494 THE ZUNI INDIANS [eth. ann. 23 



the hands of the f raternit}^ parent. A warrior, wearing- his war pouch, 

 and on his head his plume wand, now dances before the novices, bending 

 and wildly gesticulating; passing around b}' the north side of the altar, 

 he stands his two eagle-wing plumes upward in his bow wristlet and 

 slips a bear's foot skin on his left hand. He takes one of the diminu- 

 tive mounds from the sand painting, and returning by the south side 

 of the altar, he throws himself, with one knee bent and the other leg 

 extended backward, before the couple at the south end of the line, 

 and places the material f I'om the dry painting to the heart of the frater- 

 nity child of the Great Mother. Clawing over the novice, he indulges 

 in extravaganza, throwing his arms outward and upward; he then 

 returns to the altar, dances a moment or two before it, takes a second 

 mound from the painting, and applies it to the heart of the novice mid- 

 way the line. After the third novice has passed through the rite, 

 the warrior returns to the first novice, groWling and gesticuliiting, 

 and throws himself forward and sucks at the spot where the material 

 from the dry painting has been placed. Waving the supposed 

 extracted material about his head, he approaches the altar, and, danc- 

 ing wildly, passes b\' the south side and appears to deposit the 

 extracted material in a bowl. In this particular ceremony the suck- 

 ing is done at the heart only, and is for the purification of the heart. 

 He no sooner sucks at the heart of the second novice than a female 

 theurgist repeats the same rite with the girl at the south end of the 

 line, and continues with the other two novices; one after another from 

 the choir repeat the form, until every theurgist of the fraternity has 

 drawn evil from the heart of the novice, each one aiming to outdo the 

 other in extravaganza. No one omits to pass around the altar from 

 the north side in going to the bowl to deposit the material supposed 

 to be drawn from the hearts of the novices. 



The women are as enthusiastic as the men, but are awkward, while 

 the men are wonderfully graceful. At the conclusion of this cere- 

 mony each novice is assisted to her feet by the fraternity parent, who 

 leads, her to the altar, where they both pray, and afterward she is led 

 to her place on the ledge on the north side of the room. When the 

 novices have taken their seats the warrior carries out the bowl of 

 supposed extracted material. Two men leave the choir and appear 

 before the altar just as the. Great ^Mother deposits ashes before it, and 

 the former ceremony" of sprinkling ashes for purification is repeated. 

 Those present, still holding in their left hands the meal previously 

 distributed, wave their hands four times around their heads, from left 

 to right, whenever the dancers strike the ashes from their plumes. 



After the sprinkling of ashes to the six regions is repeated, all but 

 the really ill people stand and pray aloud. The prayer closes shortly 

 ))efore 2 in the morning, and the male members gather about the 

 altar, and afterward the female members, to sprinkle meal and receive 



