BUNZEL] RELIGIOLTS LIFE 535 



The ceremonies fall into two periods of 10 nights each.*^ The first 

 nine days are spent in preparation of great quantities of prayer 

 sticks by all men. Images of the war gods are carved by men to 

 whom this office belongs. The great ceremonies begin on the tenth 

 night. On this night the new year fire is kindled in the kiva and the 

 Bow Priests hold their ceremony for the War Gods. At the same 

 time all the societies hold ceremonies in honor of the Uwanami. 



On the following morning the images of the War Gods are taken to 

 their shrines. The priests take the younger brother to Corn Mountain 

 to a shrine the position of Avhich is visible at the village. There the 

 priests kindle a fire, and the appearance of their smoke is the signal 

 for the beginning of the great fire taboo. For the next 10 days — that 

 is, until dawn on the twentieth day — no fire or light must be seen 

 outdoors, nor must any sweepings or ashes be thrown out. For the 

 whole period priests observe continence, eat no animal food, and they 

 and their households refrain from trade of any description. Others 

 observe continence for eight days following the planting of prayer 

 sticks, and refrain from animal food and trading for four days. The 

 conservation of fire, and especially the saving of ashes and sweepings, 

 are fertility magic, that the house may be full of corn, as it is of ashes. 

 Throughout this period a sacred fire is kept burning in He"iwa kiva. 



The eleventh to the fourteenth nights '" are given over to the 

 retreats and ceremonies of the medicine societies, with the great all- 

 night ceremony ending at dawTi on the fourteenth day. On this 

 afternoon occurs the second general planting of praj^er sticks to the 

 katcinas, the Beast Gods, and to the ancestors for wealth. 



On the following day the priests again make prayer sticks for the 

 Uwanami in preparation for their retreat the following night. This 

 takes place on the sixteenth night. The prayers are for rain and 

 fertility. On the altar are placed clay unages of animals and objects 

 on which blessings are invoked. The prayer sticks are planted at 

 springs the following morning. 



Also late on the sixteenth night all the kivas are visited by Pautiwa 

 (called on this occasion Komhafikwi, "witch god") who throws into 

 each a ball of fine corn meal to be used during the coming year by 

 the Ca'lako impersonators in their morning prayers. His visit takes 

 place late at night when none can see him. The rite seems to be 

 one of exorcism. 



On some night diu-ing the 10 days of the fire taboo, generally the 

 night of the priests' retreats, each faniily that owtis sacred possessions 

 of any description emploj-s them in rites of fertility magic.*' Clay 



*^ In computing the dates of ceremonies only nights are counted. The pekwin's announcement is made 

 at dawn. The following night is the first day. Taboo periods begin at sundown or late afternoon and 

 continue through four nights, ending the fourth morning at dawn. The days are not cotmted. 



w Sometimes called "the first four nights of the komosona's count." For 10 days the pekwin counts 

 days for the sun. Then he is finished and the komosona counts days for Pautiwa. 



*i Itsuma'wa, the ritualistic term for planting. 



