wuiTE] CEREMONIES AND CEREMONIALISM 107 



The Medicine Cult 



There are four medicine societies at Acoma, viz, the Flint (Hictian'), 

 Fire (H'ak'an'), Kasina,'* and Shiwanna ("Thundercloud") Soci- 

 eties.^^ There are also snake medicine men, but they do not consti- 

 tute a society; they are simply individuals who treat snake bites. 

 Neither the Sliiwanna nor the snake medicine men are of much conse- 

 C}uence. They are quite unimportant so far as sickness is concerned, 

 and they exert even less influence in the ceremonial and political life 

 of the pueblo. The chief purpose of the Sliiwanna Society is to treat 

 persons who have been shocked by lightning and to set broken bones. 

 They also treat persons who have "a bad smell from the stomach" 

 (halitosis?). It is the three societies, the Fire, Flint, and Kaisina, 

 that are really important. They cure ailments due to the machina- 

 tions of witches and purge the village of these evil spirits. They also 

 exert a very great influence in the politico-reUgious life of the people. 



These societies are secret organizations whose chief purpose is to 

 combat witches. They are composed of men and women, and 

 children who are old enough to be intrusted with secrets. The 

 women, however, merely assist the men at ceremonies; they do not 

 cure. A headman (naicdia, father) presides over the society; he 

 summons them when necessary, supervises the ceremonies, etc. The 

 Fire Society has a chamber in which its meetings are held (fig. 1).'^ 

 The Flint Society usually holds its ceremonies in the head estufa, 

 Mauharots, unless it is being occupied by the cacique, when it "rents 

 a house somewhere else " (almost an,y large room would do). Kasina, 

 as we have noted before, kept his paraphernalia in an "east side 

 room " (hak'aiya) adjoining Mauharots. 



Disease, its cause and cure. — Everj'one at Acoma knows, of course, 

 that if you \'iolate some of the simple but important rules of hygiene 

 you will become sick; you should not eat too many green peaches. 

 They have a number of herb medicines which they employ in treating 

 minor ailments or complaints, and I have no doubt but that some of 

 them possess healing properties of real merit. But if an ailment 

 becomes serious, does not respond readily to these simple treatments, 

 it is evident that the person in question has been stricken by a witch. 

 It then becomes necessary to secure the services of a medicine man or 

 a society. 



** Informants at Acoma did not know what kanina means. An informant at Santo Domingo said tfiat it 

 meant, or was applied to, a person who "ate too much." The kaeiua society fjecame extinct at .\coma 

 during the winter of 1926-27. There was only one man left in the summer of 1926. Since his death his 

 functions have been taken over by the Flint Society; 1 understood that the head of the Flint Society 

 initiated the war chief at his installation in 1927. 



" \n inlormant about 50 years old told me that "there used to be" bear, eagle, giant, lizard (me-yu), ant, 

 and cikame medicine societies at .\coma. I do not know what this statement is worth; certainly none of 

 these societies has existed there within the past few generations. 



■s The chamber of the Fire Society was referred to as a k'aatc, which is the term for the kiva (or estufa) 

 of the kachina organization. In structure, so far as I could learn, it is similar to the regular kiva. Kivas 

 in the eastern Keresan villages arc called tcikya. 



