260 



ruocEEDi^as of the national museum. 



VOL. 54. 



braided (sennit) sash fringe with rings found in Bear Creek Cave, 

 Blue River, Arizona, show.^ 



These sashes, which are kept white by the application of kaolin, 

 are used by the Hopi priests in the Nashnaiya ceremony. They 

 are secured at the waist and hang down in two panels on the left 

 side. The Ziini use them in the sword swallowing ceremony of the 

 great fire fraternity. ^ The Hopi name for them is wuko kwewa^ 

 great sash. It is possible that this sash may be of Mexican origin. 

 Enibroidein/. — The Hopi embroider ceremonial kilts, sashes, and 

 wedding blankets, and to a slight extent the woman's dress for every- 

 day wear. The art 

 as it exists at pres- 

 ent appears to have 

 been acquired from 

 the v/hite man, but it 

 may also have been 

 derived from weav- 

 ing, as in the raised 

 woven work on the 

 hems of the women's 

 dress or the raised 

 figures on belts. 

 The material to be embroidered is stretched by means of strips of wood 

 having points at the extremities (fig. 37, a, 6, c), and when used are 

 buttoned into the goods and the working done with a fine bone awl 

 (now with a darning needle). Larger stretchers, consisting of a strip 

 of notched wood with a pointed rod lashed to the ends, are useful for 

 larger embroidery spans or for stretching blankets (fig. 38). 



Tassel maJcing. — Tassels are important adjuncts of the ceremonial 

 blankets, and are sometimes of complicated structure. Ordinary 

 blankets are supplied with rudimentary tassels or "tags" at the 



Fig. 37.— a. Embroidery on sash. b. Work stretched. Wooden 



STRETCHER (IN CENTER). 



Fia. 38.— Large stretcher for blanket with adjustable pins. 



corners, and completed wedding blankets have bunch tassels made 

 by the ordinary process; sometimes the shank of the tassel is over- 

 laid with colored cords in basket-weave. The tassels for the white 

 braided sash (fig. 36) are made on a tassel stick, a very old speci- 

 men of which is shown in figure 39a, a section of the end showing the 

 grooves. A cord is laid on the longer groove and brought down the 

 sides and a cord is wrapped continuously over it on the stick (fig. 



iHoygh, Walter, Ancient Culture of the Pueblos of the Upper Gila River, Bull. 87, 

 U. S. Nat. Mus., Washington, 1914, fig. 159, p. 76. 



2 Mrs. M. C. Stevenson, The Zuui, 23d Ann. Rept. Bur. Amer. Ethnol., pi. 18. 



