Wanderings, Part IX

WANDERINGS, PART IX

After this, all went well and it began raining and rained at frequent intervals. Everything went on all right and during that summer and fall the people had plenty of everything. The people were still at White House.

In the winter Antelope Man though of trying out the Kopishtaiya, Country Chief called out that the people should make prayer sticks to call the Kopishtaiya. So, after vomiting for 4 days, the men who were to take part met again in kiva. They made prayer sticks (pl. 14, fig. 1) and prepared the masks. ⁴³ (There are no seeds in the Acoma Kopishtaiya masks as at Laguna.) ⁴⁴ They worked for 4 days in kiva. They made songs different from the katsina songs. They were not songs for dancing but for manliness (hachtsia).

After 4 days in kiva, the impersonators left at midnight and went out toward the east, taking their masks and costumes with them; they painted up in kiva before leaving. They went out into the country away from the people. (One of the Kopishtaiya is female, ⁴⁵ although impersonated by a man.) Country Chief told the people that on the fourth day they were to expect the Kopishtaiya to visit them from the east.

The Kopishtaiya impersonators got ready just as the katsina impersonators had done. But their prayer sticks were different, being made of hard wood to represent masculinity. They were painted differently and had different feathers. These men went out in pairs in different places in the east to hide. They dressed and prayed, asking the Kopishtaiya to help them. They adopted the yell and accent of the Kopishtaiya they were to represent. They were instructed to be sure to come near the pueblo in pairs and to meet just before sun-up, so they could enter just before sunrise. It was very cold and as soon as the men were dressed they started running to keep warm. When they got together near the pueblo, they all went in together. Antelope Man acted as before, opening the road with corn meal. (They come in pairs, they run and turn back to keep warm, run and turn back, shouting the while.) ⁴⁶

When the Kopishtaiya first came, they brought all kinds of evergreen trees, leaving them in the plaza for the people to make a tea of them and purify themselves. Some of the real Kopishtaiya, when they came, showed manliness by bringing cactus on their backs, others carried

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big chunks of ice. (Anyone wanting bravery will squeeze up against the Kopishtaiya with the cactus so as to give him manliness.) Kopishtaiya still do this. The real Kopishtaiya got real snow to scatter around. Now they bring cactus fluff to represent snow.

The Kopishtaiya were led into the pueblo just before sun-up. They planted all that they had brought and distributed seeds to the people. The people would come up and break some pieces from the evergreen boughs, bring them home and boil them to purify themselves with the decoction. As soon as the sun appeared, the Kopishtaiya left the pueblo. Their spirits, however, remained in the kiva for 4 days; the people were to care for and feed them these 4 days. (Nowadays the Kopishtaiya go into the kiva. They do not send their masks away and take the power from them, but bring them still vitalized to the kiva for the 4 days. It is not told in tradition that the altar was set up during this time, as is done now. During these 4 days, they take food and feed the masks, and when they smoke they give it first to the masks. They also make prayer sticks. On the fourth day the masks are taken out secretly with the prayer sticks. When they reach the country they place the masks facing east, saying, "It is time for you to return to Hakuoikuchaha. Take back what belongs to you. Do not haunt me. Do not take from me the seeds you have brought or the blessings of manliness." Then the four motions to the east are made, and they say, "Now go and return." The prayer sticks are planted. Then the feathers are taken from the mask and put in order, and the mask has become devitalized. Then they bring the masks back to kiva. Antelope Man receives them and bids them good will, telling them that all has gone well. Then he says a prayer and allows them to go. (For 12 days they must keep away from women. If the rule is broken, their life will be shortened and prayers will not be answered.)

Everything went well and during the winter there was plenty of snow, which helped them catch game. Weapons were not strong at this time, so the snow was a help.

Footnotes

62:43 Informant's note: "The masks used for katsina impersonation are the same that are used for the Kopishtaiya; they are merely painted and decorated differently." [See White, 1932, p. 8, b, and pl. 10, a.]

62:44 Laguna Gomaiowish masks have knobs on them containing seeds. The informant must be confusing Kopishtaiya masks here with Gomaiowish masks, for the former have not been reported from Laguna or, indeed, from any other Keresan pueblo.

62:45 Cf. p. 16.

62:46 Cf. White, 1032, pp. 85-88; Boas, 1928, pt. 1, p. 201.