ANCESTOR WORSHIP — FEWKES. 487 



The symbolic home of the Hopi Katcinas is ceremonially asso- 

 ciated with the San Francisco Mountains, Ariz., far to the southwest 

 of the Hopi but in sight of their pueblos. On account of this asso- 

 ciation personifications of the Katcinas sometimes wear twigs of 

 cedar in their belts, wristlets, or armlets. In the mortuary cere- 

 monies of the Hopi the defunct is addressed as a Katcina : " You 

 have become a Katcina; grant our request," is the burden of a 

 prayer to the dead. 



The " breath-bodies," or spirits of the dead, are supposed to fol- 

 low the sun as it sinks in the western sky. The place of sunset at 

 the winter solstice is behind a notch on the horizon silhouetted against 

 the sky and known as the Sunhouse, indicated by a depression be- 

 tween the San Francisco Mountain and Eldon Mesa. The festival 

 that celebrates the departure of the Katcinas from Walpi is known 

 as Niman (go home) Katcina. The dancers perform the last dance 

 of their departure about sunset, after which they follow the western 

 trail " down the mesa." In the foothills near this trail is the shrine 

 where the offerings to the dead are deposited, often called the Badger 

 shrine, because the Badger clan is said to have introduced the im- 

 portant Katcinas, whose altars are erected in February on the dra- 

 matization of their arrival and in July when they formally leave the 

 pueblo. 



While the author was living at Walpi in 1900 he was informed 

 one day that the Hopi were in great distress because the covering 

 of this shrine had been removed, and the mystic Badger had 

 emerged from the underworld and was burrowing in the graves of the 

 dead. So intense was the superstitious feeling of the evils this event 

 portended that no one would even venture into the neighborhood of 

 the shrine. Even the men who reported the event could not be induced 

 to go to this place and determine the damage. After a few days, 

 however, the fear subsided, as some persons killed a real Badger, who 

 had been detected burrowing into the earth at the foot of the mesa 

 near the cemetery. This dread of the offended mystic Badger was 

 allayed by prayers and incantations. The opening through which he 

 emerged from his subterranean home is the shrine where prayer 

 sticks are placed by Katcina personators. 



A Katcina dance is a family festival in which the ancients, per- 

 sonated by masked men who are supposed to become these super- 

 natural beings when they put on the masks, participate. The identifi- 

 cation of the clan to which they belong is indicated by the symbolism 

 depicted on the mask, much of which is probably secondary in 

 origin and explained by myths known to the initiated. When an 

 explanation is sought for the meaning of this symbolism it should be 

 obtained from members of the appropriate clan, as those not belong- 



