SUN WORSHIP FEWKES. 501 



these seeds are scraped from their attachment to be used in future 

 planting. During the songs an invocation is sung to the Great Snake, 

 although no effigy or other representation of him is used at that time. 

 Shortly after this rite, absent at Walpi, there appears in the kiva a 

 personation of the Sky god wearing on his head a star with four 

 points, the " heart " of the sky. He carries in his hand a disk upon 

 which is painted the sun emblem, to the back of which is tied a plant- 

 ing stick. At the most solemn time in the rite this personator twirls 

 the sun emblem in his hand, pointing it in succession toward the 

 cardinal points. 



In reviewing these rites with a view to interpretation and compari- 

 son with the Walpi variant, it appears that the main object is the 

 same as the rites in which the effigy of the snake is used, or fertiliza- 

 tion of the seed. The Sky god, symbolized by both sun and horned 

 serpent, is the beneficent Sky god who fertilizes the seed, brings the 

 rain, and causes the crops to grow. It thus appears that the functions 

 of the Great Serpent and the Sky god are intimately connected in 

 Hopi philosophy, the difference of personation in dramatization be- 

 ing largely due to modification in the different pueblos, possibly from 

 the predominance of different clans. 



It is evident that there are two essential features or two elements 

 involved ; first, the fertilization of the earth and, second, the renewal 

 of life, especially of the food plant, corn. The production of rain 

 is not the striking motive in this complex ritual, but rather the pro- 

 curing of the needed warmth and moisture upon the seeds to cause 

 growth and furnish a food supply. From one point of view the fall- 

 ing rain fertilizes the earth and makes the crops grow, so that we 

 may say there is only one object in these rites, namely, that of fertili- 

 zation. 1 The Sun and Great Serpent, symbolic forms of the Sky god, 

 impart the principle of life, as in many other ceremonies among the 

 Hopi. 



The Zufii have an equivalent of the Hopi horned serpent, whose 

 effigy, mechanically attached to tablets on which rain clouds are de- 

 picted, is brought into the town and carried to the entrance of each 

 kiva. The head of this effigy is held over the kiva hatchway, while 

 water with seeds are poured through the body, emerging from the 

 mouth into receptacles held up to receive them — an act symbolic of 

 water and seeds for the coming planting time, the gifts which the 

 Great Serpent brings to the Zuni. To still further show that the Hopi 

 serpent e&igj is a god of fertilization it may be mentioned that at- 

 tached to the backbone of its body there is a quartz crystal, symbol of 

 the sun, and specimens of all the different kinds of seeds known to the 

 Hopi. The intention of the Great Serpent worship in both pueblos 



1 cf. H. K. Haberlein, The idea of fertilization in the culture of the Pueblo Indians. 

 Mem. Anthrop. Assoc, Vol. II, No. 1, pp. 1-55. 



136650°— 20 33 



