uuNZEL] DISTRIBUTION OF KATCINA DANCING 899 



elaborate dance figures, no interweaving of dancers, no use of grouping 

 as an esthetic feature. It is all dancing in place. The group itself 

 does not have movement. Bodily movements are restricted to move- 

 ments of the feet and some slight use of gesture with the arms. There 

 is no running or leaping, no high, deep, or wide movements, and no 

 posturing with the body. The dance at Zuni is not an independent 

 art, and does not use the essential choregraphic technique, which is a 

 dynamic handling of spatial relations. The dance at Zuiii is entirely 

 subsidiary to music and is employed merely to emphasize it. 



Yet it would be a great mistake to infer that Zuiii dancing is tedious 

 or lacking in emotional appeal. The precision of movement, the 

 regularity of rhythm, the invariability of the form, combined with 

 beautiful and subtle musical patterns, is intensely moving. The 

 monotony and impersonality and the complete and intense absorption 

 of the participants have a hj'pnotic effect on the spectator. According 

 to Zuni ideology, the dance is compulsive magic. The supernaturals 

 are constrained by the use of their corporeal substance, i. e., the mask. 

 They must come with all their attributes, including rain. No one can 

 watch a Zuni dance for a half hour or more \vithout being moved by 

 the compulsive force that lies behind the esthetic form. 



DISTRIBUTION OF KATCINA DANCING 



Katcina dances are performed in all the pueblos except Taos, where, 

 up to the present, no trace of the cult has been found. It has devel- 

 oped luxuriantly at Zuiii and among the Hopi. In both places it is 

 the cult which controls the most spectacular rituals, which draws upon 

 the widest base, and makes the greatest popular appeal. Although 

 no single ceremonial occasion among the Hopi commands quite as 

 much attention as the snake dance, the katcina cult has two major 

 ceremonies (Powamu and Niman) and an unlimited number of minor 

 festivities, and its activities hold the center of the stage throughout 

 the winter and spring months. At Zuni, although the winter solstice 

 ceremonies fonn the keystone of the ceremonial system, the point of 

 greatest intensity is unquestionably the Ca'lako ceremony, the cul- 

 minating ceremony of the Katcina Society. Katcina ceremonies are 

 public, spectacular, and popular. 



Among the eastern and western Keres, katcina impersonation is a 

 well-developed esoteric cult. Unfortimately masked ceremonies may 

 not now be seen by whites in any of the eastern pueblos, and great 

 reluctance is felt about imparting any information about katcinas. 

 The Keresan cult seems to have the same types of katcinas foimd 

 farther west: The dancing katcinas, rain and cloud beings, who are 

 controlled through impersonation in dances "to call the rain," and 

 "dangerous" supernatiu'alsimpersonated in mask at importantceremo- 

 nies such as initiations, solstices, etc. Many of the individual imper- 



