STEVENSON] EETIREMENT OF KO'^YEMSHI 273 



winds too piercing for these devotees to take part in the outdoor 

 ceremonial. Such windstorms are not considered t'avoral)U', and for 

 this reason the dance is all the more vio-orously performed and the 

 songs the more fervently sung, the singers hoping in this way to appease 

 the wrath of the gods. A rain priest gave the following as a reason 

 for the continued windstorms in 1891: "The Kok'ko A'wan (Council 

 of the Gods) are angry, and send the winds because the Ko'yemshi are 

 personated this year by the Ne'wekwe (Galaxy) fraternity, who do not 

 speak the old language. Some 3'ears ago, when the Ne'wekwe repre- 

 sented the Ko'yemshi, similar hard winds came, and the Kia'kwemosi, 

 who has since died, declared that the Ko'yemshi must never again be 

 personated by this fraternity; but his successor, being a moml)er of the 

 Ne'wekwe, this fraternit}^ continues to take its turn in representing 

 the Ko'yemshi, and therefore the gods are very angry. Other person- 

 ators of the Ko'yemshi bring rain and good crops, for the}^ speak their 

 prayers in the old tongue." 



Retirement of the Ko'yemshi and Accompanying Ceremonies 



The da}'^ following the ceremonies described the lirst bodj' of A'shi- 

 wanni gather in the ceremonial chamber of the Kia'kwemosi in the 

 early morning and prepare te'likinawe. The Ko'mosona, Ko'pekwin, 

 and two Ko'pi"lashiwanni assemble in the He'iwa (North) ki'wi'sine, 

 where they remain throughout the day, except at such times as they 

 appear in the plaza. Each prepares te'likinawe. After the A'shi- 

 wanni complete their te'likinawe, the offerings are grouped into a 

 kia'etchine, and the Kia'kwemosi carries it in a flat basket to the 

 He'iwa ki'wi^sine, where it is placed on the floor on the cloud symbol 

 of meal made by the pe'kwin. The te'likinawe prepared by the 

 Ko'mosona and his associates are also made into a kia'etchine and 

 deposited on the meal painting. 



Baskets of all sizes containing meal are carried by the women and 

 children of the paternal clans of the Ko'yemshi to the house where 

 their masks are kept, and where they are to be entertained at a feast. 

 These oflerings are to furnish bread for the occasion. Some are 

 diminutive, coming, as they do, from children three or four years of 

 age. These little tots carry their baskets on their lioads as their 

 mothers do. The meal is stacked high, as smoothly as possible, e\ery 

 care being taken in the arrangement of it; yet it hardly comes into 

 the house before it is emptied from the vessel in which it is brought 

 into one belonging to the woman of the house. liefoi-e the transfer- 

 ring of the meal, the one who brings it takes a pinch from the apex 

 and reserves it to sprinkle upon the Ko'yemshi. 



At 9 o'clock in the morning fourteen members of the Little Fire 

 fraternity wearing ardinary dr^ss and moccasins, each having his 

 23 ETH— 04 18 



