STEVENSON] CEREMONIAL USES OF PLANTS 99 



The entire plant is boiled and the tea drunk hot on the first four 

 mornings during the eight days' ceremony of the Sword SwaUowers 

 fraternity, to enlarge the throat and prepare the stomach for the 

 swallowing of the sword.' 



Yucca baccafa Torr. Datil. Liliace^. Lily family. 

 Ho'kmpa, 'long loaf wide.' 



The central stalk of a yucca plant is carried in the hand of each of a 

 number of personators of anthropic gods, who use it for whipping 

 people for various reasons. Some ask to bo whipped to be roUoved of 

 bad dreams; others are flogged for being derelict in performing theii* 

 religious duties; children are whipped with th<' yucca at involuntary 

 and voluntary initiation into the Ko'tikUi.- 



The fibers of the loaf ai'ter l)eing prepared in a certain wa}' (see p. 78) 

 and then after soaking are employed by the Priesthood of the Bow to 

 arrange at the base of the idols of the Gods of War on the occasion 

 of the winter and summer solstice ceremonies, and also at the time of 

 the scalp ceremony.^ As previously mentioned, cords made of this 

 fiber are used to tie prayer-plume offerings together before planting 

 them to the gods, and for other ceremonial purposes. 



A narrow band of the 3'ucca leaf is worn around the head almost 

 universally by personators of anthropic gods in the dances, though 

 it cannot be seen on account of the mask when the dance occurs 

 outdoors, and it is also worn by members of fraternities in their cere- 

 monies. Personators of certain anthropic gods adorn their wTists and 

 ankles with ^nicca ribbons, and the novitiate into the medicine order 

 of a secret fraternity has his or her WTists adorned with yucca ribbons. 



Yucca is used ceremonially for a great varietj' of purposes. 



Zea mays L. Corn. Peaces. Grass family. 



Chu'we, 'corn'. 

 Great care is observed by the Zuni to secure corn in a variety of 

 ct)lors for ceremonial jjurposes. They must have the colors for the 

 cardmal points : yellow corn for the north, blue for the west, red for 

 the south, white for tlie Oivst, all colors for the zenith, and black for 

 the nadir. The red varies from palest pink to deep maroon. There 

 are several shades also of blue, yellow, and pm-ple. The white is 

 true to color and the black is intense. There is a great variety of 

 shades in each color. Tliis corn is a conspicuous featm-e in many 

 ceremonies; it is brought every fotir years by the great plimied 

 serpent as a gift from the gods of the midermost world for planting 

 in the Zuni fields. Ears of the several colors are placed aromid the 



I See S3d Ann. Rep. Bur.Amer. Ethn., p. 444. The uninitiated are so afraid of even the fumes from this 

 medicine that the family occupying the house in which the ceremonies are held seal the interior doors 

 lead log into the ceremonial chamber until after it is used. 



' See S3d Ann. Rep. Bur. AmcT. Ethn.. p. 103. 



» Ibid., pp. 113,597. 



