488 INTRODUCTION TO ZUNI CEREMONIALISM (eth. ann. 47 



There is little speculative interest in the origin and early history 

 of the world, animate and inanimate, although there is great interest 

 in the early histoiy of mankind, and the origin of laws, customs, and 

 rituals. Zuni myth and ritual contain innimierable expressions of 

 what Hacberlin calls the "idea of fertilization," '^ but to the Zuiiis 

 these are imi'elated episodes — they do not view them as parts of a 

 great cosmological concept. There are many tales of a maiden being 

 impregnated by the sim or the rain; the sim is called "father," the 

 earth "mother"; and the people are believed to have originated 

 within the earth in the fourth "womb." '^ Yet the general concept 

 of the sexuality of the imiverse as the soiu-ce of Hfe, which is found 

 all aboiit them, most fully developed among the Omaha and the 

 Yuman tribes, and in attenuated form among the Hopi, is not known 

 at Zuni. Gushing records the myth of the sky cohabiting with the 

 earth to produce life, mdicating that the notion was cuiTent in that 

 day. It has completely vanished at the present time. I have 

 recorded Zuni creation myths from priests and laymen, in secular 

 and ritualistic form, and all commence the same way, nor do the 

 Zuiiis recognize in these myths the implications of profoimder cos- 

 mological concepts.'^ They are not interested in cosmology or meta- 

 physics. It is interesting in this connection to note the extreme 

 paucity of etiological tales as compared with other North American 

 mythologies. 



There was, however, a mythic age, "when the earth was soft," 

 during which things now impossible took place. During this time 

 animals could become human, and humans could change into animals. 

 During this period also the katcinas came in person to the villages. 

 It was at this time that customs originated and took form. Then 

 the earth hardened; things assumed their permanent form and have 

 since remained unchanged.'* 



Ritual: The Control of the Supernatural 



techniques of control 



Man is not lord of the imiverse. The forests and fields have not 

 been given him to despoil. He is equal in the world with the rabbit 

 and the deer and the young corn plant. They must be approached 

 circumspectly if they are to be persuaded to \&y down their lives for 

 man's pleasure or necessity. Therefore the deer is stalked ritualisti- 

 cally; he is enticed with sacred esoteric songs, he is killed in a pre- 

 scribed manner, and when brought to the house is received as an 



'5 Haeberlin, The idea of fertilization in the culture of the Pueblo Indians. M. A. A. A., vol. Ill, no. 1. 

 16 The word lehulikwin is used for womb, but also for any dark enclosed place. It means literally 

 "inside space." 

 " Text in ritualistic form, p. 549. 

 J8 Many tales open, "Long ago when the earth was soft." 



