348 Field Columbian Museum — Anthropology, Vol, III. 



house, where it was prepared.' (See PI. 217.) The emetic is a 

 decoction of a dark, greenish color, and is said to taste bitter. As 

 soon as the emetic has been swallowed the men kneel on the edge of 

 the kfva, and irritating their pharynx with their fingers, produce pro- 

 fuse vomiting. (See PI. 218.) This, they say, cleanses them from 

 the snake charm already mentioned so that they can again associate 

 with the other inhabitants of the village. Yet this purification is not 

 complete until they have gone through another discharming rite, which 

 will be described presently. After having vomited, each one drinks 

 some of the water from the jars and jugs at the south end of the kfva, 

 and then enters the kfva and sits down to rest or to smoke. As soon 

 as all have entered the klva the final purification ceremony takes place. 

 All participants stand around the fireplace in a half-circle, first taking 

 off their moccasins. The Chief Snake priest takes a long buzzard 

 feather in his left hand, a pinch of ashes in his right hand, and all the 

 others some ashes in their right hand. All then hum the nawuhchi 

 tawi (discharming song), waving their hands slightly up and down to 

 the time of the singing. The men hold between their left thumb and 

 forefinger a pinch of ashes, which they have taken from their right 

 hand. This they circle from right to left four times at a certain 

 point of the song and then throw it towards the hatchway, the chief 

 priest doing the same with the feather and wiping the ashes from the 

 feather toward the hatchway. He sprinkles another pinch of ashes on 

 the feather, the others take a new pinch from the right hand, and the 

 same performance is repeated five times, corresponding to the number 

 of verses in the song. After the last stanza all beat off the ashes from 

 their hands, rub their bodies and limbs with their hands, and then sit 

 down for the evening repast, which the women have in the mean while 

 brought to the kiva and which is so much the more enjoyed, as none 

 of them has touched any food or water since the previous day. 



After supper the kisi is taken down, usually by one or several of 

 the young men, and apparently without any ceremony. The smaller 

 branches are thrown off the mesa, the larger ones they sometimes use 

 for constructing the booths in which the Hopi watch their fields in the 

 summer months. 



The altar paraphernalia are wrapped up, and later in the evening 

 taken to the home of the Snake clan, where they remain when not in 

 use. Here the Snake costumes are also kept.^ The Antelopes, .upon 



' The emetic has thus far always been prepared in t,he house of MacSngontiwa's sister. Two 

 large pots are filled with water, the herbs are tied in bundles and thrown into the water, and the whole 

 is boiled for several hours. It is said that formerly the ancestral home of the Snake clan stood a few 

 hundred yards farther west, but that has entirely disappeared. 



' In the other villages each member of the Snake Fraternity takes care of his own costume. 



