STEVENSON] SOCIAL CUSTOMS 305 



his parents on the sixth morning, lie carries a dress as a present from 

 his mother to her intended daughter-in-law. The l)ride receives the 

 dress and then grinds a lot of corn into flour, and the following day 

 the groom returns to his mother's house in company with the bride, 

 who carries the meal in a basket on her head. She presents it to 

 her mother-in-law, saying: "Mother, this is for you." The mother 

 says: "My child, thanks; be seated."' She then hands bread and 

 meat, if she has it, to the girl, who sits alone while she eats. She 

 takes but a few mouthfuls. Before she leaves the house, the father- 

 in-law folds a deerskin and, la3ang it before her, says: "This is for 

 your moccasins." The girl then rises and places upon her head the 

 basket in which she brought the flour, which has been tilled with wheat 

 by the mother-in-law, and upon which the folded deerskin is laid, and 

 with the groom returns to her mother's house, where they make their 

 permanent home.'* The couple do not sleep inside the living room 

 for a year or until the birth of the first child. 



The Zufiis are monogamists, polygamy being looked upon with 

 abhorrence, but divorce is quite common. They would rather sei)a- 

 rate than live together inharmoniously. 



MORTUARY CUSTOMS 



The Zunis claim that they always buried their dead. They insist 

 that should they incinerate the bodies, there would be no rain, for 

 their dead, are the u'wannami (rain-makers). Incineration, tiiey 

 believe, would annihilate the being. Infants that are ))uried with 

 their ears unpierced are not supposed to help water tlie earth, but 

 are believed to carry baskets of toads and tadpoles on their heatls 

 and to drop them to the earth while the rain-makers are at work: and 

 it is believed that they must wear toads attached to their ears instead 

 of turquoise earrings. It is looked upon as a misfortune that tliis 

 should occur, and an infant's ears not previously pierced are therefore 

 pierced after death. 



Immediately after death the body is placed witli its head to the 

 east, bathed in yucca suds, and rul)bed over with corn meal. It is 

 then dressed in the best clothes available, a gash l)eing cut in each 

 garment that its spirit may escape to serve the spirit of the dead. 

 The body is next wrapped in one or more ))lankets and is usually 

 buried soon after death. There are more elaborate preparations for a 

 deceased rain priest and other oflicials. 



A death is usually announced as soon as it occurs l)y a woman of the 

 inunediate family to a member of the dan of the deceased and to one 

 of the clan of the spouse, and they in turn spread the news among 



a The same customs are followed when the match is made by the parents, the man being invited by 

 them to come to the house. The more progressive Indian takes great pride in providing a house of 

 his own for his family, and it is only a matter of time when the family groups will become separated. 



23 ETH— 04 20 



