258 DESIGNS ON HOPI POTTERY [ETH. ANN. 33 
personification of the Sky godt The swastika is rare in ancient 
pottery and was not found at Sikyatki, although a single example was 
dug up at Awatobi and a few others were obtained from the Little 
Colorado ruins. 
A multiple cross, formed of three parallel lines crossing three others 
at an angle, generally accompanies certain conventionalized figures 
of birds and in one example there are two multiple crosses, one on 
one side and one on another of a moth or butterfly symbol. The 
multiple cross is supposed to represent six canes used in a game, 
and on a prehistoric decorated bowl from ancient Shongopovi,? we 
find what appears to be a highly conventionalized bird figure occu- 
pying one-half of the interior of the bowl, while four figures repre- 
senting these canes appear on the other. The bird figure, in this 
instance, is interpreted as a gambler’s god, or a representation of the 
god of chance. 
Sun Emeiems 
The most conventionalized sun emblem is a circle or ring with 
attached feathers. The Sikyatki design (pl. 87, >) is a circle bear- 
ing on its periphery appendages believed to represent feathers, 
with accompanying lines, gen- 
erally painted red, to represent 
the rays of the sun.° 
Le The identification of the bird 
whose feathers are used in sun 
@ emblems has not yet been made, 
although the position of similar 
feathers on the body of other bird 
designs suggests that they repre- 
sent eagle feathers. The feather 
of the eagle is commonly associ- 
Fic. 91.—Ring with appended feathers. ated with both ancient and mod- 
ern pictures representing the sun. Thus we have on a vessel from 
Sikyatki in figure 91 a design bearing four feathers arranged at in- 
tervals a quadrant apart alternating with radiating lines. If we 
interpret this figure in the light of modern symbolism the circle 
1Qne symbol of the Sky god has the form of a Lightning god. It has a single curved 
horn on the head, lightning symbols on the legs, and carries a wooden framework in one 
hand and a bull-roarer in the other. 
2Twenty-second Ann. Rept. Bur. Ethn., pt. 1, fig. 74. 
%In modern Hopi symbolism the sun is a disk with representations of eagle feathers 
around the periphery and radial lines at each quadrant, symbolic of the sun’s rays. In 
disks worn on the back where real feathers are used the radial lines, or the sun’s rays, are 
represented by horsehair stained red. In ceremonials the Sky god is personated by a bird 
whose figure occurs on Sikyatki pottery. 
