534 INTRODUCTION TO ZUNI CEREMONIALISM [eth. ann. 47 



rites. In these there is great variabihty among the different societies. 

 In all, however, the core of the ceremony is the same. It is described 

 in some detail in another place. *^ 



THE CALENDAR 



Between all of these independent cults is the binding element of 

 calendrical observances. Each cult has ceremonies extending through 

 an annual cycle, starting from the winter solstice, and returning 

 again into the winter solstice. Their solstice ceremonies are all nicely 

 synchi'onized. They are fitted into a period of 20 days, and so neatly 

 arranged that there are no conflicts, even for a man with varied 

 ceremonial affiliations. 



The name by which the Zuiiis refer to the period of the solstice is 

 itiwana, the middle, the same name that they give, esoterically, to 

 their village. Mrs. Stevenson and others interpret this as being a 

 contraction of the sentence yatoka i'tiwanan te' 'tci "the sun reaches 

 the middle." This is unquestionably correct, but the term has a more 

 significant connotation. It is the middle of the year, the point com- 

 mon to all the different cults, and is indeed the center of their whole 

 ceremonial life. There is no doubt that the Zuiiis themselves think 

 of their rituals as being organized about this focal point. Their appli- 

 cation of the term "middle" to it is sufficient indication.** The 

 linguistic identification of concepts of time and space is characteris- 

 tically Zunian. The solstice is, therefore, the center of time, just as 

 Zuni itself is the center of space. 



The winter solstice ceremonies start when the pekwin announces 

 from the housetop that all men shall make prayer sticks for the sun 

 to be offered in 10 days. The date is calculated by observations of 

 the sunrise from a petrified stump in a cornfield east of the village. 

 When the sun rises at a particular point on the mesa to the southeast 

 it is time for the pekwin to start his own plantings. If correctly calcu- 

 lated, then the general prayer-stick planting will take place on the day 

 when the sunrise reaches its most southerly limit — that is, on the 

 22d of December. However, the Zunis seem never to have been able 

 to decide on the relative merits of solar and lunar calendar, and the 

 desire to have the observation of the solstice occur at the full moon 

 disarranges the calculations and naturally leads to dissention among 

 the various priests. However, the date is definitely set by the pekwin 

 and the others, whatever their views, fall into line. 



*" Seep. 791. 



"E.G. Parsons (Winter and Summer Dance Series in Zuni in 1918, University of California Publ., v. 17, 

 No. 3, p. 171) designates tlie winter dance series of the katcinas, Ifolio a'wan itiwana, the itiwana of the 

 masked gods. These dances follow at stated intervals after the solstice, but are not actually part of it. 

 This indicates the Zuni pattern that each cult must have a center, and this center must correspond to the 

 centers of other cults. The katcinas do not figure in the solstice ceremonies proper. 



