Dec. 1901. The Oraibi Powamu Ceremony — Voth. 75 



the ceremony, and last but not least, a supply of pipes (see PI. XL) 

 and native tobacco (Nicotina attenuata Tow). Smoking is a very 

 important feature in every Hopi ceremony. First the kiva is swept, a 

 fire built and then some silent smoking is indulged in, every new- 

 comer joining the smokers. The Powamu priest then retires to the 

 northwest corner of the kiva, the place usually occupied by the chief 

 priest in all Hopi ceremonies and begins making bahos or prayer 

 sticks, in which he is assisted by the Katcina chief. These bahos con- 

 sist of two sticks about four and one-half inches long and three-eighths 

 to one-half an inch thick, one of which he paints entirely green, the 

 other black ; with the exception of a small notch at the upper end of 

 the green stick, which is called the face {tatwa) of the baho and is 

 painted light brown. These two sticks are tied together, and to the 

 obverse side is fastened a small pouch made of corn husk containing 

 some corn-meal mixed with honey. To this pouch is fastened a small 

 feather of a tokotska, a buffalo or cow bird (Molothrus ater obscurus 

 Gmel.) To the obverse side of the sticks are tied a small turkey 

 feather, a sprig of kuiia (Artemisia frigida) and a sprig of maovi 

 (Guetteriza Euthamiae). (See PI. XLI.) The chiefs then make four 

 other double bahos, which are essentially the same as the above, but 

 are put into certain baho stands to be described presently, while the 

 others are carried to the various kivas the next day. At about this 

 time one of the men belonging to the Sand clan — generally Lomaash- 

 niwa — is sent after dry sand for the sand mosaic. He takes with 

 him a little corn-meal and two nakwakwosis, which one of the two 

 leaders has made. Arriving at the sand hill he holds the nakwakwosis 

 and meal to his lips, whispers a silent prayer, deposits both on the 

 sand hill and then fills his blanket with sand and takes it to the kiva. 

 Here several men at once commence making the sand mosaic (see 

 PI. XLH), while others prepare the accessories to be placed around 

 the mosaic. They first make the sun symbol in the center. The 

 four circles represent the perihelion of the sun and are called "house 

 of the sun," the yellow being with the Hopi the color of the north, 

 the blue or green* of the west, the red of the south, the white of the 

 east, and the black of the northeast or the above. For the south- 

 west, representing the below, different colors are used, and in this 

 instance below is probably represented by the groundwork or field of 

 the mosaic itself. The four arrow-shaped projections on the four 

 sides of the sand mosaic and the lines running through them, repre- 

 sent house \i\o%sovcis(kihut-sihuata^, here, of course, of the "houses of 



*The Hopi call the various shades of blue and the darker or bluish shades of green sakwa- 

 ■wussa. For the light " grass green" shades, however, they have another word, moktngpu. 



