WHITE] CEREMONIES AND CEKEMONIALISM 71 



of the k'atsina are called G'uiraina tcaiaii'." Children affiliate with 

 the kiva of the father. 



There is a headman for each estufa (kiva, or k'a'atc).^* He is 

 appointed by the cacique and serves for life. His duties are in gen- 

 eral the administration of the unit of the kachina organization be- 

 longing to his estufa; specifically, he is the custodian of the masks, 

 keeping them safely secured between ceremonies; he takes them out 

 and paints them for dances and feeds them and offers them cigarettes; 

 he simimons his men for ceremonies and instructs them in matters 

 of preparation, etc. 



Initiation of children into the kachina organization. — The war chief 

 keeps track of the children to be initiated. Initiations are held at 

 intervals of about five or si.x years. In the old days initiations were 

 held at the winter solstice; now they are held during the summer. 

 Formerly, children were initiated at ages ranging from 9 to 12 (ap- 

 proximately) ; now, however, the initiation is usually postponed until 

 the children come back from the schools to stay in the village. 



When the war chief thinks the time has come for another initiation 

 he confers with the cacicjue, who sets a date. Then the war chief 

 goes through the streets (four days before the initiation is to take 

 place) announcing the forthcoming event. 



On the fourth day before the ceremony the father of a child to be 

 initiated (or the child's maternal uncle, if the father be dead) looks 

 about for some one to act as his child's sponsor during the initiation. 

 He always chooses a good friend, and usually a clansman. The 

 father makes four wasani (feather bunches, q. v.) each one contain- 

 ing a wi'icBi (corn-husk cigarette which has been lighted and extin- 

 guished) and wraps them in a corn husk. This package he carries 

 to the man he has chosen for sponsor and hands it to him, saying 

 "Dium"" (brother). The recipient replies, "Dium"." The father 

 prays, asking his friend to look out for his child during the initiation, 

 and asks the spirits to grant him a long, useful, and happy life.^^ 



" In the Rio Grande villages there are two complementary secret societies, the Koshare and the Quirena. 

 They are definitely organized, have a headman, new members are secretly initiated, etc. They assist at 

 ceremonies. At Acoma the Koshare Society is found, but the Quirena exists in quite a different form. 

 There, instead of being a small secret society with special functions, the Quirena (called G'uiraina at Acoma) 

 is simply the aggregate of all individuals who have been initiated into the secrets of the li*atsina. The 

 features which characterize the Quirena in the east, such as special ceremonial functions, a distinctive 

 costume, a mythological residence, etc., are not found at Acoma. Acoma, it seems, has worked out a 

 compromise between east and west. It has the names "Koshare" and "Quirena," and the form and 

 functions of the Koshare .Society, which are eastern features. Then it has the idea of a tribal society whose 

 fimctions are closely associated with kachina impersonation (viz, the G'uiraina tcaianO, which is a Zuiii 

 characteristic. The absence of the moiety principle, too, is a western feature rather than an eastern one. 

 One might suppose a priori that such a situation would be found at Acoma, since its geographic position 

 is about midway between Zufii and the pueblos of the Rio Grande. 



»» Another informant stated that there were two headmen. The man who told me that there was one 

 headman said that there was an assistant. 



•» The man who acts as sponsor is called neyawairaiitu; the children to be whipped are Killed naiyama- 

 watna tsiwatcomasa. 



