﻿THE 
  USE 
  OF 
  IDOLS 
  IN 
  HOPI 
  WORSHIP. 
  

  

  By 
  J. 
  Walter 
  Fewkks, 
  

   Chief, 
  Bureau 
  of 
  American 
  Ethnology. 
  1 
  

  

  [With 
  6 
  plates.] 
  

   INTRODUCTION. 
  

  

  Very 
  little 
  has 
  been 
  published 
  on 
  the 
  forms, 
  distribution, 
  uses, 
  and 
  

   ethnological 
  significance 
  of 
  idols 
  among 
  North 
  American 
  Indians. 
  

   This 
  poverty 
  of 
  our 
  knowledge 
  evidently 
  either 
  is 
  due 
  to 
  a 
  neglect 
  

   to 
  study 
  these 
  objects 
  by 
  ethnologists 
  or 
  may 
  reflect 
  the 
  relatively 
  

   small 
  number 
  of 
  Indian 
  tribes 
  in 
  which 
  elaborate 
  idol 
  worship 
  for- 
  

   merly 
  flourished 
  or 
  still 
  survives. 
  

  

  The 
  early 
  accounts 
  of 
  the 
  southern 
  Indians 
  of 
  the 
  Mississippi 
  

   Valley 
  contain 
  descriptions 
  of 
  the 
  employment 
  of 
  idols 
  in 
  religious 
  

   rites, 
  and 
  many 
  archeological 
  collections 
  from 
  that 
  region 
  contain 
  

   stone 
  or 
  clay 
  images 
  that 
  may 
  have 
  served 
  for 
  idols. 
  As 
  we 
  approach 
  

   the 
  Mexican 
  border, 
  in 
  the 
  Southwest, 
  the 
  relative 
  number 
  of 
  these 
  

   images 
  increases. 
  Early 
  writings 
  on 
  Mexico, 
  Central 
  America, 
  and 
  

   the 
  West 
  Indies 
  contain 
  frequent 
  references 
  to 
  idolatry, 
  and 
  many 
  

   idols 
  existing 
  in 
  Mexican 
  collections 
  have 
  been 
  found 
  in 
  prehistoric 
  

   mounds. 
  There 
  are 
  only 
  a 
  few 
  localities 
  in 
  the 
  United 
  States 
  where 
  

   both 
  ethnologists 
  and 
  archeologists 
  find 
  these 
  evidences 
  of 
  idolatry 
  

   plentiful. 
  One 
  of 
  these 
  is 
  the 
  pueblo 
  region, 
  or, 
  as 
  generally 
  called, 
  

   the 
  Southwest. 
  The 
  living 
  Indians 
  of 
  this 
  region 
  are 
  survivors 
  of 
  a 
  

   peculiar 
  culture 
  in 
  which 
  stone 
  idols 
  were 
  abundant 
  and 
  the 
  archeolo- 
  

   gist 
  has 
  recorded 
  a 
  large 
  number 
  of 
  these 
  images 
  as 
  found 
  in 
  this 
  

   area. 
  It 
  is 
  instructive 
  to 
  remember 
  that 
  the 
  ancient 
  pueblo 
  cult 
  was 
  

   continued 
  into 
  modern 
  times 
  and 
  in 
  some 
  instances 
  old 
  idols 
  are 
  

   heirlooms 
  and 
  are 
  regarded 
  reverently 
  in 
  modern 
  times. 
  It 
  is 
  very 
  

   generally 
  stated 
  by 
  Hopi 
  priests 
  that 
  idols, 
  like 
  other 
  cult 
  objects, 
  

   came 
  from 
  the 
  underworld 
  and 
  were 
  inherited 
  by 
  their 
  ancestors 
  

   from 
  the 
  earliest 
  men 
  who 
  emerged 
  from 
  that 
  place. 
  

  

  1 
  This 
  article 
  is 
  the 
  fourth 
  of 
  a 
  series 
  on 
  the 
  Hopi 
  religion 
  published 
  in 
  successive 
  

   annual 
  reports 
  of 
  the 
  Smithsonian 
  Institution. 
  The 
  following 
  have 
  already 
  appeared 
  : 
  

   (1) 
  Sun 
  Worship 
  of 
  the 
  Hopi 
  Indians 
  (1918) 
  ; 
  (2) 
  Fire 
  Worship 
  of 
  the 
  Hopi 
  Indiana 
  

   (1920) 
  ; 
  (3) 
  Ancestor 
  Worship 
  of 
  the 
  Hopi 
  Indians 
  (1921). 
  

  

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