PARSOKS] 



KIT GAL 283 



also — or when kumpa dances in caUing the horned serpent, or the 

 medicine society chief on gazing into his medicine to learn of the 

 world outside. In these dances there is some dramatic action 

 also. . . . There is an interesting reference " to dancing as a form 

 of "helping" or, as we might say, of compulsory magic. 



Ritual racing is thought of similarly to help the sun's progress.'^ 

 This racing is of the relay type, which is Tanoan in distinction to the 

 kick stick or kick ball race type of the Keres and of the west. The 

 kick stick is known ritualistically at Isleta; ^'^ but it is associated with 

 the sun, not, as elsewhere, wdth rainfall. 



Ritual Gestures and Postures 



An antisunwise circuit made with the eagle feathers or with the 

 clasped hands seems to have the meaning of gathering in some influ- 

 ence, either for oneself or to bestow it on others, as when the chief 

 waves his feathers toward the Mother on the altar and then waves 

 them toward the audience, or when, after breatliing on his clasped 

 hands, he moves them in circuit and says, "The water people are 

 sending you all long life and health." The rimner will make this 

 gesture, asking help from the scalps or from the sun. (See p. 329.) 



There is still another motion of drawing something to oneself — 

 the hands held cuplike and moved to and fro.*^ 



There is an antithetical motion of discarding, an exorcismg motion, 

 in which the palms are passed together quickly to and fro in a slicing 

 movement. This rite is also performed with eagle feathers. The 

 two eagle feathers are also tapped one against the other at right 

 angles.^* 



The eagle feathers are used in conducting or leading persons to 

 ceremonial places, as when "his father" leads a patient to the 

 society's room. The Father crosses the feathers; the patient takes 

 hold of them by the tips; then the Father swings them over his head, 

 leaving the patient still holding the feathers in a position behind 

 the Father. 



Sacrosanct objects, more particularly the com fetishes, may be 

 held in the right hand resting in the crook of the left arm, which is 

 folded over the right forearm. The corn ear or the eagle feather 

 may be held by butt and tip, in both hands, to breathe from them. 



In this connection we may note that, as elsewhere, bare feet and 

 flowing hair are associated with ritual performance. Also we note 

 that a kind of massage by pressing is practiced as a restorative for one 



" See p. 318. 



" See pp. 324-325, 388. 



" See p. 368 and Fig. 25. 



" See pp. 292, 296. Compare Laguna, Parsons, 8: 126. 



«Ibid. 



