ROBBINS. HARUIXGTO 

 FREIKB-MARRECO 



^''j ETHNOBOTANY OF THE TEWA INDIANS 87 



father's sisters, and make parties to do the same work iu one anoth- 

 er's houses; married women grind occasional!}^ for their mothers-in- 

 law. Girls sing while tlie}^ grind, and smear their faces with meal 

 before and after grinding; and this is pla^^fully recommended as a 

 way of learning the task. They also powder their faces with meal 

 when they are in full dress. 



Ritual Use of Corn- meal 



The ritual use of k'lik'peij or h' s§,mhoioa by the New Mexican Tewa 

 is necessarily attended with so much reserve and secrecy that it will be 

 more convenient to describe here some of the practices of the Tewa of 

 Hano. 



White corn-meal is primarily the women's offering, as feathers are 

 the offering of the men, but to a less degree each is used by the other 

 sex. The action of offering corn meal is called d,oV'^l'\^i]Vill^ 'I [scat- 

 ter] corn grains' {do^ I-it; Jcy,ly,r)^ corn; ¥ill^ grain), or, rarely, do 

 k'semy, {do, I-it; F^my,, unexplained). In this manner women pray 

 to the sun at sunrise, asking for long life, diiijoivowa'o'° {dibi,, they 

 themselves; jowowa, pray for life; c'", do), especially when giving 

 names to infants or adults. By throwing meal on the ¥ajete^^ ' fetish 

 house' or 'shrine,' and saying their wish aloud, they ask favors of 

 the kachina. They take corn-meal, ]i'y,ly,y7SiU^ in their hands when 

 they go to dig clay for pottery. A song represents a woman praying 

 with corn-meal for the success of her husband, who has gone to trade 

 in the New Mexican pueblos: 



"At daybreak 



taking Tc'y.luyk'ili with her, 



going out on the roof, 



sprinkhng it eastward (she says). 



Buffalo hides he shall find for me, 



costly things he shall find for me. 



So she says, 



she sprinkles it in all directions." 



When a rabbit is given to a woman she lays it on the floor and drops 

 meal on it "to feed it." 



When the impersonators of the Tcachina visit a house, the women 

 welcome them by throwing corn-meal to each in turn. Similarl}", when 

 the Icachina visit an estufa, the te^ et'\i7ijo, 'estufa chief,' makes a cir- 

 cuit of them before they begin their performance, throwing a pinch 

 of meal to each from the bag, Hti¥iilii¥ilimiiCiM, his; Jc'iily,, corn; 

 ¥ Hi, grain ; my,, bag), which hangs from his neck, and on some occasions 

 the senior woman of the clan which controls the estufa is stationed 

 behind the ladder with meal in her hand ready to throw as the visiting 

 Icachina pass. At public dances in the plaza several old men pass 

 along the line of dancers, throwing meal to each and uttering requests 



