STEVENSON] DANCE OF THE KIA'nAKWE 223 



Chu'pawa ki'wPsine. The women who carry the food to the ki'wi'sine, 

 must first wash their heads, although they go only to the entrance and 

 return home immediately after depositing the food; they wear their 

 best moccasins and dresses for the occasion. This elaborate feast in 

 the ki'wi'sine is particularly enjoyed by all, including the twelve women 

 of the Corn clan, as a fast has been maintained by the personators of 

 the gods since the previous evening. 



After each man finishes his meal he collects a bit from each bowl 

 upon a large piece of he' we (wafer bread) and, folding it lengthwise, 

 wraps it at each end with yucca and forms a handle. This package 

 is carried in the left hand in the outdoor dance and is afterward 

 deposited in the river for the Kia'nakwe. 



At the close of the meal one of the Chu'pakwe fills an Apache' 

 basket with grains of corn of various colors from a cloth that lies 

 toward the west end of the room on which the corn is piled. He 

 carries it to the east end of the room and gives to each of the twelve 

 women of the Corn clan about a pint of corn to be planted the 

 coming year. The women now leave the ki'wi^sine, but before they 

 depart the priest advances to the middle of the room and, with his 

 te'likinane clasped in his hands, repeats in a most impressive manner 

 a litany. The others appear weary enough, except at the moments 

 when they make responses, in which they never fail. When the priest 

 returns to his seat the eating bowls are removed. Personators of the 

 Kia'nakwe put on their masks and proceed to the Si'aa' te'wita, where 

 the dance of the previous night is repeated (see plate xlvii). 



Contributions for the first body of A'shiwanni begin to pour into the 

 ki'wi'sine during the dancing. The offerings are brought in blankets, 

 the men carrying theirs on their backs while the women hand theirs 

 through the hatchway. They are received principalh^^ by an aged man 

 of the ki'wi*sine. There are deer and antelope, some that have not 

 been flayed, but simply drawn, with corn and other small offerings 

 placed inside; others are flayed and the skins brought separate from the 

 flesh; about 300 watermelons, many of them covered with a netting 

 of j'ucca containing a number of feathers, and a large quantity of 

 corn on the cob. Several men are busy tying the coi-n together in 

 bundles containing four to ten cars, and a handle is foi-med of yucca 

 over the top ear. A large number of birds are brought, the plumes 

 of which are used by the A'sjiiwanni for their te'likinawe that are 

 deposited at the wintei- solstice, that food may be al)undant the 

 coming year. The birds are laid apart from the general heap at the 

 west end of the room, of light bread, which is strung together in 

 fanciful shapes, dried deer meat, corn, melons, and pieces of calico. 

 The unflayed game and .skins arc deposited at the east end of the 

 chamber. As the dried deer meat, melons, and seeds aie required to 

 fill the game and skins, they are brought to the east side of the room. 



