lo Introductory. 



controversy, each party contending for their possession; and so it 

 came about that the altars remained in that faction to which the chief 

 priests and those who had them in charge belonged, the members of 

 the opposing factions, as a rule, withdrawing from further participa- 

 tion in the celebration of the ceremony. So, as a matter of fact, we 

 find to-day that the religious organizations are divided into two oppos- 

 ing factions, the performance of any given ceremony being con- 

 ducted, with but few exceptions, by the members of either one or the 

 other party. The gap has even widened to such an extent that in 

 certain instances the withdrawing members have held independent 

 performances, even without or with an improvised altar; and in the 

 fall of 1900 the seceding members of the Wowoc/itm/f/* fraternity, and 

 in January, 1901, the Blue Flute Society, refused to participate in the 

 ceremonies at all, an occurrence hitherto entirely unknown among 

 the Oraibis. The regular extended Wowochim celebration, one of 

 the most important of the Hopi ceremonial calendar, during which 

 the initiations into the Wowochim, Kwan, Tao and Ahl fraternities 

 take place, has not been held for many years, owing to this conten- 

 tion between the two factions. 



* While some obscurity exists as to the meaning of the term Wowochimtu, all information 

 thus far obtainable points to the probability that by it is designated the fraternity of grown men. 

 When the boys have been initiated into this fraternity they are no longer "boys" but ^'young- 

 men.'''' The similarity of the name to such terms as Woydhtani, to grow up, and especially 



Wdwoyom (old men), also seems to justify this explanation. During the great Wowochim cere- 

 mony the initiations into the Agave, Horn and Singers' Societies also take place, the significance 

 for all being the same: initiation from boyhood into manhood, and while the IVowochimtu is a 

 distinct fraternity, of which the Horn, Agave and Singer men are not members, the latter some- 

 times call the initiations into their respective orders in a general way initiations into the 



IVowochimtu, and sometimes call their " fathers '' (sponsors) who put them into their orders 

 •" Wo-vachim naala^'' {Wowochim father). 



