240 BULLETIN, PUBLIC MUSEUM, MILWAUKEE [Vol. 19 



agricultural economy are a host of elaborate religious rites concentrated on 

 fertility, planting, and harvesting themes. "The scheme of maize ceremonies 

 in the Greater Southwest can be stated in very general terms. They celebrate 

 what we might call the life cycle of Indian corn: its birth, or planting; 

 maturity, or green corn festivals; and death, or rain, according to the inter- 

 ests of a group, but the three stages representing the birth, maturity, and 

 death, or harvesting." (Underhill, p. 15.) Along with this is found what 

 Swanton (1910, p. 523) calls "the most highly developed priesthood north 

 of Mexico." Under this cultural landslide such northern traits as potent 

 shamanism, and emphasis on curing are nearly buried. The Hopi m par- 

 ticular represent the Southern Tradition at its acme in North America. 



On the other hand such Athabascan-speaking peoples of this area as the 

 Apache and particularly the Navaho reflect to some extent the Northern 

 Tradition. Both are relatively recent migrants to the Southwest, but what 

 they brought from the north and what they might have picked up on the 

 way or in their new locale is difhcult to determine. It is probable that the 

 Navaho were a hunting people in the north, but today hunting is deempha- 

 sized in favor of agriculture and herding. Kluckhohn (p. 4) states: "Some 

 specialists believe that the Apaches and Navahos learned the rudiments ot 

 agriculture from the Plains Indians on their journey southward, but there 

 are grounds for believing that they knew little of agriculture before they 

 reached the Southwest. It seems certain, too, that when the Navahos arrived 

 in the Southwest they had no ceremonials as complex as those of today." 

 It is apparent that the Navaho did not take over agriculture with the same 

 whole-heartedness as did the Pueblos, nor did they take over any of their 

 ceremonial attitude toward it. Whatever proliferation of their ceremonial 

 complex was accomplished was done in terms of a preoccupation with curing 

 suggesting a northern orientation. It is interesting also to note that the 

 elaborate curative ceremonies are conducted by priests rather than by shamans. 

 In general, the Navaho, while showing modifications due to contact with 

 southern culture, still reflect the basic aspects of the Northern Tradition. The 

 same may be said for the Apache. In fact the Apache show less admixture 

 from the agriculturists than do the Navaho. One of the interesting interpre- 

 tations made by them in reflecting the Northern Tradition, but resulting 

 from culture contact in the Southwest has been the transformation of the 

 rain-bringing Kachinas of the Pueblos into mountain spirits called to cure 

 disease (Underhill, p. viii). 



