590 ANNUAL, REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1920. 



we can interpret early or prehistoric stages of the mound builders' 

 culture. Unfortunately the area inhabited by them was settled so 

 rapidly by the white man that these stocks disappeared before their 

 culture was adequately recorded and our knowledge of them being 

 correspondingly fragmentary, our interpretation of the relations of 

 the mound builders is less precise. This is, of course, not universally 

 true for all tribes. The Jesuit Relations abound with ethnological 

 data. The busk or fire ceremonials of certain Mississippi tribes have 

 been described with great completeness, although not in sufficient 

 detail. Historians tell us of wooden idols and fire temples used in 

 these rites, but neither pencil nor camera has transmitted to us a 

 picture or photograph of them adequate for interpretation. There 

 can hardly be a doubt that the mound builders performed fire cere- 

 monials possibly as elaborate as the Hopi, but as no one has ade- 

 quately described them, we are obliged to rely on objects to supple- 

 ment our knowledge of them. 



The mystery of life made a very strong impression on the minds 

 of primitive men and efforts for its perpetuation are prominent in 

 most ceremonies of the Hopi ritual. The nature and cause of life 

 early became a subject of speculation and was ascribed to a supernat- 

 ural origin. Life was recognized as characteristic of man, animals, 

 plants, and all material objects and forces. The Hopi looked to 

 objective manifestations for an interpretation of life, but regarded it 

 chiefly as a manifestation of magic power. 



Fire being to the primitive mind a form of vitality, it was inter- 

 preted by the Hopi as a living being ; its continuance came to occupy 

 a prominent place in their rituals. The mode of influencing super- 

 natural beings for that end made up the major part of their religion. 

 The relation of the sky god to universal life has already been dis- 

 cussed, 1 and in the present article an attempt will be made to show 

 that fire rites among these Indians have somewhat the same meaning. 

 Sun worship and fire worship have identical ends in view and many 

 rites in common. 



In Hopi fire rites we have one of several modifications of the 

 fundamental purpose of their ritual — to perpetuate life — but the 

 Hopi ritual is a mosaic of clan units, with individual differences, 

 through which there runs a vein of similarity and certain common 

 supernatural conceptions of elementary powers, among which is a 

 personation or deification of the principle of life, but the names ap- 

 plied to it vary in different clan cults. 



It can hardly be questioned that the worship of fire as well as of 

 the sun 2 is fundamental among the Hopi, and extends back in 

 history even to the time when the culture of the human race 



1 Ann. Rept. Smithsonian Inst., 1918. 



" These studies were made twenty years ago and depict the aboriginal Hopi religious 

 practices. 



