48 THE ACOMA INDIANS [eth.asn.47 



The next day they make more pra,yer sticks. That night they go 

 to the west, as two nights before they went north, with their prayer 

 sticks (hatcamuni) and water jars. After praying at the springs and 

 filhng their jars with water, they return to the pueblo. This time 

 it is Cpatim'iti (the first assistant war chief) who goes to Mauharots 

 to pray and, later, to rouse the people of the pueblo to pi'ay to the 

 rising sun. The next day is one of rest. On the day following they 

 make prayer sticks for the third time, and in the evening they set 

 out to the south, where they fill their jars at springs. Maiyatcotimiti, 

 the second lieutenant war chief, goes to the head estufa (Mauharots) 

 upon their return. After a day of rest, they make prayer sticks and 

 for the fourth time %'isit spiings for water, this time going to the 

 east. The head war chief, Cutim'iti, goes to Mauharots when they 

 get back, after which, as usual, the people are roused for the prayer 

 to the sun. The cycle is now complete. 



The formal initiation of the war chiefs is to take place foiu- days 

 after the completion of the above circuit. The cacique requests the 

 new war chief to inform the kasina tcaiani (member of the kasina 

 curing society) of this fact. Cutimiti (the head war chief) takes 

 waBani (q. v.) to the kaBina tcaiani with prayers and gives him the 

 cacique's message. The kanina tcaiani secures the assistance of one 

 of the young hictiani tcaiani (Flint Society medicine man '^). On 

 the day before the initiation, kanina tcaiani erects his altar in Mau- 

 harots (see references to kanina tcaiani; also section on kivas). The 

 altar consists of two fetishes placed in an east-and-west fine. The 

 one on the east end is called tsamai'ye; the other is named tsamahi'a.'^ 

 They were made of bucksldn with feathers at the top. In front of 

 the altar were placed flints, fetishes of stone, and a large stone lion 

 in the middle. 



Kanina tcaiani and his assistant go to Mauharots (the "head 

 estufa") early in the morning of the initiation day and begin to sing. 

 Food is brought into the estufa and placed before the altar. Anyone 

 may attend the initiation, even women. The initiation ceremony 

 consists chiefly in a wliipping which is administered to the candidates, 

 much as the children are whipped when the.y are initiated into the 

 kachina organization. The initiation ceremony lasts all day, and 

 anyone who wishes to be whipped may come in for that purpose. 

 Many people wish to be whipped at this time because they believe 

 that the whipping will give them strength, either physical or spiritual, 

 or give them luck in hunting, racing, or gambling. 



The war chief comes into the estufa wearing only a breechcloth 

 (and a blanket thrown over him, which he removes upon entering 



3* As will be noted in the section devoted to the ouring societies, there w.is only one member of the 

 ii:iBina medicine society alive in the summer of 1926. lie died that fall without initiating any new mem- 

 bers. The society therefore has become e\tinct at .Vcoma. Since his death his functions have been taken 

 over by the Flint Society (the hictiani tcaiani K 



" See Parsons, Xotes on Ceremonialism at Laguna, p. U9. 



