526 INTRODUCTION TO ZUNI CEREMONIALISM (eth. ann. 47 



must seek magical protection from the vengeance of the ghost. The 

 bow priesthood supplies this protection. He is initiated in the 

 course of the scalp dance, which celebrates the victory and propitiates 

 the ghost.''^ 



The bow priesthood is organized in somewhat similar fashion to 

 the medicine societies — a circumstance which led Mrs. Stevenson to 

 include it among them. There is a society chief and a battle chief. 

 They have a ceremonial chamber in a house in the eastern part of the 

 town, where certain of their ceremonial paraphernalia is kept. Pa'et- 

 tone, which is used only in war rites, is kept in another house, and has 

 its own hereditary priesthood, members of which are not necessarily 

 Bow Priests. The great shell also has its own priesthood . It is brought 

 out for all war ceremonies. The Scalp Chief has a male and two female 

 associates, who take charge of the scalp from the time it is brought ■ 

 into the village imtil it is placed in the scalp house. He plants 

 prayer sticks each month for the scalps. At the winter solstice and 

 at the scalp dance idols are made of the elder and younger War Gods. 

 They are carved, respectively, by men of the Deer and Bear clans. 

 These are hereditary offices, and each has several associates, male 

 and female. 



The Bow Priests are leaders in war and defenders and protectors 

 of the people in times of peace. To them falls the task of policing 

 the town, in the religious but not the civil sense. In this capacity 

 they must wage constant warfare against the insidious inner enemy — 

 namely, the witches — whose secret power causes sickness and death. 

 Of this activity, too, they have recently been stripped. They are 

 furthermore the defenders and the executive arm of the religious 

 hierarchy. They protect their altars from desecration, carry their 

 messages, and execute their orders. To perform these duties two 

 bow priests are assigned to the priestly hierarchy, two to the katcina 

 society, and two to each of the medicine societies.™ 



The great annual ceremony of the Bow Priests is held at the winter 

 solstice. Six days after the pekwin announces the solstice a man of 

 the Deer clan and a man of the Bear clan and their associates start 

 to make the images of the War Gods to be used at this ceremony. 

 On the tenth night following the pekwin's announcement these 

 images, together with pa'etone, the great shell, the e'towe of the 

 chief priests, and all the paraphernalia of the war cult are taken to 

 the chief Idva. In the kiva are assembled the priests of the council, 

 the priests of pa'ettone and the great shell, the image makers and 

 their associates, and the full membership of the bow priesthood. At 



«' See texts, p. 674. 



'^ That is, this used to be the pattern. The bow priesthood is now reduced to three members — one who 

 has no society afRhations serves the priests, one is Bow Priest of the liatcinas, and associated also with the 

 Rattlesnake Society, the third is associated with the Hunters and the Little Fire Society, and formerly 

 served the priests. 



