bunzel] 



THE COMING OP THE GODS 951 



■village the Koyemci retire to their ceremonial house. On this 

 occasion they are called Tumitcimtci, from the first word of their 

 song. (Observed June, 1926. R. L. B.) 



If the quadrennial pilgrimage to the Katoina Village is to take 

 place, the Koyemci leave with other members of the pilgrimage party 

 at dawTi the following day. Otherwise they remain in retreat in 

 their house until the third day, when they leave at dawn, some 

 going with the pilgrimage party to Rainbow Spring, the others 

 taking the monthly offering to spring required for their Ca'lako 

 planting. On their return in the late afternoon both gi'oups meet 

 on the plain where they dress and mask. They enter the village with 

 a group of Kokokci dancei-s just before sundown. Everyone in the 

 village goes to the southwest edge of town to wait for the return of 

 the gods after their long absence. The high loud calls of the Kokokci 

 can be heard long before the gods are visible. When the writer 

 observed the ceremony in 1926, the gods entered the village in the 

 midst of the first summer shower after a month of grilling heat, which 

 made the occasion even more joyous than iisual. The Koyemci 

 accompany the dancers on their round of the plazas and then retire 

 to their ceremonial hoiise, where the fourth night of their retreat is 

 consumed in dancing. One of the medicine societies has been invited 

 to sing for them. Late at night they visit the Kokokci in the house 

 where they are similarly in retreat. They do not come out when the 

 Kokokci make then- early morning rounds of the plazas, but come 

 out later in the morning to play.^' 



In general their play might be characterized as childish, in con- 

 trast to the more adult and subtle satire of the Newe'kwe. This is 

 in accord with the childish, unformed character attributed to them 

 in mythology. Their sexual character has already been alluded to. 

 Nevertheless they are possessors of the most potent love magic. The 

 game which they have been observed to play most frequently between 

 rounds of dances is the bean bag game, a kind of tag, which their 

 grotesque appearance and uncouth behavior make ludicrous. Oc- 

 casionally they burlesque dances, but such burlesques as the writer 

 has observed have been crude and imfmished, and lacking in any 

 satirical touch. For their more serious moments when they first 

 come out in the morning, they have the guessing game described by 

 Parsons (Notes on Zuiii, II, 229-237). There are set times at which 

 this is played. Obscene games have been described by Parsons. 

 Also, by a Zuni informant, a game in which one Koyemci, imperson- 

 ating a familiar female character in folklore, goes through the motions 

 of intercourse with another (Benedict, ms.). Another popular game is 

 where one Koyemci is trapped on the projecting beams of the kiva 

 and threatened with fire until he throws down his one garment. 



^ For accounts of their games see Parsons, Notes on Zufii. 



