932 ZUXI KATCINAS 



[ETH. ANN. 47 



for the mask. The mask is kept in a jar in a house near the bridge. 

 On this night the man went to this house to get Tcakwena Oka. He 

 stood in the room where she is kept and said, 'Now, my mother, our 

 time has come. Now we shall go out to meet our people, for our time 

 has come. You are the one to bless my people with children. And 

 now this year whoever is with child you shall give an easy delivery 

 and bless her that her baby may grow to matiu-ity.' He said this as 

 he stood beside the jar in which the mask was kept. And they say 

 that as he put out his hand to take the mask it shook itself from side 

 to side. The man saw it but he thought that perhaps he had loiocked 

 the jar with his foot and shaken the mask. He was not sure, but he 

 put in his hand and took the mask out. Then he said to his son who 

 had come with him to help him dress, 'I think I saw our mother shake 

 her head, but I am not sure. I may have knocked the jar and made 

 it so.' Then his son said to him, 'Yes, I guess you just touched the 

 jar.' 



"So they went out and went five or six miles to the west to the 

 place where Tcakwena Okii used to live long ago. When they came 

 there it was near simdown. The boy helped his father dress. He 

 put on the dress and the boots and tied the red feather in his hair 

 and last of all he took up the mask and said, 'Now we shall go in to 

 our people. They are all there; we shall go to them for they are all 

 waiting for us to bless them with children. Now let us go.' So he 

 said, and put on the mask. As he put it on the son tied the strings 

 that hold it in place. Then the son said, 'Now I shall start. I shall 

 go ahead slowly and wait for you.' Then Tcakwena Oka went four 

 times around her rock praying and saying that she was going to 

 Itiwana to bless the women with children. 



"By this time the men who were going to be Salimopiya were all 

 dressed and were waiting for her on the west side of the town. So she 

 started from her rock and came along calling out her cry. When 

 she got to Wide River she called out again and all the people waiting 

 for her on the west side of the town heard her coming and went to 

 Wide River to meet her.-* 



"So she came in. The man was perfectly well. He had no cold 

 and no pain anywhere. They all came over the bridge and came into 

 the village and he stopped at every door and said, 'I have come to 

 bring you good luck and especially to bless you with babies.' As the 

 people in the houses heard her coming they all went out. They took 

 their rubbish and ashes to the door and just as she came they threw 

 it out. They throw out all their bad luck with the ashes and rubbish, 

 and she brings them good luck in its place. So she came along Suu- 



" Long ago she used to come before sundown and then all the Salimopiya dressed at Wide River and met 

 her there. But now she comes after dark and therefore the Salimopiya do not dress. They just put oa 

 their masks and wrap themselves in blankets. They get ready in Hel^apawa kiva and go out to meet her. 



