WHITE] CEREMONIES AND CEREMONIALISM 65 



number — two, one, etc. The same situation seems to prevail at 

 Wenimats'. A more detailed account of these spirits will be given in 

 the section devoted to the kachina cult. 



The k'osictaiya. — These are spirits who Uve in the east, at 

 hak'oaikutc' (the simrise). They also hve at haniakocoko, a crater- 

 like place southeast of Acoma. The k'oBictaiya are regarded as very 

 powei'ful and beneficent spirits, but they do not reveal themselves 

 as clearly and as definitely in the minds of the people as do the 

 k'atsina; information concemmg the k'osictaiya is both meager and 

 vague. The k'oBictaiya have never known sexual intercourse. It 

 came about in this way: The daughter of a former war chief died. 

 Some k'anadyaiya (witches) stole the corpse and restored her to life. 

 They were going to seduce her, but the k'oBictaiya came to the 

 rescue. They were going to fight for the possession of the gii'l, but 

 decided to play a game instead. They played a game with a top 

 (a k'owaico tororo). If the witches won, they could do as they 

 pleased with the girl; if the k'oBictaiya won, they woidd get the girl, 

 but they would have to forego sexual intercourse forever. The 

 k'oBictaiya won the girl and have remained continent ever since. 

 Another informant stated that the k'oBictaiya were just like the 

 k'atsina before the fight at White House; they did not want to fight 

 the people. After the fight they felt that they could no longer hve 

 with the k'atsina, so they moved to the southeast, to the simrise, 

 hakoaik'utc". Some are said to dwell at a craterlike place southeast 

 of Acoma called hanyakocoko. The two head men of the k'oBictaiya 

 who are impersonated at the winter solstice, Dziukiii and K'okiri, 

 were said (by one informant) to represent the "morning star and 

 the evening star." So far as I could learn, they are not assigned to 

 any particular function (except during the winter solstice ceremony, 

 when they promote fertility and strengthen weak and sick people, 

 q. v.). Prayer sticks are deposited for the k'osictaiya. Masked 

 men personate them at the winter solstice.*^ 



latik". — Perhaps this supernatural should have been mentioned 

 first. She is very sacred and of the greatest importance.'" She is 

 called the mother of all the Indians. Her home is Shipap, the place 

 of emergence, in the north. After death a person goes back to his 



*' At San Felipe and at Santo Domingo, the k'oBictaiya are represented with Httle anthropomorphic 

 figurines on the altars of medicine men. No masks are used. 



w It is impossible to say which of the Acoma supernaturals is most important. I do not believe they 

 are arranged in a definite hierarchy in native conception. The sun, Masewi, and Iatik« are each very 

 important. So are the k'atsinas. But each is important in his own way and for different reasons. Com- 

 parisons are very difficult. The sun is a symbol of cosmic power, so to speak, but he is not anthropo- 

 morphic, he is not of the order of human beings. Masewi is a superhuman man, a champion. The k'atsinas 

 are closely associated with the people and are very important in sustaining life by rain making. latik" 

 seems to be the symbol of human life itself, its very e,<^ence. She is quite remote, however, from the dally 

 activities of her children. She is not represented in drawings mTr in costume. She is not dramatized in 

 ceremonies. The medicine men have a fetish which symbolizes her (an ear o( corn, q. v.). 



