Feb., 1905. Oraibi Natal Customs — Voth. 57 



A SPECIAL NAME-GIVING CEREMONY IN ORAIBI. 



The foregoing account of the natal ceremonies is a compilation 

 of notes and observations made at different times. Since the com- 

 pilation was made, another name-giving ceremony was observed, and 

 it was thought best to print the notes on that observation as they 

 were made, instead of incorporating them in the foregoing general 

 account. An opportunity is thus afforded to notice and study the suc- 

 cessive stages of the rites in a particular ceremony, to note small varia- 

 tions, etc. 



We came to the house where the ceremony was to take place at 

 about four o'clock, and found the people still asleep. In about ten 

 minutes the grandmother came in bringing with her a kettle of water 

 and two white ears of corn. She soon commenced to make suds of yucca 

 roots. She is the mother of the father of the baby and her name 

 is Nuvayonsi. A few minutes later came in Qomdhepnoma,* the sister 

 of the former. Both belong to the Coyote clan. 



.\s soon as the suds was ready the grandmother bathed the two 

 corn-ears, rinsing them off with fresh water. Some water had, in the 

 mean while, been heated, to which the grandmother added some suds. 

 A good fire was by this time burning in an American stove. Another 

 fire had been started in the fireplace in an adjoining room where 

 a large vessel of water was boiling. A third fire was burning in the 

 corner of the room where the ceremony took place. On this latter, 

 the water for the ceremony was being heated. 



After having bathed the two ears of corn, the grandmother washed 

 the mother's head, which was repeated by Qdraa. When both were 

 through they poured some water over her head, rinsing it. The mother 

 herself pressed the water from her hair. The bowl, containing the suds, 

 was then placed near the stove, some fresh water being poured into 

 another bowl; and in this water the arms and the shoulders of the mother 

 were bathed. The water in the little pail, which was used for these 

 purposes, had been heated, with a few sprigs of juniper in it. After 

 the arms and the upper part of the body of the mother had been 

 bathed, a little sand, which had been lying in the corner, was swept 

 forward, a heated stone placed on it, and some yucca roots that had 

 been nsed for the suds, as well as some of the juniper leaves, were 

 placed on the stone. The mother then placed her right foot on these 

 branches, and the grandmother washed it. The same was repeated with 

 the left foot. The mother then got a tray on which the grandmother 



•Uaually nsed in its abbreviated form Qoma. 



