344 ISLETA, NEW MEXICO [eth. ann. j? 



Mountain or Welima'" (Welimai), situated, it is believed, in the west; 

 and liwa knbede (chief) who Hves in a spring on Nahorai, a sacrosanct 

 peak of the Manzanos, and who is the one to be asked for ritual spruce. 

 The chiefs of the directions, I heard once referred to, and in a folk tale 

 all five chiefs are specified and associated with the colors of the five 

 directions — white, black, yellow, blue, all colors.*^ It was said, too, 

 that the wenin (kachina) were associated with "each corn," i. e., 

 there were wenin for each direction. Wenin, chiefs of the directions, 

 hwan, are all, I take it, to be identified. 



Mentioned also as a hwa is the bugaboo, the mountain giant, 

 found elsewhere. This liwa tenen (tall), also referred to as chapiude, 

 lives in caves in the mesa to the west. Over there may be seen lots 

 of small bones, for the giant used to steal and eat children. He wore 

 little bells and when people heard him coming they would hide the 

 children away in big jars or even between the walls. If a child 

 rebel against having his head cleaned or a little girl against carrying 

 the baby on her back, a mother will threaten to call for chapiude. 

 Chapiude used to come at the same season that Liwade came. (See 

 p. 332.) 



Then there are the Dark hwa and A'iyayaode, the little boy who 

 looks like antelope but is reputed to be wild cat, but who is at any 

 rate, I am guessing, a little war spirit,^* borrowed from the westward. 

 But whether or not the whole liwa cult is borrowed it were rash to 

 say. At Taos there is much the same cult, the cult of the latsina, 

 beneficent mountain and spring or lake spirits. The failure both at 

 Taos and Isleta " to welcome into this cult the concept of mask 

 impersonation is a most interesting instance of resistance to accul- 

 turation. The Isletan explanation is strictly according to pattern, 

 that they did not have mask dances when they came up and so 

 nowadays they are not allowed to have them. 



The patron spirits of the Laguna Fathers who are called ka'an 

 paiunin, are not kachina, but they are anthropomorphic as they ap- 

 pear depicted on the walls of the society's ceremonial room. 

 (PI. 17.) These "fathers" are always mentioned in the society's 

 ceremonial. They live to the east. They control weather, being- 

 able to send rain or wind or a scorching sun.* The moieties have 



1"* Keresan, Wenima. One Isletan referred to the shiwanna or kachina as wenin, limiting the term liwan 

 to the dancers. From the wenin, the liwan get their power. Wseide, this informant stated, was merely 

 the singular form of wenin. 



" In the parallel Hopi and Tewa (north) tales these "chiefs" are the cloud youths. 



98 From Lucinda with her Laguna traditions I heard of the Keresan war spirits. Masewi and Uyuye, 

 but never a word about them from Juan Abeita, so that I may not include them in the Isletan pantheon. 



*" Sandia is said to have a mask dance " stolen " from Laguna. It is performed every four years, in March. 

 All but townspeople are excluded, even the Isletans married into town. Once the Isletan cacique went 

 to Sandia to borrow a drum. This dance was on, outside, with wagon covers used as a screen and war 

 captains on guard against intruders. The Isletan cacique was kept out and had to wait all day until the 

 dance was over for his drum. 



1 Compare pp. 386-387. 



