BDNZEL] RELIGIOUS LIFE 517 



katcinas, and their sticks are different — those of the katcinas contain, 

 in addition to the turkey feather, that of the duck, for the katcinas 

 travel between their village and the village of their fathers in the form 

 of ducks. There is great confusion in regard to the destination of the 

 dead. Those who in life are intimately associated with the Beast 

 Gods at death join them at their home in Ci'papolima, in the east. 

 There is some indication that the priests join the U'wanami. Only 

 those who are intimately associated with the cult of the katcinas, 

 that is, members of the kotikan'e (katcina society), and especially 

 officers in this society and possessors of masks, can be sure of admis- 

 sion to the village of the katcinas. There seems to be no clear idea 

 of what becomes of people without ceremonial affiliations — women 

 and children, for instance. 



The lost children pitied the loneliness of their people and came 

 often to dance for them in their plazas and in houses prepared for their 

 use. But after each visit they took someone with them (i. e., someone 

 died). Therefore they decided no longer to come in person. So they 

 instructed their people to copy their costume and headdresses and 

 imitate their dances. Then they would be with them in spirit. (See 

 text, p. 605.) 



These dances, m which the katcinas are impersonated, are the most 

 spectacidar, perhaps the most beautiful, of all Zuiii ceremonies. 

 Instituted according to tradition solely as a means of enjoyment, 

 they have become the most potent of rain-making rites, for since the 

 divine ones no longer come in the flesh, they come in their other 

 bodies, that is, as rain. The mask is the corporeal substance of the 

 god and in donning it the wearer, through a miracle akin to that of 

 the Mass in Roman Catholic ritual, becomes the god. 



Therefore the masks with which this cult operates are second in 

 sacredness to the fetishes of the rain priests themselves. They are 

 the property of individuals ; they are buried with his other possessions 

 four days after death. The possession of a mask is a blessing to the 

 house; it guarantees the owner admission to the dance house of the 

 gods, and is the means by which the spirit can return after death to 

 delight his beloved ones on earth and assuage his own loneliness. 

 Therefore, as soon as a man can afford the very considerable expense 

 involved, he will have a mask made for himself. These masks are 

 carefully guarded m the back rooms of houses, protected from the 

 eyes of children. Like the fetishes of the rain priests, they receive 

 daUy offerings of food from some female member of the household. 

 Wlien they are to be used they are repainted by someone whose special 

 office that is, and redecorated to represent the special god to be 

 impersonated. 



The organization wliich performs the rites of the katcinas is the 

 ko'tiJjan-e or katcina society, whose membership comprises every 



