BUNZEL] RELIGIOUS LIFE 521 



the winter solstice any of the dances performed after Ca'hiko maj- be 

 repeated by request, or new ones may be presented. 



THE CULT OF THE KATCINA PRIESTS ^' 



Intimately associated with the foregoing activities are those rites 

 and ceremonies whicli form the cult of the katcina priests. This cult 

 also employs, as its principal technicjue for controlling the super- 

 natural, impersonation by means of masks. But the beings imper- 

 sonated are of a different order. The masks are differently treated 

 and the character of the rites in which they function, and the per- 

 sonnel and calendrical cycle are quite independent. Like all super- 

 naturals, they are bringers of rain, but the special blessing which lies 

 within their power to bestow is fecundity. 



The katcina priests also live at Ko'tuwala'wa (katcina vUlage) and 

 form, indeed, the priestly hierarchy that rules that village. But 

 they are definite individuals, with personal names and distinct person- 

 alities. There are, for instance, the Koyemci — they are the fruit of 

 an incestuous union between brother and sister, and display the stain 

 of their birth in their grotesque appearance and uncouth behavior. 

 They are the sacred clowns, privileged to mock at anytliing, and to 

 indidge in am^ obscenity.'* On them fall the most exacting sexual 

 restrictions. They are the most feared and the most beloved of all 

 Zuiii impersonations. They are possessed of black magic; in their 

 drum they have the wings of black butterflies that can make girls 

 "crazy." ^ In the knobs of their masks is soU from the footprints 

 of townspeople.^' One who begrudges them anything ^vill meet 

 swift and terrible retribution. But everyone goes in hushed rever- 

 ence and near to tears to watch them on their last night when they 

 are under strict taboo. At tliis time, from sundown untU midnight 

 the following day, they touch neither food nor drink. They neither 

 sleep nor speak, and in all that time they do not remove their masks. 

 This truly heroic self-denial eains them the sympathetic affection 

 of the people, an affection manifested in the generous gifts that are 

 given them on this their last day in office.'^ 



Pautiwa, chief of the masked gods at Ko'hiwala-wa, is a truly mag- 

 nificent person. His prestige is enormous. He possesses in unlim- 

 ited measure the three most admired quahties — beauty, dignity, and 



•^ The term is awkward, but it is a literal translation of the Zuni term. 



" They are, however, surpassed in obscenity by the Ne'we*kwe. The presence of white people at Zuiii 

 is resulting in the gradual suppression of these practices. The word obscene is used advisedly since their 

 practices are universally so regarded at Zuni. Here the proprieties are meticulously observed. It is a 

 society of strong repressions. Undoubtedly the great delight in the antics of the clowns springs from the 

 sense of release in vicarious participations in the forbidden. 



60 I. e., sexually. 



'1 .\ widely used love charm. 



" The very deep affection that is felt for the Koyemci is by no means extended to the impersonator when 

 he is released from office. 



6066°— 32 34 



