WHITE] CEREMONIES AND CEREMONIALISM 81 



56. Kasewat; one; mask kept in Mauharots; appears in winter 

 solstice. (See tale concerning Kasewat.) 



57. Hictian k'oasut ("flint being with wdngs"); comes w-ith 

 Kasewat. 



58. K'omutina; there are two; they accompany Curatca in the 

 masked ceremony of the Com clan. 



59. K'imac"; there is said to be a mask of K'imac", the chief of the 

 k'atsinas; it is kept in Dautkorits. K'imac" appears at the winter 

 solstice. (Pis. 2-10.) 



General remarks concerning the mashed dancers. — The summer dance, 

 Natyati (to be described shortly), is perhaps the clearest example of 

 the kachina cult to be foimd at Acoma; that is, the least contaminated 

 with other elements. There is a great masked ceremony at the winter 

 solstice, but there the central idea is concerned with the sun's coin-se; 

 the k'atsina appear in the mixed dance (G'aiya) in a perfect medley, 

 serving merely as a ceremonial katharsis, an eft'ervescence of cere- 

 moniaUsm. I believe that the "original" purpose of the k'atsinas is 

 expressed in the Natyati, and that later they were used in the winter 

 solstice ceremonial simply because they had them and because the 

 general efl^ect of the occasion was heightened by their use ; it made the 

 observation of the sun's change of route spectacular. I believe, also, 

 that the oldest masks are the five which are used by the five kivas in 

 the Natyati (though perhaps there are others just as old), and that 

 many later importations (or creations) were gathered together in the 

 mixed dance, G'aiya', given at the winter solstice. Take the mask 

 Sa'romsia, for example (which is the Zuiii Salimobiya). Although 

 they have this mask at Acoma, it is not associated with any particular 

 idea, legend, or function; they sunply have it — each kiva has one — 

 and it appears in the mixed dance. If we assume that it is a recent 

 importation from Zuni (which I believe to be the case), this will 

 explain why there is no story about him, and it also accoimts for his 

 role in the mixed dance, '\^^lere else were they to put him? I believe 

 that the rnixed dance at the winter solstice is evidence (and residt) of 

 an efflorescence of the kachina cidt. 



But perhaps the best argument in support of this view is to be 

 found in comparative evidence. In Zuiii and among the eastern 

 Keres there are both simimer rain dances and masked ceremonies at 

 other times and for other purposes. But the function served by Nat- 

 yati at Acoma is the most uniformly distributed; there is greater 

 diversity in the other aspects of the cult. Hence, one is led to the 

 conclusion that this rain-making function, the core of the Natyati 

 ceremony, is the pm'est expression of the kachina cult. 



Data for the masked dance in September are meager and very 

 unsatisfactory. I believe that the dance is not always given. I 

 take it that it is of the nature of a harvest dance, a thanksgiving to 



