236 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 184 
and body paint customary for the saint’s day dance (August 15), but 
their faces are painted and they have a piece of cornhusk (their 
‘“‘badge’’) tied to their hair. Fifty yards in front of the Koshairi at 
the starting point is a man who holds the prize for the winner. The 
first one to reach him takes it and runs; if someone overtakes him he 
takes it and runs with it; the one who carries the trophy into the pueblo 
keeps it. 
KATSINA: MASKED IMPERSONATIONS 
The k’Atsina (katsina) complex—word, concept, and masked im- 
personation —is found among all the pueblos of the Southwest: Hopi, 
Zufi, Keres, Tewa, and Jemez. It is unquestionably aboriginal 
(White, 1934). Masked impersonations were seen by early Spanish 
explorers. Catholic missionaries tried to extirpate masked cere- 
monies in the 17th century. 
The origin of the word is not known. Among the Hopi the pro- 
nunciation is katcina, which, spelled kachina, has become the 
customary pronunciation in English usage today. The Keres, how- 
ever, pronounce the word k’atsina (Stevenson renders it ‘katsuna’). 
Katsina are supernatural beings. They are like men and women 
in shape except for their heads which are usually of a grotesque 
shape and design. Some of them have animal characteristics, such 
as those of a deer, antelope, or bear. Some of the katsina, at least, 
were created by Utctsityi or Tsityostinako in the underworld and 
came up with mankind to this world. The mythical home of the 
katsina is Wenima, located in the West (see fig. 12). 
In the mythical past, when the people were still living at White 
House, the katsina used to come to the pueblo in person to dance, but 
because of some incident (an account of which I did not obtain from 
Sia informants; see, however, the Acoma myth in White, 1932 a, pp. 
143-44), they no longer come in person. The people were told, 
however, that they might impersonate the katsina by wearing masks 
and that the katsina would then come in spirit. This is how the 
masked dances and ceremonies originated. 
The katsina complex finds its expression and fulfillment in masked 
impersonations in dances and rituals. The principal function of the 
katsina is to bring rain and to promote the growth of crops. But 
they also help to cure sickness and to make people strong, help child- 
less wives to become pregnant, and in some instances they have 
punitive functions, punishing people for violating or deviating from 
ancient customs. 
In 1887 James Stevenson was admitted to a secret chamber in Sia 
which was “‘literally filled with masks. . . which he was permitted to 
examine at leisure, a most unusual privilege, as these people have a 
