CULIN] BALL RACE: ZUNI 683 
Cat. no. 69273). Two billets (figure 909), 45 inches long, seven- 
eighths of an inch in diameter. 
Cat. no. 69274. Two billets, 4 inches long, five-eighths of an inch in 
diameter. 
Cat. no, 69275. Two billets, 6 inches long, one-half inch in diameter. 
Cat. no. 69276. Two billets (figure 910), 5 inches long, three-eighths 
of an inch in diameter. 
These are used in the kicked-stick race. They were collected by 
the late Col. James Stevenson. 
Mr F. W. Hodge® describes the kicked-stick race as follows: 
When the Sun Priest announces the arrival of planting time, and the herald 
proclaims from the house-tops that the planting has been done, the seasons for 
foot-racing in Zuni are at hand. 
The first races of the year, while interesting ceremonially, are by no means 
so exciting as those which follow later in the season when the planting is 
finished. These preliminary races are over a short course and are participated 
in by a representative of each of the six estufas. Six prayer-plumes and an 
Fig. 909. Fig. 910. 
Fic. 9099. Kicking billets; length, 44 inches: Zuni Indians, Zuni, New Mexico; cat. no. 69273), 
United States National Museum. 
Fic. 910. Kicking billets: length, 5 inches; Zuni Indians, Zuni, New Mexico; cat. no. 69276, 
United States National Museum 
equal number of race-sticks are made by the Priests of the Bow, the latter of 
which are placed in the trail about 2 miles from the starting point. When 
the time for the race has been decided upon, which may not be until three 
or four days after the race-sticks have been deposited by the priests, the six . 
representatives of the estufas run to the point where they are, and each man 
finds and kicks one of the sticks in a small circle homeward. This race is a 
contest between the six individuals comprising the racing party, and no betting 
is engaged in. 
The great races of Zuni, and those in which the chief interest is centered, 
occur after the planting—the time when nearly all the men are at leisure. In 
selecting the participants in these races, the swiftest-footed of the young men 
of the northern half of the pueblo are matched against those of the southern, 
or of the western half against the eastern. The number of racers on a side 
varies from three to six, and the degree of interest taken in the contest depends 
upon the reputation of those engaged in it, and particularly upon the extent to 
which betting has been indulged in. 
As soon as the choice of sides has been made, the wagering begins, and 
increases with good-natured earnestness until the time for the foot-race arrives. 
avery available hide and pelt is brought to light from beneath the piles of stores 
secreted in the back rooms and cellars, to be converted into cash or gorgeously 
colored calico, and the demand upon the trader for goods is unequaled except 
“A Zuni Foot-race. The American Anthropologist, v. 3, p. 227, 1890 
