718 



ZUNI RITUAL POETRY 



[eTH. ANN. 47 



Four times he threw prayer meal 

 upward. 



Then after him, 



My prayer meal 



Sprinkling before me, 



Where my father's water-filled road 

 ascends 



I made my road ascend. 



The one who is my father 



Four times sprinkled prayer meal be- 

 fore him. 



After him 



Four times sprinkling prayer meal be- 

 fore me, 



Standing, I came in. 



As standing I came in 



I could scarcely see all my fathers, 



So fuU was his house. 



Then my father's rain-filled room 



I rooted at the north,'- 



I rooted at the west, 



I rooted at the south, 



I rooted at the east, 



I rooted above. 



Then in the middle of my father's roof,"' 



With two plume wands joined to- 

 gether, 



I consecrated his roof. 



This is well; 



In order that my father's offspring may 

 increase, 



I consecrated the center of his roof. 



And then also, the center of my father's 

 floor. 



With seeds of aU kinds, 



I consecrated the center of his floor." 



This is well; 



In order that my father's fourth room 



May be bursting with corn. 



That even in his doorway. 



The shelled corn may be scattered be- 

 fore the door. 



The beans may be scattered before the 

 door. 



That his house may be full of little 



boys, 

 And little girls, 



And people grown to maturit.v; 

 Tliat in his house 

 Children may jostle one another in the 



doorway, 

 In order that it may be thus, 

 I have consecrated the rain-filled room 

 Of my daylight father. 

 My daylight mother. 



When aU this was at an end, 

 The one who is my father *» 

 Four times sprinkled prayer meal 

 Where he had prepared my scat. 

 Following him, 



Four times sprinkling prayer meal be- 

 fore me, 

 Where my father had prepared my seat, 

 I stood beside it. 

 My father took hold of me. 

 Presenting me to aU the directions, he 



made me sit down. 

 After my father had seated me. 

 The rain invoking cigarette which he 



had prepared 

 My father drew toward him. 

 He took his grandmother by the hand 

 And made her sit in the doorway. 

 Having seated her in the doorway. 

 Four times inhaling he made the mist 



pass through; 

 Into his body 

 He drew the misty breath. 

 With the mist he added to the hearts 



of his fathers. 

 This is well: 

 That the rain makers may not withhold 



their misty breath, 

 With mist 



He added to the hearts of his fathers. 

 He handed it to me. 

 Four times inhaling I made the mist 



pass through; 



S2 Consecrating the walls of the house. Each of the impersonators makes one stroke downward on each 

 wall, using tor this purpose whatever he is carr.ving. Cula'witsi uses his torch, Sayataca, Hututu, the two 

 Yaumhakto use their telna'we, the Salimopia their yucca. This is not done above and below. 



6^ In the decorated box made to receive them. The box is called teckwin*e, the word used for any perma- 

 nent or temporary altar or sacred place. The sticks are painted blue and yellow; the blue one is male, 

 the yellow female. The female has a face painted on one side. They are deposited with the face toward 

 the east. They are called wihawe, "babies." This term is used for prayer sticks in the excavations visited 

 by Pa'utiwa at the New Year, from which he foretells the future, and for the dolls given at the winter 

 solstice ceremonies to barren or unlucky women to insure conception or safe delivery. 



^ The seeds are deposited in a permanent excavation carefully concealed. Sometimes at the winter sol- 

 stice articles of clay are deposited in this excavation. 



w Fekwin seats the personators in the Sayataca house, and they smoke with the priests. (See M. C. 

 Stevenson.) 



