MODEKN IT EH LOS. 103 



corn for throe days. In the morning of the fourth day, 

 the relatives of the couple assemble at the bridegroom's 

 house. The two future mothers-in-law prepare two 

 large bowls of yucca suds. With one of these the 

 mother of the girl washes the boy's head and the boy's 

 mother does the same for the girl. The other female 

 relatives present assist in rinsing the suds from the hair. 



WTien the washing is finished, the bridal pair take a 

 pinch of corn meal and walk silently to the eastern 

 side of the mesa. They breathe upon the corn meal, 

 throw it tow^ard the rising sun, and utter a short pra^^er. 

 When they have returned to the young man's house, 

 the marriage itself is considered complete although the 

 ceremony is not. The girl assists her mother-in-law 

 in preparing a breakfast which is eaten by the members 

 of both families. After breakfast, the father of the 

 young man runs out of the house and distributes bolls 

 of cotton to the friends and relatives who are expected 

 to separate the seeds from the cotton. 



A few days later, the crier announces that the spin- 

 ning of the cotton is to take place. The men relatives 

 and friends gather in their kivas and spend the day in 

 carding and spinning cotton. This they bring in the 

 evening to the bridegroom's house w^here they partake 

 of a feast. From the cotton yarn prepared in this wa}^, 

 the father of the bridegroom, assisted by the other 

 men of the famih^, weaves two large white robes and a 

 w^hite fringed girdle. A pair of moccasins provided 

 with long buckskin strips is also made. The blanket 

 and the moccasins are coated with white earth. When 



