ANCESTOR WORSHIP FEWKES. 



501 



River and its tributaries. The family, so a legend 11 says, is de- 

 scended from a mythic ancestor or snake woman and has reptilian 

 as well as human members; the snakes we see in the fields are de- 

 scended from the earliest offspring of these two cult ancestors, which 

 sprung from people of the underworld. Every two years the Snake 

 family holds its family reunion at Walpi and at that time the reptiles 

 are gathered in from the fields and carried by the snake men or snake 



e. Humming bird. 



g. Cooper's hawk. 



f. Tcanau Katcina. h. Buffalo maid. 



Fig. 5. — Indian pictures of Katcinas. 



priests, their younger brothers, in the sight of spectators. Eeptiles, 

 or elder brothers of the clan, are supposed to have greater power to 

 bring the rain and make the crops grow than modern priests who pray 

 to them at the close of the family gathering of the Snake clans. 



When the Snake Dance is celebrated reptiles are gathered from the 

 four world quarters corresponding to the cardinal points to partici- 



11 The Snake ceremonials at Walpi. Journ. Am. Ethnol. and Archaeol. vol. iv, 1894. 

 101257—22 33 



