Wanderings, Part V

WANDERINGS, PART V

For a long time after this all was well, these two groups of chaianyi did well by the people, but there came another sickness on the people which the chaianyi failed to cure. (Iatiku was still with the people.) So Oak Man thought of making another order of medicine men to be called Flint Chaianyi to help him. It was left to Oak Man from now on to initiate the other orders of medicine men but Iatiku, instructed him to come to her for their names.

Flint Chaianyi was to heal any sickness brought by clouds and lightning. ² It was to be called Flint but was to combine the power as well of clouds and lightning,--flint is the tangible projectile of the lightning which comes from the clouds.

Three men came to be made chaianyi by Oak Man. So these were to be initiated and given the Flint altar, one exactly like the Fire medicine altar. But the name would be Flint and the songs would be different. But the initiation was not to be different. Everything

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was followed like getting sticks, etc., from where lightning had struck, 4-day fast, and the meeting was begun in the same way. Each initiate was given honani with the same rites as in the Fire society. These honani were all alike. The fetishes were given life by songs as before. There was initiation with hot coals, as in the Fire society. (Nowadays this is done outdoors.)

The sickness had been caused by a big flood which had made the people ill. The medicine at this altar is mixed in the same way as the other in the ceremony, but is made out of the "heart" of clay concretions that are formed by the wind rolling clay in the arroyos. The centers are removed and ground up with the roots of pŭtru 'ĭst [lightning] (a root which is braided as it grows, representing the lightning). They were also instructed how to paint clouds on the kiva walls (pl. 10, fig. 1). ³ (Acoma is the only pueblo that has these wall paintings.) ⁴ Then they were instructed how to get power from these paintings. ⁵ They were to rub their backs against these paintings--against the north wall first. (Nowadays a chaianyi does this before sucking a sick person. Also they sometimes go into the fire to get more power; they dance on the coals.)

Added to the altar was a putruist [lightning stick] representing the lightning. In initiation, Oak Man took this and struck the initiates first on the heart and then on the back giving them the power of lightning. This is added to the hot-coal ceremony. The putruist is made from lightning-blasted pine or spruce.

Flint Chaianyi has a longer bear paw on the left hand than Fire Chaianyi. It reaches to the elbow. One of the three men was made the head chaianyi of the altar and each was to care for his own fetish. Everything was done as before; the people brought food to break the 4-day fast of the chaianyi and the people were cured of their sickness. The Flint society, it must be remembered, is just a help to the Fire society to carry its power further through the power of the clouds and lightning.

When Fire Altar Man was getting his first instructions from Iatiku he was told that he would have the power to take a new-born child and present it to the Sun and give it a name 4 days after birth. This power was given to each successive medicine man. On the fourth day after birth, the father of the child would go to any medicine man, bringing him corn meal with a prayer asking him to present the child to the Sun. On the fourth day, at about 3 a. m., the medicine man comes to the house of the baby. He brings his honani and makes a

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sand painting ⁶ on the north side of the room, a painting like the one on his altar. The honani is placed on the "heart" of the altar. He sings prayers as he sets this up and mixes medicine for the child and the family. When the sun is about to come up, he takes the child outdoors, holding it where the sun will shine on it, as it comes up. As the sun rises he prays, gives the baby its name and its clan name. He asks in prayer that the baby may have a long healthy life. He then motions four times from the sun toward the child, bringing the strength of the sun into the child, saying, "Now you have become a member of such and such clan." Then the chaianyi turns to the left (as in kiva leaving) and brings the child back to its home. (It is now a rule that when a man is in a mask dance or in ceremony he always turns to the left.)

When the medicine man gets back to the baby's house, he calls out, "Here comes (whatever name has been given)." The parents reply, "Oh, yes, let him come in." Chaianyi says, "He is coming in, he is bringing food, beads, game, and a long life into his house." As soon as he steps in, the mother takes the child and with four gestures waves inside the food, pots, beads, game, etc., that the child is bringing figuratively to the house. The parents always have food prepared to offer to the altar and to feed the chaianyi. The chaianyi and all of the family come in and eat. Following this the chaianyi makes a departing speech and prayer. He is given some food as a present to take home.

The Giant society was the next to be formed. ⁷ Thus there were the following medicine societies and in the following order: Fire, Kapina, Flint, Giant. At Acoma there were also Ant society and Eagle society, but these two are not covered by the tradition.

Iatiku was much pleased with her people and the way the various officers and medicine men were functioning. A long time passed and the people were behaving in such a secret way and it was all so solemn, Iatiku thought they should have something public that everyone could enjoy without fasting. So she thought of the clothes that had been presented to the people by the katsina. She called Country Chief to council and told him her plans. She said to him, "Why not call the people to a dance of thanksgiving for the crops and game they have had?" This idea pleased Country Chief much (especially as it came within his province), so he told the people to meet in the kiva. They all met and he instructed them how this affair was to be carried out. (Each person had a katsina costume that had been presented to him.) This dance was to be called paashko. ⁸ The idea was to get the people away from the continuous solemnity of the secret ceremonies.

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Country Chief told the people to make their own songs, that this dance was to be danced by everyone who wanted to dance--boys, girls, men, and women. Katsina dance with just one foot so when the people suggested that they dance like katsina--which was the only dancing they had ever seen--Country Chief said, "No! this is your dance and you must do it a different way." ⁹ But he knew no way to do it. (This dance is in no sense sacred.) ¹⁰ They decided to spend 4 days preparing for the dance, making up the songs and rehearsing. Everyone was happy, full of anticipation; the whole pueblo was stirred up.

So the War captain [Country Chief] kept suggesting that they call Koshari, that he was going to call him. This was because he knew of no new way to dance and he wanted to leave it to Koshari to arrange the dance and instruct the people in it. Koshari had power to do this. Country Chief said to his two helpers, "I'll try out Koshari and see if he will come. He talks a lot and seems to know everything." So he made a prayer stick and prayed and made a cigarette for him. This prayer stick reached Koshari at hakuaich. On the morning of the fourth day Koshari arrived, still painted in stripes, with his hair tied up on top of his head. He asked for Country Chief, "Am I needed here? I have been called to this place." He was brought to the kiva where Country Chief was. Country Chief said, "Yes, I want you here. I believe now that you are real and have power. My people are going to have a dance and I am leaving it all to you to arrange as you may wish." He explained to Koshari the purpose of the dance. Before he had stopped telling him about it, Koshari knew all about it and said, "Yes, I will arrange it for you." So Country Chief told the people that they were to obey Koshari. ¹¹

Koshari went out, going from house to house telling the people to hurry up and come out. They were much interested in him and obeyed him. He said, "All who want to dance come on to the kiva." He was the one to show them how to paint themselves and put on their costumes. While going from house to house, Koshari spied the drum belonging to the chaianyi. (The drum, of course, was only for a very sacred purpose, ¹² but without asking permission Koshari took it.)

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[paragraph continues] He also took the chaianyi's rattle, saying, "This is needed." He was going to have a rehearsal inside the kiva, so he chose two dance leaders, giving to one the rattle, and to the other, who was to sing, he gave the drum.

All the men were lined up. Behind each man he placed a woman and behind each boy, a girl. Then he showed them how to dance, standing in front, lifting both feet, saying, "This is how you will dance (to the men)." He showed the women how to wave their arms in time with the drum, saying, "You will dance thus."

The people who were to be spectators were anxiously waiting outside. Koshari told the drummer to go out first and beat the drum. This he did, all the spectators watching. The singers were sent out next; then the dancers. After they were all up [i. e., out of the kiva] Koshari lined them up in the order they were to proceed to the plaza. Everyone was happy because Koshari made a lot of fun while lining them up, talking backward--everything he said meant the opposite. (When you talk to a Koshari today this is true: tell him to bring something back and he won't.)

The dance went on all day, though Koshari dismissed them at noon to go home and eat, telling them to come back after eating, which they were only too glad to do, as they were enjoying it very much.

The dance went on all day. When the sun was going down they came out for the last time. For this dance Koshari showed them a new way to dance. This consisted of an arm motion as if pushing aside; this is called kawispăts. "You must always use this when you finish your dances," Koshari told them.

Iatiku was there at the dance. She was much pleased and thought that this public dance was a fine thing. When it was over, Country Chief made a talk. "Koshari has made this dance for us," he said, "This is the way we are to enjoy ourselves and have pleasure." So he thanked Koshari and told him to go home, that he had done well. Koshari said, "Yes, any time you call me I will come. But next time make a much bigger drum and have a lot of rattles." So Country Chief told the people to make bigger drums and more rattles. Koshari called the ones who were going to sing mătaiik, "grapes"; he had pushed them together in a bunch to sing with no order. ¹³

Iatiku was pleased that her people were happy. But she wanted to give them still more to enjoy. She knew Flint Chaianyi had a prayer stick dawak [kick stick], which represented the power that makes the Clouds move. She decided to borrow this prayer stick

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and have the men dance with it. So Iatiku told Flint Man to make this prayer stick and to pray to the Shiwana, "the Clouds," to invite the katsina for their pleasure. (She was thinking the katsina too needed some pleasure.) So Flint Man made a prayer stick and gave it to Iatiku, who gave it to Country Chief, who selected some men to run a race. Iatiku showed them how they were to race with it. They were to kick it along and never to touch it with their hands. ¹⁴ First they were to go to the north, then turn to the left to the west, then to the south, then to the east to where they had started in the plaza. The Clouds came up (with the katsina in them) to watch the race. Afterward it rained. The Clouds travel with two of these kick sticks; one with black stripe in middle called tsoyu (belted), the other called k’ashⁱ (white) ¹⁵ (pl. 14, fig. 2, a). Flint Chaianyi and Country Chief waited at the goal. The first to enter the plaza would be the winner. So Country Chief took one of these oak prayer sticks and the chaianyi the other. They took them out to the arroyos and prayed. They found this was a very good game and that it brought rain as they expected. (Rain clouds usually come from the west at Acoma.)

Nowadays, at Acoma, the race is run by two teams, chosen from any two kivas. ¹⁶

The medicine man found out the katsina were glad that it had rained and had enjoyed the game. So the men began practicing running. Flint Chaianyi told the runners how to prepare themselves and train. He told them in April to take the leaves from any hard wood and to make a tea to drink, then to take eagle down and tickle their palate so as to vomit the tea, and the medicine would stay inside and make them strong ¹⁷ and hardy like the tree. (Nowadays the racers sweat themselves. Water mixed with medicine as above is poured on hot rocks. The medicine man is present and he sprinkles the water while they sing with blanket over door.) All their things

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were bet on the race: blue, white, and black blankets, etc. They would race every afternoon over a 15-mile course.

Then Iatiku thought of making another game for them called toki^amoti (pl. 14, fig. 2, b). She thought of making this game because she wanted to use the wooden balls. These balls were used by the katsina for making thunder and lightning by striking them together. When they hit, lightning shoots; the rolling is thunder. The game was to be held in the pueblo in the kakati (middle). So Iatiku told Country Chief to ask the katsina next time they came to bring these balls, which they did and gave them as a present to Country Chief. These were presented by Gomaiowish, who taught Country Chief how to play the game. This game was for gambling. ¹⁸ They bet one turquoise bead on a game. They found this game very interesting because it was the first game of chance. ¹⁹

Now the men invented a game for themselves to play in kiva. They duplicated the sticks as used in the kicking race, making four such. The sticks are hollow at the end; a pebble is to be hidden in one of the sticks. Two teams are chosen. The team holding the sticks sings a song. The other team then guesses which stick contains the pebble. A couple of referees hold 100 straws each. Rules:

The one to get all the straws wins. The game is called aiawakutee.

Some of the old men objected to this game, as they had had no instructions to make it. Iatiku did not like it either. The young men made up their own songs with the game and began making up songs about the women and referring humorously to men's wives. The young men got more interested in playing this game in kiva than in attending the ceremonies. They got worse and worse and finally made songs making fun of Iatiku. So Country Chief advised them to stop this. They pretended to do so when he was there, but resumed playing as soon as he was gone. Some of the boys had said that the game was more sure of gaining something for the player than were the ceremonies of Iatiku. This angered Iatiku and she said, "All right, I'll let you go on your own, and see if it is not due to my instructions that all has been going well." She told them she was going to keep quiet and they would not hear from her any more. On saying

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this, Iatiku disappeared. She told Country Chief that he was to watch his people, that even if the people had made fun of her way of doing, was still going to be their mother and was going to stay at Shipapu and wait for them to come back to her at the end of their lives. This was the first mention of death.

Footnotes

40:2 The Shiwana tcaianyi are the ones who treat lightning shock in Acoma today (White, 1932, p. 107). The Flint society is a witch-sickness curing society; it also has close associations with the O·pi, or Warriors' society (White, 1932, pp. 90, 107, ftn. 94). See also Bandelier, 1890, pp. 68-69, 385, for war functions of the Flint society.

Among eastern Keres the Flint society is very closely associated with the Koshari (White, 1935, p. 54P 1932 a, p. 41; Goldfrank, 1927, p. 143).

41:3 see white 1932, pls. 11 and 12.

41:4 Kiva walls are painted on First Mesa, at Isleta, and from early days in Jeddito Valley and elsewhere.

41:5 Informant's note: They paint anything they want to get power from. Next time there might be other paintings [i. e., they change the designs for any ceremony].

42:6 See White 1932, pl. 16; also pp. 133-34. Cf. Laguna (Boas, 1929, pt. 1; pp. 201-203; Parsons, 192.1, pp. 180-81).

42:7 The informant did not know much about the Giant society, as the altar had been taken to another pueblo before he was born.

42:8 pa·ck‘^u (Boas, 1928, pt. 2, p.338, l. 6); Backo (White, 1935,p. 159, ftn. 90). Cf. Spanish pascua, "festival."

43:9 Informant's note: When Iatiku had instructed the people about the katsina, she said that they were sacred and were not to be imitated in any way.

43:10 Nevertheless, it is the dance now held in honor of the patron saint of Acoma, San Estevan.

43:11 At Santa Ana, Koshari, or Kwiraina, usually the former, have charge of the feast for the saint (cf. Parsons, 1923 c). It is likely that this picture prevails at other Keresan pueblos.

43:12 Informant's note: The drum invokes and wakes up the Clouds and the rain and cheers the people. Drums can be heard 10 miles or more. The drummer is a special man classed apart from the dancers. Drummers must care for the drums, keep them painted, and dry them before the ceremony. The drum is taken good care of always. The drummer remains continent 4 days before a dance. As soon as they start making the new songs, the drummer must observe the purge. They think if you don't beat a drum with a good heart you get paralyzed. If you have the right heart, the drum will be light, otherwise it will be heavy and your arm will get numb.

44:13 The informant said that this dance "had nothing to do with getting min or any purpose other than pleasure." Although this dance is now held at Acoma on September 2nd, Saint Stephen's day, the tradition states that it should be held about harvest time.

For dances In honor of patron saints in Keresan pueblos: White, 1932, pp. 102-106; Bourke, 1884, pp. 10-53 (for the dance at Santo Domingo which Bourke witnessed in 1881); White, 1935, pp. 159-160; Parsons, 1923 c; Bandelier, 1890 a, 136 ff.; Goldfrank, 1923.

45:14 This is the "kicking game," generally called the kick stick race. See White, 1942; Parsons, 1923, p. 219; Culin, 1907, p. 668.

45:15 See White, 1942.

45:16 The informant stated at this point that there are five "society" kivas at Acorns. There are, he said, "two sacred chaianyi kivas; one is for medicine man, the other for Country Chief, religious and political."

The kiva question at Acorns is a perplexing one. Both Bandelier (1890, p. 268) and Mindeleff (1897, pp. 116, 207) state that there are six kivas at Acoma. This would coincide with the 6-kiva system of Zuñi, a kiva for each of the six directions. But White's informants stated (White, 1932, pp. 30-31) that there were five kivas, one for each of the five katsina dancing groups. Then there is Mauharots, the "head estufa [kiva]," which is the chamber for the cacique and the Antelope clan. Then there is the ceremonial chamber of the Fire society, also called k’a·'latc‘, as are the other six. Thus, at Acoma, there are seven chambers which are designated by the word k’a·'latc‘, kiva.

Since the Antelope clan, of which the cacique is the head, is the "head of the katsinas; the cacique being the father of the katsinas," it seems reasonable to include Mauharots as one of the six kivas associated with the katcina cult, The Fire society chamber, on the other hand, belongs to an entirely different cult and organization. Thus it seems justifiable to say that "Acoma has six kivas." But what the informant means here by "one religious and one political" kiva is hard to say. It seems likely that the Fire society's chamber is the "religious" kiva--the one for the medicine man. And, perhaps, Mauharots is the "political" kiva, for the war chief, since be is initiated there and reports to this kiva after returning from his night trips to rings (White, 1932, pp. 45-50).--L. A. W.

45:17 Informant's note: Neshăats, "strength, power," nikunăts, "to get power, to prop up, to brace."

46:18 The game is played today at Santo Domingo during Eastertide (Goggin, 1940). Possibly it was played on First Mesa in Stephen's day, although he did not see it or learn the significance of the miniature implements be describes as used in Niman Kachina (Stephen, 1936, pp. 529, 570, 573, figs. 320-322).

46:19 Informant's note: In the court 2 stakes are placed about 6 inches apart, Just wide enough apart to let the ball pass through. The players stand about 75 feet away. They use a broad stick [cf. Stephen, 1936, fig. 320] or paddle, which is from 12 to 16 inches, to shove the ball. Two men play. each has 2 balls and 1 paddle. The game is to roll the ball between the stakes.