sTi:vKN,M,s] SOCIAL CUSTOMS 807 



Uidder, which passes through the hatchway of the room, and his entire 

 hotly is l)athod in cold water. 



If the burial occurs sutHciently early for the Sun Father in his 

 journey over the world to receive the prayers wafted from the 

 plumes, the immediate members of the family go u short distance 

 west of the village, by the river bank, and nrake an excavation, in 

 which the extra clothing and other belongings of the deceased are 

 deposited. Nearly all the objects belonging to the dead are eithei- 

 destroyed or buried. If the deceased is a member of the Ko'tikili 

 (mythologic) fraternity, the mask received at voluntary initiation into 

 this organization is heavily sprinkled with meal and buried, with 

 prayers, in a small excavation made near the large one. A third 

 excavation, about 12 inches square and the same in depth, is afterward 

 made near the river, and te'likinawe, prepared l<y a male member of 

 the family, of which each adult has four and the children one or two, 

 are planted in this excavation, the hands of the infants being guided bv 

 their mothers. After the plumes are placed, all si)rinkle meal upon 

 them, and on the following day the excavation is tilled with earth. 

 After returning to the house all except the infants take from one to 

 three large gourdfuls of warm water as an emetic for their phvsieal 

 purification. 



It is })elieved that the ghost hovers about the village four nights 

 after death and starts on its journey to Ko'thluwala'wa (abiding ])lace 

 of the Council of the Gods) on the fifth morning. During t\w spii-it's 

 stay in the village the door and hatchway of tln^ house must l)e left 

 ajar that it may pass in and out at will; should the door be closed, the 

 ghost would scratch upon it and not be satisfied until it was o])ened. 

 These shadow l)eings can t)e obscM'ved l)y seers and l»y others under 

 certain conditions. 



A shi'wanni (rain priest) related the following: 



Once when tlie 'Hle^wekwe (.swonl .^wallnwers ) held their cerenioiiie? at my house 

 (tlie ceremonial chamber of this fraternity happens to l)e in thedwelliiiur of tliis rain 

 priest), tlie sword swallowed hy one of tlie women must have touched her Iieart, as 

 the blood came so fast. We laid her on the roof of the house and en<leavored to 

 stop the flow, but we could not, and in a little while she died. Her spirit troubled 

 us so much with rapjting that we placed live coals in the center of the room and 

 added pifion gum; the room was soon tilled with smoke, which effectually rid us nf 

 the spirit." 



Parents or sisters of a deceased person sleep at the side of the 

 surviving spouse during the four nights that the spirit is suppo.sed to 

 remain inZuni. A grain of black corn and a bit of charcoal are put 

 imder the head of the mourner to insure against dreaming of the lost 

 one, whose ghost would appear shoidd the sleeper awake. 



When a husband or wife belonging to the Ant fraternity dies the 



aThe Chinese go through their houses after sunset with firebrands to ilrivt- mit evil >^pirii-^ 



