

BAHOLAWU OR INTRODUCTORY CEREMONY. 



First Part 



THE WINTER CEREMONY 



This brief preliminary performance was observed on February 3, 

 1894, and on January 20, 1898. The first took place in the Marau 

 kiva, the other in the ancestral home of the Lizard clan where Wickwaya 

 the chief priest, (see Plate II), his sister, the chief priestess, and their 

 mother (who had formerly been the chief priestess, her daughter 

 succeeding her), were still living and which, of course, he still considered 

 as his home. 1 The introductory Baholawu (baho making), for other 

 ceremonies also, frequently take place in the ancestral homes of the 

 clan that controls the ceremonies. As these two brief ceremonies were 

 four years apart, and one took place in a house, the other in a kiva and 

 the details vary somewhat, they will be described separately. 



1. Baholawu, February 3, 1894. 



Wickwaya, chief priest; Homihoiniwa, Assistant priest; Tangak- 

 weima, (Wickwaya 's mother) Chief priestess; Paelaka, Assistant 

 priestess were the leaders. 



When I arrived in the morning Tangakweima had just put up the 

 natsi (standard) outside, which consisted of, I believe, six sticks, about 

 eight inches long, to which many small hawk feathers were attached, 

 and was sprinkling some meal on it, and also some towards the sun. 

 The three went into the kiva and built a fire while Wickwaya com- 

 menced making bahos. Several bundles of such articles as feathers, 

 paint, etc., were lying on the floor. It was quite cold in the kiva; 

 Wickwaya only had a blanket around his shoulders. His hair was 

 hanging down loose. 



Tangakweima now combed herself and was then sent after water 

 and a long stone mortar to rub the paint on. Other women, who 



1 The Hopi considers his parental home as his real home, though he may be married and live 

 somewhere else with his family. If you simply ask him where he lives, he usually points to the place 

 where his mother lives. The author once had a Hopi who had a wife and six children, for three months 

 in Kansas. When this man returned he first went to his parents' home, who had already retired for 

 the night, had his mother prepare him a repast, related to her some of his experiences and then pro- 

 ceeded to his family, to which he was otherwise very much attached. 



13 



