268 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. vol.54. 



The ornamentation of Hopi basketry, potterj^, and other articles 

 is never merely aesthetic or employed for the sensuous pleasure in 

 beauty of form and color. It expresses itself in symbolism of re- 

 ligious meaning, the outgrowth of nature worship which embraces 

 and gives import to design, color and even material. The origin 

 of art in religion and its inextricability from belief, a feature which 

 seems to vanish with civilization, is nowhere better shown than 

 among the Hopi nature-worshippers. The significance of a decorated 

 basket thus is far deeper than its beauty and usefulness and greater 

 than the craftsmanship that created its material structure. The color 

 symbolism is based primarily on the geography of the spiritual do- 

 main. The being who rules the northeast quarter is yellow, and all 

 things in nature about him are yellow, the southwest quarter is blue ; 

 the northeast quarter is red; the southeast quarter is white; below 

 is black, and above all colors.^ 



The designs on Hopi basketry are not as varied as those on pot- 

 tery, and are less intelligible on account of the difficulty of expressing: 

 ideas in the textile medium, which often reduces them to the lowest 

 terms of convention. The commonest designs are of birds or char- 

 acteristic parts of birds. The snake is sometimes found. The ante- 

 lope appears to be the only mammal used in basket decoration, 

 though the mountain sheep may have been represented. Clouds, the 

 rainbow, and perhaps stars are frequentlj^ noticed in combination 

 with birds. Kachinas often in elaborate designs are in frequent use, 

 the commonest being the corn maid, avatch or speckled kachina, and 

 man eagle. The tendency in modern baskets is to make these figures 

 more realistic and to accomplish this weaving elements never seen in 

 ancient w^ork are employed. There are also designs in bands or in- 

 dividual figures which have been conventionalized beyond present 

 explanation. On this point it may be said that interpretations of 

 designs secured Jrom modern basket makers are apt to be delusive. 

 The designs must be traced step by step from known designs or parts 

 of designs by the method pursued by J. W. Fewkes on the Sikyatki 

 pottery .2 Doctor Fewkes used as a basis the designs on paraphernalia 

 made by the fraternities for the various ceremonies current among 

 the Hopi. Except a few interesting pieces of pottery from Oraibi, 

 in which the ancient decorations had survived to some degree, the 

 native ware collected in 1872 and succeeding years showed great de- 

 terioration. This is not true of basket designs, other textile designs, 

 and designs used to decorate religious paraphernalia. 



The designs shown (pis. 33-41) were selected from the large series 

 in the United States National Museum, from photographs of the 

 " Basket Ceremony," and from specimens in native dyes collected 



* Hough, Hopi ceremonial pigments, Ann. Rep. U. S. Nat. Mus., 1901, p. 467. 



* Published In the 17th Ann. Kept. Bur. Amer. Ethnol., pt. 2. 



