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



on a part of their costume, which will be described later, they take 

 their masks and other paraphernalia under their blankets and repair 

 to the Kwan (Agave) kiva, where they dress up fully and then wait 

 until the proper time arrives for them to commence their perform- 

 ances. But what is going on at the shrine north of the village? The 

 Hahai-i, having arrived at the shrine, takes a position on the east side 

 of it, his face being turned towards the village, and utters at short 

 intervals sounds something like these : Hu (long drawn) hu-hu-hu-hu- 

 hu. As it is usually dark yet, he does not put on the mask until 

 ready to start to the village. 



The Powamu priest, when arriving at the shrine, at once places 

 a baho, the four ndkwakwosis and some sacred meal in the shrine, and 

 sprinkles meal from the east side towards the shrine and then towards 

 the village. He then takes a little honey into his mouth and ejects 

 it towards the cardinal points, which is called feeding the clouds. 

 Going a few paces towards the village, he sprinkles with sacred meal 

 a cloud symbol on the trail, which consists of three semicircles from 

 which are drawn four lines of meal in the direction of the village. 

 Upon this symbol he places a hikvsi. After making another similar 

 symbol about twenty paces farther towards the village, he hands the 

 tray to the Katcina, who, in the meanwhile, has put on the mask, and 

 then, after having uttered a brief prayer, returns to the kiva, where 

 he and some of the other men smoke and talk, some of the latter also 

 making naktaakwosis, until the Katcina arrives in the village. The 

 latter slowly follows the trail to the village, blowing the bone whistle 

 and uttering the long drawn "/?« — hu—huhuhu'' every few minutes. 

 Entering the village at the northeast corner, he makes his way along 

 one street to the plaza, where the stop he makes is somewhat longer 

 than usual. Occasionally women and children will approach the 

 Katcina, sprinkle a pinch of sacred meal on him and take a small 

 sprig of the green corn or the pine lying in the tray. As soon as the 

 Powamu priest, is informed in the kiva that the Katcina has reached 

 the plaza, he squats down before the altar and begins to sing, accom- 

 panying himself with a rattle, the other men continuing to smoke and 

 to make nakwakwosis. On one occasion I noticed , that one of the 

 men removed the hatchway covering and swept around the kiva at 

 this time. This is done on every occasion, but was specially observed 

 on this occasion only. From the plaza the Hahai-i slowly moves 

 along another street to the Honani kiva, where he takes a position 

 on the east side, still uttering those sounds at short intervals, and 

 holding the tray in front of himself. 



While the Hahai-i is thus waiting at the Honani kiva (see PI. 



