STEVENSON] 



MA^^KE ^SAN'nAKWE • -^65 



a load of ai'iko (juniper, species not yet identitied), and deposit it in 

 the ceremonial chamber, where it remains until the rising of the 

 morning star, at which time it iscarried to the Si'aa' te'wita. A cir- 

 cular excavation a))Out 2^ feet in diameter is made, and a smaller one 

 is dug in the center of this, in which prayer plumes and medicine are 

 deposited. These are covered with earth, and the wood is piled in 

 and over the excavation until it reaches the roof of the He'iwa (North) 

 ki'wi'sine, which stands on the north side of the plaza. The pile is 

 lighted and allowed to burn until only coals remain, when two mem- 

 bers of the Cimex fraternity rake the coals out of the bed, scatter 

 them over a considerable surface, and beat them with long poles about 

 4 inches in diameter until they are })roken into small pieces. The coals 

 which have lost the red color are gathered in a mound over the exca- 

 vation with wooden shovels; the liner coals are next brushed to the 

 mound with a bunch of juniper twigs, and tinally the shovels are used 

 to pack the mound into a symmetrical form. The plaza is then swept 

 to make ready for the arrival of the fraternity, and it is not long 

 before the dancers appear, led by a woman wearing an ordinary 

 black dress with a mi'ha (sacred embroidered blanket) fastened close 

 about her neck. She also wears a number of necklaces and a pair of 

 tine white deerskin moccasins with black soles, and she carries in her 

 right hand a mi'li and in her left a meal basket. She is followed by a 

 man whom the writer terms the sprinkler. He wears a white cotton 

 shirt and an embroidered kilt ornamented with a band of blue-green, 

 at each end of which a game of sho'liwe « is painted. The band sym- 

 bolizes the vegetation of the world. The kilt is held on with an 

 embroidered sash and a woman's red belt fastened at the right side. 

 He also wears blue knit leggings, tied below the knee with blue 

 yarn, which hangs in tassels and is ornamented with sleigh bells, 

 and dance moccasins. In addition to the many necklaces he wears 

 a hank of blue yarn. A bunch of yellow and green parrot plumes 

 is attached to the forelock, and a wand, composed of long parrot-tail 

 feathers and two fluffy eagle plumes with an aigret of yellow parrot 

 plumes at the base, the whole finished off with long streamers of 

 red and green ribbons, is attached upright to the back of the head. 

 The hair hangs loosely down the back. The other male dancers 

 wear white enibroidered kilts with white fringed sashes and women's 

 red belts fastened at the right side and fox skins pendent at the 

 back. The feet and legs are bare. A hank of black or blue yarn is 

 tied around the right wrist and a bow wristlet is on the left. Yarn 

 is also tied around the throat in addition to the beads, and an eagle- 

 tail plume is suspended to the yarn at the back of the neck. They 

 wear wreaths of yucca ribbon tied in fanciful bows or knots at each 

 side of the head. There is a daub of yellow paint on each scapula, 



n See Games. 



