252 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 184 
Meal 
Poi nting 
10h @) | 
Koshairi Child Koshairi 
50) 
0 
9 
eS 
Ficure 36.—Initiation of child into the Katsina cult. 
of Koshairi or Kwiraina who addresses the child. If the Tiamunyi 
is there he will talk, too, and then War chief talks. The child is re- 
quired solemnly to vow that he will never reveal what he has learned 
there (see Stevenson’s account of initiation, 1894, pp. 117-118). 
Masked dances may be held at any time, it is said, but most of 
them occur in the fall about harvest time; sometimes they are held 
in the spring about Easter time. . 
A masked dance can be initiated by the head of any society having 
katsina masks. In such a case he would have to secure the permission 
of the War chief. Or, Tiamunyi or War chief can ask for the shiwanna 
(katsina are frequently referred to as shiwanna) to come (i.e., to have 
a masked dance); in such a case the War chief would make the re- 
quest to the head of the society having the kind of katsina he wanted, 
and he would specify which shiwanna he wanted. 
If the society that is going to put on a masked dance does not 
have enough members, and this is usually the case, the head of the 
