82 THE ACOMA INDIANS [etii. ann. 47 



the k'atsina who have so faithfully provided the rain for the crops 

 during the summer. 



The fight (G'aiyaBai'tsani) is a k'atsina ceremony in pure form, 

 but it is secondary to the summer dance (Natyati); it is an after- 

 thought, so to speak. It is said that it was instituted after the people 

 had migrated south from WTiite House and had settled at Ako 

 (Acoma). It was done to commemorate the great fight with the 

 k'atsina and to show the young people what had happened. It is 

 simply mythological history dramatized; it does not have that essen- 

 tial core that makes the simimer dance the k'atsina ceremony par 

 excellence, viz, the dancing of the k'atsina to bring rain for the crops. 



The ceremony of the Corn clan belongs to still another category. 

 It has the appearance of being veiy old and rather fundamental 

 (Curatca seems to be the equivalent of the Zuni Shulawitsi)." The 

 full import of this ceremony, however, was not learned. I do not 

 know why it is performed by the Com clan.'* 



Natyati, the Summer Dance for Rain^' 



It is in this dance that the k'atsina assume their supreme lole, that 

 of rain making. The ceremony begins about the 10th or 12th of July 

 and lasts four days. The date is set a considerable time in advance 

 hj the cacique. Two kivas, selected by the cacique, are to take part; 

 one will dance the fu'st two days, the other the last two. (The Icivas 

 alternate in succeeding years.) At the request of the cacique, the war 

 chief visits the heads of the two kivas that are to dance and instructs 

 them to prepare for it. After conferrmg with each other, the head- 

 men report to the war chief, who carries then- message to the cacique; 

 the day is now fixed. The cacique then requests the war chief to 

 annoimce the ceremony to the pueblo eight days before its execution. 



During this 8-day preface the men who are to take part in the 

 dance practice songs and dances. The headmen of the kivas take 

 out the masks, repair them if necessary, paint them, and give them 

 food and a smoke. The women of the village gruid com, bake bread, 

 make pottery, etc., in considerable quantities. The dancers make 

 dolls to give to the children at the dance. Four days before the dance 

 a rabbit hunt is held to get meat for the feast. The dancers drink 

 herb brew in the morning and vomit. Shortly before the dance they 

 make prayer sticks. Usually one or two men go to Albuquerque to 

 buy fruit for the occasion. Great quantities are shipped out — 

 melons, oranges, grapes, peaches, plums, etc. 



" See Stevenson, M, C, The Zuni Indians, pp. 157-158. 



^ Doctor Parsons suggests that the reason is a conceptual association: Shulawitsi is a corn god, spotted 

 over to represent corn. 



f'« Acoma differs widely from the Keresan pueblos of the east with regard to summer rain dances. See 

 Goldfrank's account from Cochiti, pp. 104-106. This is quite similar to practice at Santo Domingo and San 

 Felipe. 



