274 ISLBTA, NEW MEXICO [eth. ann. 47 



shure'. Two female assistants: Olaia Lenti or To'kum (day rising), 

 aged 35 to 40, shure'; Lupita or Klechiu' (rain little), aged 30, 

 shure'. '^ 



RITUAL 



Prayek Sticks and Feathers 



Only the chiefs (hunters excepted) make prayer sticks or feathers 

 which are referred to indiscriminately '* as nashie' or shie'.'^ I get 

 the impression that prayer feathers are used more commonly than 

 prayer sticks. For example, the Hunt chief makes only prayer 

 feathers, never prayer sticks; and prayer feathers only are made for 

 the dead or to secrete in a newly built house or to tie to the "sun." 

 The prayer feathers offered to the sun are called lawashie' (lawa, 

 fringe, shie',^" tied), wliich is also the term for the ritual hair feathers 

 of the town chief. To similar prayer feathers for the moon are 

 attached red beads. 



The prayer stick made by the chakabede for his spruce gatherers 

 is called to'ai. It consists of a joint of cane and two turkey feathers. 

 A to'ai ^^ is also made by the chief of either medicine society to be 

 deposited in the river by the woman assistant who fetches water, 

 and a to'ai is made for the sun (fig. 6); by whom I did not learn. 

 During their solstice retreats the medicine societies make prayer 

 sticks called mapotowai (mapo, ear of corn with glumes), \vith which 

 are included the crook stick type of prayer stick familiar at Jemez, 

 at Laguna, and at Zuni. These are buried in the corn fields. ^^ 



Besides turkey (piendirude) feathers, which are thought of as having 

 preeminence,-' duck (p'apire) and goose (ko'uire) feathers are men- 

 tioned as well as feathers of the humming bird (w'seutu'shureure), 

 tushore, an all red bird, and tujumare, a yellow bird. Humming- 

 bird feathers are used on the stick for the stillborn. Blue bird 

 (kow'aloaken) feathers are used by the shure'. . . . Among the 

 prayer stick feathers none is referred to as mantle or blanket or dress 

 for the stick as is the practice elsewhere. The midribs of feathers 

 maybe painted. (See p. 292.) Ritual feathersare kept, as elsewhere, 

 in oblong boxes of Cottonwood. Domestic turkeys are kept for their 



'" Uer mother belongs to Yellow Corn. 



1^ Compare a like indiscrimmate use of pe, stick, for prayer feattier among the Tewa. 



" Possibly the etymology is the same as in the term tor folk tale (see p. 369) and means talk, referring 

 to the messagelike quality of the offering (compare Parsons, 17; 55) or the term may mean "tied." See 

 below; also compare Parsons, 16; 100. 



" See p. 292. The term lawashie' refers to hair prayer feathers at large, I infer, like the Zuni term 

 lashowane. " With lawashie' we clothe the sun," meaning dress or rather headdress. Compare Parsons, 

 16: 137. The lawashie' referred to are painted, for the directions. 



2' The term for medicine man, toyide, may possibly be related to this term for prayer stick. 



" Parsons, 7; 60-61. According to Parsons, 9; 160, the chiefs of the Corn groups make these prayer sticks 

 for the fields. The medicine societies make them during their ceremony of general exorcism. (lb. 162.) 



" See p. 291. 



