STEVENSON] SUMMER SOLSTICE CEREMONIES 161 



out the day. The tortoises" are returned to the bowl each time the 

 Kor'kokshi come to the ki'wi*sine. 



The Ko'yemshi are the first to visit *Si'aa' te'wita in the earl}- morn- 

 ing, this being the morning which closes the retreat of the Kia'kwe- 

 mosi. They are led by the Ko'pekwin, carrying his mi'li and meal 

 basket in his left hand and sprinkling meal with his right. Each 

 Ko'3^emshi has a bunch of cat-tails in his left hand and a rattle in his 

 right. They present the cat-tails to the Shi'wano"kia (Priestess of 

 fecundity), who descends from the ceremonial chamber of the Kui'- 

 kwemosi to receive them. The ceremonial chamber of the Kia'kwe- 

 mosi is in the second story of a house opening on the Si'aa' te'wita. 

 Returning to the chamber, the Shi'wano'ivia hands the cat-tails to the 

 Kia'kwemosi, who laj^s them near the meal painting on the floor. 



The Ko'yemshi are followed by the Kor'kokshi led b}^ the Ko'mo- 

 sona who wears a white shirt, white embroidered kilt held on by an 

 embroidered sash tied at the right side, blue knit leggings, and red 

 garters. The feet are bare. A line of pinkish clay extends across 

 the nose and under the eyes. There are thirty gods, of whom twenty- 

 eight are Kor'kokshi and two are A^ounger brothers of Pau'tiwa, 

 director-general at Ko'thluwala'wa. One of the brothers stands mid- 

 wa}^ the line and leads the dances. There are eight goddesses. One 

 walks beside the foremost dancer in the file, and faces him in the 

 dance. The others are companions to the gods, who number from 

 thirteen to nineteen, inclusive, in the line. The Kor'kokshi dance in 

 He'kiapa and Ko'china plazas before going to Si'aa'. The arrival of 

 the Kor'kokshi in Si'aa' te'wita is the signal for the Kia'kwemosi to 

 play his flute in the ceremonial chamber. After the first dance in the 

 plaza, the Kia'kwemosi descends from the ceremonial chain t)er and 

 passes from west to east down the line of gods, halts for a moment 

 before the Ko'mosona, and then passes by the goddesses. He sprinkles 

 each goddess and the cat-tails* she carries with meal and then receives 

 the cat-tails and returning down the line of gods he sprinkles them and 

 the cat-tails with meal, receiving from each god, except six, the cat- 

 tails he carries. He then halts before the Ko'mosona and, sprinkling 

 a line of meal down the mi'li. which the Ko'mosona holds in his right 

 hand, offers a prayer. 



The Kia'kwemosi returns to the ceremonial chamber and deposits the 

 cat-tails by the cloud symbol on the floor (see page 150). Leaving the 

 Si'aa' te'wita, the Kor'kokshi proceed to the te'wita *hlanna, and, after 



"After the ceremonial the tortoises arc taken home by those who eaught them and are biing by 

 their necks to the rafters till morning, when they are thrown into pots of boiling water. The eggs 

 areconsidered agreat delicacy. The meat is seldom tonched except as a medicine, which is a curative 

 for cutaneous diseases. Part of the meat is deposited in the river, with ko'hakwa (white shell beads) 

 and turquoise beads, as offerings to Council of the Gods. 



6The stems of the cat-tails are afterward used by the A'shiwanni for te'likinawe. 



23 ETH— 04 11 



