STEVENSON] WINTER SOLSTICE CEREMONIES 125 



one fall over it. The second man to the left of the shi'wanni, his 

 stepson, makes a cigarette of native tobacco and, after lighting and 

 drawing on it an instant, hands it to the man at his right, who takes 

 a whitf and passes it to the shi'wanni, who takes eight long whiffs, 

 each time l)lowing the smoke over the basket of plumes and fetishes. 

 The shi'wanni then returns the stump of the cigarette to the man at 

 his left, the collector of the te'na*sali. The first associate to the 

 shi'wanni, who sits on his right, after consuming all but a bit of the 

 cigarette, deposits it by the large stone cougar. Each cigarette of 

 native tobacco afterward smoked b}' the associate is deposited b}- this 

 fetish after the better part has been consumed. 



Cigarettes are smoked by all the party during the ceremonial, but not 

 more than one or two smoke at the same time. After the shi'wanni's 

 first smoke he takes a pinch of meal in his right hand and repeats a 

 long litany, responded to by the others. At the close of this prayer 

 he sprinkles the meal he holds over the cougar and basket of plumes 

 and fetishes, and then all take a pinch of the meal from the basket 

 and simultaneously offer a short prayer and sprinkle the plumes and 

 fetishes, drawing from them the sacred breath. The song now begins, 

 led b}^ the shi'wanni. It opens low in a minor key, swelling until the 

 notes are rich and full. This song, less monotonous than usual, is 

 offered to various beings of the six regions, who are addressed in suc- 

 cession. The first prayer is to a group belonging to the Sia cosmog- 

 ony, whom the writer has never before heard mentioned in Zuiii 

 ritual. These beings are the Yellow Woman of the North, the Bhie 

 Woman of the West, the Red Woman of the South, the White Woman 

 of the East, the Every-colored Woman of the Zenith, and the Black 

 Woman of the Nadir. The Cougar of the North, the Bear of the 

 West, the Badger of the South, the White Wolf of the East, the Eagle 

 of the Zenith, and the Shrew of the Nadir play an important part in 

 this ritual.'* 



The old shi'wanni, sitting in light or shadow according to the uncer- 

 tain flickering of the fire light in the quaint fireplace, with silvery hair 

 and a countenance impressed with the superstitions peculiar to his race 

 and depicting the most intense earnestness, is a picture not to be for- 

 gotten. He is surrounded by his associates, who are also intent upon 

 having their songs pass over the straight road of truth. The songs and 

 prayers are to bring rains to fructif}^ the mother earth, who gives to 

 her children the fruits of her being if prayers are offered with a pure 

 heart. The song closes at the rising of the morning star, which 

 announces that the Sun Father is coming from his house, when all 

 repeat a short prayer and inhale the sacred breath of A'wonawil'ona.* 



"This prayer song was recognized as being in the Sia language, and on being questioned the shi'- 

 wanni, who was not a little chagrined at the discovery, said: "The song came to us long ago, so long 

 that the fathers of the father's fathers could not tell when," 



''See Classification of the higher powers, p. 22. 



