bunzel] 



RELIGIOUS LIFE 505 



etcin-e (see p. 500) and planted somewhere outside the village. When 

 the emissaries return, the group "goes in" in the house where their 

 sacred possessions are kept. The men have brought their bedding 

 to this house, for they are to sleep there during the period of the 

 retreat. Usually the sacred things are taken out and an altar is set 

 up. During the retreat the room containing the sacred objects is 

 taboo to all outsiders. The men do not leave the room (except in 

 the case of the medicine societies, where men may go out in the day 

 time and eat at their homes). They sleep in the house of their retreat, 

 and their meals are served by a woman of that house, the wives of 

 the men contributing cooked food. There are frequent sessions of 

 song, prayer, and meditation, especially at night. Ketreats usually 

 last four or eight days. The Koyemci (see p. 946) "go in" for 14 

 days, and brief retreats of one night are held by priests at the solstices 

 and at other times. Retreats frequently end with a second prayer 

 stick planting, wiih. the usual restrictions on conduct for the four 

 following days, wliich make of this period a modified form of retreat. 

 The main priesthoods open their summer retreats with a period of 

 strictest retreat. In addition to the usual restrictions they forego all 

 animal food. On the fourth day they make a second offering of 

 prayer sticks, and, although they remain in seclusion for four days 

 longer, the food restriction is lifted. They do not plant prayer sticks 

 again on coming out. The minor priesthoods disband on the fourth 

 day, although they are still under restrictions. The bow priests, 

 although they plant prayer sticks and are "in," do not remain in 

 their house. The "poor man" who has planted prayer sticks is in 

 much the same position as the bow priest. Although not confined 

 to his house he is somewhat withdrawn from life and is "sacred." 



Priests live always under certain restraints, and in this restriction 

 of activity of certain individuals may be seen the germs of a monastic 

 life. However, it is not the sexual prohibitions that are made Ufe- 

 long for the holy men of Zuni. Celibacy as a way of hfe is regarded 

 with extreme disfavor by the commimity. Mrs. Stevenson states 

 (Zuni Indians) that pekwin although married is expected not to 

 cohabit with his wife, but I could find no evidence that this is the 

 case. He is expected to observe rigidly the long periods of sexual 

 continence, which his elaborate ceremonies require, but continence at 

 other times is not considered necessary or desirable. 



There is, moreover, a marked difference in attitude between the 

 Zuni priest and the Christian or Buddhist monk. Zuiii ideology does 

 not oppose matter and spirit as conflicting or mutually exclusive 

 principles. The priest, therefore, does not renounce the world, the 

 flesh, and the devil because the world and the flesh are evil. Rather 

 he strips his life of tri^dal, irrelevant, and distracting matters in order 

 6066°— 32 33 



