PARSONS] CALENDAR 337 



toward the mountains, to blind the deer. He whistles to draw in 

 the deer,*^' and he actually does draw in a live deer, according to Juan 

 Abeita, who gave the following account of this achievement which 

 took place, not at the annual ceremony, but on an occasion about 

 10 years ago when the medicine societies wanted some deer meat for 

 a ceremony in February and there was none in the house of the town 

 chief, although he is supposed to keep meat of all kinds. The hunt 

 chief was appealed to. He simmioned the war captains to his house, 

 and among them was Juan Abeita,^* who reported the following as 

 an eye witness. The hunt chief proceeded to make a circle of pollen, 

 lea\ang a gap toward the east. (Fig. 24.) In his hand he held a 

 goose feather which he would move in circuit as he talked. What he 

 said we could not hear. He began to call out 

 like a wolf or mountain lion. He told one of 

 us to open the door. He began to sing. In 

 came a big deer with big horns. Humahude 

 kept on singing. He said to close the door. 

 The deer walked into the circle of pollen. 

 Hmnahude closed the gap with pollen. The 

 deersnorted, butstood quite still. Humahude 

 took his k'oata (see p. 279) and tapped him „ „, .,. , ^ . u- . 



^ ^ . ' ^^^ Figure 24.— Altar of hunt chief. 



gently on the forehead, but it sounded out loud. circle of meai (poiien); medi- 

 The deer dropped down dead. "Now butcher ™e bowi kechu. Lightning, 



, . stone point 



it," humahude said to us. He cut out a piece 



for the medicine men. Of the rest half went to the cacique (town 



chief), half to any of the people who would come in for some. 



At the annual ceremony the deer that is drawn in ^^ goes, all of it, 

 to the town chief. 



HUNTING RITUAL 



.\ hunter may get permission from the town chief to get power from 

 the hunt chief. The hunt chief prepares a prayer feather, a cigarette 

 of native tobacco, a husk of corn meal, pollen, turquoise, and a red 

 bead. The morning following, the hunter comes for these, which, on 

 receiving, he moves in the directions as the hunt chief smgs. The 

 hunter gives thanks. The hunt chief leains when he is to start off on 

 the hunt, for he will smoke at that tune to blind the deer. 



As soon as the hunter sees a deer, which will act, indeed, as if blind, 

 he will put down his offerings for Wffiide and he will smoke his cigarette 

 in the directions. 



The head of the dead deer he turns ™ toward the town and he 

 sprinldes the deer with meal. He passes his hands along the deer 



" In folk tale he also whistles to call the rain. 

 «* He was wilaweun, "the last helper," of the wilawe. 



" One informant denies that deer are drawn in— "only rabbits, that 1 have seen myself." 

 '^ At another time the same informant said that in whatever direction the deer was facing wlieii shot, 

 he would turn and fall in the direction of the town. 



