white] life cycle of an individual 137 



Sickness and Election to Office 



Adult life for the men and women is filled with their domestic and 

 field activities. As ceremonies come and go they take their part, or 

 perhaps onlj^ attend as spectators. A severe sickness, however, 

 might well mark an event in the life of anyone. A medicine society 

 might be called in, and the patient might join it upon recovery. This 

 would be a very important event. 



Any adult man is eligible to hold office (miless barred because of 

 his liberal tendencies). A minor office, of course, does not materially 

 change the course of one's life. A major office, such as the war 

 captaincy or the governorship, however, marks an epoch m one's life, 

 as will be realized from our discussion of these offices. 



The values which the average person cherishes as he passes middle 

 age seem to be a long life, many cliildren, a clear conscience — a feeling 

 of having done his duty toward men and gods. Wealth, beyond a 

 comfortable li\Ting, seems to be little sought after. It is true that 

 some feeling of contempt is attached to poverty; it means that the 

 people are lazy or "bad." But in the scale of virtues wealth cer- 

 tainly does not head the list.^' 



Death ^° 



The face of the deceased is painted with ya'katca (reddish brown) 

 by some medicine men. The father makes four prayer sticks, painted 

 black, which he puts in the right hand of the deceased. Then he 

 makes four more which he puts in a pottery bowl, together with four 

 made by the mother. Shortly after death the body is interred in 

 the yard in front of the old Spanish church at old Acoma; this is con- 

 secrated ground. The body is buried dressed in the best clothes 

 owned by the deceased. No tools or weapons are buried with the 

 body. After the grave has been filled a pottery bowl of water is 

 broken over it by a relative to give the deceased "his last drink." 

 Sometimes a few flowers are planted on the grave, but they soon die.^' 



33 1 heard that some of the people at Acoma (mostly men, of course, but one or two women) have two or 

 three thousand dollars in the bank at Albuquerque. This is, of course, very rare; very few, indeed, have 

 bank accoimts. Wealth exists largely in sheep, cattle, horses, corn, houses, etc. The average family han- 

 dles little cash during a year. Supplies are bought at the trading post at Cubero (where the Indians are 

 very often cheated or imposed upon) and are charged. Accounts are balanced with sales of woo! and 

 pottery. 



*o Additional data on death and burial are contained in Parsons's Notes on Acoma and Laguna, .\meri- 

 can Anthropologist, vol. 20, pp. 162-186. 



*' \\\ of the Acomas who have died for many generations have been buried in this churchyard. It is 

 quite small. Whenever a new grave is dug now at least one or two old ones are disturbed, and many bones 

 are exhumed; these are thrown back into the new grave. .\ few bone^ and many fragments of pottery lie 

 about on the surface of the graveyard. The relation to the ratholit- Church is interesting in connection 

 with burials. .\11 of the burials are in the churchyard, but the medicine men function rather than the priest . 

 In one instance that I know of the t^atholic priest performed the burial ceremony (the father of the deceased 

 was a "progressive"). The girl was not tiuried in the churchyard for this reason. Persons who have been 

 witches are not buried here either. 



6066°— 32 10 



