40 HOPI KATCINAS [eth. an.n. 21 



Palulukonti, or AnkwaSti 



This festival, like the two preceding, is aa excellent one in which 

 to study Hopi symbolism, for many masked personages appear in the 

 dramatizations in the kivas and on the plazas outside. As has been 

 shown elsewhere, the ^proceedings in the kivas are theatrical exhibi- 

 tions which vary from year to j'ear accordingly as one chief or another 

 controls the different acts. Throughout the performance at which the 

 author was present two old men, who may be called the kiva chiefs, 

 sat b\' the fireplace in the middle of the room and continually fed the 

 flames with small twigs of greasewood, the sole method of lighting the 

 room on that night. The heat was very great and the ventilation was so 

 poor that the atmosphere was stifling. The audience consisted mainly 

 of women and children, who occupied one end of the room, the remain- 

 der being empty except while performances were being enacted. 

 Everyone was gladly welcomed to see the performance, and there were 

 proljably not a dozen persons on the mesa who did not attend. No one 

 paid admission to this theater and no actor received a recompense. It 

 was a festival for all to enjoy, as all contributed to its success. Except 

 in one act, no woman took part as an actor, and there were few men 

 in the audience. The spectators assembled about 9 p. m., each clan 

 seeking that kiva with which it had social affiliation. These acts ai"e 

 thus described in another paper:" 



ACTS PERFORMED IN 1900 



First Act 



A voice was heard at the hatchway, as if someone were hooting 

 outside, and a moment later a hall of meal, thrown into the room frona 

 without, landed on the floor by the flreplace. This was a signal that the 

 first group of actors had arrived, and to this announcement the fire 

 tenders responded, '" Yuiiya ai " ( ''Come in " ), an invitation which was 

 repeated by several of the spectators. After considerable hesitation 

 on the part of the visitors and renewed cries to enter from those in 

 the room, there was a movement above and the hatchway was dark- 

 ened by the form of a man descending. The tire tenders rose and 

 held their blankets about the fii'e to darken the room. Immediately 

 there came down the ladder a procession of masked men bearing long 

 poles, upon which was rolled a cloth screen, while under their blankets 

 certain objects were concealed. Filing to the unoccupied end of the 

 kiva, they rapidly set up the objects they bore. When they were 

 ready a signal was given, and the fire tenders, dropping tlieir blankets, 

 resumed their seats by the fireplace. On the floor before our aston- 

 ished eyes we saw a miniature field of corn, made of small clay ped- 

 estals out of which projected corn sprouts a few inches high. Behind 



» A theatrii'al performance at Walpi, iu Proceedings of the Washington Academy of Sciences, vol. 

 II, Washington, 1900, pp. 607-()2C. 



