On certain personages who appear in a Tusayan ceremony / by Jesse Walter Fewkes.

  • Jesse Walter Fewkes
Date:
1894
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On certain personages who appear in a Tusayan ceremony / by Jesse Walter Fewkes. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Tun-wup-ka-tci-na, during the Po-wa'-muh, were not allowed to look upon the Na-tac'-ka(s), and to prevent this their eyes were shaded by the hands of their mothers. After the houses had been visited the squad made a tour of the kivas, in each of which the ceremony to the six World Quarter deities* was being celebrated. On their arrival at the hatch or entrance of the kiva a comic dialogue ensued, in which Ha-hai'-i-wuq-ti demanded food and the elders in the chamber below refused to give bim anything. The boots of the Na- tac'-ka(s) and the whistle of So-yok'-ma-na were then heard, and a lariat was lowered into the kiva by the He-he-a-ka-tci-na, to which they found attached upon drawing it up later a sheep¬ skin and goat-horns. A description of the masks used in personifications in primi¬ tive ceremonials is important, for on them is depicted most of the characteristic symbolism of the deities represented. Masks and accompanying head-dresses are as a rule the distinguishing disguise of the deity, and we can compare those used by different peoples to discover true homologies and to draw conclusions from their similarities. Wrong homologies or fancied likenesses leading to errors naturally occur here as in kindred sciences, nor do intimate resemblances in all instances mean a connection, but true homologies are of greatest value in the discussion of the relationship between ceremonials among people with a similar or identical cult. By permission of one of the Tewa I was shown into the cham¬ ber in which the Na-tac'-ka masks are kept, and was secretly permitted to make sketches and a cursory examination of them. The following notes and figures are the results of these studies. The first set of masks which will be considered are worn by men who personify Na-tac'-ka($), of which I have examined five— one yellow, two black, and two white. While they resemble each other in general symbolism, there are certain differences in detail and mode of construction which are worthy of mention.f * The character of this ceremony is outlined in the account Ni-man'-ka- tri-na. See Journal of American Ethnology and Archaeology, vol. II, no. 1. f The masks are more accurately described as leather helmets, and their projecting mouths vary from two to three feet in length.