696 THE TUSAYAN RITUAL. 



formed is called the rain cloud, which it symbolizes, and the act a prayer 

 to bring the rain. 



Let us consider the final public event of the Snake Dance, that so 

 often described, when the snake priests handle venomous reptiles, 

 apparently without fear, in the presence of spectators. This uncanny 

 proceeding has the same intent as the secret rites of which we have 

 spoken — a ceremony for rain. The reptiles are believed to be elder 

 brothers of the priests, and they are gathered from the fields on four 

 successive days to participate in the ceremonies. It is believed that 

 these reptiles have more power to influence supernatural beings than 

 man, and as the acme of the whole series of nine days' observances 

 they are thrown in a heap on the ground in a circle of sacred meals, 

 and the chief of the antelopes says a prayer to the struggling mass, 

 after which they are seized by the priests and carried to the fields 

 commissioned to intercede with rain gods to send the desired rains. 

 In fact, the whole series of rites which make up the snake celebration 

 is one long prayer of nine days' duration, filled with startling compo- 

 nents the details of which would weary rather than instruct you. 



Let us, therefore, turn to another component of the Tusayan ritual 

 which occurs each year in the month following that in which the Snake 

 Dance occurs, the ceremony of the women priests for the maturation of 

 the corn. I refer to the September rites called the Lalakonti, cele- 

 brated by a priesthood of the same name. 



The ceremony for growth of the crops, which is practically for the 

 harvest of maize, is directly the outgrowth of those climatic conditions 

 which have made the Tusayan people agriculturists. A failure of this 

 crop means starvation, and maize is far from a spontaneous growth in 

 those desert sands. Hence the elaborate nature of the appeals to the 

 supernatural beings which control this function. This great ceremony 

 is naturally of special concern to women, the providers. The corn is 

 the mother, the corn goddess the patron deity of women ; the women 

 are chiefs in this their special ceremonial. In turning over the mass 

 of details which have been recorded concerning the festival of the 

 Lalakonti it has seemed to me that I could not better illustrate the 

 points which I especially desire to develop than to explain the altar 

 used by these women priests in this ceremony. 



The altar 1 is erected in a subterranean secret chamber entered by 

 a ladder through the middle of the roof ; and around this altar are per- 

 formed many rites the intent of which is an appeal to the gods of 

 growth for abundant harvests. 



There are two upright slats, painted with symbolic designs, among 

 which the figures of the rain cloud and falling rain and the lightning 

 which accompanies the rainstorm are most prominent. Back of the 

 altar are sticks serving as symbols of the lightning, the zigzag ones 



1 For description of the Lalakonti altar, and ceremonials performed about it, see 

 American Anthropologist, April, 1892. Washington, D. C. . 



