616 ZUNI RITUAL POETRY [eth. ann. 47 



The set prayers must be formally learned — they are not just picked 

 up. The most formal instruction is that connected \v'ith the trans- 

 mission of the prayers of the Ca'lako. Each kiva has a Ca'lako wo'le, 

 who, among his other duties, keeps the prayers. Immediately after 

 the winter solstice the Ca'lako appointees come to him to be taught the 

 necessary prayers. The wo'le meets with them for the four nights 

 following each planting of prayer sticks, and as often besides as may 

 be necessary. The Saiyataca party, whose ritual is the most elabo- 

 rate, meets every night. Most of this timeis given to the "long talk," 

 the litany that is declaimed in the house of the host on the night of 

 their final ceremonies. There are many other prayers that accom- 

 pany all their activities — prayers for the making and planting of 

 prayer sticks, for gettmg their mask from the people who keep it 

 and returning it, for various stages in dressing and in their progress 

 toward the village, for the dedication of the house, for blessing the 

 food, for thanking the singers and the hosts, for going away. How- 

 ever, the "long talk" and the "morning talk" are chanted aloud in 

 unison and must be letter perfect. The method of instruction is for 

 the wo'le to intone the prayer, the pupils joining in as they can. 

 One-half of the chant is taken each night. The phraseology of the 

 prayers is so stereotyped that the principal difTiculty in learning a 

 long prayer is to keep the sequence. For this purpose certain cult 

 groups have special mnemonic devices. The Kaklo "talk" recorded 

 in text by Mrs. Stevenson is such a record. It is an outline naming 

 in order the various personages called and the places visited, it being 

 assumed that the performer can fill in the outline from his knowledge 

 of the poetic forms. It takes the men appointed to impersonate the 

 gods all of the year to learn their prayers. As the time for the cere- 

 mony approaches great concern is felt, and sometimes the ceremony 

 is postponed because the men are not ready. On the night after the 

 ceremony the men go once again to the wo'le and give the prayer 

 back. They recite it for him. At the close he inhales, and they do 

 not, and so he takes from them the spirit of the prayer. 



The instruction in prayers that are not publicly performed is less 

 formal. Boys leara the a, b, c's of religious participation, including 

 elementary prayers, from their fathers. After initiation into a medi- 

 cine society a man goes at once to his ceremonial father to learn to 

 make the prayer sticks of the society, and at the same time learn 

 prayers for the makmg and offering of prayer sticks. He makes some 

 payment to his father for this mformation — a shirt or a headband or 

 a few pieces of turquoise. Women do not make their own pra_yer 

 sticks, but they go similarly to their "fathers" to learn the required 

 prayers. So every additional bit of knowledge is acquired. As more 

 esoteric information is sought, the expense for instruction increases 



