802 ZUNI RITUAL POETRY [eth. ann. 47 



240 To this end, 



May you be blessed with life. 



Now we go.^" 



240 te'wuna' to' te'Eohanan a'nik- 

 tcia'tii. 



son a'wa' ne' 



The Society Father Blesses the Novice at the Close of His 

 Initiation 



On the following morning the members of the society make prayer 

 sticks at their society house. They plant late in the afternoon and 

 go into retreat in their ceremonial room. The novice has prayer 

 sticks made by his ceremonial father, with whom he goes to plant at 

 Badger Place. He observes a strict retreat in his own house. Each 

 night he is brought to the society room to practice dancing and to be 

 purified for his initiation. 



Each member of the society makes prayer sticks for the novice to 

 plant the last day. His father prepares his mi'le, the feathered ear 

 of corn which will be his personal fetish, his medicine bag, and the 

 eagle feathers that form part of his regalia. He makes or purchases 

 the hand-woven blue breechcloth wliich forms Ms ceremonial costume. 

 At the boy's house preparations for the feast are under way. 



On the fourth night he is summoned by his father. At the society 

 house he is clothed and his face and body are painted with sacred 

 paint. Then he is brought into the ceremonial room to meet his 

 fathers, the Beast Gods. He dances all night with two women of the 

 clan of his ceremonial father. At dawn the two women wash his 

 head at the altar, while the choir calls liis new name. At the con- 

 clusion of this the ceremonial father hands the boy the medicine 

 bag, eagle feathers, four ears of corn which have been lying on the 

 altar, the mi'le, and the bundle of prayer sticks. They clasp hands 

 over these sacred objects while the father repeats a long prayer, 

 reviewing the events which have led up to this moment. At the 

 conclusion all inhale the blessing of the newly consecrated mi'le. 



The boy takes his sacred possession to his house and returns to the 

 society room, where his relatives serve a sumptuous feast. About 

 noon he goes with his ceremonial father and the head of the society 

 to a shrine on Badger Place where he plants the bundle of prayer 

 sticks. Then for four days he must abstain from animal food in addi- 

 tion to the usual requirements of sexual continence and gentleness. 

 On the fourth morning his father takes him out toward the east and 

 removes from liis hair the downy feather which he has worn as a pledge 

 of his abstinence. He takes the boy to liis house, where his head is 

 washed by his wife. On this day there are elaborate exchanges of 



i* The man leaves at once. The women of the boy's family immediately start preparations for his initia- 

 tion, including the preparation of food for the two great feasts they must provide, and the grinding of meal 

 to be given to his ceremonial father. 



