950 ZUNI KATCINAS [eth. ann. 47 



affiliation. Any vacancy will usually be filled by a man of similar 

 clan affiliation. The office of Koyemci is a desirable one, because of 

 the rich payments at the end, and there will always be a number of 

 young men who have signified their willingness to serve from whom 

 the leader may choose. The appointments are made as soon as pos- 

 sible aft«r the New Year. Should the group whose tiirn it is to serve 

 have done anything to cause the disapproval of the priests, it will be 

 passed over in favor of a new group, perhaps one of the groups of no 

 ceremonial status that impersonate Koyemci during the winter 

 dances. 



The Koyemci have a very full year. They share all the duties of 

 the other appointees for the Ca'lako — the nightly meetings, the 

 monthly planting of prayer sticks, the work for the house that is to 

 entertain them. Entertaining the Koyemci is the most expensive 

 participation in Zufli, because in addition to the expense involved in 

 building the house, and the feast on the night when the gods come, 

 the 11 men, the 10 Koyemci and their wo'le are in retreat in the house 

 which entertained them for six days following the ceremony and must 

 be fed throughout that time. So often the crook for entertaining 

 the Koyemci is not taken, and theii' father is obhged to entertain 

 them m his house. In that case the labor of housebuilding does not 

 begin until the fall. However, throughout the spring and simimer 

 the Koyemci go individually to work in the houses of their "aunts," 

 all the women of their fathers' clans, whenever they have special work 

 afoot. In addition to the ceremonies of the Ca'lako the Koyemci 

 must assist at aU dances of the katcinas. They attend the dancers 

 in the plazas, and between the rounds of the dance amuse the audience 

 by clowning. 



The presence of the Koyemci at the winter dances is not obligatory, 

 but they may appear, if they msh, at any dance after their first 

 prayer-stick planting. If the "real" Koyemci do not wash to appear 

 at any dance, their masks may be borrowed by any other group. 

 There are several more or less permanent groups that "play" at the 

 winter dances, and at extra dances interpolated into the calendar in 

 the summer or faU.^^ 



Usually the first pubhc appearance of the Koyemci is after the sum- 

 mer solstice. On the afternoon of the third day following the plant- 

 ing of prayer sticks to the sun, the Koyemci enter the village from 

 the west. They are naked except for their usual Idlt of black cloth, 

 and unmasked, with their hair unboimd and falling over their faces. 

 Starting on the south side of the village, they pass every house. As 

 they pass, the women of the house douse them with water from the 

 housetops, to induce prompt rain. After visiting every house in the 



^•^ Such a group from he'iwa kiva appeared when IlUili was danced after Ca'lako was over in December, 

 1927. 



