NATAL CEREMONIES IN ORAIBI, ARIZONA. 



In his paper entitled "Natal Ceremonies of the Hopi Indians," 

 the late J. G. Owens describes the giving of a name or names to the 

 Hopi child. His observations, however, seem to have been made chiefly 

 in the villages of the First or East Mesa of Tusayan, and as the writer 

 of this article has observed these sanie rites in Oraibi, the largest of the 

 seven Hopi villages, it has been thought advisable to publish them as 

 a contribution to a comparative study of this and similar subjects. 



As among most primitive peoples, the time preceding and attend- 

 ing childbirth among the Hopi is attended with very much less prep- 

 arations, excitement, ado, and expense than among white people. The 

 woman approaching confinement is, as a rule, very unconcerned about 

 It, though I am told that occasionally she will look forward to the 

 event with more or less anxiety, and express the wish that it may not 

 be the cause of her being transferred " to the skeleton house (mdski.)" 



Usually the first and only one called to the house where a wonian 

 is to be confined is her own mother, or, if the mother be no longer 

 living, an aunt or some other relative. This attendant heats some water, 

 sees that a proper "bed" is prepared for the lying-in woman, which 

 usually consists of a layer of sand and some old rags. She also places 

 in readiness an old tray, a small broom, and a little twig of juniper. 

 Though she remains within hailing distance, even she is not supposed 

 to be present during the last stage of labor, and when parturition 

 actually takes place. So in the " hour of greatest need " the Hopi 

 mother is left to herself. "That is sacred to her" (" Pam put KdhCaona"), 

 the Hopi say. As a rule, the parturient woman assumes a kneeling posi- 

 tion with both hands on the floor, but the head somewhat raised. If there 

 are children in the house they remain almost to the time when the child 

 is actually born,* but at that moment they are sent out of the house. 

 Thp husband of the woman is, as a rule, absent. 



As soon as the child is born, the attending woman is called. A little 

 of the juniper is first chewed, either by the patient herself, or by the attend- 

 ant, and in the latter case placed into the patient's mouth. She first 

 directs her attention to the delivery of the placenta. Usually a little 

 warm corn-meal gruel is given to the patient at this stage. If the womb 



*When I was in charge of a boarding-school among the Cheyenne and Arapabo some 

 yean ago, it happened on several occasions that people asked for permission to take their chil- 

 dren home from school when a case of confinement was about to take place in the family. 



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