106 INDIANS OF THE SOUTHWEST. 
the purpose has a great variety of vegetable products, 
cooked and in their natural state, fastened to the top 
of it, where also is suspended the carcass of a sheep 
which has in recent years taken the place of that of a 
deer. The forenoon is devoted to races in which 
young men from the two large houses compete in relays. 
The victory is a community one and not individual. 
The winners are pelted with food by the losers. Inthe 
afternoon the clowns appear, men grotesquely dressed 
and painted, who act as offensively as possible. They 
take the lunch baskets from women and empty them, 
tear the clothing from a man, or throw him fully 
clad into the stream, and enter any house they choose. 
Finally, they approach the pole as if tracking an animal, 
attempt to shoot toy arrows to the top, tug at its base 
as if trying to uproot a tree, and at last make attempts 
to climb it which succeed for one of their number who 
secures the food for his fellows. As a whole the cere- 
mony is evidently intended as a consecration of the 
harvest and an expression of thanksgiving for it. 
ZuUNI CEREMONIES. 
At the head of the Zui community is a priesthood 
presided over by the priest of the north who is foremost 
among the Zuni in both religious and political activities. 
The priest representing ‘“‘the above” 
Pekwin, the deputy of the sun, and the representative 
of ‘‘the below” is the head bow priest, corresponding 
to the war priest of the Rio Grande villages. These 
priests hold office for life. They directly supervise the 
ceremonial life of the Zuni and appoint the governor and 
lieutenant governor with their deputies who hold office 
from year to year. Each head priest has associated 
with him assistants who in time may succeed to the 
head priesthood itself. Mainly it is the duty of this | 
is known as the 
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ee. 
