Nov., 1903. Oraibi Summer Snake Ceremony — Voth. 311 



prayer: "Pai hapi itam yep it s-hiian pasionaya; hapi owi yep it 

 shiianpasiwtikat akvv itam paipu pas pai okiw akw mongwactotini pai 

 pi okiwa. Hapi kush yahpinen yiikioq qoyangwun tiipaka, sikangwun 

 tdpaka it wiikwtuwuilat ndlonangup hongkata; put anga paisok pas pai 

 ang nacungwitapwushkahkangwu yiikioq shiishngumok, shdshchawat 

 wonuhkat akw pdisok pas pai wiihtitokwantioni wdhtak tokwantioni 

 pai pu okiwa. Ep ovahakai itahtim natpipake wiingwiotakam yishe- 

 hapi ; paipu paspai okiwd; woyoini katici nawokawintani pai pu okiwd. 

 Pai owi itam yan hakam tunatyaokahkango pai hahlaikahkango 

 ookaokahkango kawomii talodngnawishni shopkawat sinomu ; pas yaoi. " 

 A free rendering of this would be as follows:' 

 Now, then, we celebrate (perform)" this here in the right manner. 

 Hence, since we perform, (or celebrate) this rightly we must certainly 

 attain its objects,' okiwa.* Now, then, from here over to the white 

 rising bluff, to the yellow rising bluff, this age-mark is standing at 

 intervals.^ On that you must be resting as you go along (through 

 life),* over there at the last one, the shortest one standing, may you 

 (lit., you must) fall asleep as old women, old men! okiwa! There 

 somewhere above (?) our children, grown to different ages, are staying. 



'It is extremely difficult to give a correct rendering of old Hopi talks and songs, partly 

 because they are often interspersed with archaic words and forms, partly because they sometimes 

 refer to ideas and facts, the meaning and significance of which are no longer understood. Even at 

 the present day songs are often made for special occasions and referring to special facts in a few 

 loosely connected phrases of words, so that even the participants in the singing cannot always give 

 the full meaning of the songs. They say that the composer alone knows what he really meant to say. 



' The word here rendered "celebrate" is generally used to designate any religious or cere- 

 monial performance. Usually, however, '" pavasiona " instead of " pasiona " is used. 



^The word here translated "benefited by it" is another of those Hopi words which are 

 difficult to translate, and which admit of different meanings. Sometimes it means "accomplish," 

 "conclude."' It is difficult to decide just what is meant. When making inquiries about it the 

 author was told that the idea of the phrase was the wish that the ceremony might be accomplished 

 or terminated in such a manner that the object might be reached, viz., to secure good living, a good 

 subsistence for the Hopis. f 



* An exclamation denoting regret, pity, sympathy, etc., either with the speaker himself or 

 with some one else. The meaning varies somewhat according to the context. 



* Reference is here made to the crooks on both sides of the sand mosaic, which with the 

 Hopi are the symbols of the different ages of life. Thus on a certain occasion, during the 

 Wuwuchim ceremony, all the inhabitants of the village file by the kiva of the Singer Society and 

 touch a crook, which is the natsi (emblem) of that Society, as a prayer for a long life. The shortest 

 crooks, the Hopi say, symbolize old age, because in old age men become smaller and use a shorter 

 crook. While the crooks seem to symbolize more the different ages in life, the long string, laid diag- 

 onally across the sand mosaic, and along which the tiponi is waved, symbolizes the way of life. On 

 one of the sand mosaics in the Katcina initiation ceremony the two are combined. (See PI. LIIl. 

 The Powamu Ceremony, by H. R. Voth, published by the Field Columbian Museum.) The Hopi 

 connects the idea of life with the east, death with the west. In different ceremonies the chief priest 

 buries a long string road east of the mesa in a trench that runs eastward to the white dawn, the 

 yellow dawn, the rising sun. When life is symbolically spoken of as a journey, the thought predomi- 

 nates that this journey goes eastward; but when the dead are spoken of they are always supposed to 

 travel westward from the grave, which they are supposed to leave on the fourth day. 



* The meaning probably is: .'\s men rest themselves on staffs and crooks when they are 

 weary m~y you so find rest, solace, and comfort all through life when you are weary. 



