FIRE WORSHIP FEWKES. 601 



I have seen the Fire God personated in the winter solstice cere- 

 mony, when the assembled priests gathered about a low fire and 

 greeted two representatives of this being with prayers. Each bore 

 an archaic planting stick or dibble and wore black gourds on 

 their heads; the} 7 knelt on the floor in the attitude assumed by 

 the Hopi in planting, and went through the motions of a planter 

 depositing seed corn. At the conclusion of this act all present 

 prayed to them for abundant crops, after which they left the kiva. 

 The new fire was not kindled at this time, but the fire gods assume 

 the role of the planter, as the symbolism plainly indicates. The 

 prayers to them were evidently for the same purpose as those to 

 the sun for the growth of the crops and the fertilization of the seed 

 corn. 



Subsequent to the fire kinding I followed two of the societies which 

 made a pilgrimage to the site of old Walpi, called Ash Hill Terrace, 

 situated at the base of the mesa on a terrace at its west end. Mounds 

 indicating a large ruin mark this site, and around these about mid- 

 night the procession groped its way in silence. 



" Down there is the sipapu, where they dwell,'' said a priest, point- 

 ing to the earth ; " there the ancients dwell. We are now paying rever- 

 ence to them." Then they prayed and smoked, after which the cliffs 

 resounded with loud shouts, cries, and calls of unknown meaning. 

 The procession of priests then filed away to the neighboring shrine 

 (pi. 8, fig. 6) containing the idol of the "Earth Altar Woman," 16 

 represented by a log of fossil wood surrounded by a low rude stone 

 wall. These exercises took place at the dead of night, with only the 

 stars to witness what occurred at these shrines. 



On the east side of the mesa below Walpi, near the northern point, 

 there descends a precipitous trail which is known as the ladder trail, 

 from the fact that formerly a ladder stood on its steepest part. As 

 that trail runs along the terrace of the mesa it passes to the right of 

 a huge bowlder in which is eroded a cave, walled in front. This is 

 the shrine of a god of germs called Talatumsi, 17 whose wooden idol, 

 clothed in a white ceremonial blanket (pi. 3, fig. 2) , sits there through- 

 out the year. To it annually the new fire priests make offerings, but 

 quadrennially it is taken from its home and carried to the mesa top 

 by one of its priesthood named the Alosaka or Horned Society. The 

 identity of the name of this priesthood at Walpi with that of the 

 idols at Awatobi lead me to believe that the idols belong to this priest- 

 hood. 



As this figurine plays an important role in the events following 

 the making of the new fire, it may be well to consider somewhat 

 specifically who it represents. It is in the special custody of the 



u Tuwa, earth; ponya, altar; tumsi, elder sister. 

 17 Tala, dawn ; tumsi, elder sister. 



