6l2 FEWKES 



outside, were heard in reply. First came down the ladder a 

 man wearing a shabby mask covered with vertical zigzag lines/ 

 bearing a heavy bundle on his back. As he climbed down the 

 ladder he pretended to slip on each rung, but ultimately landed 

 on the floor without accident, and opened his bundle, which was 

 found to contain a metate and meal grinding stone. He ar- 

 ranged these on the floor before the fireplace and took his seat 

 at one side. A second man with a like bundle followed, and 

 deposited his burden by the side of the other. Two masked 

 girls ^ elaborately dressed in white ceremonial blankets followed, 

 and knelt by the stones facing the fire, assuming the posture of 

 girls when grinding corn. 



After them entered the chorus, a procession of masked men 

 who filed around the room and halted in line behind the kneeling 

 girls. At a signal these last arrivals began to sing, and as they ■ 

 sang moved in a solemn dance. The girls rubbed the mealing 

 stones back and forth over the metates, grinding the meal in 

 time with the song, and the kneeling men clapped their hands, 

 swaying their bodies in rhythm. 



The last mentioned men held an animated conversation with 

 the fire tenders, asserting that the girls were expert meal grinders, 

 and from time to time crossed the room, putting pinches of the 

 meal into the mouths of the fire tenders and spectators. This 

 continued for some time, after which the girls rose and danced 

 in the middle of the room, posturing their bodies and extending 

 alternately their hands in which they carried corn ears. The 

 chorus personated the Navajo Ana Katcina^ the girls were 

 .called the 'Navajo Ana maids and are supposed to be sisters of 

 men in the chorus. 



In order to understand better this act let us consider the nature 

 of the Katcina cult from which these personages were derived. 

 These personages are called Katcinas, of which there are many 

 kinds among the Hopi, differing from each other in the sym- 

 bolism of their masks and other paraphernalia. Their distinc- 



' These men were called Hehca Katcinas. 



2 These girls were called the Tacaf AFia Katcina Manas. On the day follow- 

 ing, two girls representing the Ana Katcina Manas performed the same act in 

 the pnblic plaza of Walpi. 



