The Alósaka cult of the Hopi Indians / by J. Walter Fewkes.

  • Jesse Walter Fewkes
Date:
1899
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The Alósaka cult of the Hopi Indians / by J. Walter Fewkes. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    stant decoration used in the ornamentation of ancient Hopi pottery than the cross, yet to interpret this simple figure as in¬ variably a sun symbol would be absurd, for it may mean the sky, the four world-quarters, the four winds, the sun, or a star; or it maybe employed simply as an insignificant decorative motive. Such simple designs as the cross, the circle, or the triangle, in primitive symbolism, may often be regarded as simply qualitative and are so used in pictography, their true meaning in specific cases depending on their association with other figures. In certain associations a circle is a sun symbol, in others an earth symbol; an equal-armed cross with a figure of a rapacious bird sometimes represents the sun, in other instances the four cardinal points, which, with the Hopi, are purely terrestrial directions or positions on the horizon. Returning to the common symbol of the sun, or the disk with painted design and radiating peripheral eagle feathers, we find on comparing it with the symbolism of the head of a sun god (plate XXV, b), a close similarity. Among the features common to both are the markings on the upper half of the face, the radiating feathers, and the cross extensions. The marks on the sun disk, indicating eyes, are here replaced by balls, but of greater impor¬ tance in future comparison, the mouth or double triangle is represented by a curving beak. The reason for the substitution of this form of mouth is apparent in a comparison with the head of the doll of Kwdtaka (plate XXV, c), where a bird’s head, wings, and tail are all represented. The symbolic design on the body of this bird doll is strictly comparable with those on the two sun symbols previously mentioned. The radiating feathers are replaced by tail and wings, while the head is suggested by the curved beak of the second symbol. A comparison of these three figures leads to the belief that they are three different sun symbols. The fact that the last is called Kwdtaka, and that the Bird- man in Soyaluna was given the same name, supports the theory