FEWKES: INITIATION AT HANO 151 



than the last, or that in which they are taught the mysteries of 

 the Katcinas. A child under thirteen or fourteen years of age 

 is not supposed to understand the nature of these supernatural 

 beings, but to believe that from time to time family ancestors or 

 spirits of the dead revisit the pueblos and receive prayers for the 

 good of the tribe, after which they return to ghostly homes in 

 the underworld, through the house of the sun far to the west. At 

 this age they are among other things made acquainted with the fact 

 that the Katcinas are not real supernatural beings, but persona- 

 tions by their own parents. But they must obtain this knowl- 

 edge through initiation, some of the ordeals of which may be 

 regarded as severe and are certainly calculated to bring out the 

 moral courage of the novitiates. Many rites occur, one of which 

 is a ceremonial flogging of children, which takes place in the 

 presence of chiefs and other persons of the tribe. The rite at 

 Hano, the subject of this article, has never been described. 



To understand the meaning of this event and the place the 

 Katcina cult occupies in the pueblo mind, it may be well to say 

 a word on this subject before we pass to the consideration of the 

 initiatory episode. In all their cults Hopi ceremonies show many 

 indications of the worship of divinized ancestors, but this is 

 especially true in those of the Katcina worship. The spirit dead 

 are supposed to become Katcinas. The breath bodies of men 

 pass to their future home, the underworld, a realm of the de- 

 parted, presided over by the supernatural being called the God 

 of Germs. The population of this underworld includes not only 

 the spirits of those long ago deceased, but also those who have 

 lately joined them. This ghostly population is supposed to have 

 a social organization like that inhabiting the upper world, being 

 as on earth divided into clans with related priesthoods, in all 

 the conditions of life duplicating what is found among the liv- 

 ing. There are male and female Katcinas, brothers, sisters, 

 uncles, aunts, and various other relatives on the mother's side. 

 The clans of the underworld, after death, bear names of the liv- 

 ing, and are symbolically characterized. We have for instance, 

 the Bear clan, the Badger clan, and others. Prominent among 

 all members of each underworld clan are the oldest members, 



