58 THE ACOMA INDIANS [eth. ann. 47 



The building of new homes in a new location gave them a chance 

 to build as they pleased, to adopt any style of house, or any part 

 thereof, that they chose. And there certainly is a great difference 

 between the 3-storv house rows at old Acoma, without doors on the 

 ground floor and few or no windows, and the little individual houses 

 with yards in the Acomita Valley. The new houses were furnished 

 from the white man's stores. Stoves, beds, bureaus, tables, etc., 

 which are rare at Acoma, are to be found in nearly every Acomita 

 household. 



It would be tedious to further detail the changes that have followed 

 upon this descent from the wind-swept rock of old Acoma to the 

 waters of the Acomita Valley, but most important among the con- 

 sequences of tills migration is, I believe, the sliifting of psychological 

 forces and values. This change of residence has contributed more 

 to the gradual but inevitable breakdown of the old tradition than 

 anything else I know of, and the initiating cause is water — water 

 controlled and regulated by a system of irrigation. Physical sepa- 

 ration from the sacred Acoma tends to weaken the bonds of attach- 

 ment. Their new homes are more roomy, clean, and comfortable, 

 and the journey to the old home is not an easy one. The Acoma 

 people are becoming more mobile. For centuries they confined their 

 dwelling area to a few acres on the old cliff; now they are spread out 

 over square miles. Some families have even moved oft" the reserva- 

 tion entirely and have bought farm land near by. This points to- 

 ward further disseniination and eventual disintegration of the pueblo. 

 Families who live quite apart from each other in the Acomita Valley 

 are more free to do and think as they please than when they were 

 living in full view of the whole population at old Acoma. There is 

 psychological disintegration taking place; the pueblo is tending to 

 break up into family groups. 



Then, Acoma is the home of the gods and the medicine men. 

 The k'atsinas (the rain makers, q. v.) never visit the Acomita Valley. 

 Indeed a k'atsina would be quite out of place among irrigation 

 ditches." And the motive behind the masked dances is, I have no 

 doubt, weakened considerably by the presence of an irrigation system 

 and windmills. Why should men go to such pains and effort to have 

 a 4-day masked dance for rain when they can water the fields them- 

 selves with their ditches? The k'atsinas are becoming obsolete. ^^ 



" Although masked impersonators of these supematurals officiate at ditch operations at Santo Domingo, 

 such as directing their cleaning, etc. 



<5 1 make this assertion despite the fact that the number of kachir.as impersonated at Acoma (as well 

 as at Keresan villages on the Rio Orande) has been, and probably is now, increasing. But the percentage 

 of people who really "believe in" these spirits is constantly decreasing. The kachinas may undergo a 

 reinterpretation or may be kept for socio-ceremonial reasons alone. (See Doctor Parsons's illuminating 

 chapter on Decay of Ceremonialism, Notes on Zuni, pt. II, pp. 242-248.) 



