ANCESTOR WORSHIP — FEWKES. 497 



and are identical with the so-called Koyimsi of Zuiii. These Mud 

 Heads wear a close-fitting helmet-like mask to which are tied small 

 balls filled with corn or seeds, making them look as if they had huge 

 wens on the head, eyes, and mouth. 



It is customary for the Hopi youth, on reaching maturity, to be 

 formally inducted into the Katcina priesthood, and at that time the 

 youths and maidens undergo the so-called flogging ceremony which 

 has been elsewhere 5 described. Up to this event children believe 

 that the Katcinas are supernatural personages, but from then on 

 they learn that these so-called supernaturals are really their own 

 relations. They obtain this knowledge through flogging by their 

 elders in the kivas. 



One of the most important objects on the Katcina altar is the 

 badge of the chief or, as it is sometimes called, the tiponi, or mother 

 of the priesthood. This sacred emblem is the palladium of the priest- 

 hood and the symbol of its chief. It must be placed here as indica- 

 tive that the altar is genuine, and is carried, in the public dance, on 

 the arm of the chief as an emblem of his chieftaincy. 



This emblem is practically an ear of corn done up in numerous 

 wrappings of buckskin with certain prescribed feathers and herbs. 

 Many occult powers are ascribed to it and there are many prescribed 

 rules of handling, placing it in position on the altar, and general 

 treatment that are rigidly observed by some priests. When not in 

 use it is generally wrapped in cloth and hung up in some nook or 

 corner of a dark chamber in the rear of the room in which the 

 chief lives. " This is my mother, " said an old chief to me, speaking 

 of his tiponi. " It was brought up from the underworld by my an- 

 cestors where the races were born. When I die a part of it will be 

 put over my heart as a badge of my rank." 



In a full Katcina dance we have depicted the following personages : 

 First, the sun as leader; second, a number of men dressed to repre- 

 sent the male {takamu, their men) ; third, six persons to represent the 

 sisters (manas, maid) or the female members; one to represent the 

 uncle, and sometimes one or more to represent the aunt. It will be 

 seen in looking over this assemblage of relations or personations that 

 the father is not represented, due to the fact that he does not belong 

 to the same clan as the uncle, aunt, brothers, and daughters. In 

 other words, in the Katcina membership there is a strict parallelism 

 with what occurs among the living members of a clan and the per- 

 sonators of dancers in the masque; indicating a close likeness in con- 

 ception in the Hopi mind between the ancients and the living mem- 

 bers of the clan. Apparently the ancestral members of clans preserve 



BJourn. Washington Acad. Sci., Vol. VII, No. 6, pp. 149-158. 1917. Reprinted under 

 the title "A religious ceremony of the nopi Indians." Sci. Amer. Suppl. Vol. T.XXXIII, 

 pp. 226-227, April 14, 1917. 



