Fetishes

FETISHES

When hunters go on a big hunt they get fetishes from Eagle Man which they bring along. When the hunter takes the heart out, the fetish is made to drink blood from the heart. These fetishes are kept in each family. Iatiku made the first one for Eagle Man and he taught

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the others how to make them. They should be made of a hard stone, flint, or gypsum, with eyes of turquoise set in pitch. Small ones are carried for protection and because they represent the prey animals. Any man can make a fetish, which he may call wolf, lion, or whatever he pleases. He then brings it to the Eagle Man of the Hunters' society. The Eagle Man and the society then pray to it and sing over it, putting into it the spirit and the power of the lion (north), wolf (west), lynx (south), wildcat (east). The power of the fetish is drawn from all these equally.

The head man holds the fetish in the palms of his hands, swinging it to the four directions to the following song:

It comes alive
It comes alive, alive, alive.
In the north mountain
The lion comes alive
In the north mountain, comes alive.
With this the prey animal
Will have power to attract deer, antelope;
Will have power to be lucky.

[paragraph continues] (Repeat for wolf of the west, lynx of the south, and wildcat of the east.) With each verse the Eagle Man faces the direction indicated, swinging his hands in that direction. The man who holds the fetish (head man) is praying another way and does not sing with the other singers. When the song is finished the fetish is laid in front of the altar beside the fetishes of the society where it remains over night. During this time it becomes alive. The next day it is given to its owner. When the new fetish has been placed in front of the altar each member of the society in turn approaches it and says, "Drink the blood of the lion (or whatever it has been named)."

In the kiva is one large, fetish representing each of the four beasts of prey: múkaiĭtchă, "lion" (n); kakan, "wolf" (w); shohóna, ⁵⁷ "lynx" (s); gyat "wildcat" (e). These names are preceded by Shaiyaika (Hunters' society) to indicate that they are fetishes. Each fetish is placed in its proper direction in front of the altar. The fetish to be given life is placed alongside the one for which it is named. The head man, when he places it in front of the altar, places it by its "mother" from which it draws its power, and it leaves as offspring of

, quoting from S. F. Baird, Mammals of the Mexican Boundary, 1857, pp. 7-8. See, also, Bailey, 1937, pp. 283-284). Coronado's letter to Mendoza of August 3, 1540, sneaks of lions and tigers [jaguars] (Winship, 1896, p. 560).}

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the "mother." When the fetish is returned, it still has a connection with the one on the altar. It may be recalled from the owner if the society wants to use it. This is often done when the owner has been lucky in the hunt. When the society finishes with it, it is returned to the owner. These fetishes are handed down in the family. ⁵⁸

When a hunter kills an antelope or a deer he brings it into the pueblo. The father or mother of the [hunter's] house comes out with some corn meal in her hand with which she makes a "road" into the house and up the ladder, if they live above. Then they help the hunter with his pack, and lay the deer on the floor with its head toward the fireplace, about 10 feet from the fire. Beads are laid on the neck. (Beads of lignite are preferred, as the hoofs of the deer are supposed to be made of this substance.) The deer would wear these back. They are taken away when they think the spirit has left, in about an hour. If relatives of the hunter come in, they go up to the deer and touch it and then rub their hands over their faces because they say the deer is pretty and not lazy. They say, "We are glad you have come to our home and have not been ashamed of our people." A dish of corn meal is placed near by and all visitors feed a little to the deer asking him to come next to their house, as they believe the deer will be reborn.

When the beads are taken off, they blow them into the other room. (Beads are supposed to have power to attract; women wear beads to attract men.) They then start to skin the animal up to the neck. The skin is all taken off. The head is boiled in a pot without taking the horns off. In the pot is placed corn, pumpkin seeds, and piñon nuts. These are called the deer's ear rings. Before they eat this the hunter would call the clan of his father (not mother) to come and help eat the head. The mother of the hunter's father, if still living, takes the eyes and eats them. If she is not there, the oldest female relative in the father's clan does this. The hunter, or any man, is supposed not to eat the eyes of a deer lest he always have water in his eyes (tears) and not be able to see far. The hunter must not eat the tongue as this will make him thirsty. Nor may he eat the udder lest his teeth not be strong.

After the meat is all eaten from the head, it will be placed on top of the house to dry. When he has time, the hunter takes it back into the mountains where he prays that it will come alive again. First it must be painted as the deer was originally. A black line is painted down the middle of the face; under the jaw is white. Balls of cotton are stuffed in the eye sockets and the centers painted black. Then a string is tied across the antlers and to this feathers are attached. ⁵⁹

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[paragraph continues] All large game is treated like the deer: mountain sheep, elk, buffalo, also lions, lynx, bear. Rabbit skulls are treated in the same way except that they are not painted or prepared in any way.

This is the way Iatiku made the first hunting society.

Footnotes

23:57 The word co·ho·'nα (Boas, 1928, pt. 2, p. 42, l. 2), eastern Keres: ro'hona, is difficult to identify; it has been rendered lynx, weasel, jaguar. I am strongly inclined to believe that this animal is the jaguar. In a Santa Aria myth ro'hona is distinguished front mountain lion and front wildcat, and he is large enough to kill an antelope. One Santa Ana informant identified ro'hona as a jaguar from a colored picture in a manual on mammals of North America. In Boas' Laguna myth, "The origin of hunting customs," co·'ho·na is distinguished from mountain lion and from wildcat and is large enough to knock down a mountain sheep. Therefore this animal must be fairly large and powerful.

Moreover, the co·'ho·na is assigned to the south, the direction of the home of the jaguar, with reference to the Pueblos.

The jaguar was formerly found occasionally as far north as the Pueblo Indian country although his customary haunts are farther south. On April 10, it is reported that a jaguar killed four men in a convent at Peña Blanca (Seton, 1929, vol. 1, pt. 1, pp. 28-29

24:58 Cf. Laguna (Parsons, 1920, p. 127, fig. 20).

24:59 This corresponds closely with a recent account from Santa Ana (White, ms). Deer skulls and horns, with feathers attached to the antlers, could be seen in great numbers on the roofs of houses at Sia a few years ago.