NOTED IN liOPILAND 



573 



as imieh food as they were able to get by 

 fair meaus or foul, which they would then 

 brazen-facedly eat in the presence of the 

 entire audience. 



This, however, Avas only part of tlieir li- 

 censed behavior. Throughout the afternoon 

 they attempted to excite the mirth of the 

 spectators, Avhether at the expense of the 

 audience, the dancers, or themselves. They 

 seemed continually on the lookout for tricks 

 of buffoonery. If an old man had dozed off 

 on one side, one of the clowns straightway 

 ran up to steal his cane and bring it to their 

 "home." When another saAv me leveling a 

 camera at him, lie immediately dashed up to 

 my vantage-ground and in broken English 

 demanded an indemnity, the moderate sum 

 of fifty cents sufficing for him and a nickel 

 apiece for his associates. But the clowns 

 Avere not always allowed to have things their 

 own way. When they had embarrassed one 

 of the women by dragging her to the line of 

 dancers and asking her to interpret the 

 chant, one of her relatives with w'ell-feigned 

 indignation seized the chief offender by the 

 ear and dragged him through the arena till 

 he was ransomed with a gift. . Similar scenes 

 Avere enacted repeatedly and added to the 

 general gaiety. Nothing could be more 

 ludicrous than the exaggerated gestures of 



fear ami iiain on tlie pai't of the buffoons 

 when taken to task by their victims. 



Tlie IVicx Kateina, as my interpreter called 

 this (lance, confirmed a view I had long ago 

 • leveloped Avith regard to primitive cere- 

 monies. The tendency of most ethnologists 

 has been to overemphasize the importance 

 of the religious and the esoteric in ritualism. 

 They fail to unders-tand that even though 

 the ostensible object of a performance may 

 be to supplicate supernatural beings or to 

 bend nature to the Avill of a priesthood, there 

 may also be satisfied quite other than niagico- 

 religious cravings, — aspirations that Ave may 

 group together under the head of the aes- 

 thetic. This applies even to the fraternity 

 conducting the activities, but Avith tenfold 

 force to the throng of beholders who are 

 shut out from Avhatever secret meaning the 

 drama may hold for the initiated, but Avho 

 can be thrilled by the beauty and solemnity 

 of the spectacle or moved to Homeric laugh- 

 ter by the clowns' extravaganza. In the 

 dance described there Avas undoubtedly, over 

 and above any other significance, a dominant 

 element of farce and vaudeville; but it seems 

 more than likely that a corresponding inter- 

 pretation holds for the most serious Hopi 

 rituals: they are not merely religious ob- 

 servances, they are aboriginal drama. 



Spectators gathered in the plaza and on the housetops at Hano to witness the 

 dance, which so far as the populace at large was concerned answered the purposes of 

 a theatrical performance 



