BUNZELj THE "little DANCERS" 1077 



THE "LITTLE DANCERS" 



Hehe'a 

 (Plate 54, a) 



Costume. — The face may be white or blue or black. He has tears 

 running out of his eyes because he was hurt in the war with the 

 Kanakwe. His mouth is crooked because he always makes faces at 

 the Koyemci. On his head black hair and a bunch of red chiU. He 

 has an abalone shell in each ear. Rabbit skin around his neck. 



The body is painted with red paint mixed with katcina clay from 

 the Sacred Lake. The forearms and legs to the knees are painted 

 yellow. Also yellow spots on the body and on the knees. The body 

 from the navel to the knees is painted white with white clay from 

 Acoma. He wears only a dark- blue breechcloth (pilaliana). He 

 carries a fawn-skin bag filled with ashes or dirt of ground chili. 



Ceremonies. — He can come in whenever there is a dance going on, 

 but he comes mostly in the wintertime. Sometimes only one comes, 

 sometimes three or four. He comes in late after everyone is in the 

 plaza. Then while the Koyemci are playing he comes in to rat plaza. 

 No one knows that he is coming, and he comes quietly and hides so 

 that no one will see liim or hear liim, and he hides particularly from 

 the Koyemci. While they are playing he shows himself. He nms in 

 and makes donkey ears at them. He is full of mischief. Then the 

 Koyemci say, "Who is coming?" Hehe'a runs up to them quickly 

 and knocks them down with his bag full of pepper. The pepper 

 makes them sneeze. Then he runs and hides in the crowd and runs 

 off. Then when they begin to play he runs in again and knocks them 

 down. Finally they see him and say, "Oh, its a nana (grandfather- 

 grandchild). Let's catch him." Then they all hold hands and sur- 

 round him, but he crawls out between their legs and hides in the 

 crowd. Finally they catch him and ask him, "How did you come?" 

 Then he starts to tell them all in sign language, "I woke up early." 

 He makes the sign of a big sun with his hands, because the sun looks 

 big when it first comes up. Then he tells them, "I met a rabbit and 

 killed it with a stone, and it fell down, and then I roasted it." He 

 tells it all in gesture. Then in the evening when the sun goes down 

 the katcinas go back home, but he stays behind and plays. 



He may come for any dance. During the winter dances this 

 impersonation is very popular, especially among the boys who are 

 too young to take part in the regular line dances. 



(In the night of August 23-24, 1925, during the rain dance of 

 uptsanawa kiva two Hehe'a and one Tcalaci came in and danced in 

 the house of the Koyemci and in the kiva. They did not appear ne.xt 



