Archeology of the lower Mimbres Valley, New Mexico / by J. Walter Fewkes.

  • Jesse Walter Fewkes
Date:
1914
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Archeology of the lower Mimbres Valley, New Mexico / by J. Walter Fewkes. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    tied to the extremity of a crooked stick forming a kind of rattle. In the Flute Ceremony a crooked stick is said to be used to draw down the clouds when the rain they contain is much desired. Figure 16 is a representation of one of the crooks which was specially made for use in the Soyaluha at Walpi, in 1900. Similar crooks were set upright in a low mound of sand on the floors of all the kivas. Extending from the base of the crook to the ladder there Fig. 16.—Hopi curved stick. Length 8. was sprinkled a line of meal called the road (of blessings), over which was stretched a feathered string attached to the end of the crook. Midway in the length of the crook was attached a packet of prayer meal wrapped in cornhusk and a feather of the hawk, a bird dear to warriors, and other objects, which indicated a prayer offering. At the termination of ceremonies in which these crooks are made and blessed as prayer emblems by the Hopi they are deposited in shrines as recorded.
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