Dramatic Elements in American Indian Ceremonials 1 1 



girls as grinders. By way of convincing both the fire-tenders and 

 even certain members of the audience of the truth of their state- 

 ments, the chorus presented them with pinches of meal to taste. 



At the conclusion of this episode, the girls performed a grace- 

 ful dance in the middle of the room, extending alternately their 

 hands in which they carried ears of corn.'^ 



Act V 



The general scenic features of this act were similar to those 

 already described in the first act, the main difference being the 

 wooden background decorated with turkey feathers and providing 

 only two sun disks. Pine boughs filled the spaces at the sides of 

 the screen, serving to conceal the manipulators of the serpent 

 effigies. The dramatis personae of this act were, however, en- 

 tirely different from those referred to in the first act. These 

 actors are to be designated as " mud-heads," intended to be ridicu- 

 lous figures and to play undignified parts. Except for the mask 

 of closely fitting cloth with a knob over each ear, slits for eves and 

 nose, and a dough tnut-like protrusion for a mouth, each actor 

 was naked. This show, too, began with roars from behind the 

 screen, after which the two great serpents made their appearance 

 much in the same manner as did the six in Act I. Once in the 

 foreground, they entered into conflicts with the mud-heads whom 

 they always succeeded in overcoming, symbolic of the struggle of 

 man, an ignoble being, with the supernatural power represented 

 by the Great Snake. 



This is enough to demonstrate that the Hopi are capable of 

 producing at least semi-secular dramatic performances. Each 

 act stands for a number of rehearsals with a view to public pres- 

 entation. Each show gives striking evidence of the existence of 

 a certain kind of text upon which the exhibition is based. Even 

 more than the Soyalufia dramatization, the three acts paraphrased 

 from the Paliiliikofiti exhibition demonstrate that the Hopi dra- 



"^ Role of these girls suggestive of corn maidens in Zurii mythology. 

 See 23d A. R. B. E., Washington, 1905. 



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