288 ISLETA, NEW MEXICO [eth. ann. 47 



The practice of eniesis at home was referred to above. In the 

 solstice ceremonies there is an elaborate purging rite. 



In the ceremonial of general exorcism there is a rite of spitting 

 into a jar on the altar or toward it, or toward the witch bundle or the 

 "witch" himself. 



CALENDAR 



List of Months 



December nofepa, night fire ™ (i. e., Christmas) moon. 



January tawinchibena (tawinide, samples of year's prospective yield, 



in crops or rabbits; *' chibena, new). 



February koshi^pai, raising, coming up, moon. 



Marcli 1-capai, bury (?) moon. 



April hta kaai, wheat pile or litapaai (wheat pile moon). 



May paxorai, water (? grain, month)." 



June pepa, nape', ceremony of Corn groups moon. 



July pahonminai, moon, sucked in." 



August tilpaai, grind moon. 



September nakyenepai, motion up and down moon. 



October ko'wepai, brown-yellow moon. 



November p'oyapai, dead'" moon. 



Solstice Determination and Calendrical Events 



All the ceremonial groups contribute to the year's calendar, sys- 

 teniatically or as certain occasions arise. But the winter and summer 

 solstice ceremonials of the Corn groups set the calendar, so to speak, 

 and these ceremonials are correlated, not with solar observation, of 

 which there is none,'' but with the Augustan calendar, December 1 

 to 20 and June 1 to 20 being the periods assigned to them. The 

 Wliite Com group goes in one day in advance of the others, and the 

 shichu Corn group is the last to go in, otherwise there is no rule for 

 dating the various retreats or for their sequence. Evidently all the 

 retreats might be concluded several days before the 20th of the 

 month, or the series might be prolonged to the 20th. At any rate 

 from the first to the 20th there are taboos on hunting and bird- 

 trapping and on dancing. The other " staj^ing-still " taboos which 

 are observed at Taos at the corresponding ceremonial season which 

 is prolonged at Taos and Picuris to January 6 are not observed at 

 Isleta. 



*! See p. 303. 



«' See pp. 262, 313, 318, 319. Also referred to as what the ceremonialists " bring up." 



*8 Referring to rain-calling ceremony. See p. 331. 



SB Or swallowed, as is something floating after getting water soaked. But I am wondering if puhb does 

 not refer to the *' water grain " rain-calling ritual of July. 



w Referring to All Souls observance. 



91 The common Pueblo concept of the " Sun's house," some mesa or hill fixed point on the horizon, also 

 seemed unfamiliar. Nor is there any observation of the moon for timing ceremonies. 



