710 



ZUNI RITUAL POETRY 



Sayataca's Night Chant 



And now indeed it has come to pass. 



When the sun who is our father 



Had yet a little ways to go to reach his 



left-hand altar,' 

 Our daylight father, 

 Pekwin of the Dogwood clan, 

 Desired the waters, the seeds 

 Of his fathers, 

 Priests of the masked gods. 

 Then our fathers, * 

 Sharing one another's desire, sat down 



together 

 In the rain-filled room 

 Of those that first came into being.' 

 Yonder following all the springs, 

 They sought those ordained to bring 



long life to man," 

 Those that stand upright. 

 But (like the waters of the world) , 

 Springing from one root, are joined to- 

 gether fast.' 

 At the feet of some fortunate one ' 

 Offering prayer meal. 

 Turquoise, corn poUen, 

 Breaking the straight young shoots, 

 Witli their warm human hands 

 They held them fast. 

 Taking the massed cloud robe of their 



grandfather, turkey man. 

 Eagle's mist garment. 

 The thin cloud wings and massed 



cloud tails 

 Of all the birds of summer. 

 With these four times clothing their 



plume wands. 

 They made the plume wands into living 



beings. 



With the flesh of their mother, 



Cotton woman, 



Even a thread badly made, 



A soiled cotton thread,' 



Four times encircling their wand they 

 made their belts;'" 



With rain-bringing prayer feathers 



They made them into living beings. 



With the flesh of their two mothers. 



Black paint woman. 



Clay woman, 



Clothing their plume wands with flesh, 



They made them into living beings. 



When they said, " Let it be now," 



The ones who are our fathers 



Commissioned with prayers 



The prayer wands that they had fash- 

 ioned. 



When the sun who is our father. 



Had gone in to sit down at his ancient 

 place," 



Then over toward the south, 



Whence the earth is clothed anew,'^ 



Our father, Sawulia Pautiwa,'' 



Perpetuating what had been since the 

 first beginning 



Again assumed human form." 



Carrying his fathers' finished '^ plume 

 wands 



He made his road come hither. 



Wherever he thought, " Let it be here," 



Into his fathers' rain-filled room. 



He made his road to enter. 



And when our sun father. 



Had yet a little ways to go 



To go in to sit down at his ancient place. 



Yonder from all sides 



3 I. c, the south, therefore, at the winter solstice. 



* The priests. 



» E'to-we, the fetishes of the priests. 



• The red willow, the wood most commonly used for prayer sticks. 



" According to Zuni cosmology, springs are outlets of a system of undergroimd waters. By analogy, a 

 shrub whose shoots are joined to a common rootstock is used to bring rain. 

 > This one is not cut. 

 8 That is, so long as it is cotton. 

 '» A characteristic word play, literally, " they brought it around to be tied " or " they reached their belts." 



11 Sunset. 



12 The south wind and the summer birds bring summer from the south. 



" Mrs. Stevenson calls him komosona (head of the masked god cult) of Koluwalawa. He is described as 

 "the highest chief." None of the gods can come to Zuni save by his order. The plans are made at the New 

 Year, when he leaves the crooks for all the dancers. 



n The impersonator dons the mask and becomes the god. and inversely the god assumes human form. 

 As a matter of fact, in the evening the impersonator comes unmasked, the mask having previously been 

 taken to the kiva. 



" Finished with the special paint used by priests, which was brought from the underworld at the time of 

 the emergence. 



