HOPI KATCINA ALTARS—FEWKES 473 
I need not dwell on the other accessories of the Powamu altar at 
Oraibi save to note that they are common to other altars, and in no 
respect characteristic. I refer to the basket tray of sacred meal, the 
rattles, a medicine bowl, aspergill, and six ears of corn used in 
special rites. 
The strange object at the extreme right, surrounded by a tablet, 
symbolic of a rain cloud, bears the picture of the head of Ho’katcina. 
It is supported on a pedestal, and appears to be peculiar to Oraibi.* 
COMPARISON WITH THE NIMAN ALTAR AT CIPAULOVI 
Cipaulovi, the smallest of all the Hopi pueblos, is situated on the 
Middle Mesa, and its Katcina altar is the poorest in paraphernalia, 
as shown by a comparison with the altar at Oraibi, the most com- 
plicated in Tusayan. 
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Fic. 1.—Cipaulovi Niman Katcina altar 
Omitting the medicine bowl, rattles, sacred meal, and pahos, the 
Cipaulovi Niman altar consists of a figure of seven rain clouds, with 
parallel lines representing falling rain, drawn on the floor with 
sacred meal, and a row of five vertical sticks, symbols of growing 
corn. Upon the meal picture which represents the falling rain, 
there are four stone implements arranged in a row. The tiponi, or 
palladium of the Katcinas is placed on a hillock of sand at the 
right of the same picture. There are no idols or images of anthro- 
pomorphic forms on this altar, and unless the stone implements 
may be so interpreted, no lightning symbols. The Niman altar at 
Cipaulovi® is very simple, but the essentials of a Katcina altar are 
8A great many observations remain to be made before any one can claim to know the 
exact meaning of pueblo rites, but the material awaits investigation, and can be obtained 
by persistent work in the field. The time, however, is past when any compiler can write 
an account of the aboriginal religions of America and neglect the Hopi for want of pub- 
lished material. 
®For Niman altars of Cipaulovi, Miconinovi, and Walpi, see Journ. Amer. Ethnol, and 
Archeol., Vol. II, No. 1. e 
