The Religious Life of the Zuñi Child | Page 9

yellow on the neck and
upper arms; those of the Earth, black, with some bits of color. This
done, the Sä-lä-m[=o]-b[=i]-ya of the North passes through the village
and, going for a short distance to the north, deposits a plume stick, the
stick to which the plumes are attached being painted yellow. The
Sä-lä-m[=o]-b[=i]-ya of the West, South, and East plant their plumes at
their respective cardinal points. Those for the zenith and nadir are
planted to the west, on the road to the spirit lake, the stick of each one
having the cardinal color decorations. This done, all retire to their
kivas.
The Sä-lä-m[=o]-b[=i]-ya of the North, returning to his kiva, drinks the
medicine water prepared by the priest of the great fire order
(M[=a]-[t]ke-hl[=a]n-[=a] [=a]-que), who, with some of his people, is
now busy in the preparation of a sand altar. The Sä-lä-m[=o]-b[=i]-ya
again emerge from the kivas, with long bunches of Spanish bayonet in
their hands, in the ends of which grains of corn of the respective colors
are placed and wrapped with shreds of the bayonet. Any man or youth
desiring to raise yellow corn appeals to the Sä-lä-m[=o]-b[=i]-ya of the
North, who strikes him a severe blow with his bunch of bayonets.
Similar appeals are made to those representing other colors. The sand
altar is made in the Kiva of the North. It is first laid in the ordinary
yellowish sand, in the center of which the bowl of medicine water is

placed. Over the yellow sand a ground of white sand is sprinkled. All
the Sä-lä-m[=o]-b[=i]-ya and their brothers are represented on the altar
(Plate XXII). The altar is circular in form and some twelve feet in
diameter. The K[=o]-l[=o]-oo-w[)i]t-si encircles the whole.
Throughout the day the K[=o]k-k[=o] are running around the village
whipping such of the people as appeal to them for a rich harvest, while
the curious performances of the K[=o]-y[=e]-m[=e]-shi carry one back
to the primitive drama.
[Plate XXII: ZUÑI SAND ALTAR IN KIVA OF THE NORTH.]
Toward evening the ceremony for initiating the children begins. The
priest of the Sun, entering the sacred plaza (or square), sprinkles a
broad line of sacred meal from the southeast entrance across the south
side, thence along the western side to the Kiva of the North, and up the
ladderway to the entrance (which is always in the roof), and then
passing over the housetops he goes to the Kiva of the Earth and
sprinkles the meal upon the K[=o]-l[=o]-oo-w[)i]t-si. He then precedes
the K[=o]k-k[=o] to the plaza and deposits a small quantity of yellow
meal on the white line of meal near the eastern entrance. By this spot
the Sä-lä-m[=o]-b[=i]-ya of the North stands, south of the line of meal.
The priest, continuing in advance, deposits a quantity of blue meal on
the line a short distance from the yellow, which indicates the position
for the Sä-lä-m[=o]-b[=i]-ya of the West. In like manner he indicates
the position of the respective Sä-lä-m[=o]-b[=i]-ya with red meal for
the South, white for the East, meal of all colors for the Heavens, and
black meal for the Earth. The remainder of the K[=o]k-k[=o] take their
positions successively along the line of meal. The
K[=o]-y[=e]-m[=e]-shi group in the plaza. The godfathers then pass
along the line of meal, each one holding his godchild on his back by a
blanket, which he draws tightly around him. In olden times tanned
robes of the buffalo were used for this purpose. As he passes the line of
K[=o]k-k[=o] each one strikes the child with his large bunch of Spanish
bayonets. While the Indian from almost infancy looks upon any
exhibition of feeling when undergoing physical suffering as most
cowardly and unmanly, the severity of the pain inflicted by the yucca

switches in this ceremony is at times such as to force tears from the
eyes of the little ones, but a boy over the age of five or six rarely
flinches under this ordeal. After passing the line the godparent enters
the Kiva of the North, where he is met by a priest of the great fire order,
who asks, "Who is your K[=o]k-k[=o]?" When the godfather replies, he
is directed to select his boy's plume. The plumes which ornament the
heads of the figures have been previously wrapped in corn husks and
carried to the priest by the respective godfathers. The godfather
attaches the feather, which is a soft, downy feather of the eagle, to the
scalp-lock of the child. The godparent is then given a drink of the holy
water, which is dipped from the bowl by the medicine man with a shell
attached to a long reed. The child also drinks and repeats a prayer after
his sponsor. They then leave the kiva, and, taking a position on the
north