Cornhusk Dance 11552. Oraibi Town Chief and Kachina Chief getting permission from Sun fordancer to wear "Him" in dance on Kings' Day 11753. Kings' Day dance by Laguna people 11954. War Chief accompanied by War Captain presenting husk of cornmeal toLaguna Fathers and making known request of Town Chief for cleansingceremony 12155. War Chief announcing cleansing ceremony and ordering that no fires bebuilt outside 12356. War Captains preparing rabbits in front of War Chief's house 12557. War Captains carrying rabbits to a Medicine Society house 12758. Medicine Society Chief transferring animal figurines from "medicine basket"to bowl of water 12959. Town Fathers dancing before altar and cleansing with feathers 13160. Chief of Town Fathers and helper sitting behind altar; other Fathers dancingor curing 13361. Laguna Fathers returning from mountain with spruce during their nightceremony for rain in February 13562. Eagle skin and feathers on pillar in ceremonial chamber of Town Fathers 13763. Bear pelt and eagle feathers on pillar in ceremonial chamber of LagunaFathers 13964. Laguna Fathers dancing before their altar 14165. Dance by Laguna Fathers 14366. Yellow Corn Chief building fire inside Round House 14567. Fire Chief smoking in the directions for Round House and dead Navaho; "Grandfathers" of Black Eyes "cleansing" with yucca blades 147 xiv PAGE 68. Thliwa Dance inside Round House at night 14969. Shichu Dance to call snow or rain 15170. Head Kapyo announcing a rabbit hunt from the top of spruce tree 15371. Returning to the kiva from the rabbit hunt 15572 During Dark Kachina Dance, Grandfathers of Red Eyes being chased by a 1=i7woman ?LJI73. Woman paying Grandfather for rabbit she wrangled 15974. Oraibi Kachina Chief whirling rhombus for thunder and rain 16175. Night Kachina Dance 16376. Medicine Society Chief flying to capture Grasshopper Chief 16577. War Chief, War Captain, and Town Father returning to ceremonial chamberwith Grasshopper Chief 1"'78. Propitiation of Grasshopper Chief 16979. Leaving Town Chief's House to ask Weide for permission "to cut the earth" 17180. Town Chief, Shichu Chief, War Chief ( Kumpa), and War Chief of the Canewalking in the middle of the ditch 1 '381. Rlack Eye Chief and helpers praying and making offerings to Water People 17582. Rlack Eye Chief and Thliwa Chief with their respective helpers returningto Town Chief's house 1' ' 83. Reporting to Town Chief that water has been run in 17984. Dancing Uwepor in front of church 1?185. Red Eye Kapyo taking a man who has refused to dance to river forpunishment86. Dancing Kwarupor, they go into kiva, gesturing for cloud and lightning 18587. Shichu Chief being asked to work on prayer sticks to be buried at racetrack 18788. Shichu Chief and helpers making prayer sticks for the Sun at Town Chief'shouse !8989. Leaving Town Chief's house to bury a prayer stick to the Sun in middle ofracetrack 1"!90. Shichu Chief depositing prayer stick and cigarette in permanent pit in middleof racetrack 19391. Shichu mothers bringing water to the house of the Town Chief 19592. War Chief sits guard during Shichu Chief's ceremonial 19793. Runners on top of Round House 19994. Shichu Chief sprinkling medicine on post in Round House 20195. War Captain calling from top of Round House for runners to gather 20396. War Chief starting off a White Corn and a Yellow Corn runner 20597. Return of scalping party 20798. Row Chief, Mapuride carrying a scalp pole, and War Chief of the Cane 20999. Scalp Dance in "laplaza" 211100. Scalp pole tied to Round House ladder 213101. "Mothers" (Mapurnin) of War Chief (Kumpa) biting Navaho scalps tomake medicine "I5 XV PACE102. Mapuride and her helpers sweeping the racetrack 217103. Punishment of the Circle 219104. Farmer leaving home to plant corn 221105. War Chief (Kumpa), Medicine Society Chief, and War Chief of the Caneat Summer Rain Ceremony 223106. Carrying San Agostin through the fields for rain 225107. Dancing for San Agostin in front of Governor's house 227108. Our Mother Virgin at house of woman who has made vow 229109. Kapyo bringing spruce from mountain on eve of Thliwa Kompor 231110. Kapyo descending from Round House 233111. Kapyo "getting married" 235112. Kapyo and his "aunt" carrying gifts to his "house" 237113. Kapyo singing and posturing on rooftop of one of the moiety kivas 239114. Hunters singing in front of Town Chief's house on eve of rabbit hunt 241115. Hunt Chief's Ceremony on night before rabbit hunt 243116. Hunt Chief guarded by War Chief taking wikun (slow match) from TownChief's house to hills to start hunt fire 245117. Hunt Chief "working" under his fire to blind rabbits 247118. Hunt Chief and War Chief smoking in the directions 249119. People going rabbit hunting 251120. Making the hunt circle 253121. Hunt Chief giving rabbits to women in hunt 255122. Hunt Chief making circle on ground with first rabbit killed 257123. Hunt Chief turning rabbit in all directions 259124. Hunt Chief concludes ritual at fire 261125. Two War Captains visiting dead deer in home of hunter and his wife 263126. Black Eye Chief telling Thliwa Chief how he readied Aiyayaode for thedance 265127. Thliwa and Aiyayaode dancing in "laplaza" 267128. Black Eye Chief throwing pollen on the bundles in his kiva 269129. Haukabede entering Round House alone 271130. Notched-stick players entering Round House 273131. Dancing Helele in the Round House 275132. Notched-stick players for Helele Dancers and Thliwalepor 277133. War Chief buries ear of corn from harvest in pit for Earth Old Woman 279134. War Society members bringing corn into ceremonial house of Town Chief 281135. Woman putting out food for dead relatives on All Saints' Day 283136. Women placing corn and bread for dead on father's grave on All Souls' Day 285137. Feeding the dead, Indian way, on All Souls' Day 287138. A, White Corn Chief Fetish; B, Blue Corn Chief Fetish 289139. Man asking Stone Old Woman for what he wants and paying her with mealand turquoise 291140. Prayer sticks and prayer feathers 293 xv i INTRODUCTION Isleta is a town of the southern Tiwa, Tanoan-speaking Pueblo Indians on theRio Grande about 13 miles south of Albuquerque, N. Mex. The population numbersaround 1,200 persons. All houses have one story, some with Spanish portico, andthere is a large plaza, rather poorly defined, which the townspeople still refer to as "laplaza." On the north side stands the Catholic church with its high-walled grounds.Orchards and fields surround the town and its suburb toward the railway, abouthalf a mile to the west.This suburb, Oraibi, was settled about 1880 by a small group of Laguna immi-grants, Pueblo Indians also, but speaking Keresan, a language entirely differentfrom that of their hosts. Why the settlement is called Oraibi, the name of a HopiIndian town in Arizona, no one seems to know, but this name may well be connectedwith the Isletans' return in 1718 from their long visit to the Hopi. Although theIsletans did not participate in the great Pueblo Rebellion of 1680, at the time of thereconquest they had already abandoned their town and were seeking refuge fromthe Spaniards in the safe Northwest.A description of Isleta is included in the 47th Annual Report of the Bureau ofAmerican Ethnology (Parsons, 1932). A copy of this publication came into the handsof an Isletan townsman, and in 1936 he wrote to the Bureau: I have read the magazine printed by Washington in 1932. The history is true and exact, butthe pictures to complete it are missing. I have drawn some of them. . . .These drawings you will never see anywhere because no one [else] could do them, it istoo hard. They are afraid to die if they do them. I don't want any soul to know as long as Ilive that I have drawn these pictures. I want good satisfaction because they are valuable andworth it. They [the subjects of the pictures] are most secret. No one can see them but Indianswho believe. I have no way of making a living, no farm. ... If I had some way to get help in this world I would never have done this. I expect to get good help.Felipe (this is not his true name) did get help. And over a number of yearshe delivered the paintings reproduced here. His remarks penciled on them havebeen incorporated in the captions and commentary [cf. Foreword], His letters, inwhich relevant matters are explained and elaborated, are on file for the interestedstudent. 1 1 At the American Philosophical Society, Philadelphia, together with the originals of the paintings and Dr.Parsons' other papers.?ESG. 1 Felipe's apprehensiveness about being found out was expressed in almost everyletter. It was wholly sincere, I think, even when it was translated into pecuniaryterms. Fear has to be compensated for, as another Pueblo Indian once put it whenhe asked me "How much will you pay me for my fear?"Felipe writes: I will send the pictures a few at a time as long as you promise me you will keep me awayfrom trouble. I will complete all the secret drawings. It will be all right for you to publishthem some day, but don't tell who did this, it [would be] hard on me. I will look for mail soon;write before I change my mind about giving you the drawings.Pueblo Indians are trained from earliest childhood to keep the major part oftheir life hidden from their White neighbors and visitors. It is an intelligent techniqueof self-protection against those who for various reasons would make changes in Indianculture. This motivation for secrecy, however, is more or less covert and unanalyzed,but it fits in with the characteristic and deep-rooted Indian attitude that religiousknowledge and ritual, when divulged to the noninitiated, lose their potency. Justas a prayer or medicine depreciates when imparted, so the life of the Pueblo willbe impaired if outsiders know about it. Besides, the life of the informer is endangered,magically and practically. Felipe, however, was willing to take a chance. "I am notafraid of sickness or dying. I am ready to die any time as long as I have a littlegood time with this little money."Of moral scruples in our terms there are a few expressions. After referring toofferings to the dead made on the ash piles, Felipe writes: "I don't know if I amdoing right to tell all this or not. Sometimes I feel funny." Again, "If I had not seenthe History [the Bureau publication] I would not give you or anybody any draw-ings." This appears to be the familiar rationalization for telling a secret?"You knowit anyway." It is also an illustration of the general attitude of the Pueblo Indianwho tells you something only when in his opinion you know enough to understand.Felipe is a school-taught Indian, and he may have had some practice in drawingat school. His work shows no influence, however, from the American Studio, as dopictures from the upper Rio Grande Pueblos. Unlike Sante Fe, Albuquerque is notan artist's haunt. Taken chronologically [the dates the artist wrote on the paintingsare placed at the end of the accompanying commentary], Felipe's pictures them-selves indicate that he is largely self-taught, and this has intriguing implications forthe problem of personal esthetic development. However, in this volume the orderdictated by the subjects represented seemed to be more important.Felipe's pictures have been compared with early Persian compositions, and, Iam told, they have no little esthetic appeal. That they have considerable ethnographic value, I know. Many details are given that could hardly be brought out in verbaldescriptions or in photographs, which, in any case, are taboo in Isleta. To no cere-monial, except the Saints Day celebrations, are White people admitted, and fromcertain performances, Indians not members of the group engaged are also excluded.That the discussions of ceremonies given in the Bureau Report are far from completeis evident from the accompanying commentary.The written notes contributed by Felipe I believe to be trustworthy. Andfortunately he rarely feels called upon to paraphrase his information in order to makethe Indian aspect intelligible to a White person. He seems to think that, althoughthe published "History" needed correction and amplification, it was written fromthe Indian point of view. Let me confess that I enjoy the compliment, the greatestindeed that an ethnographer can receive.Except in the introductory and concluding sections, I have followed the annualceremonial cycle in presenting these pictures. But it should be remembered that asa young man an Isletan would go on a communal rabbit drive, would hunt deer,join in dances and races, play the clown, fetch ritual spruce from the mountains, andserve as a guard on a Saint's Day. As he grew older he would, almost surely, assumea more important place in curing, hunting, and safeguarding the town; and he mightbecome a medicine man, hunt chief, or war chief. No one man would hold all these offices or perform all these tasks, but every townsman would know a great dealabout them. In the pictures we see older and younger men functioning together.We see children taken into the ceremonial chamber so that they may know "wherethey belong" and young girls called upon for ritualistic services.In Isleta the life of women generally is played down because the ceremoniallife is played up, and here women have only minor roles. Of their daily secular lifewe have no pictures, although I asked for them. Activities, such as cooking, eating,sleeping, or the merely economic aspects of farming, hunting, and handicraft, didnot appeal to the artist as subjects for portrayal?and this in itself is significant.Certainly it underlines the well-known difficulty of securing Pueblo autobiographies.As Dr. Leslie White has written, efforts to obtain them result in little more thanreports of ritualistic experiences.In this respect the pictures of childbirth are peculiarly revealing, for the ritual-istic aspects are emphasized and midwife and doctor are as important as motherand child. The functioning of the medicine man at this time is, by the way, a com-paratively recent innovation. Formerly midwives still learned then profession fromons another, either informally or through an apprenticeship. "Same as the medicineman," writes Felipe, "an old lady taught them." Her name was Cecilia Chavez. "She died, and Ana Lupe and Juana Dominga Zuni were left. Ana Lupe died; JuanaDominga was left. Juana Dominga taught only because no one offered herself."When Juana Dominga died, they had no one.Then old man Rey Zuni, Chief of the Town Fathers [there are two groups of medicinemen, Town Fathers and Laguna Fathers] and old man Sun, Chief of the Laguna Fathers, talkedit over and decided to appoint specialists. Rey Zuni called his helpers together; they agreed andso he chose Perfecta Anzara or Keipop [a woman member or "mother" of the Town Fathers]and as her helper Rautista Zuni [nephew, first assistant, and successor of Rey Zuni] . Then ReyZuni called for a ceremonial and called together ill the people. Early before sunrise they hadthe ceremonial [installation?]. Rey Zuni preached to the people telling them: "Our great fatherand mother looked around and saw that there was no one to look after childbirth, and theydecided to appoint someone, so our great father put his hand on the heart of Keipop [motherspreading] and appointed her, and to be her helper, Rautista Zuni. From now on you will knowwhom to call when an angel is coming to live on this earth." Then all the people called out "hewiau! hewiau! thanks! thanks!" When Rey Zuni died in 1925 and Rautista Zuni became Chief,Rautista appointed Creancio Carpio as childbirth helper. The Laguna Fathers never appointedanyone; any Laguna Father goes when one is called for.As most of the pictures deal with ritualistic aspects of Isleta life, I shall brieflyreview the towns ceremonial organization and calendar. 2Like other Pueblo Indian towns, Isleta has a Town Chief and a War Chief(Kumpa), the latter, who is also head of the War or Snake Society (Ktimpawith-latven), being more or less the executive of the Town Chief. The Town Chief has still another warlike executive, the Bow Chief 3 (Kabew'iride) , who succeeds to the office of Town Chief. 4Dual organization is further emphasized by the presence of the so-called BlackEye and Red Eye moieties. Their officers direct clowning, hunting, and ball playing,and are prominent in the irrigation ritual and certain maskless kacliina dances.Everyone in the Pueblo belongs to one or the other of these moieties.And everyone also belongs to one of the seven Corn groups that hold winterand summer ceremonies for the Sun?winter and summer solstice ceremonies wehave called them, perhaps mistakenly, for they occur well before the solstices and,according to available information, no solar observations are made at these times. ! For a fuller statement, consult Parsons, 1932, 1939.3 At Santo Domingo the Town Chief had two very important associates, one of whom was called BowChief (White, 1943, p. 305, note 2). * Elaborating on this point, Felipe has written: "Sun-Arrow was Town Chief, died some time ago, andDolores Jojola was assistant to Town Chief; he was Kabewhiride. Next to Kabewhiride is Kuampa. Old manRemijo Lucero was Kuampa." And again in the same letter: "Town Chief's name was Sun-Arrow, died, thenKabewheride took his place, and when Kabewheride died then Kuampa took his place." See also commentarieson Paintings 25 and 87, and page 8, note 7.?ESC A person belongs to his mother's Corn group, and in sickness or at death hisCorn Chief (he may be referred to either as Corn Father or Corn Mother) serves asan intermediary with the doctors or expediter of the deceased. In the Pueblos suchfunctions often adhere to clans, but the Corn groups at Isleta are not exogamous ? a person may marry inside or outside his group indifferently?and they thereforecannot be considered true clans. In fact the Corn Fathers and their helpers, thedirectors of the group in charge of its ceremonial, operate as a priesthood. At leasttwo of the Corn Fathers or Chiefs are in control of the maskless kachina dances.There are also two groups of medicine men who are both curers and weathermakers: the Town Fathers and the Laguna Fathers. And there is a Hunt Chief.Secular officers?Governor and war captains?are appointed annually inaccordance with the prevailing Spanish-Pueblo system. They hold Spanish canes of office and the head war captain is known as War Chief of the Cane. He and hisaides have ceremonial as well as secular functions.As might be inferred from an organization so complex, the annual round ofceremonies, Indian and Catholic (there is a resident Catholic priest at Isleta), isquite full and the ceremonies are well distributed over the year. In December, thereare the Corn group ceremonies, which approximate solstice ceremonies, and Christ-mas; in January, there is Kings' Day; 6 in February, there are Thliwa (masklesskachina) dances for snow and rainfall, and a general cleansing ceremony for thepeople, land, and houses by the medicine men or shamans, this followed by theirrigation or ditch-opening ceremonial and initiations into the medicine societies.(Felipe writes on February 1, 1941: "They will make one new medicine man assoon as kikewaie Baleyo, our Lady [mother] Moon comes in full clear the first ofthis month.") In the spring, ritual races are run and "every five years," i.e., sporadi- cally, there is a scalp ceremony. The major celebrations for the saints occur in June(for San Juan on the 24th and for San Pedro on the 29th, with cock racing andsnatching) and in August (for San Agostin, the patron saint of the Pueblo, on the28th, with image and flag being carried through the fields ) . On June 15, at the closeof the rain rituals by the Corn groups, there is a Thliwa dance, and at the end ofSeptember, there is a Thliwa harvest ceremony. On November 1 and 2, rituals forthe dead are observed.The cult of the dead is both Spanish and Indian. Weather and crop spirits(Thliwa) live on the mountains, like the weather and season spirits of the westernKeres, and, like the kachina elsewhere, they are impersonated in dances; but at Isleta 6 This is primarily celebrated by the Laguna colonists, although Isletans take some part in it. no masks are worn. Also, as elsewhere, the medicine men get their powers fromanimal spirits.The cosmic spirits are Sun, Moon, Lightning, Wind, Earth, and Fire. Amongwestern Keres there is a collective term for the more powerful cosmic spirits ? kopishtaiya?and to this term or concept corresponds, I surmise, the Tiwa termWeide (pi. wenin) which includes the mountain or moisture spirits (Thliwa) andwhich has proved quite as baffling to define as kopishtaiya. To the Pueblo Indianalmost all nature is invested with spirits; to western Keres and southern Tiwa someof the potent and general nature spirits?not plant or animal spirits, the earth, orthe common dead?are collectively kopishtaiya or wenin.Felipe identifies Sun with Weide, and he also refers to the moisture spirits(rain and snow), the Thliwa (compare Keresan Shiwana), as Weide, "our fatherrain" or "our rain god." This is one of his few paraphrases. Unfortunately it doesnot clear up other uses of the perplexing term, which is often employed as if it werea term for a high god.Other Isletans have also equated Weide and rain. But Felipe does make onenew rain spirit identification?a very significant one. The stillborn or infants dyingbefore baptism become rainmakers. This explains why food offerings and prayer sticks are carried to their hillside grave cairns by members of the Corn groups ( seeParsons, 1932, pp. 299 f . ) . By excluding the unbaptized from consecrated ground theChurch may have inspired their recognition as a special class of spirits in the Indianpantheon. A similar phenomenon appears to have occurred among the CatholicizedAndean Indians of Ecuador.Also in other respects Felipe's paintings and letters give much new and enlighten-ing data on the pantheon and ceremonial organization. In addition they correctearlier misinformation, light up obscurities, and amplify meager statements in theBureau Report. In the following discussion I have italicized new and significantcontributions.We learn that there is only one Round House, not two such kivas, and thatalthough the Round House is used for Thliwa (maskless kachina dances), for "making" or painting the moiety kapyo clowns, and for race ritual, it is primarilythe place where the scalps are kept and where offerings are made to the enemies,the "Navaho," from whom the scalps were taken. In other words, the Round Houseis the Scalp House. Its manager is the permanent War Chief (Kumpa). This hasan important comparative implication. The Isleta Round House was borrowed fromthe Keres not earlier than the 18th century, for there is no record of such a buildingwhen Isleta was visited and reported on as an abandoned town in 1717. This was just before the townspeople returned from their visit of 17 years to the Hopi. Perhapsthe round kivas of the Keres that were used for kachina dances served also asScalp Houses. The moiety clowns of the Keres, as well as the Tewa and Tiwa clowns,have military traits, and Keresan clowns use the Round Houses.The clowns at Isleta, as elsewhere, are associated with the Thliwa or kachina.The Isletan Thliwa chiefs, the Chakaben, are appointed by moiety, as are the tempo-rary kapyo clowns and the permanent grandfather clowns. Only the moiety chiefsmay paint the impersonation of Aiyayaode, who is nearer to being a full-fledgedkachina than any other Isletan impersonation. The moiety organizations are in control of the Thliwa cult or a major part of it.The dances of the anthropomorphic mountain-dwelling rain spirits of the Pueblos,the kachina, are performed with mask and without mask. No Tiwa, Sandia Tiwaexcepted, use masks in the cult, nor is the cult as highly developed among them as inother Pueblos.At Isleta, there is no kachina organization proper, no general Kachina cult intowhich all the youths are initiated; but there are kachina or Thliwa chiefs, theChakaben, whose head is also the Chief of the Yellow Corn group. 6 Besides, as wehave noted, the moiety chiefs function at Thliwa dances, also the clowning moiety "grandfathers" and the kapyo clowns, quite as in the Kachina cult elsewhere.There appears to be one more association between moieties and moisture: It isthe function of the moiety chiefs to carry to their special cemetery the dead infantswho are prospective rainmakers.Of interest also is the assignment of little girls as "mothers" to the moietyorganization. The moiety chiefs "came up without mothers," as Felipe puts it, i.e.,in their militant past there was no need for females, but later, after coming in contactwith others, they learned to "make mothers." As such groups as Corn groups andMedicine societies had "mothers," only a bit of involutionary patterning wasnecessary.As noted above, the Chief of the permanent War Society, the Kumpawithlawen,is referred to as Kumpa. His insignia are bow and arrows which are called "blackcane" because Kumpa himself is called Black Cane, Tuefuni. I will refer to him asWar Chief and to the other members of his Society, of whom there are four, as warchiefs or members of the War Society. War Chief and members of the War Society 6 The Yellow Com or Yellow Earth People are said to have lived across the river where a few houses are still occupied. These people were "mean people" and spoke a little differently. Here are supposed to have dweltthe Isletans who migrated to Isleta del Sur. This suggests that another and distinct Tiwa group once consolidatedwith the people of Isleta?the first mention of Pueblo masks, by the way, by the Conquistadores is a reference tomasks seen among the southern Tiwa in 1582 during the Espejo expedition. are vowed in sickness, and tenure is for life. At installation each new member isgiven the bow and arrows insignia. Kumpa is thought of as representing the person-age "who gave the first living people bow and arrows for hunting and war."The War Chief is referred to as "elder brother" to the head of the annuallyelected war captains. War Chief of the Cane, Cane Chief, or Tuewithlawe, himselfannually elected, is the head of these captains. All the war captains carry canes of office, and may be called Cane Chief. The War Chief of the Cane is from the BlackEye, or Shifun, Moiety and he appoints five Black Eyes from different Corn groupsas war captains. He also appoints a Red Eye, or Shure, Moiety assistant, who inturn appoints five men from his moiety. Thus there are two head war captains orWar Chiefs of the Cane, and 10 other captains?a group of 12. The group's functionis to guard all ceremonies, dances, and races, and to assemble people "because theWar Society [the permanent organization] "may not go after people."This point and others in the above account clear up inconsistencies in the BureauReport with respect to the relations between the two War groups which, largelybecause of terminology, were ambiguously described by earlier informants. That thepermanent War Chief was called "Black Cane" and the annually appointed warcaptains had canes of office and might be called Cane Chief was a peculiar sourceof confusion. 7The punitive function of the War Society represented in Painting 103, the punish-ment of the circle, and the religious source or aspect of this physical penalty, familiarelsewhere, 8 is explained for the first time, at least for Isleta.Particularly valuable are the pictures of the rain ceremony of the Laguna Medi-cine Society. The rain ceremonies and dances of the Keresan medicine societies havebeen lapsing, giving way, so to speak, to the rain dances of the kachina in theascendant Kachina cult. But at Isleta the Thliwa cult, the maskless Kachina cult, isless assertive and the medicine men's dances persist.At Isleta neither the scalps nor the dead, i.e., the adult dead, have a rainmakingfunction, as in other Pueblos. Since offerings are made to the dead they must be 7 The source of confusion is more than terminological. It is important in this connection to remember thatsince the death of the last "real" Town Chief ( Sun-Arrow or Domingo Juipe ) in the eighties, radical changes aresaid to have occurred in the pattern of succession. There is considerable evidence that one Kumpa, instead ofinstalling a new Town Chief, assumed this office permanently himself. The interested reader will find additionalinformation on these matters in Parsons ( 1932, p. 256, note 45, and p. 259, notes 67 and 68) and in French ( 1948,pp. 13 ff. ) , which brings together data collected in 1942, a year after Dr. Parsons died.?ESG.8 Cochiti (Dumarest, 1919, p. 173); Santo Domingo (White, 1935, pp. 23 f.). 8 expected to be of use to the living, but in what way is not clear, unless the deceasedhad "power" as a medicine man or as a Corn Chief who "returns to the Sun whencehe came," or as an infant who, dying before baptism, becomes a rainmaker. Howeverthis may be, ghosts are far from welcome. Here, as in other Pueblos, they areexorcised 4 days after death, but in Isleta an additional rite of exorcism is previouslyperformed at the grave. The corpse, after being covered with a layer of soil, ispounded with a heavy piece of wood, a ritual pestle. No such practice has beenreported elsewhere in the Southwest. Nevertheless, it suggests Apache influence. Thesouthern Athapascans, Apache and Navaho, have a very acute fear of the dead andof ghosts.Considerable information on ritual practice and concept is contributed by Felipe.We learn that cleaving feather against feather, a common curing technique amongPueblos, is done so that Wind may carry sickness away. The feathers are eaglefeathers, the shaman's feathers. Duck feathers are markedly associated with theCorn groups, which would of itself indicate that these groups had rain and cropinterests and some association at least with the Thliwa or moisture spirits, and thuswith the Kachina cult. 9And the Corn groups do have such associations. Yellow Corn Chief, as noted,is Chief of the Kachina cult, Chakabede; Shichu Corn Chief is in charge of a Thliwadance group. In fact the relations between the Isleta Corn groups and Thliwa orwenin is not very different, conceptually or ritually, from that between the Zuniparamount Corn or Rain chiefs ( the Ashiwanni of the Directions ) and the Kachina cult. 10Something about pigments, as well as feathers, characteristic of the ceremonialgroups can be gleaned from the pictures (cf. Paintings 22, 64, 65). Apparentlyface and body painting is more important among the Tiwa and Keres than amongthe Zuni or Hopi. For instance, we learn from Felipe that the Chief of the LagunaFathers is painted with a bear paw design and other members of the Society witha lightning design, which is significant of the twofold functions of the medicinemen?curing, Bear being the curing patron, and weather control. The Town Fathers,however, are not painted. 11 * In the kachina prayer sticks of Zuni and Laguna, a duck feather is conspicuous. "The Kachina cult of the Pueblos seems to be an overlay on the old Thliwa (Taos-Isleta)-Shiwana(Keres-Zuni )-Okuwa (Tewa) cult, the cult of Mountain, Rain, or Cloud spirits, a farflung cult of ideology amongthe highland peoples of America.11 Prof. Edward P. Dozier, himself of Pueblo descent, has in a personal communication commented on thefact that, contrary to his experience elsewhere, certain ceremonialists in the kiva are shown in the pictures fullyclothed (cf., among others, Paintings 33, 54, 67). In all probability this is a more or less recent innovation inIsleta.?ESG. The association between the Yellow Corn people and ritual fire making is newinformation, as is the description of their slow match of cedar. This is the first timeamong the Pueblos, as far as I know, that fire is said to be associated with thedirections.Through Painting 33 we learn about the Salt Circle, although not why it is socalled. It lies in the house of the Town Chief and is the most sacred of all ritualobjects and complexes. Here in a central pit in a buckskin bag are contained the "lives" of all important creatures including the townspeople. 12Information about the pit or bag was given in connection with a tragic hap-pening. According to Felipe, when the White Corn Chief died in 1940, the bag couldnot be found. The White Corn Chief died on December 17, during his ceremony, after he had fasted 3 days, without eating or drinking. Before he died he made a lightning markon one of his medicine water bowls in his private ceremonial room. After he died, the assistantCorn mother found the mark on the bowl. He must have known he was going to the end. Afew days later the Shichu Corn chief, Bautista Juancho went to the Town chief's house to gethis road, [that is] permission to begin his fasting, to perform his ceremony (napei)?he alwayshas to be the last of the Corn chiefs to start his ceremony. When he went to the Town chief'shouse with his assistant, he found that the nest (ekue) was gone, missing from the hole whereit had been kept for many years. In that nest (ekue) the bag made of deerskin was placed. Thatis where they ask for their health. They believe that White Corn chief hid that away or stole it.When that nest was lost, the people of the Corn groups were all worried and excited. Theysaid their life was gone. Then they all gathered in the War chief's house. All the Corn chiefsand assistants asked the War chief to take pollen [corn meal] to the Town chief to ask ourgreat medicine chief [chief of the Town Fathers?] for his light look [crystal?] from our MotherMoonlight to find the nest. I will finish the story of what happened next time. ( The rest of the story was never sent. Inferably, Moon is the patron spirit in diviningfor lost things. )For some time before they welcomed the Laguna immigrants, Isletans may havebeen on visiting terms at Acoma and Laguna. They probably passed through Lagunaon their way back from Hopiland after the reconquest. One of the Isletan medicinesocieties is called Laguna Fathers, its "mother" or patron being younger "sister" tothe "mother" of the other society, the Town Fathers. ("Father" is the usual Isletareference for any ceremonialist. ) Both societies are Keresan in character, gettingpower through their corn fetish "mother" and through the supernatural animals.The only difference, but an important one, is that the Isletan society, although includ- 12 At Acoma in a secret room in the Town Chief's house there was an "altar" in charge of Tshraikatsi, whowas one of the two associates of the Town Chief and who had more supernatural power than the cacique, for he "worked" to increase the supply of plants and game (White, 1943, p. 2). Probably the counterpart of this chiefat Isleta was Haukabede (cf. Paintings 129-132).10 ing specialists, is itself less specialized than the Keresan society. This difference maywell indicate that Tiwan and indeed Tanoan society is and was less highly ceremonial-ized, less socialized, if you will, than Keresan society.The Town Fathers and the Laguna Fathers are groups of shamans with indi-vidual powers like shaman assemblages of northern tribes. Such shamans tend tohave individual patrons, and there are a few hints at Isleta that this is the case.Lightning is a patron, or shall we say "power," and Moon, "Our Mother Moonlight,"is the "power" of the medicine men who find lost objects, the detective shamans. Theoutstanding patron of the Town Fathers is Eagle; of the Laguna Fathers, Bear.However long established in Isleta these medicine societies may be, it is amatter of record that certain innovations were introduced by the 1880 Laguna immi-grants, among whom were several medicine men. The most outstanding was JuanRey Sheride or Churina. His daughter, Juanita, a midwife, introduced the use ofthe badger paw at childbirth 13 (Painting 1). Juan Rey himself introduced stickswallowing and the cure for ant sickness, and he decorated the walls of the cere-monial chamber of the Laguna Fathers with the spirits of the pantheon. ( Seemingly,frescoes were in vogue at Laguna, probably in the kivas that were torn down at thetime of the row which led to the emigration to Isleta. ) The walls of the chamber ofthe Town Fathers are undecorated.Juan Rey Sheride did not get on well with Pablo Abeita, the White Corn Chief,and ultimately Juan Rey left Isleta and with his daughter went to live at Sandiawhere he soon died (in 1923) "because he broke his promise to do his ceremonyat Isleta." No doubt the clash between Juan Rey and Pablo Abeita was one betweentwo strong personalities, but it also points to ceremonial rivalry probably of longstanding between the Corn groups and the intrusive Keresan societies.The southern Tiwa were among the first Pueblos to be subjected to Spanishpenetration. Isleta was founded late, 14 whether by southern or by northern Tiwa15 13 The mother of Juanita Churina was the daughter of Jose, the Shiwanna medicine man of Laguna and,according to Felipe, Juanita got the badger hand "midwife" ritual from her grandfather who, I have no doubt,learned it from someone of Hopi descent. ( It seems to me that Juanita may have been taught midwifery by hermother who used to return to Laguna to assist old Jos6 in ceremonial. Note that through this family there was aclose ceremonial connection for years between Isleta and Laguna. ) Juanita died "a few years ago" at Sandia,where she left "badger hand." The ritual lapsed at Isleta when Juanita went to Sandia about 1922. So Felipe drewin the badger hand to add ritualistic richness to the picture.14 How long the present site of Isleta has been occupied is a moot question which may not be answered untilthe middens, the sacred "ash piles," are dug into. As yet at Isleta Dr. H. P. Mera has found only two sherds ofthe glaze-paint pottery that was common in the Rio Grande area prior to 1700, and these may well have beencarried, he writes me, from settlements to the south. He is dubious about early settlement.1E It is a tenable hypothesis through pottery evidence and the reconstruction of ceremonial history thatafter the burning of old Taos, say in 1650 (H. P. Mera), some of the people of Taos founded Isleta, possiblybecoming neighbors, as suggested, to a settlement of southern Tiwa. 11 is uncertain, but, in either case, Spanish contacts have left many marks on its culture.I realized this in my first study, and now Felipe has contributed more data along thisline of acculturation in childbirth, baptismal, funerary, and memorial practices.St. Christopher and the Virgin are called upon in labor; defective infants are "cured"by contact with a domestic animal freshly slaughtered; Catholic ritual is conspicuousin naming infants, in paying vows, in religious processions and church dancing, and inshrouding and burying the dead, whether infants or adults.In certain of these loans the process of acculturation is exceedingly interesting.In some cases, while both Indian and Spanish rites are resorted to, they are keptdistinct, as in painting the deceased and shrouding the body in a friar's habit, orin burying food in the grave and leaving it on top of the grave, or in considering thedeceased infant if unbaptized a rainmaker and if baptized a little angel. In othercases these different rites are well integrated, as in the kinsman's prayer at the grave,when the deceased medicine man is prayed to and given a candle just as a saintwould be given a candle, or as in covering mirrors during storm or curing lest lightningshatter the house or the conservative temper of the doctor be affronted. For longI have been intrigued by the resemblance between the Catholic kiss of adorationand breath rites which have a wide distribution among Indians. Painting 50 clearlyreveals the union.There are a few cases of apparently accidental resemblance as in ritual spitting,or in the use of the five-pointed star or the cross, which to the Catholic is an amulet,but to the Pueblo a summons to the spirits of the directions. Here we may considerthe calendrical adjustment to Catholic ceremonies as a purely practical arrangement.If the winter solar ceremonies were true solstice ceremonies, they may have beenmoved back in the calendar to make place for the Christmas celebration whichseems fuller at Isleta than in any other Pueblo. At Taos there is the same calendricalshift, and it is also made at Laguna where we know that the dislocated ceremonieswere winter solstice ceremonies.As I have given a full bibliography for all the major subjects and much of thedetail covered by these pictures in the Bureau Report (1932) and in "Pueblo IndianReligion" (1939), I have included few bibliographical references here.Finally, I wish to thank Prof. George L. Trager for his work on the annotatedglossary, which appears at the end of this volume. The transliterations of Indianwords in the commentary are my original recordings. 12 COMMENTARY ANDPAINTINGS BIRTHPAINTING 1 Summoned by the chief of the Corn group to whom the prospective motherbelongs, the childbirth doctor and midwife are attending the woman who is sittingon a sheep pelt. With a stone implement (koata) the doctor is about to "whip" thewoman on her back "to loosen the baby." From his stone-using function this special-ist is called koatamide.In the early stone implements there is magic power. If you tap a deer on thehead with a koata he will drop dead. Arrow points are held in the hand ( cf . Paint-ing 11) or in the mouth, carried in the belt, or laid on altars, against witchcraft.On the ground lie the doctor's two eagle feathers?eagle feathers also havepower?his pouch of sacred cornmeal, and a badger paw, "Old Woman Badger'shand." Badger digs out quickly, and on this occasion, as in Hopi practice, I believethat the paw is passed down the body of the woman to speed the delivery. This isan instance of the sympathetic magic common among Pueblos, particularly in childbearing and during infancy. July 28, 1937 14 PAINTING 2 A Catholic spirit may be called upon in childbirth, in this case San Kietiano(Saint Christopher?) who is the "master of childbirth and of nothing else." Whenlabor begins the painted wooden tablet is brought into the house and placed on an altar table. The midwife or "Childbirth Woman" sits alongside.The tablet is about 13 inches square and 1 inch thick. It has been freshlypainted by a Mexican. "They have used this saint a long, long time, as you can seefrom the way the corners have been bitten away." "San Kietiano does not belong in the church. He was brought long ago fromLas Lente. In Isleta he was in the house of Grandma Cecile [Cecilia Padilla,midwife]. When one of the family died another one took the saint. [The tabletpassed on within the family.] At present the saint is at the house of Lady CarlotaLujan."Los Lentiles, once a Tiwa town called Rainbow Village, is about 5 miles southof Isleta. It is largely Mexicanized, but Isletans still go there to pray to anotherprivately kept saint, San Gonselito, and to dance for him.At Zuni and Jemez, and probably in other Pueblos, there are saints that "donot belong to the church." February 1, 1941 16 PAINTING 3 "When a woman has pain, sick for day, having trouble in childbirth, to healher from pain she bites at the saint, using one corner where it has been bitten into."A bowl of medicine is at hand "to get heat into the body."The midwife "is praying, begging the saint to keep them and pass them throughthis trouble." At this time, too, vows may be made to the Virgin (cf. Paintings46, 50). "After 4 days [the confinement period] they take the saint back to the privatehouse where they got him, with song and prayer and church-bell ringing. Whenthey hear this the people are glad and give thanks to San Kietiano that the ladycame out all right." February 1, 1941 18 PAINTING 4 After the umbilical cord is cut and tied the midwife burns the end of a corncoband, as it smoulders, applies it to the severed end of the cord. The mother is notallowed to look on.For 4 days, in the morning, a special powdered clay is applied. June 23, 1941 20 PAINTING 5 After the midwife has burned the cord and washed the infant, the doctor "gives the baby to be child of all the directions," orientating him in his world, inthe spirit world, by pointing his head in each of the five ritual directions?east, north, west, south, and for the fifth direction, up, down, and middle ( cf . Painting 9 ) . The up-down-middle motion is made at the south point in the imaginary diagram.Many sacred objects are motioned ritualistically toward the directions by thePueblos. Spirits are associated with the directions: rain, animal, and corn spirits,among others. July 28, 1937 22 PAINTING 6 When they are ready to leave, doctor and midwife receive food in pay "for then-trouble." As seen in the picture, ritual food fees or gifts are commonly placed in aline in front of the recipient ( cf . Painting 13 ) . On this occasion soup has been putin the nearest bowl, bread in the large bowls, peaches in the small bowls. July 28, 1937 24 PAINTING 7 After the 4-day confinement, early in the morning, the mother, carrying thebaby, circles four times around a freshly placed pot containing coals of fire in themiddle of the room, and steps over the pot in order "to take sickness away." Whilethis rite of exorcism is being performed, the infant's "aunt" stands by, waiting tobathe the mother and take her, with the infant, to the plain in the east at sunrise.Note the mother's pallet and the tub and yucca roots for the bath.Fire Old Woman is a member of the spirit pantheon in Isleta as in Cochiti,Nambe, and Zuni. Also, among the Keres a fire is kept up during confinement againstwitches who cause sickness. July 14, 1939 26 PAINTING 8 The "aunt" is casting meal from her basket to the Sun, and in his presence sheis giving the baby the name which will be confirmed later by the Chief of theCorn group. The sacred meal is held between thumb and index finger.Mother and "aunt" are giving thanks to the Sun that the mother came through all right. They are asking the Sun to give the infant a long life, the fervent andrecurrent prayer of all Pueblos.Thanking the spirits, the chiefs, and one another for ritual or formalized servicesis a common Pueblo practice. There is no thanking for casual service.Naming an infant at sunrise, "showing the baby to the Sun," is also generalamong the Pueblos, and the "aunt," the father's sister or other kinswoman, iscustomarily the godmother. July 14, 1939 28 one ?- PAINTING 9 At the close of the winter ceremony of the seven Corn groups, members ofeach group enter their respective ceremonial chambers to be given a sip of medicinewater (Felipe calls it "holy water") "in order to live happily and long." At thistime, too, an infant born during the year is brought in to get his "Corn name." Bythis name he will be recognized by the Sun after he dies and directed on his roadto and under Sunrise Lake.Here the Corn Group Chief is naming the infant, showing him to the sacred ears of corn lying on the ground altar. The corn is yellow, indicating that the groupis Yellow Corn.Is the timing of this baptism modeled upon the church practice of christening after the Mass? There are other Catholic forms. The chief sprinkles the infant fromthe medicine bowl, and makes the sign of the cross on his forehead, each palm,each sole. The godmother takes home some of the medicine water. January 15, 1936 30 .//. CURINGPAINTING 10 The doctor is putting the infant into a cow's stomach still warm from butcher-ing, and uncleansed. This treatment appears to derive from European folk medicine.Many cures are carried out at home, as among all the Pueblos. An offering ofa little cornmeal wrapped in cornhusk accompanies the request to serve, and thedoctor is asked for home treatment, I believe, by the Chief of the Corn group towhich the patient belongs. January 15, 1940 32 PAINTING 11 This man offended the ants by pouring oil on an ant hill and setting it afire. The ants entered his body and were eating his eyes. For 4 nights in the patient's housethe Ant Father, one of the specialists in the medicine societies, has put up his altar:his "Mother" or corn fetish and his stone arrow points. Each night with his eaglefeathers he brushes the ants from the patient's body. For a fuller account, seeParsons, 1932, pages 443-444.In this cure, as in others, the medicine man holds in his hand a stone point, everan amulet against danger.Ants may have some helpful function?as they have at Zuni, in war?for anyIsletan leaving town may sprinkle crumbs for them. "They say Ant is the best manto think things out" (ibid., p. 383, note 77, p. 384, note 78). November 1936 34 Iimmti y (*>,M PAINTING 12 A 4-night cure for a witch-sent sickness?in this instance a rag and "badthoughts" have been "sent" into the woman's body.Among all the Pueblos, witches send all sorts of injurious things?cactus thorns,bone splinters, sticks, glass, pebbles, ants, and an unidentified insect described aslooking like a headless centipede. Witches are envious people or people who feelaggrieved. They can change into animals or birds and can transform others. Theyhave the powers of medicine men but they work evil only. Curing is for the mostpart against witchcraft.On the first night, represented here, one doctor is pulling from his mouth arag which he has sucked out of the patient and which he will place on the ashesbehind (note that only one foot of the patient has been bared). The second doctor, cleaving one eagle feather against the other, is "cleaning with feathers," giving all "bad thoughts" to "Wind to carry away." This is the first interpretation of this rite of exorcism, so common among the Pueblos, that I know of. Wind Old Woman mayherself cause disease, and so, in accordance with the Pueblo way of thinking, shecan also cure it.In this treatment, as is usual in private curing, the doctors have not been painted.The Corn Group Chief, who has asked for this ceremony for his "daughter," sitsnear the bowl of tobacco and cornhusk. January 23, 1939 36 PAINTING 13 The fourth night the patient's relatives offer food to the doctors and throughthem to Weide. All pray and tell Weide the woman must get well and live to be old. They will help the doctors carry the food home. January 23, 1939 38 PAINTING 14 The offering is being made at the home of the Medicine Society Chief in hisprivate room. The Corn Chief is asking the Medicine Chief to give a sweat bath atthe river to a "daughter" of his Corn group.Note how the medicine man keeps his things: bandoleer and pouch of cornmeal,bear-claw necklace, crystal, gourd rattle, bear paw, eagle feathers, medicine bowl,and, within the table drawer, his Corn Mother fetish.Among all the Pueblos cornmeal, coarsely ground, is cast or sprinkled in prayer,in asking the spirits for something. This is the use the medicine man will make ofthe cornmeal given him by the person requesting his ceremony.The medicine man wears a bear-claw necklace, and over his left hand he willdraw on a bear paw because he gets power from Bear, the curer animal.The crystal, pendant from the necklace, gives a vision of anything happeninganywhere?crystal gazing for second sight, inferably through the power of Moon(see Introduction, p. 10).With his gourd rattle the medicine man will accompany his songs. Songs arethe most important and most secret part of his ritual.The prescription for medicine water is also very secret. The medicine is sprinkled in the directions or on persons or given them to drink or take home.In the medicine bowl, stone fetishes are immersed, and their in-dwelling beings are summoned by song or whistle.May 16, 1939 40 PAINTING 15 Steaming under a blanket is practiced in other Pueblos, but not regular sweatbathing, which is common among Athapascan and Plains Indians. The Isletan sweathouse is or was a tipi type of Navaho shelter. Inferably, Isletans borrowed thepractice originally from tipi dwellers, probably Mescalero Apache, although theycompare it today with Navaho usage. Analogously the scalps kept at Isleta (cf.Painting 97) are called "Navaho" scalps, but they may have been from MescaleroApache who raided the Isletans. "Navaho" means merely "enemy."The sweat "hogan" is made of clay "like an oven," writes Felipe, that is, clayand straw cover the poles except where they project through the top. This hybridstructure used to stand near the river, but after the old medicine men who knewabout the cure died, it was destroyed. "They still know how, but since White peoplehave begun to come around to watch, they hide from them."This sweat bath cure is taken only in summer. It is "given to one with rheumatismor bone ache or with skin diseases." April 18, 1939 42 *r ?r M ? - \U \U PAINTING 17 The patient is taken out before sunrise. The Medicine Chief leads her "by thetips of his feathers"?the usual ritualistic way. He is warning her to have goodthoughts because "our Mother, Fire Old Woman is mean, she might burn your life out." The patient is "thinking of Fire Old Woman, asking her to be kind to herdaughter." This form of curing is "the hardest of all to get by" (endure).May 16, 1939 46 PAINTING 18 Navaho scalps are kept in the kiva built like the Keresan kivas and generally called the Round House. The woman is being led by the medicine man to the pitbehind the firescreen ( ? ) to feed the scalps. The man hiding behind the post will makea noise and touch her on the back to scare her as she passes by. She will believe itis a dead Navaho. I was once told of a man who ventured alone to feed the scalps but became sofrightened that before he got halfway down the ladder he just threw his meal offeringaway and fled, telling his brother who was waiting for him that his toothache wasgone. "He was cured because he was frightened." I was also told of a Spanish cure for toothache, or rather a Spanish-Indian cure.A girl took a candle out to the western hill for her deceased kinsman (cf. Painting135), the Snake Father in the Laguna Medicine Society. He was very powerful.Within the hour her toothache was gone.Since the scalps cure toothache, they may, consistent with the Pueblo point ofview, be thought to cause it; and inferably, sickness from fright is cured by fright.Among the Spanish Mexicans fright, espanto, is a common cause of sickness. April 18, 1939 48 l^. V,) 2.. DEATHPAINTING 19 Before the corpse is placed in the middle of the floor the mirrors are turnedto the wall. This is Spanish and quite general European folk practice, but Isletanshave extended it and integrated it into their own conceptualizations.The mirrors are also turned when it is about to rain or storm. "When the rain comes with storm or lightning the lady of the house comesrunning and turns all the mirrors face to wall. If she did not do this our fatherLightning would come in, they claim, because he likes to look into the glass andwould come in and shine more fire. He is big, does not fit into the house and wouldbust the house."Again, when they have medicine men in the house to doctor the sick, theyturn or cover or take down the mirrors. "The doctors do not want to see themselveswhen they pull rags out of their mouth."A month later Felipe wrote, "Indians never used to have mirrors. They neverknew how they looked. When you White people made mirrors then we learned howwe looked. That is why our father Rain (kikawe Weide) doesn't want us to havemirrors and with lightning and thunder would come and bust the house." Like manypeople, Pueblos and others, Felipe indulges in contradictory interpretations. February 1, 1940 50 PAINTING 20 The "aunt," to the left of the deceased, and the other woman are awaitingpermission to wash his hair and dress him. Note water bowl and twig brush.In death, as in sickness, the Chief of the Corn group a person belongs to is sent for. He will make the "road" for the deceased "to go to the Sun from whom hecame" and 4 days later, after the burial and the 4-day period of mourning, he willdestroy the "road," shutting the ghost off from returning.Among all Pueblos, making the road to altar, shrine, or any place to which the spirits are summoned is an important rite. The road may also be made for brides ( Hopi, Acoma ) , and it may be closed against supernatural or enemies, as happened at Hawikuh against Estevan, the Moor, who discovered the Pueblos, and againstthat captain of Coronado who was driven from Acoma. June 20, 1939 52 \ PAINTING 21 The "aunt" will also wash the face of the corpse. Then the water will be throwninside the threshold, probably because, if disposed of outside, it would be dangerousto others. The bowl will be broken, the pieces also left inside the threshold.Among the Pueblos similar death services are always performed by paternalkinswomen.May 18, 1937 54 PAINTING 22 The White Corn Chief of Isleta died on December 17, 1940, and before any other preparation for burial was made, his successor, Jose Jojola, sang, and an assistantmarked the body?cheeks, palms, knees, and insteps?with white, since the deceasedbelonged in "White Earth Way, east where the sun rises." Jose Jojola "is calling thedeceased chief in song. At each call or mention of the deceased chief or of the eastwhere the chief is placed [will go?], Patricio Lujan, the assistant, marks the body,"just as meal is sprinkled to a spirit whenever he is referred to in song or prayer.The implication is that the deceased chief remains a chief in the East, inaccordance with the general Pueblo belief that, after death, ceremonialists join theirpredecessors.Powerful in life, the deceased White Corn Chief will also be powerful in death.That is why, I surmise, Felipe writes: "I don't want to mention his name. You canguess easy. Don't you write his name." March 3, 1941 56 PAINTING 23 The corpse lies in the middle of the room, in a friarlike habit, mantas sewntogether down the back, with three knots in the belt ends. The head rests on anadobe block. In the clasped hands is a cross. The candles at the feet are placed thereby people who come to see the body.All this is Spanish-Mexican custom, except that the shroud would represent,if anything, the array of San Jose.May 18, 1937 58 Er^: n L & b PAINTING 24 The funeral party makes a circuit around the churchyard. In each corner fora few minutes they rest the body. "They say this is the last time for him to go aroundwhere he used to walk in procession or at Mass when he was alive." "Ramon Zuni is singing and praying, as Ramon is prayer [maker] and sings[chants] in Spanish for all ceremonials for the dead and for the saints. The peopleask Ramon to pray when they need him. He is the last one left able to do this. Ifhe dies there will be no one that can do all this. He is grandfather [Rlack Eyes],Laguna Father [medicine man], and prayer maker for all [Catholic] ceremonial. Helooks exactly as in the drawing: dark complexion and bob hair, just as you see him,you can't mistake him."Inferably, Father Dozier, who has been resident priest in Isleta for over 30 years,has not trained prayer makers or chanters, rezadores or cantores, in the SpanishCatholic way. March 3, 1941 60 PAINTING 25 An actual funeral is being pictured, that of Remijo Lucero who died May 9,1937, aged about 70. He succeeded Dolores Jojola as Chief of the War Society,Kumpawithlawen. Remijo was the oldest man in the society. For several years, untilhis death, he was acting Town Chief. Sun Arrow, the last "real" Town Chief diedin the eighties. No successor was installed, so his "guard," the Bow Chief, Kabew'iride(Dolores Jojola), took his place. 16 When Dolores Jojola died, the Chief of the WarSociety (Kumpa), Remijo Lucero succeeded as acting Town Chief.Like all ceremonialists at death, the face of the acting Town Chief is painted as in life when ceremonially engaged, and in his hair are two eagle feathers. Thewoman behind is carrying a jar of water to pour on the grave "so if the deceased getsthirsty he can have a drink." 16 For a direct statement on these points by Felipe, see p. 4, note 4; cf. p. 8, note 7.?ESCMay 18, 1937 62 ^^ PAINTING 26 The godmother stands at the child's head. Also present are the godfather, "aunt,"little sister (or friend). A kinsman carries the cross. "The godmother dresses a [deceased] child up to the age of 10. She makes ahat and decorates it with ribbons and flowers and puts flowers on the long skirtssewed together with ribbons of all colors. She paints the cheeks and chin red. Thisdressing means that the child died before sinning. He is without sin; they call him 'angel,' or 'little angel,' angelito."All this is Spanish funerary custom for an angelito, a child dying before confirma-tion. The body is dressed as a saint ( the face is not painted ) and placed, as in thepicture, on a table. June 1940 64 ' PAINTING 27 "Four men are holding the body in a blanket to hand it over to two others who are waiting in the hole. The other man is the watchman to see that the body isplaced right, that feet and hands do not slip out and that the blanket is drawn offthe face, all clear open to pour dirt." The body lies with head to the south. After it has been carefully placed, the two men standing in the grave are pulled up bytheir hands. Then they pray and begin to fill in the dirt.A word about burial places. Offerings to the dead and to Weide are made onthe four "ash piles" or middens, one on each side of town. From this fact, and fromthe taboos about these large refuse mounds and the dread they induce, it may be safely inferred that they are the early burial places or, at least, are so considered. I put the question directly to Felipe. He answered, "Yes, long ago they usedto bury the dead people in ash pile." He continued, "Then when Mexicans camefirst long ago, one or two Mexicans, they learned to bury people in one place. Thatwas when they started the old campo santo. It was not fenced or in line, they justburied them. The very first man buried in this open campo santo was one of the richest old men. He had lots of sheep. His name was Ambrosio Lucero. Old womanMaria Abeita and an old man named Haka Biantue, mountain mark, were the others.These three persons were buried in the old graveyard over on the hill on the south side. Then they left that old campo santo and started to bury dead people in front of the churchyard. Not long ago they stopped burying the dead there because itwas too crowded; they dug one up when they buried another. So Father Doziertold them to use the old campo santo which was in use before Dozier came."Graveyard removals have always been resisted among the Pueblos and thislatest removal at Isleta, if not the preceding ones also, caused "big trouble." Thepresent cemetery lies southwest of town (south of Oraibi). March 3, 1941 66 \X PAINTING 28 After the grave is half full, 3 feet of soil being thrown in, most of the peopleleave. Then the "aunt" who carries the water pours it into the grave "to give thedead person his last drink." All the "aunts" of the deceased do this in turn, eachcarrying water and each pouring it in. Then a male relative, but not father orbrother, takes a mallet and pounds the soil, "striking the corpse first over the face,knocking the teeth out, then over all the body. They pound the dead to be surethat he is dead, and they pound hard and tighten the dirt. They claim if they do not pound, he ( or she ) may come to life and suffer in the dirt, so they give it to him(or her) extra heavy in order not to come to life in the grave. Sometimes after itis pounded the dirt lowers about 3 or 5 inches, then they say the dead one does notwant to leave the world, he wants his family or relations to go with him." "The mallet or block of wood is a knot of cottonwood weighing 50 pounds. It has two holes at the end so a man can put his fingers in tight, hold it up and strike as hard as he can. It was made a long, long time ago and we don't know who made it, it's so old. It is called boyua shoor la, dead-striker ( pounder ) wood. It is alwaysleft in the cemetery."This drastic treatment is obviously exorcism of the deceased. Exorcism of ghostsis a general Pueblo practice but this particular form is unique?as far as I know.Indeed, it seems so extraordinary that were it not for the descriptive details theaccount would be incredible. The practice suggests that the dead at Isleta, at leastthe ordinary dead, are thought of, or were once thought of, as malevolent spirits.The role of deceased ceremonialists is not yet quite clear. January 6, 1941 68 PAINTING 29 After burial the relatives stand together to be preached to. The relative incharge talks and prays: "Now our son [daughter] is called and taken. Our greatfather needs him more than we. Our great father needs him somewhere, maybe inBaptist religion [!] or in our poor Indian religion, so he took him away, and we givehim to our Mother Earth to feed herself with the body. As one day or night he wasborn on this earth so one day or night he had to die. We miss the look of him, theshadow we miss. And we must return to his place where he made a poor living,where he lived poor, in order to discuss sending a man of his clan [Corn group] to eat and sleep at the dead person's house for 4 days, as is our poor Indian way if aperson is willing to offer lovingly to do this."Then they all pray and leave the grave and go straight to the house where thedead person used to live.The spirit of the deceased lingers 5 days at his house, and we note from theabove prayer that a member of his Corn group is expected to volunteer to stay withthe household during this troublous, perhaps dangerous, period. March 3, 1941 70 PAINTING 30On the third day after the death, everybody who has stayed in the house hashis or her head washed. On the fourth day, before sunrise, everybody goes to castmeal in the river and bathe. In the evening the Corn Fathers lay down their meal altar in the house of mourning and make a road of meal from the house door tothe altar for the deceased. The Chief sprinkles all present from the medicine bowlon the altar. He sprinkles meal on the meal road, singing to the deceased to enterand eat. Then the Fathers take out the bowl of food and a bowl containing possessions of the deceased (his bow, arrows, and gourd rattle) and prayer feathers made forhim by the Chief ( cf . Painting 140 ) . With duck feathers a Father sweeps away the road. They are going "to chase the deceased from the village."Returning to the house, they will close the door, making a cross on it with astone point. They will pass the stone point over the walls. They will tell all present "to forget it all; it is now 4 years he is dead."Substituting years for days is characteristic of formal Pueblo speech. Makingthe sign of the cross in exorcism seems to be a Catholic rite. The Indian cross is asummons to the spirits, a road for them from all the directions. February 15, 1937 72 PAINTING 31 Infants dying before baptism, also the stillborn, are not buried in the cemetery.They are taken out to Red Earth Hill (Nampeikoto), to the southwest. "They don'tdress the baby or give it anything, just take it out as it is. The Father [moiety chief]covers the infant with some dirt and rocks, but he does not bury it. Sometimescoyotes or dogs eat the body. The Father will turn the eumaune in all the direc-tions that he (or she) may go back to the rain god(s) whence he came and, thatwhen he arrives, it may rain. The Father prays to the directions and to the raincloud god(s) so that it will rain when the eumaune reaches the rain god(s)." "When the Father returns to the house he tells the mother not to think aboutthe baby as he has already returned to the rain god(s). He may bring rain."Here is a strong suggestion that formerly Isletans may have associated the deadin general with rainfall as do other Pueblos. We may also recall that the earlyAztecs sacrificed children to the rain gods. In the Isletan tradition about GrandfatherStone (Parsons, 1932, p. 412) there is a hint of child sacrifice.At the close of the winter solstice ceremonies of the Isletan Corn groups, prayer sticks, sacred meal, and food crumbs are deposited at Red Sand Hill for the infantrainmakers (ibid., pp. 299-300).Before baptism Isleta infants may be referred to as "little Navaho" or "Coyote," a pseudonym for Navaho, because Navaho too are unbaptized. "My poor littleNavaho," a mother will say. Among Andean Indians in Ecuador I found the termfor the unbaptized or pagan Indians applied also to infants dying before baptism,and these infants, as at Isleta, are thought of as spirits, not angelitos or Catholic child spirits, but Indian spirits. Jttly 25, 1940 74 I/ p y> ! # V / /f V ? >13^# . ^^MHMMM PAINTING 32 When a nursling dies "the mother will milk herself into a bowl, drop a piece of cotton in the milk, and throw the cotton onto the ceiling above the door, one pieceevery day for 12 days, to feed the baby. The baby is called little angel. They say thebaby comes around to nurse. After 12 days, they say, the baby is gone forever."In Pueblo opinion, infant spirits linger longer about their home than the spirits of deceased adults. In prehistoric times deceased infants were buried in the house,and Hopi believe they may be reborn to their mother.Calling the baby little angel, angelito, is a general Spanish practice in accordancewith the Catholic belief that before confirmation children are sinless and go directlyto heaven. "Twelve" is a favored Tiwa numeral, a stereotype for a long ritual period. February 12, 1940 16 CORN GROUPSPAINTING 33 From December 1 to 20 the chiefs of the Corn groups, the Corn Fathers ( often called Corn Mothers) hold their 4-day ceremonies separately but in no particular order, except that the White Corn Chief goes in a day ahead and the Shichu a day after the others. The ceremonies are for the Sun and it is known that at this timethe Sun "turns south," but there is said to be no solar observation and apparentlythe ceremonies have no New Year character. ( For a fuller account, see Parsons, 1932,pp. 290-301.)All chiefs, who will function, visit the Salt Circle (balimakore) to get permissionto hold their ceremony. "They don't get permission from Town chief or from anyperson. They ask permission from the Salt Circle, they ask for road. The Circlehas been always there since the real old Town chief was alive. He left the Circlethere when he died. The Circle is made with cornmeal of all colors because theTown chief is over every Corn group and over every ceremony." Only chiefs ormembers of the chiefly groups ever see this Circle. Townspeople in general knowabout the house of the Town Chief, but they don't know what is inside.The Circle is crossed by lines pointing from east, west, north, south, and at thecenter is the triple fifth direction: up, down, and middle. "The lines are roads cominginto the Circle and that is why they ask for a good road from all the directions." "Under the Salt Circle in a pit are planted all kinds of animal meat and evenbirds of all kinds, mice, rats, deer, antelope, and so on. They claim that all our life is planted there, too, inside the Circle. The Town chief marked the Salt Circle andplaced all kinds of lives inside."Later information. In the pit in a buckskin bag (pit or bag is referred to as 'nest,' ekue) are "all kinds of animal life, also our life. That is why in prayer theyalways mention the middle of the Circle in Town chief's house where our life is." "We are in one nest" is a Taos saying. I had taken it wholly metaphorically,but possibly at Taos, too, there is a ritual nest. July 14, 1939 78 ? " t'f '<"!r. ?? - ? '-?V: ..... PAINTING 34 During his winter solstice ceremony White Corn Chief, Chief of the Day People,comes out early every morning "to talk to the Sun." In his left hand he carries abasket of meal and two duck feathers and, in his right, some meal to cast to the Sun. "He is asking the Sun for more power, asking to go strong on everything he does,asking health for himself and for all his people, and asking to have all the peoplefeeling good toward him during his ceremony."He will return to his ceremonial room "before people see him." On the last daysof the ceremony the Chief is accompanied at dawn by his three assistants. March 3, 1941 80 PAINTING 35 The third day of the retreat of the Corn Fathers, days of fasting and makingprayer feathers, the Chief sends one of his "sons" for yucca or soapweed roots tomake suds for hairwashing, always an important rite of purification among Pueblos.Yucca, like many other plants or trees, is endowed with a spirit and must beapproached with prayer and prayer meal. Plant or tree should be propitiated, andthere should be no wasteful or wanton destruction. The plant or tree to be uprootedor cut is not asked for permission, but one nearby is?in this case, Yucca Old Woman.As the "son" sprinkles meal from his meal pouch, he prays not to be punishedfor any "mistake," that is, offense to the plant. July 14, 1939 82 \L run 5 PAINTING 36 On his return journey the messenger "thinks over what he is going to say to theCorn Father. He will tell him how he prayed to Yucca old woman, telling her hisCorn name, and how he dug the yucca and carried it." Among Pueblos, ritual mes-sengers are expected to relate every detail of their trip or journey.The Corn Father will make a road of meal for the messenger from the door tothe meal basket on the altar. The messenger will help himself to a pinch of mealwhich he will motion in the directions and cast toward the Sun. Then he will begiven a cigarette and, after smoking it in the directions and toward the Sun, he willtell his story. The Father will thank him and give him permission to leave. August 1, 1940 84 PAINTING 37Women are associated with all the ceremonial groups and the women members are regularly referred to as "mothers." They perform duties usual to women: sup-plying food, cleaning up, washing hair, fetching clay and water. They have few strictly ritualistic functions. But in fetching water for their Chief (early in themorning "before people will see them") they cast prayer sticks or prayer feathersmade by the Chief and prayer meal into the river for the Water People. March 18, 1938 86 PAINTING 38 Before sunrise on the fourth day of the ceremony of the Corn groups, the chiefsgo in line to the river to wash their hands and face and pray, "facing east, facing the sunrise." They will breathe on their prayer meal, motion it in the directions, and cast it into the river for the Water People. They will also cast meal to the Sun, asking himto let them remain alive while he journeys southward. As noted before, Sun Father is the source of life and longevity.Breathing on or from sacred objects is an important rite among Pueblos. June 20, 1939 88 PAINTING 39 The women members of every ceremonial group wash the hair of the malemembers or chiefs.Hair washing quite generally precedes ceremonial, and sometimes concludes it,among Pueblos. Note yucca roots on the floor for making suds. April 6, 1937 90 PAINTING 40 After the hair of the Fathers has been washed, toward noon, the time when theSun stands still each day, the Chief dances, "showing him the prayer feathers he isto come and get." The Chief's helpers sing, "to call the Sun," which will streamthrough the roof hole.The Sun journeys daily across the sky, it is believed, coming out from his housein the east and, after the noonday pause, going down to his house in the west. 92 J I\ PAINTING 41 A "mother" has given the Chief a basket of meal of the color of their Corn group.The Chief lays his prayer feathers on the meal and then sprinkles them with meal.All this to song (see Parsons, 1932, p. 292).Obviously a sun ray is being refracted by crystal, Hopi style. There was nodoubt in the mind of my early informant that the Sun really did come down, get hisfeathers, and go up again, through the roof hole.Knowing the "work" that is being done in the ceremonial rooms, the towns-people at this time remain in their houses and say a prayer to the Sun. Undated 94 uj)? PAINTING 42 Bits from all these bowls will be offered at the ash piles to Weide and the dead,dropped from the right hand for Weide, from the left for the dead. The Chief willput a piece in the mouth of each helper and in turn will be given a piece to eat(reminiscent of the Mass?). He then gives all present permission to eat. It is a ritual meal. Leftovers are distributed and carried home. A portion is carried to theTown Chief.Throughout the Pueblos, the left side?left hand, left foot?is associated withthe dead. March 18, 1938 96 o^? occro c?^ v I MOIETIESPAINTING 43 The Black Eyes also hold a ceremony at the early winter ceremonial season,about December 10 or 13, "since they are winter people," and the four chiefs musthave their hair washed.When these moiety chiefs came out into the world at the Emergence, the BlackEyes from Shipapa Spring, they had no "mothers" or women helpers, so now thelittle girls who serve them in fetching water and washing hair are called "little oldwomen" as surrogates for "mothers" such as are in attendance on the other groups.In view of the early warlike associations of the moiety chiefs, I surmise that girls whohad not yet menstruated were considered the only proper or safe female helpers.There are taboos against menstruants in connection with hunting and warring amongTiwa as well as Hopi.One "Little Old Woman" is washing the Chief's hair. The other stands readywith her gourd to rinse it.After the washing the Chief will go through the door, as indicated, into theroom where his helpers are waiting, and he will send out each in turn. In this roomthey keep the fetishes ( wahtainin, 'life people' ) . August 31, 1939 98 L1 PAINTING 4 4 The Red Eyes hold their ceremony in June, "since they are summer people."Each moiety has its own "little old women." August 13, 1939 100 PAINTING 45 The Black Eye moiety chiefs, the Shifunkaben, are fasting in their ceremonialhouse. They are giving medicine water to the women. "The Black Eye chief is sitting by the fireplace holding duck feathers. One helper is giving a woman medi- cine water. Another is dipping medicine water into a bowl for the woman to takehome and sprinkle in her rooms. Another woman is praying at the kitu, the village[as the altar meal design is called]. Another woman with her little girl is awaitingher turn. The little old women are sitting against the wall, they have been fasting too."The child has been brought in "in order that she may know where she belongs.This is the way they begin to teach their children. This way the children know whenthey grow up where they belong." "From this Black Eye medicine you may have good luck and good health. It willprotect you from anything bad and give you good thoughts to find good luck [ablessing]." After the drink, the helper says awashie ukowejeyou life ( stone ) knife may ( you ) be oldAmong Pueblos a sip of medicine water is the blessing always given members of his group by a chief.The marks on the hands and feet of the chiefs are dark blue (kofanta) . They arethe only chiefs who use this blue. It comes from a mesa where the source of thepigment is known only to the chiefs, and "they don't tell." Kofanta is used on BlackEye prayer sticks (Painting 140), and at the opening of the irrigation ditch it isoffered to the Sun by the Black Eyes by flipping from the fingers. October 13, 1939 102 CHRISTMASPAINTING 46 A sick woman may promise to wash the Child of the Virgin (niuude) . The daybefore Christmas in the morning the "Mother Virgin" and the Child are carried tothe house of the convalescent. The Virgin is placed on an improvised altar and theChild is bathed in "some kind of oil." A "watchman" stands on guard all day, andthroughout the day the church bell is rung.Vows (promesa) by the sick ( or by their parents ) are often made by the Pueblos of the Rio Grande, as in Mexico. It has been open to question in some cases whetherthe practice was aboriginal or Spanish. In Isleta it is plainly of Catholic origin.Note the "little shirt for the baby so he will be born clean." January 6, 1941 104 PAINTING 47 Christmas Eve the convalescent and other women carry Virgin and Child backto the church to a place "made clean for them." During the little procession thewatchman has fired his gun "every 5 minutes, every little while." As soon as theimages are replaced in church the bell ceases to ring; then the dancers and choir arrive. January 6, 1941 106 PAINTING 48 Before the midnight Mass there is dancing in the church by moiety, the twogroups alternating, a dance pattern very familiar in the Rio Grande Pueblos. BlackEye men wear a sparrow-hawk feather headdress, Red Eye men, a headdress ofturkey feathers. (These are the feathers regularly associated with the respective moieties. ) Black Eye women dancers carry turkey feathers; Red Eye women, eaglefeathers. (Felipe is depicting a Red Eye group, although he includes one sparrow-hawk headdress, why, I don't know. ) Church dancing was early Spanish usage, probably introduced by the friars,in Indian terms, "to please the Saint," and then fitted by the Indians into their ownorganization for dancing. January 23, 1939 108 PAINTING 49 The Child, El Nino, as drawn, looks curiously like a stone fetish. The five-pointed star is probably European, although five is a favored Tiwa numeral. Threeand, as noted, twelve are also favored. January 20, 1938 110 %* f ,|Y jyS""- ^ l ' jg a? i > ?^ < 1$I PAINTING 50 After the dance and the midnight Mass the birth of the Child is dramatized. "A woman sits in front of the altar, the baby in her lap just as the baby Christ wasborn." ( At Zuni, dramatization of the birth has a more aboriginal aspect. The malekachina personator of Chakwena Woman lies in 4 days, and women who wouldconceive visit her to make gifts or dress her hair. ) Again vows are fulfilled. Any woman who in childbirth "has promised the Infant a shirt if she comes out all right" will present it at this time.People kneel before the Child, pray, and "smell the baby," an interesting para-phrase for the breath rite. Among the Pueblos all sacred things are breathed from.Here we have a merging of the Catholic rite of kissing and the Indian rite of inhala-tion, the product being called smelling! January 6, 1941 112 PAINTING 51 One of the Christmas dances that may be performed outdoors during the 4 days of dancing after Christmas. June 1940 114 KINGS' DAYPAINTING 52 The Christmas celebration of the Laguna colony at Oraibi is on Kings' Day,January 6, Old Christmas. From the Governor of Isleta the Town Chief of KeresanOraibi will get permission to present the dance in Isleta itself. Then he calls on theTown Chief and the moiety chiefs. Before the Laguna colonists dance, Isleta peoplemust dance by moiety. Only a few Isletans know the Laguna dance and are invitedto dance with the Oraibi colonists. The dance is not familiar because it is a cere-monial dance. This picture shows why it is so considered, something I failed toappreciate fully before I saw it.The Oraibi Town Chief ( who is also Kachina Chief ) is casting meal toward thedance tablets as if they were masks. Inferably the back tablets are, like masks, sacro- sanct. "Without permission the dancer's back would blister and he would get sick.This has often happened."Hopi use Sun tablets, one of many parallels between Hopi and western Keresindicating a sometime close relationship. June 20, 1939 116 / HBHBB PAINTING 53 Kings' Day Dance continues for 4 days, more dancers taking part each day,beginning with eight dancers in each of the two alternating sets.The first performance is inside the church, the night of January 5, in Spanishterms, las visperas, 'the Vespers Dance.' The next day the dancers perform in front of the houses of the newly elected town officers, in Rio Grande style, as well as inthe churchyard. November 1936 118 MEDICINE SOCIETIESPAINTING 54 The evening of the day they conclude the Kings' Day Dance by the Laguna colony, January 10, the Town Chief summons all the chiefs and the war captains tohis ceremonial house to tell them they are going to look after the crops, and if they see anything bad about to come to take it away. He says he has chosen the chiefs of the medicine societies to help him, and he bids them go to their ceremonial housesand wait there for the war chief [Cane Chief, almost surely] and war captain.The Town Chief appoints two couples, each consisting of a war chief [CaneChief or his opposite in the Red Eye moiety, almost surely] and a war captain, acouple to go to each of the two medicine society chiefs to request the Fathers to holdthe Shunad, the ceremony of general cleansing for the people, village, and fields. January 30, 1938 120 PAINTING 5 5 Among Pueblos, orders, generally in connection with a ceremony, are called outfrom rooftop or street, in this case from one of the ash piles or mounds, by a war captain. The Governor or one of his officers will call out orders for secular matters.To build fires outside during a ceremonial period is a taboo also among otherPueblos. It has been interpreted sometimes as a blackout against enemy attack at a time when men are off guard. I was told that the Isletan war captain also calls out not to dig the ground or go out to work, taboos observed at Taos too, but, earlier,during the period of "staying still" in the winter ceremonies corresponding to those of the Isletan Corn groups and moiety societies. March 18, 1939 122 ' PAINTING 56 Following his first call the war chief [see p. 120] announces a rabbit hunt forthe Fathers.Rabbit drives are made customarily by all Pueblos in connection with cere- monies, Catholic and non-Catholic. In the Eastern Pueblos the hunt is managed bythe war captains or Clown societies, and the meat is eaten by the ceremonialists ordancers and offered to the spirits.Here, and manifestly after the hunt, one war captain is sprinkling salt on the rabbits lying on sheepskin, while another is cooking rabbits in the oven. April 14, 1938 124 PAINTING 5 7 The War Chief is in the lead, making the road. The Fathers will eat these ritualfood offerings (laide) after their fast of 4 days, during which time they touch neitherfood nor water. Among other Pueblos, fasting is not as rigorous, usually one mealbeing permitted and abstention extending only to meat and salt, or greasy or sweetfoods. March 14, 1938 126 PAINTING 58 The fourth day of the ceremony of purification is public and all the townspeople will visit the house of one or the other medicine society, Town Fathers or LagunaFathers.The Chief of the Laguna Medicine Society is marked in white with the designof a bear paw; male members, the helpers, with lightning design. Women memberswear a Hopi ceremonial mantle and, like the men, three eagle feathers in the hair.The Isleta Medicine Society, the Town Fathers, have no body painting. The facepainting of both societies is the same, a red line and a black line across the nose andred and black parallels from each corner of the mouth horizontally across the cheeks.The animal figurines (kechu) are of the animals from whom the Fathers gettheir power to cure or fly or combat witches: Bear, Eagle, Mountain Lion, Badger.They are transferred from the "medicine basket," near the Chief's right foot "into thewater a mother is bringing," before the bowl is placed on the altar. March 11, 1937 128 3 PAINTING 59 With their feathers the Fathers "clean" the chamber and the people, exorcising witchcraft. At the doorway they will cleave feather against feather for Wind tocarry away the evil.Among Pueblos, ceremonies, particularly public ceremonies, are believed to beoccasions of danger, attracting not only the spirits, but witches. April 14, 1938 130 ft tK^lSC2 PAINTING 60One Father is sucking a witch-sent "rag from a woman's body"; another is pullingfrom his mouth the "rag" he has sucked out. He will deposit it in the bowl near hisfeet. As he carries out the bowl the people will spit toward it. ( Spitting is often a rite of exorcism among Pueblos. Is it aboriginal? If so, it curiously parallels theEuropean folkway of spitting in disgust or contempt. ) [For the record I include here excerpts from Dr. Parsons' commentaries attached to paint-ings dealing with the public part of the Shunad, the Cleansing ceremony. These paintings, whichapparently depict the activities of the Laguna Fathers, were among those not available at thetime of printing. ? esc]On the final night of the Cleansing ceremony, a series of rituals is performed publicly. "Clay Old Woman" has been fetched by the women, for clay forms the base of the "CornMothers," perfectly kerneled ears of white corn, wrapped with cotton and dressed with beadsand feathers.Before the Fathers go out "to clean the village," they dance and impersonate animals. TheChief and one helper remain behind and sing. Crop-destroying creatures, placed in the field bywitches, are captured and burned later; sometimes also a witch doll. ( Kumpa "closes the road"to witches by drawing a line.)In the ceremonial room Medicine Society Chief pulls down a rabbit and by marking a circlearound it with his stone point "ties it so it cannot move away." He also produces a cornstalk withripened ears. He gives three seeds from the Corn Mothers, or magically from corn murals, to theofficiants and spectators?and a sip of water. As he offers the latter, he prays: "With this medi-cine water (lifiewah) you are fed. May you have good luck and live to old age." One Fatherthen waves the Corn Mothers to the people "to take breath from them," while two others takethe stone points from the altar and place them in a deerskin bag, leaving it in a corner of the cere-monial room. Then the people go home.Later in the day the Fathers take out the prayer sticks made during their retreat for the fieldsand address them to the Sun and to weather. June 15, 1936 132 fl ^W& hv ra n. PAINTING 61 The Fathers have the power of flight, power from Eagle. They use this powerto fetch spruce for their dance or, if requested, for any dance. "In a quarter of anhour they reach the mountain and are back again." They wear ritualistic moccasinsof painted buckskin (sumkup) similar to those of the Town Chief. March 11, 1937 134 PAINTING 62 The walls of the Town Fathers' house are undecorated. The eagle-wing feathersstuck into the pillar and the bear paws hanging on the wall ( when they are not neededin a ceremony) were "used by old medicine men, dead long ago. Real corn andwheat from the fields are kept on the wall. The water jar is always kept filled. In anold box in the wall they keep the Sun that is made with little sticks and feathers.After the night ceremonial [for crops and well-being], around 4 o'clock in the morn-ing, the medicine chief opens the box and holds the Sun in his hand as it opens allaround; people dance with the chief. Then they give people permission to go home."The ritual object referred to as "Sun" is described as if it were a fan. I havenever succeeded in getting a better description of it. ( See Parsons, 1932, p. 446, forthe Town Father who flies. ) June 1940 136 J PAINTING 63 Note the mural paintings of the curer animals?Mountain Lion [looking verymuch like an African lion], Bear, Badger, Rattlesnake, and Eagle?of Sun, Moon,and Star, Corn, and the kachina. There are two striking variations in Felipe's muralfrom that of the Laguna Fathers given in Parsons, 1932, plate 17. In the latter, theanthropomorphic spirits are without masks and the star is five-pointed. In Felipe'smural the star is four-pointed and the human figures are masked. Both artists arelsletans, but Felipe has some Laguna associations. The draftsman of plate 17 wasundoubtedly drawing according to stereotype, by preconception?a good illustration of Gestalt psychologie [cf. also frontispiece, present publication, which is datedSeptember 9, 1940]. June 1940 138 PAINTING 64 This is a rain ceremony of the Laguna Fathers held at night in February justbefore planting.The Laguna Fathers have laid out their altar and are dancing before it ? natoypor (Prayer Stick Dance?). The women and boy hold prayer sticks made bythe Fathers. These sticks are given to persons present at the ceremony to place intheir fields before planting.Keresan societies have weather as well as curing or cleansing ceremonies. January 6, 1938 140 ftr& PAINTING 65 The day following their night ceremony the Laguna Fathers dance outdoors,in "laplaza." The women carry an ear of corn in each hand and, I infer from dancegestures among Keres, they raise first one arm and then the other. The men carrygourd, rattle, and lightning stick, as this is a dance for rain. Note bells under the leftknee, and a turtle-shell rattle under the right knee?the leg rattles of all the Pueblos ? and the kachina dance kilt and belt. Presumably the Fathers are impersonating thekachina. April 6, 1939 142 P<-??*^ ROUND HOUSEPAINTING 66 Thliwa (maskless kachina) dances take place in February, March, and Septem-ber. At the February dance (Thliwapor, also called Turtle Dance) which is per-formed by moiety by two alternating sets both outdoors and in the Round House(Fog or Mist Kiva) at night, it is the duty of the Chief of the Yellow Corn group,sometimes referred to as Earth or Yellow Earth Chief, to build the fire at the nightdance. Fire is associated with his group.Yellow Earth Chief is the only man allowed to build the fire at the RoundHouse whenever there is a ceremony. War Chief (Kumpa) with a cigarette asksthe Earth Chief to build a fire, and Earth Chief carries his slow match (wikun) toTown chief's house where a fire is made with flint and cotton.Earth Chief lights the fire in front of the fire screen, with cloud design, andfacing the south arc of the kiva where the ladder descends, he sings "about how he isgetting fire from the east, north, west, south, and middle." He puts the slow matchto the wood when in song "he calls the middle." He does this before people come in. "I know all these songs," writes Felipe. "I wish I could sing for you. It's biginteresting."No one who comes into the kiva for dance or ceremony is permitted to use Ameri-can matches. A cigarette wrapped in cornhusk is the only smoke allowed, and noone may get a light for himself. The Earth Chief's helper has to stand by all thetime with his fire stick to give smokers a light. After lighting his cigarette, the smoker returns the stick, thanking the Fire Chief [Earth Chief's helper] and saying, "Tauukaan keminen hatvashe ini kimhecha," 'may the great Father or Mother take care of you!'The ritual cigarette is referred to as pakimu, fog or mist, as at Zuni. The WarChief of Isleta uses other special words or expressions ( Parsons, 1932, p. 258 ) . Warlanguage or chiefly language is a widespread Indian trait. March 29, 1939 144 PAINTING 67 When the dancers are ready to go to the Round House, Black Eye Moiety Chiefgives the Black Eye grandfathers permission to go first. When they arrive at theRound House they knock with their yucca blades at the ladder entrance. "Then thepeople inside all get scared. They sit close so there will be plenty of room for thedancers." War Chief (Kumpa), who is present in the middle of the floor, answersthe grandfathers, "Akuamhura machead," 'greetings same to you, come in!' (As thedancers step on the ladder to come in, one after another rattling his gourd, War Chiefanswers in the same way: "Akuam machede him kaa waean," 'greetings, come in,my Fathers.')When the grandfathers first come in, before the dance, they go around andclean?posts, ladder, fireplace, and fire screen in the middle?just as the medicinemen do with their eagle feathers, but the grandfathers clean with yucca blades. Else-where in the Kachina cult yucca whips are used in exorcism on house walls andpersons. At Isleta ritual flagellation for breaking taboos appears not to be practiced.[In view of the use of the dreaded punishment circle (cf. Painting 103) and thefunctioning of the kapyo as ceremonial police (cf. Painting 85), as well as the factthat this commentary itself mentions the fright of the people when the Black Eyegrandfathers clear the way with their yucca whips, it is difficult to believe that, what-ever the situation when these pictures were submitted, flagellation was not practiced at Isleta at an earlier time. Quite possibly, nearness to the United Pueblos Agency atAlbuquerque, which can serve conveniently as a court of appeals, was enough toeliminate a very general mode of Pueblo discipline.]Back of the fire screen in a pit is the blue cornbread and tortilla always placedthere for the teliefpoyan, the Navaho dead. "They always have to have their food sothey don't get hungry and make a noise." Among Tanoans, scalps are supposed to beable to whistle or cry and of themselves to drop from their wall niche. Scalps givewarning of enemy approach. They are not rainmakers as at Zuni. March 29, 1939 146 PAINTING 68 At the head of the dancers stand the Black Eye Chief and Chakabede, who isboth Thliwa Chief and the Chief of Yellow Corn or Yellow Earth People. At theother end of the dance line stand a grandfather, a war captain, and a medicine manwho guard the road against bad people ( witches ) lest they hurt the kachina. YellowEarth Fire Man stands ready to give a light to smokers. In front of him sit three men of the Yellow Earth or Yellow Corn hierarchy. War Chief (Kumpa) sits on a redblanket on the other side of the fire screen (in line with Fire Chief). Note, behindfire screen, the pit for "the Navaho dead" and in front of fire screen, beyond the fire,the pit in which are kept the wahtainin, all the stone fetishes.This picture has considerable significance in relation to the ceremonial organiza-tion of Isleta. All the distinctive ceremonial groups are represented: moiety, throughBlack Eye Chief and Black Eye grandfathers; Corn group, through Yellow Cornor Yellow Earth functionaries in control of part of the Thliwa cult and fire; medicine society, through a watchful medicine man; and the permanent War Society, throughits Chief. The secular government is also represented by the annual war captain,among the Pueblos ever a partly ceremonial and partly secular official.Obviously the grandfathers fill the role of the sacred clowns (masked andunmasked at Zuni, unmasked elsewhere, possessed of masks at Taos ) , who generallyaccompany the kachina.There are two sets of dancers, Black Eyes and Red Eyes, who alternate in thekiva and in the plaza where they dance 2 to 4 days. February 29, 1939 148 , PAINTING 69 Shichu is the All Colors Corn group that "goes in" last at the solstice ceremonies.The group is associated with the Town Chief in racing, representing the Moon, andin opening irrigation; in myth it is associated with Bat, from whom the Chief gets hispower. The night of the Thliwa dance this group also presented a dance which pre-ceded the Thliwa dancing, but in recent years this Shichu Dance has lapsed. TheShichu Chief appointed the dancers from his group, from his "children," and theypracticed in his house.Before the dance Shichu Chief held a ceremony to make prayer feathers, to receive infants into the group, give them their Corn name, and offer members adrink of his medicine water. March 11, 1937 150 PAINTING 7 There is another kachina dance in February or March, Dark Kachina, for the crops, and on the second day of the dance there is a rabbit drive. The temporarymoiety clowns, the kapyo, have fetched spruce for the dancers the day before thedance commences and erected a spruce tree in the plaza (cf. Paintings 109, 111).The head kapyo climbs the tree and calls out that "people must get ready their huntlunch, that they will go out east, north, west, south, to catch rabbits, little and big.All the clowns go up in turn and each will call down, 'My Fathers, what shall I shakedown for you?' They all laugh and tease the one on top. They might tell him, if he isShiu clan (Eagle Corn Group), 'Throw down some mice from your pocketful!' They all laugh, also the people. They always ask for something funny so they will laugh."Was this tree climb the prototype of the pole climb of Taos? February 13, 1939 152 1 Jk. ?Ls? ..._, 1 t_ n PAINTING 71 The dancers go hunting for the grandfathers. In the evening they return to thekiva singing, the grandfathers in the lead loaded with rabbits, the three Thliwa chiefs(Chakaben) and dancers following them. The rabbits are placed on the floor of thekiva, their heads to the east. "They feed the rabbits by sprinkling meal on them."In this way among Pueblos game animals are always "fed." It is a prayer totheir departing spirits to send their children in future hunts?as naive a manifestationof the egoism of man as our own belief that God created the animals for man's use. February 13, 1939 154 PAINTING 72 While the Dark Kachina Dance is going on in the Round House, the grand-fathers will take the rabbits that were caught the previous day to the plaza "wherethe women chase after them." This chasing of clowns for what they are carryinghas been called "wrangling" among the Hopi. It is not a practice at Taos. PossiblyIsletans picked it up during their sojourn among the Hopi, just as did the Jemez visitors to Hopiland. April 6, 1937 156 *_7 PAINTING 73 The woman who captures a rabbit from a grandfather is expected to pay himwith food. The grandfather in the lead is carrying a bowl of stew and the woman carries a bowl of bread. The other grandfather is carrying her rabbit for her.Among other Pueblos when women go on the rabbit drive, the woman firstto reach the hunter is given the rabbit and the next day she in turn gives the hunter a bowl or basket of food. This practice does not occur among Tiwa, but at Isletawomen may be given rabbits at the conclusion of the hunt (cf. Painting 121) and again, as we see, they may wrangle them from the grandfathers. June 15, 1936 158 LAGUNA KACHINAPAINTING 74 The masked Kachina cult flourishes among the Laguna colonists in the Isletasuburb of Oraibi. The Oraibi Town Chief serves as Kachina Chief, but as there isno kiva at Oraibi, night ceremonies are held in the house of the Laguna Fathers inIsleta proper.The Oraibi Kachina Chief whirls his rhombus in front of his altar before "he starts his kachina to dance." Chakwena and Kumeoishi masks are on the altar, alsomedicine bowl.Kumeoishi (koyemshi) is the clown mask of the western Pueblos. Chakwena is a familiar kachina, but elsewhere the mask is black. Note also water jar for sprinkling, and medicine man, a Laguna Father, sitting and guarding against witches.The rhombus is used in weather ritual among the western Pueblos, and some-times, it is said, against witches.May 18, 1937 160 PAINTING 75 This kachina dance is being performed in the Laguna Father's house. TheOraibi Kachina Chief stands in front. The kachina facing him is like Aiyayaode,opines Felipe, adding that in Oraibi he is referred to as Kachina Hunt Chief. Thekachina in the center is said by Isletans to be their Thliwa Funide, Dark Kachina.The third kachina calls Oho! Oho! "He is mean; he used to kill children." (InLaguna terms these three are Duck, Natvish and Hilili?not chapio, as Felipebelieved). Juan Rey Sheride (or Churina), "a powerful medicine man," stands at the end, with eagle feathers and stone point; to the left are two singers and thedrummer. The drum is a pottery bowl, "different from all other drums."This dance may also be given outdoors in Isleta, sometime between Shunadand the summer solstice ceremonies. With these masked dancers under their eyesand with two of them equated with their own kachina spirits, it is remarkable thatIsletans have not taken to using kachina masks, a very interesting instance of failureto borrow. March 10, 1939 162 uJLiA <_ CROP PROTECTIONPAINTING 76 Before irrigation ceremonial and work on the ditch there is a ritual againstgrasshopper invasion, ever a threat to the crops.Among Pueblos, grasshopper plagues are commonly thought to be caused bywitches, generally witches in another town. They "plant" a grasshopper, inferablyfrom our pictures, the Grasshopper Chief whom his people will follow. The IsletanTown Father is anticipating the witches by capturing Grasshopper Chief in advance.Medicine men and witches have similar power, only their ends differ.War Chief ( Kumpa ) and war captain will wait on this hill, about 2 or 3 milesfrom town, for the Medicine Society Chief to return from his mission. War Chief,his insignia alongside, is smoking in the directions, asking for power. April 18, 1939 164 *.'? ? ? -^L ?-*4r PAINTING 7 7 The Town Father is carrying Grasshopper Chief in a bowl. The others areguarding against witches who are abroad, attempting to get possession of Grass-hopper Chief.Witchcraft is a momentous and horrendous problem to all Pueblos, a dangerwhich not only their medicine men but their War chiefs must face and control.Witches are always lurking about while rituals or dances are being performed, sothat War chiefs or war captains are constantly in attendance as guards. March 18, 1939 166 v. FERTILITY BURLESQUEPAINTING 109 This dance is called Pinitu ( Spruce ) Kachina Dance.Spruce is the tree of the kachina; it grows in their mountain homes, is used astrim for kachina dancers, and is associated with the clowns who attend the kachina.Generally, spruce is fetched the day before the dance.In the picture we see the moiety kapyo clowns bringing spruce in for the autumnkachina dance. They bring in two whole trees, for the clowns to gather around, onefor the Black Eye clowns, one for the Red Eye clowns. The clowns have beenappointed, but they have not yet been "made," i.e., painted, in the Round House. November 1936 230 PAINTING 110 The kapyo clowns have been painted by the moiety chiefs in the Round Houseand are coming out to "play," as the Zuni would say. June 15, 1936 232 PAINTING 111 One of the "play" acts of the kapyo clowns is a marriage farce. The head kapyo seats the others, one by one, in the "house" (those who are under the trees arewaiting their turn) and with each he carries on the following colloquy: "Do youwant to get married?"?"No."?"You should get married. You are old enough." ? "All right. I will marry."?"You want to get married, but you cannot work. Whom will you marry?" The oldest woman in town may be named. After the "bridegroom" is assigned his house he is told how to behave as a married man?humor reflecting several social standards of conduct. December 3, 1937 234 ^-?-. ?/??1 r ?***< ** ,. "^, ':::m ' : ^'-v.. / -tf ....s. r- ? ? ?s ? PAINTING 112 Before this "play," the clowns, two by two, have made the rounds of thehouses of their "aunts" to tell them to prepare bread, rabbits, and turtles, and also chili, watermelons, bowls, calico, etc. These "gifts" are then carried to the "houses"where the clowns will eat.Eating outdoors is characteristic of Pueblo clowns. So is the present-givingfunction of paternal kinswomen. Compare the picture of "aunts" bringing food totheir "nephews" among Hopi of First Mesa (Parsons, 1939, pi. 15), and also thepicture of their father's clanswomen, bringing food bowls to the koyemshi clowns ofZuni (Stevenson, 1904, pi. 68). December 3, 1937 236 y\o J- ?, ?aC c $u *v : : s*h4i ? V f t ?$* ?" ... ./ # :-*.? - PAINTING 113 The next day there is to be a rabbit hunt and the clowns will be in charge. Aftersleeping in the Round House they dance at sunrise on the rooftops on the four sidesof the plaza. When the people see them they begin to get ready for the hunt.Note the terrace cloud design found not only among Pueblos but in pre-Incaand pre-Aztec civilizations. November 1936 238 HUNTINGPAINTING 114 The next evening, before the hunt, the hunters sing all night to the drum,and in the middle of their circle they keep a little fire going to weaken and blindthe rabbits. They plan where in the hills they will meet. At this natvah the warcaptain gives permission to anyone to beat the drum, to any old man who knowsthe songs. The war captain has asked for the drum from Black Eye Chief or RedEye Chief. He asks for the drum with a prayer and gives the Chief a cigarette. Thedrum is called Thunder Sound Man. It is made with ritual and prayed to at dances, as in the Zuni Scalp Dance and among Yaqui Indians, and probably elsewhere.In this painting the war captain (in a pink striped shirt) is seated betweenthe fire and the house. June 14, 1939 240 ^ * ;l PAINTING 115 While the hunters are in the hills, singing and drumming and keeping a firegoing to weaken and blind the rabbits, the Hunt Chief holds a ceremony in his ownhouse to which only War chiefs, war captains, the head kapyo, and Corn chiefs maybe admitted. Hunt Chief is sitting between two helpers behind the altar. WarChief (of the Cane) and captains to their right and in front. One war captain is rolling a cigarette for Hunt Chief to smoke to song and blow the smoke in thedirection of the hunt hill in order to blind the rabbits. War Chief (Kumpa) sitsto the left of the Hunt Chief and beyond him sit the three head kapyo. The fetisheson the altar are Hunt Chief's stone figurines of Wolf [cf. Titiev, 1944, p. 157, note 17;Woodbury, 1954, pp. 161 f.]. Note also the stone points and the War Chief's bow andarrows in his ceremonial mountain lion skin quiver [see commentary to Painting 117].All night long, until daylight, they work and sing to blind the rabbits. Comparethe Shoshonean hunt shaman who captures the souls of game animals so that thegame animals wander helplessly (Steward, 1938, p. 34). July 29, 1939 242 i Z-Z- PAINTING 116 In the morning, after their night "work," preparations for the hunt fire are begun.A ritual rabbit hunt fire is made by all the Pueblos, and its function is generally said to be to blind and bewilder the rabbits. July 29, 1937 244 PAINTING 117 Alongside the Hunt Chief lies his "little wolf pouch" containing his wolf figurines.Throughout the hunt ceremonial the War Chief is on guard. He carries a lionhide quiver which belongs to Kabew'iride but is used only for this ceremonial [cf.p. 206, note 18]. "The lion has power to draw game," writes Felipe, "because the lionhimself is a hunter." Among other Pueblos, Mountain Lion, rather than Wolf, is thepatron spirit of hunting. July 29, 1939 246 -is fcy '*??* ijS* 9if PAINTING 118 Now some of the hunters have arrived. Note their curved throwing stick (koa) ,which is a club rather than the curved, boomeranglike stick used in the WesternPueblos and by the ancient people.At Red Sand Hill (see commentary to Painting 31) the unbaptized children are deposited, and it is also reputed to be a stopping place of witches. July 29, 1939 248 W PAINTING 119 It is or was customary among the Pueblos for the women to go out on some ofthe rabbit drives, usually, if not always, the drives asked for by the Kachina organiza-tion. The women go on foot. They will run up to a man who has made a kill, andhe will give the rabbit to the woman who reaches him first.At Isleta the women go by wagon or horseback?Tiwa women and, amongPueblos, only Tiwa women ride horses. On the first drive or encirclement the huntersgive the Hunt Chief all their rabbits and he gives them to the women. After thatthe women run after anyone who gets a rabbit.The last wagon carries barrels of water. A war captain is in the lead as guard. March 10, 1939 250 PAINTING 120 In his left hand, the man in the lead carries a stone wolf fetish belonging to theHunt Chief.The kapyo clowns figure in this hunt, as they did in the Hunt Chief's nightceremony. Elsewhere also the clown groups are associated with rabbit drives, par-ticularly those connected with kachina dances. These are also the "hunts with thegirls."The clowns are carrying the willow branches associated with them, red willowby the Black Eyes, yellow willow by the Red Eyes. March 10, 1939 252 PAINTING 121 In return for the rabbits they are receiving from the Hunt Chief, the women will repay him the next day with tortillas and a bowl of rabbit stew. March 10, 1939 254 PAINTING 122 Hunt Chief will drag the rabbit around the circle five times; then he will pray in all directions to Wolf, the Master of Game. In his hand he holds his wolf fetish.War Chief stands on guard. August 13, 1939 256 \& PAINTING 123 The Hunt Chief "lays the rabbit head to the east. He is singing as he tears withone rip each ear and hand and foot. This means that he is sending the rabbit with amark to the great Hunt Chief (Wolf), wherever he may be?east, north, west, south,or in the middle."Here is a kind of blood or animal offering unique among contemporary Pueblos. August 13, 1939 258 m4fy PAINTING 124 Late in the day and after having eaten, Hunt Chief and War Chief leave thehunters and return to the hunt fire where "the Hunt chief locked up all rabbits in a circle by his power." As he sings he keeps moving the arrow east, north, west, and south, making a cross. As soon as the ashes are spread out he will, he thinks, havefreed the rabbits from his power. August 13, 1939 260 ^^^^^^^^^^^Kan PAINTING 125 Before describing the kachina dances to which the foregoing rabbit hunt and ritual are incidental, it may not be inappropriate to indicate the ceremonial treatment of a dead deer. (For ritual before and during a deer hunt, see Parsons, 1932, pp.337-338).The deer is laid out with head toward the sun and covered with a woman's mantabecause the deer's hide is to be given to a woman to be used for her voluminousputtee moccasins. Beads are hung around the deer's neck and a string of prayerfeathers are stretched from antler to antler.Every visitor to the hunter's house will draw "breath" from the dead deer, as onewar captain is doing, and will sprinkle meal from a basket, as the other war captainis doing. To the Town Chief and Hunt Chief and to all his relatives the hunter willgive a piece of venison. "That means you will have luck and get more deer."May 16, 1939 262 ISLETA KACHINAPAINTING 126Now we turn to the Thliwa dances. Early in the morning of the Thliwa Komporthey have to get ready. A little boy is painted as Aiyayaode by Black Eye Chief. "No one else is allowed to paint him. He has to be made by their [Black Eye] handand power, no one is allowed in the private room where he is made. The Black Eye chief will tell the Chakabede [the Thliwa Chief] about the work for little Aiyayaode,about this Aiyayaode ceremonial. Chakabede must have a good heart and [good]thoughts and he must preach this to all the dancers. Little Aiyayaode will neverstand still. In the picture he is pretending to kneel down on one leg and he is raisinghis arm just as he will do dancing with the Thliwale, he will keep on the move."Another little Aiyayaode is painted by the Red Eye Chief to dance with theRed Eye dancers.According to a previous informant ( Parsons, 1932 ) , Aiyayaode represents Wild- cat, who at the Emergence opened up the way from underground. In San Juanmythology Wildcat has a similar role. April 18, 1939 264 PAINTING 127 Thliwa Chief stands at the head of the line.Four days in the moiety kivas the two sets of dancers, Black Eyes and Red Eyes,have been practicing. During this time they sleep in their respective kivas (conti-nence is required ) , but they do not need to remain continuously in retreat.The sets alternate, dancing at each appearance on all sides of the plaza in anantisunwise circuit. This alternating dance pattern is also typical of the two-kivasystem of Rio Grande Keres and Tewa. November 1936 266 PAINTING 128 These bundles, "the thliwa bags that keep the power" [waiide tainin, as Felipe writes it, or Life People], the drums, Aiyayaode cap, and grandfather masks are keptin the moiety kivas, one set for the Black Eyes, one set for the Red Eyes. "The chiefand his helper take turns going to the kiva every morning to say hakuwam ( greetings ) at the door and go in and pray."The big bowl is kept full of water "as all these things might want to drink. Thelittle window is to see the Sun when they fast."This picture is satisfactory evidence that the Isleta Thliwa and the grandfatherclowns are directly connected with the moiety organization. February 3, 1939 268 i\ PAINTING 129 Alone?"just as he [Haukabede] came out from under the earth alone, carryinglittle gourds." His face is painted white and in his hair are prayer feathers, such asare worn by a medicine man.Formerly on the night or nights of Thliwa dancing ( either Thliwapor or ThliwaKompor, it is uncertain), there was also a dance called Helele. This belonged toHaukabede. The last Haukabede, a man named Hakamito, died several years ago,and after his death the dance ceremonial lapsed. The office could be filled only bythe Town Chief, and as the Town Chief, the last "real" Town Chief, died beforeHakamito died, the office of Haukabede has remained vacant. One break in Puebloceremonialism often involves another break.Like the Town Chief, Haukabede worked for the Sun. As he "came up" withlittle gourds he was probably associated with primitive farming. If Haukabede wasthe counterpart of the Keresan Town chief associate ( Tshraikatsi, see p. 10, note 12 ) his function was to increase the supply of plants and game. Hau means to be replete ? haukabede, 'supply chief.' August 31, 1939 270 PAINTING 130 The notched-stick players (komnin) have been asked to play by Haukabede, withprayer and a cigarette. They will play for the Helele dancers and for Thliwalepor,but not for the Shichu Dance ( here the reference seems to be to Thliwapor, and thepresence of the grandfathers would tend to confirm this ) . Each player carries his turkey-tail headdress, gourd, notched stick (kom), anddeer-leg scraper. August 3, 1939 272 PAINTING 131 Helele was performed as part of Haukabede's "work" for the Sun. He and themembers of the War Society ( Kumpawithlawen ) sing to the notched-stick playing.Below sits the fire tender. A woman is bringing the singers a bowl of sirup. Nearby sits Tochide, Chief of the White Corn People, the "White Earth Day people." TheChief of the Yellow Corn People, the Earth People, sits smoking against the pillar.The grandfathers will join in the dance to make people laugh and shorten thetime. Dancing continues all through the night. There are many more onlookersthan are represented here. August 31, 1939 274 PAINTING 132 The gourd resonators lie on a buffalo hide.Notched-stick playing has a wide distribution among Indian tribes. AmongPueblos the notched stick accompanies several kachina dances. Sometimes theplayers impersonate women, possibly because sometimes the playing may representcorn grinding. At Isleta the players are associated with war (insofar as the WarSociety sings), with hunting (deer-leg scraper, buffalo hide), and with farming sincethey scrape for the Thliwa and for a chief associated with agriculture. If this chiefwas once in charge of the sacred "nest" in the Town Chief's house he was also asso-ciated with game animals. ( See p. 10, note 12, and commentary to Painting 33. ) August 31, 1939 216 PAINTING 133On October 10, 15, and 20, the War Society members bring in corn from all thefields, one ear from each field, to the Town Chief, first burying another ear, one ofthe largest and best, in each cornfield as an offering to Nam Thliu, Earth Old Woman, or, as Felipe writes, "old mother ground"?"feeding her, thanking, and paying herfor raising the corn and asking her to grow more next year." September 13, 1939 278 l-*n PAINTING 134 On October 10, the War Society members bring in the corn from fields on thesouth side; on October 15, from fields on the north side; on October 20, from fieldson the east side, one ear of corn from each field. "This means that they open theroad to the people to gather their corn. You see the Town chief has to get it first.Then the Crier goes to the ash piles and hollers, giving permission to the people togather their corn." The War Society members go out early in the morning "around3 or 4 o'clock"; they come in about noon.On each side of town there is an ash pile where offerings are made to Weide andthe dead. [Also of interest here is the demonstrated connection between war andfertility.] October 13, 1939 280 ') ALL SAINTS' DAY ANDALL SOULS' DAYPAINTING 135 As the woman puts out the food, she calls her dead father, mother, brother, or sister by name to come out and eat.On November 1, the Day of the Dead, at noon, in their own houses "the ladiescut foods of different kinds and mix them; they place it all in a middle room whereno one can see; a plate for each deceased member of the family. They keep thecandles burning from the time they begin to place the food. If a candle burns out,they replace it with another. The candles burn all night until next day at noon. Thefollowing night they take the candles out on the hill and bury them."The Snake Father who cured his kinswoman of toothache was remembered thisway by his relatives on the Dia de Todos Santos. At any time this powerful medicineman could be asked to cure or give what is wanted, like a saint.Pueblos, like Mexican Indians, celebrate both days, All Saints' (November 1)and All Souls' ( November 2 ) , as the days of the dead. ( In Mexico the first day is forthe dead children of the family, the second day for the dead adults. ) November 29, 1939 282 // ' Ak ^3 PAINTING 136 The next day, November 2, "the ladies take their responsos (thliachia) to theirfamily graves and place them there: corn or bread in middle of corn in big bowls."They keep candles burning until noon, when at the graves the priest sprinkles thebowls with holy water. Then the women take the bowls to the priest's residencewhere he piles the bread to sell to Mexicans. "These two days the bell will ring once every little while. The first day it beginsto ring after 12 o'clock and rings all the afternoon. It rests at night, then starts the next morning to ring until noon. Then it is over." November 29, 1939 284 *?# PAINTING 137 Catholic ritual is over, but not aboriginal ritual, for the night of All Souls',November 2, in the dark, women again visit the graves. They dig a little hole at thehead of each grave, place food in it and fill up the hole. "Then the woman feelshappy for she feels the dead is eating her food; she is feeding the dead."They break the bowl and leave it on top. "Any bowl or dish used for dead personthey always break up so no one can use it." January 6, 1941 286 STONE FETISHESPAINTING 138 The White Corn people and the Blue Corn people ( possibly each Com group ) possess a crudely anthropomorphic stone fetish, which is placed on the altar.Hakabato (A) belonging to the Day or White Corn people, "a woman made ofrock" was "found that way in the east," the direction associated with the group.For the comparable fetish of Blue Corn People (B) I have no specific name.These figurines belong, I think, among the wahtainin. [Cf. stone fetish be-longing to head of Hopi Bear clan described in Titiev, 1944, pp. 66 ff.] A, December 3, 1937; B, January 20, 1938 288 A zmmsmmp ?' '< PAINTING 139 Besides these anthropomorphic altar stones there are fetish or spirit stones in shrines, as among the Tewa and at Taos. Compare the Stone Men in the mountain shrine of Taos.Before setting out to hunt, trade, or travel, an Isletan always goes to Hiothliute,Stone Old Woman, and asks "this Stone old woman to give him what he is going after or for good luck on his way" [cf. Dumarest, 1919, pp. 206 f., and picture of aseemingly similar shrine in Goldfrank, 1927, p. 71]. December 25, 1940 290 PRAYER STICKS ANDPRAYER FEATHERSPAINTING 140 Prayer sticks (natoai) and prayer feathers (thlawashie, thlawa = fringe; shie,tied?): 1. For Water People, from any Corn group or medicine man, although differentfeathers are used by different groups.2. For springs, from Black Eyes, on fetching spruce. The feathers, upper center, are sparrow hawk and yellow bird; lower center, duck; left side (facing), eagle; right side (facing), turkey. Paints are red (pire) and blue kofanta,possibly malachite.3. For springs, from Red Eyes, on fetching spruce. Upper center, hummingbird and blue jay (koalakide); lower center, duck; left side, turkey; right side, upper, eagle; lower, turkey.4. For the Sun, from Town Chief. Three eagle feathers, bluebird, red bird,roadrunner, duck. Beads and turquoise.5. For the Moon, from Town Chief. Three eagle feathers, yellow bird, duck,roadrunner, Red beads.6. For the dead. Different Corn groups use different feathers, the feathers ofbirds belonging to the group of the deceased. For a Goose Corn group they will use a goose feather. They use the feather of duck, bluebird or of anylittle bird belonging to the group. These feathers are kept lying on the floor.Prayer sticks and prayer feathers are used among other Pueblos except thenorthern Tiwa, who employ only prayer feathers. January 15, 1940 292 ^N N A V rv r ANNOTATED GLOSSARYOF ISLETA TERMS By George L. TragerWhen Elsie Clews Parsons first arranged the material in the present book, sheasked the compiler of this glossary to check the linguistic form of the native wordsshe wanted to include. The writer had at that time a not too long Isleta vocabularyin his possession ( collected in 1935 ) , and by using that and extrapolating from hisextensive Taos materials he was able to send Dr. Parsons on October 1, 1940, a con-siderable list of identifications of words. That list is on cards which are now in thearchives of the Bureau of American Ethnology, cataloged No. 4540-A.The editor of the present work asked the compiler for further checking early in1959; since the latter had done a little additional fieldwork on Isleta in 1957, and hadgreatly extended his Taos material in the intervening years, he was able to reviseand correct the list in many places, as well as to bring the orthography into line withhis present usage. ( It may be noted that the phonological correspondences betweenTaos and Isleta have been worked out?see G. L. Trager, "The historical phonologyof the Tiwa languages," Studies in Linguistics, vol. 1, No. 5 (10 pp.), 1942?and itis easy to arrive at the correct Isleta form of a word cognate with a known Taos word. ) In the summer of 1959, during tenure of a National Science Foundation grant toinvestigate paralanguage in Taos, the compiler was able to spend a few hours withhis original Isleta informant, and check over the whole of the list below and re-cord it, with all questions and commentary, on tape. This resulted in a numberof significant corrections and additional identifications. But it must be emphasizedthat there are still unidentified items, and that many of the identifications are uncer-tain, either in meaning or in some aspect of the linguistic form; extensive generalfieldwork on the language would be required to correct this.The glossary is arranged in alphabetical order of the terms recorded by Dr.Parsons. After the term, a linguistically correct version is given, in the followingorthography: vowels?i, e, a, u, a; i, e, a, u, a; ie, aa, ua; ie, a a, ua consonants?p, t, k, kw; p\ t', k'; ph, th, kh; c [c], c'; 1, s, s, h, hw; m, n, y, w, r accents, etc.?middle tone primary stress ', medial stress '; high tone primary ", medial ;low tone primary", medial "; weak stress unmarked; internal open transition(juncture) shown by + 295 In the cards made in 1940, lew and hw were written as kw , hw ; ph, th, kh as p\ t\ k';y as j; ' as'; v as , ; " and as '; and " as x ; + was not shown.After the rewritten form there is a translation in single quotation marks, and inmany instances there is some linguistic analysis of the term by stems and affixes, andadditional comment. Doubtful items are indicated by question marks; T means 'meaning unknown'.Aiya: ?Aiyayaho: ? ayay'aw ('ayay- ?, 'aw- 'boy')Aiyayaode: ? 'ayay'awde ('ayay- ?, 'awde 'boy')akuam machede him kaa waean 'greetings, come in, my fathers': 'ak'Owa'm macaad, 'imkha'a-r-we'm ('a- 'you', k'u- 'good', warn 'live' = '[may] you live well, greetings''; ma- 'you' plural, caad 'come in, enter'; 'im- 'our', kha'a- 'father', we'in 'those who are')akuamhura machead 'greetings, come in': 'ak'uwam, macaad as in previous entry, -hura ?awa shie ukoweje 'you life (stone) knife may you be old': 'awasie 'ukaawece 'may you have along life' ('a- 'your', wa- 'life', lie 'stoneknife', 'u- 'you', kaawece '[you] will be old' = 'mayyou be old [by] your life-knife')ballafia: parla+phie 'food(?)-big-root'biedakuer [paidekore = paide war chief, makore circle] 'a form of punishment': ? p'a'ide '?',khari 'circle'Chakabede: cakabede 'song chief (ca- 'song'); plural cakabenchakaben: see ChakabedeChakwena: ca- 'song'Chapio: capiw (?; ca- 'song', piw- 'death')ekue 'nest': 'akaeumanune: yayma'ude 'dead infant'Hakamito: ?hakuwam 'greetings': 'ak'uwam?see akuam . . .Haukabede: h&w+kabede 'Repletion-chief (haw-, cf. Taos how6- 'satiation'; kabede, ? cf.Taos k?- 'doctor')helele: not an Isleta word (1 occurs only in words of foreign origin)hewiav 'thanks': does not look like an Isleta word I lilili : not an Isleta word; possibly Lagunahiothliute 'stone old woman' (a place name) : hiwliwte 'stone-woman-at'Kabewheride: see kabew'iridekabew'iride: kabe-f-hwiride 'Bow Chief (kabe- 'chief, hwir- 'bow 1 , -ide personal ending)Kapyo: k'apiw 'clown'kechu: kecu 'aunt (mother's sister)'Keipop: keypab, a female name (?, pab 'Hower')Kiama: kiema?cf. kie- 'stand'kikawe Weide: kikha'a+we'i w^'ide 'our father the spirit' (ki- 'our', kha'a-' father', w^'fde 'spirit')kikewaie Baleyo: kike+we'i p'aliw 'our mother Moon Woman' (ki- 'our', ke- 'mother', we'i '[the one] who is', p'a- moon, liw- 'woman, wife')kitu: kitude 'our community' (ki- 'our', tude 'community, home, pueblo'296 koa 'throwing stick 1 : khuakoalakide 'bluejay': k'uarakide (k'uara- 'magpie', ki- '?', -de)koat: see koa for possible connectionkoatamide: ? khuatamide (khua [see koa], ?)kofanta 'dark blue': k'uaphun+ ta name of a kiva group (k'ua- '?', phun- 'black, dark', ta 'mark,sign' [?])kom: kiim 'notched stick' (?)komnin: kiimnin, ? plural of kiimKompor: kum+phaar 'notched-stick dance'Kopishtaiya: a Keresan (Laguna) wordkumeoishi: ? kham- as in khampa (see kumpa)?kumpa: khampa 'war chief (but Taos has xiim- 'war', which calls for Isleta *khum-; possibly adifferent stem is involved)kumpawithlawen : khampa+ wilawin 'war [or 'snake'?] society' (khampa [see kumpa], wilawin[plural: 'members of ritual] society'kwarupor 'zigzag dance': kiirpaar? ? or same as Quarupor, q.v.laplaza: Spanish la plaza 'the town, the place'; in Isleta pronounced laplasa, and treated as anuninfected word of known foreign flavor (1 is not a native Isleta sound)lifiewah 'medicine water': liphie+war (11- 'vegetation', phie- 'root', war 'medicine')Mapuride: mikphuride 'one who bends' (?); plural, m&phurninmapurnin: see Mapuridenadeke eula 'big bell': n&deki 'alanadeke euree 'small bell': n&deki 'ir'a'anafiechure: naphie+c'iiri 'Yellow Root' (na- noun-class prefix, phie- 'root', c'liri 'yellow')nakabato: ?nam thliu: n&mliw 'earth woman'nampe koto 'Red Earth Hill': n^mphey+k'ata'ad (n&m- 'earth', phey- 'red', k'ata'ad 'on top')napeodeke 'dead-strike bell': napiw+dekewe 'the death bell is ringing' (piw- 'death')natarra dekewa 'chimes': natarara dekewenatosi 'prayer sticks': ? miscopying for natoy or the like?natiiy 'prayer stick' (na- noun-classprefix, tuy- 'cane, stick')natoypor 'prayer stick dance': natuy+ phaar (na- noun-class prefix, tuy- 'cane, stick', phaar 'dance')Nawish: not an Isleta word; possibly Lagunanawah 'mating': nawa 'song circle of hunters', literally 'life(-place)'niuude 'Virgin's baby': ni- '?', 'u'ude 'child'nu'poashonti: niiphaar+santi 'At the Night-Dance-Going-in' (nQ- 'night', phaar- 'dance',ian- 'go in', -ti local particle [?]). The Isleta phrase is not a term for 'Christmas Eve dancers ,but describes the scene. In 1959 the informant did not recognize santi as possible in this phrase,and suggested c'aatiwe for 'going in'.pakimu: p'akimu 'fog, mist' (p't- 'water')palimakore: p'ali+makhari (p'aH 'salt', ma- '?', khsri 'circle')pire 'red': phey- 'red'Quarupor: k'uara+ phaar 'Magpie dance' (k'iiarade 'magpie')San Kietiano: for San Gaetano? 297 Sherida: ? Sar'ide personal noun from sar- 'blue, green'Shichu: sicu, stem-form of siciide 'rat, mouse', as nameShichukabede: sicu+ kabede 'rat-chief (lieu; kabede as in cakabede?see Chakabede)shunad: see shunadeshunade 'purification': sunade '?'Shure: sure a name (a kind of bird, "Red Eye")sumkup: samkaab 'porcupine shoes' (sam- 'porcupine', kaab- shoe, moccasin')taide 'ritual food offerings': ? tedeteliefpoyan 'the Navaho dead': possibly a miscopying of thliecheyan or the like, in which casesee thliachia; or for teliecheyan, see taide, thliachiathlawashie 'prayer feathers': ?, sie- 'tied'thliachia: Kecie 'food offerings for the dead'Thliwa: iiwa 'male dancer in full costume; kachina'Thliwa funide: Hwa+phiinide 'black dancer' (Kwa?see thliwa; phiinide 'black person')thliwakompor: Hwakum+ phaar (liwa- 'kachina', kum- 'notched stick', phaar 'dance'Thliwalpor: this is probably the same as thliwapor, q.v. (1 is not a native Isleta sound); if'however, 1 was misheard for r, then we may have war- 'medicine', and the first element isperhaps H- 'vegetation'?1'iwar+phaar 'plant-medicine dance')thliwapor 'February dance': liwa+ phaar 'kachina dance'Thliwelepor: possibly the same as Thliwalpor, q.v.Tochide: thacide?tha- 'day', plus ?truhi: impossible form for a native Isleta word; cannot be reconstructed into a recognizable formtuefuni 'Black Cane': tiiyphilni (tuy 'cane', phunin 'black')Tuewithlawe 'Cane Chief: tuy+wilawi (tuy 'cane', witawi[de] 'chief, [member of ritual]society')uwepo: ? same as uwepor, q.v.uwepdr: 'uwe+phaar ('u- 'child', we- 'exist', phaar 'dance')wadinin: see wahtaininwahtainin 'angels' : wat'aynin?wa- 'life', t'aynin 'people' (plural)waiide tainin: wa'ide 'living [person]', t'aynin 'people'waitinin: see wahtaininWeide: wa'ide 'spirit', plural w^ninwenin: see Weidewikon: wi 'pine', plus ?wikun 'slow match': see wikon -withlawe(n): see kumpawithlawen, tuewithlaweyayu: ?See page 11, note 15: Taos and Isleta languages are too different for this to be possible so recently;the hypothesis is definitely untenable.298 REFERENCES Dumahest, Father Noel.1919. 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