46 



ALTAR 



[b. a. e. 



Biedma (1540) in Smith, Coll. Doc. Fla., 50, 1857. 

 Attapaha.— Biedma (1544) in French, Hist. Coll. 

 La., II, 100, 1850 Ilatamaa.— De I'lsle, map (1707) 

 in Winsor, Hist. America, ii, 294, 1886. 



Altar. Using the term in its broadest 

 sense, an altar, on which sacritices were 

 made or offerings laid or around which 

 some other act of worship was performed, 

 was a feature of the performance of every 

 ceremony of the American Indians. Some 

 of these altars are so simple that their 

 nature is not easily apprehended: an ex- 

 cavation in the earth, a pile of rocks, a 



sIa ALTAR. (m. C. STEVENSOn) 



fire, a buffalo skull serving the jDurpose. 

 Others, presenting a complex assemblage 

 of parts, are detlnitely recognizable as 

 altars and in some cases reseinl)lein form 

 the altars of civilized peojjle, for exam- 

 ple, those of the 1-It)pi and the Sia. The 

 altar, on account of its universal distribu- 

 tion, thus renders important aid to the 

 comparative study of religions. The ef- 

 fect of the altar is to localize the worship 

 and to furnish a place where the wor- 

 shiper can convey to the deity his offer- 

 ing and prayers. Altar-shrines are often 

 placed by springs, rivers, caves, rocks, 

 or trees on mountains and near spots 

 which certain deities are supposed to 

 inhabit, in the belief that the roads of 

 these deities extend from these localities. 

 In pursuance of a like idea the liaida de- 

 posit certain offerings in the sea, and 

 many tribes throw offerings into springs, 

 lakes, and rivers. Some of the tempo- 

 rary altars of the eastern and southern 

 Indians, so far as may be learned from 

 the illu.strations of early writers, consisted 

 of an oval or circular palisade of carved 

 stakes surrounding an area in the center 

 of which was a tire or a mat on which 

 were laid various symbolic cult apparatus. 

 Lalitau (Mceurs des Sauvages, ii, 327, 1724) 

 regards as a fire altar the pipe in the calu- 

 met ceremony of the Illinois described by 

 Marquette. Such altars are more primi- 

 tive than the teini)orary altars erected for 

 the celebration of a ritual or a portion 

 of a ritual, and the distinction should 



be noted. In this connection the cloud- 

 blo^^•ing tubes and pipes of the ancient 

 and modern Pueblos may also be men- 

 tioned. The widespread connection of 

 lire with the altar is an important fact. 

 The disposition of logs in cruciform pat- 

 tern for the kindling of new fire by the 

 Creeks suggests an altar. Interesting ex- 

 amples of the use of fire in ceremony are 

 the Iroquois white-dog rite and the night 

 chant of the Navaho. Among the Sik- 

 sika every tent contains an altar — a small 

 excavation in the earth — where sweet 

 gum is burned daily (Wissler). Prehis- 

 toric altars consisting of blocks of fire- 

 hardened clay or, in rare cases, boxes of 

 stone form the essential characteristic of 

 many mounds and belong to the class of 

 fire altars (Thomas, Putnam, Moorehead, 

 Mills, Fowke). Among the altars that 

 survive in the ceremonies of tribes of the 

 United States may be cited the fire 

 altar of the Kwakiutl cannibal ceremony 

 (Boas in Rep. Nat. Mus. for 1895); the 

 holv place of the Pawnee Hako ceremony 

 (Fletcher in 22d Rep. B. A. E.,36, 1904); 

 the altars of the Sioux (Fletcher in 

 16th Rep. Peabody Mus., 1883) ; the sun- 

 dance altar of the Arapaho (Dorsey in 

 Field Columb. Mus. Pub., no. 75, pi. Ixi, 

 1903); and altars of various ceremonies 

 of the Navaho (Matthews in 5th Rep. B. 

 A. E., 1887; Stevenson in 8th Rep. B. A. 

 E., 1891), the Zuni (Stevenson in 23d 

 Rep. B. A. E., 1905), and the Hopi 

 (Fewkes in recent reports B. A. E., and 

 articles in Am. Anthrop. and Jour. Am. 

 Folk-lore; Dorsey and Voth in Field Col. 

 Mus. Pubs. ) . Temporary altars are char- 

 acteristic of the Pueblos and consist, as in 

 the flute ceremony, for example, of a rere- 

 dos formed of one horizontal and two ver- 

 tical slats painted with symbols of rain 

 and clouds, lightning, corn, cult figures, 



HOPI ALTAR. 



animals, etc. In front of thereredos stand 

 figurines, sticks representing corn, the 

 tiponi, or palladium bundle, flower 

 mounds, netted gourds, ears of corn, fig- 

 ures of birds, and a row of eagle feathers. 

 Connected with the altar are bowls, bas- 

 kets, rattles, prayer-sticks, pijtes, stone 

 implements, and other paraphernalia, 

 and a characteristic feature of some of 

 them is the dry-jiainting. During the 

 progress of some ceremonies a direction 

 altar, or cloud altar, consisting of a inedi- 



