Mar. 1901. The Oraibi Soyal Ceremony — Dorsky. 57 



When these had left the kiva the people from the Hano kiva came and 

 performed, whereupon those from the other participating kivas fol- 

 lowed, one after the other, in the different kivas. 



Towards morning the men from the different kivas carry all their 

 bahos to their houses and soon after the inmates arise, and consider- 

 ably before sunrise the whole village is astir and getting ready for 

 the planting and depositing of the Soyal bahos. Just at sunrise the 

 inhabitants emerge from the houses and streets, the women, many of 

 them robed in the atoe, and the children carrying hands and armsful 

 of bahos to the east edge of the mesa, where these bahos, numbering 

 many hundreds, are being thrust into the ground (see PI. XXX). 

 Those belonging to the Sand clan plant theirs about fifteen yards 

 farther to the southeast, all in one bunch. This place is called 

 Atvaiobi (Bow height), because this clan is said to have come from 

 Aiuatobi (now a ruin), about thirty miles east of Oraibi. A similar but 

 larger group may be seen south of the village at a place called Tcohki 

 (Antelope house or shrine), where may be seen such trophies of the 

 chase as the heads of antelopes, deer, wild cat, etc. The bahos found 

 in this latter group are taken there by boys and men only. Almost 

 all the viakbahos (hunt bahos) are deposited here; occasionally some 

 small boy, who goes with his mother, will plant his at the main baho 

 fiel^.* Bahos and nakwakwosis are now being offered in many various 

 ways. They are placed in the houses, tied to the ladders to prevent 

 accident, placed in the chicken houses " that the hens may lay eggs," 

 into the beef and sheep corrals, and tied to horses' tails, dogs', goats' 

 and sheeps' necks, etc., "for increase;" tied to the peach trees as 

 prayer for large crops, deposited in springs for an abundant water 

 supply, and disposed of in many similar ways. One man came even 

 running to the mission and tied a few nakioakwosis to the missionary's 

 watch, which was hanging on the wall, and which the Hopi consider 

 as a symbol of the sun, also calling it tawa (sun). In the Ponovi 

 kiva Shokhunyoma and others of the leaders are, in the meanwhile, 



♦The bahos deposited at these three places are of three kinds as far as their obiect or purpose 

 is concerned. First, the bent bahos or noloshoya. These arc made for little boys by their fath- 

 ers, it being their first baho, as a wish tiiat the boy may thrive, be happy and live long. The sec- 

 ond kind are the so-called makbaho (hunting bahos) which men mako for themselves and for others 

 as a wish or prayer for good luck in the chase. These consist of nakwak-wosis tied to a stem of 

 grass, various kinds of grass being used. The feathers are also of many different kinds, but no 

 turkey feathers are used. The third class, and by far the largest quantity, are offerings for the 

 dead. A nak-wak-wosi is generally made for one deceased, and these nakwak-wosis are fastened to 

 long sticks. The Hopi say tlie dead come afterward from the "Masski" (skeleton house) and each 

 one gets his nakwakwosi, or rather the soul of it, and if any one finds that for iiim no offering has 

 been made he is unhappy. The short double bahos (double green, double black or green and 

 black) are said to be made for the dead in general, who are believed to reciprocate the kindness by 

 sending the Hopi good crops of corn, watermelons, squashes, etc. Some claim that these bahos 

 are, on this occasion, as usual, made for the cloud deities. 



