516 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1918. 



tives of the Earth being, or Corn maid, and the Sky god, but the 

 conception they express is radically different from what we find 

 in the horned serpent cultus. In the Snake dance of the Hopi we 

 have a family ceremony in which the reptiles as elder brothers are 

 gathered from the fields to receive the prayers of their living de- 

 scendants. They are prayed to as the offspring of ancestral beings, 

 and are supposed to have more power, in influencing the gods who 

 cause the crops to germinate and mature, than the living or human 

 descendants of the same parents. Throughout the legend that ex- 

 plains the Snake dance both sky (sun) and earth play their parts; 

 the former guides the Snake youth through the underworld, and 

 over the sky; the latter is his mentor, the Spider woman. 



The prayers at the time of the Snake dance always present the de- 

 sire of the Hopis for rain to water their farms that corn may grow 

 and yield abundant harvests. Nowhere throughout the rite do we 

 find any idols of these two culture ancestors, but they are repre- 

 sented by a boy and girl in the dramatization of the Snake myth, 

 as recorded in my account of the Snake ceremonies at Walpi. 1 Un- 

 like the Katcinas, the participants do not wear masks and no repre- 

 sentative of the Sky god leads them into the village. 



Nowhere in the Hopi ritual do we find more instructive examples 

 of solar and sky worship than in the so-called Flute dance, 2 which has 

 been modified by elements of the Snake dance. It would be germane 

 to this discussion to indicate the points of relation between the myths 

 and rites of the Flute and Snake priests, but it would take one too 

 far from the immediate subject in hand. The objective symbolism 

 dealing with sky worship found on one of the altars of the Oraibi 

 Flute festival is worthy of analysis. 



The most important idol of one of the Oraibi Flute altars (pi. 8) 

 is identified as the "Heart of the Sky," another name for the sky 

 power. This idol bears a horn on the head resembling that ap- 

 pendage of the horned serpent effigies. Its lower limbs are deco- 

 rated with zigzag figures that symbolize the lightning, and there 

 are other symbols on this idol that suggest the Sky god. On the 

 sides of this image are idols of the Flute youth and the Flute maid, 

 to which the prayers of the Flute priests for rain and the fertiliza- 

 tion of the farms for good harvest are especially directed. The sym- 

 bol of the sun is worn on the back of a priest in their march (pi. 9) 

 from the Sun spring to the pueblos on the last day 3 of the Flute fes- 

 tival. In the myth of the Flute fraternity there are constant ref- 

 erences to Sky and Earth god worship in the underworld, which are 



1 Snake Ceremonials at Walpi. .Tourn. Amer. Ethnol. and Archaeol., Col. IV, 1894. 



2 The Walpi Flute Observance. A Study of Primitive Dramatization. .Tourn. Amer. 

 Folk Lore, Vol. VII. No. 21, 1804. The Oraibi Flute Altar. Tourn. Amer. Folk Lore, Vol. 

 VIII, No. 31. The Miconinovi Flute Altar, Journ. Amer. Folk Lore Vol. IX, No. 35, 1896. 



3 Tusayan Snake and Flute Ceremonies. 10th Rept. Bur. Amer. Eth. 1901. 



