The scalp ceremonial of Zuñi / by Elsie Clews Parsons.

  • Elsie Clews Parsons
Date:
1924
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The scalp ceremonial of Zuñi / by Elsie Clews Parsons. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    of the chaparral cock.The scalp-kickers wear in their hair, for four days, prayer-feathers of the chaparral cock. Knowl¬ edge and courage come from this bird.At the altar the song is: ha'ma hama shiwaiyu shiwaiyu waiyu waiyu wahaima haina joiliwa jailivva hi- They who pass up the meal road, pass under the upraised arms of a Deer clansman and a Bear clansman. [To these clans belong the war-gods]. This passing up the meal road is to secure safety from the enemy. (5) The scalper and his aunt, and “older brother” and his aunt, deposit their prayer-sticks together, each couple in an ant-hill. The women carry the meal to sprinkle. The men pray. The women, unless past child-bearing, may not speak. . . . The Scalp chief deposits paper-bread in the excavation at the altar, for the ants, and then fills up the excavation with dirt from the mounds on either side. (6) After the scalp-kickers, on their way into town, follow the scalper and “older brother,” the bow-priests’ chief, the mem¬ bers of the Ant society, the bow-priests, the Scalp chief group, and then all others present.After the circuits around town, concentric circles are formed in Big plaza, the Scalp chief picks off a bit of scalp and attaches it to the arrow of the bow-priests’ chief who proceeds to pass around the innermost circle, running the arrow over the ankles of the men and women he passes, then on a second round above their knees, on a third round at their waist, the fourth round, over their heads. At the completion of each round all wave with cedar bark and spit. In conclusion the bow- priests’ chief shoots the arrow to the north, in the direction of the Navaho. (8) During the first four days in the house of the bow-priests the scalper, his “older brother” and their aunts may not eat meat, salt, or hot food, on the scalper this taboo remains for ten days in all. Scalper and scalp-kickers remain as far from the fireplace as possible. They remove no article of clothing. The men may not Cf. p. 29. I suggest that this whole ritual at the Ant altar may be a dramati¬ zation of the tale given on pp. 28-29.