106 THE ACOMA INDIANS [eth. ann.47 



the old men are not greatly concerned either, for the saint's feast is 

 not really an important event. It can not compare with a k'atsina 

 ceremonj'. Consequently the art is declining. 



Christmas Eve and Christmas Week 



On Chi-istmas Eve people (those who care to do so) bring small clay 

 figures of horses, cattle, sheep, corn, etc., into the church in baskets 

 or bowls. They place them on the floor and pray to God and to San 

 Estevan. A cross is placed in the bowl for God. This is to encourage 

 a generous multiplication of beasts and crops diu-ing the year to come. 

 These figures are kept in the church four days, after which they are 

 taken out and deposited in fields, at the base of cedar bushes, or in 

 cracks in rocks. 



After midnight, on Christmas Eve, many people come to the church 

 to pray. They pray to God, Jesus Christ, and to theu- patron, San 

 Estevan. At simrise they dance. 



During the four days that follow there is much dancing in the church. 

 They dance buffalo, eagle, Comanche dances, etc. No masks are 

 worn. These dances are not esoteric, and are not connected with 

 the k'atsina. They are danced merely for pleasure. 



Rooster Pulls '' 



On the morning of a chicken puU one Flint and one Fire shaman 

 go to the house of the war cliief to make medicine. The rooster is 

 given this medicine to drink. They pray to the rooster. Then some 

 of this medicme is put mto the white clay with which the men paint 

 their hands. Two men from the group are chosen to be the first to 

 grab the fowl. The war chief makes four wasa'n' (feather bimch), 

 each accompanied by a wi'icn' (reed cigarette), which are wrapped in 

 a com husk. He gives a package of tliis kind to each of the two first 

 men. Thej' pray with the wasa'n'. The rooster is suspended from 

 a crosspiece between two poles, erected in the plaza. ^^ Before they 

 start, the men paint their hands in the plaza, using the white clay 

 mixed with medicine. All the men rim under the crosspiece several 

 times before the two men, who have already been chosen, seize the 

 rooster and tear him down. Then everyone piu-sues the man with 

 the rooster. They grab it and fight with it. In the end he is torn to 

 pieces. It is said that rooster blood is "good for rain."'^ 



91 These are always held on .some saint's day. Chickens were introduced into the pueblos by the Span- 

 iards. 



92 Sometimes, after the first pull in the plaza, a rooster is buried in the sand at the foot of the mesa. Men 

 on horses ride by until some one snatches him out of the sand. Then they fight with him. 



" It is interesting to note how this alien custom is interpreted in terms of the native philosophy of rain 

 making. 



