A Study of Pueblo Architecture: Tusayan and Cibola | Page 6

cane afforded the means of rising to a still higher
plane on which the light was brighter; vegetation was reproduced and
the animal kingdom was created. The final ascent to this present, or
fourth plane, was effected by similar magic growths and was led by
mythic twins, according to some of the myths, by climbing a great pine
tree, in others by climbing the cane, Phragmites communis, the
alternate leaves of which afforded steps as of a ladder, and in still
others it is said to have been a rush, through the interior of which the
people passed up to the surface. The twins sang as they pulled the
people out, and when their song was ended no more were allowed to
come; and hence, many more were left below than were permitted to
come above; but the outlet through which mankind came has never
been closed, and Myu´ingwa sends through it the germs of all living
things. It is still symbolized by the peculiar construction of the
hatchway of the kiva and in the designs on the sand altars in these
underground chambers, by the unconnected circle painted on pottery

and by devices on basketry and other textile fabrics.
[Illustration: Plate III. General view of Awatubi.]
All the people that were permitted to come to the surface were
collected and the different families of men were arranged together. This
was done under the direction of twins, who are called Pekónghoya, the
younger one being distinguished by the term Balíngahoya, the Echo.
They were assisted by their grandmother, Kóhkyang wúhti, the Spider
woman, and these appear in varying guises in many of the myths and
legends. They instructed the people in divers modes of life to dwell on
mountain or on plain, to build lodges, or huts, or windbreaks. They
distributed appropriate gifts among them and assigned each a pathway,
and so the various families of mankind were dispersed over the earth's
surface.
The Hopituh,[2] after being taught to build stone houses, were also
divided, and the different divisions took separate paths. The legends
indicate a long period of extensive migrations in separate communities;
the groups came to Tusayan at different times and from different
directions, but the people of all the villages concur in designating the
Snake people as the first occupants of the region. The eldest member of
that nyumu tells a curious legend of their migration from which the
following is quoted:
At the general dispersal my people lived in snake skins, each family
occupying a separate snake skin bag, and all were hung on the end of a
rainbow, which swung around until the end touched Navajo Mountain,
where the bags dropped from it; and wherever a bag dropped, there was
their house. After they arranged their bags they came out from them as
men and women, and they then, built a stone house which had five
sides. [The story here relates the adventures of a mythic Snake Youth,
who brought back a strange woman who gave birth to rattlesnakes;
these bit the people and compelled them to migrate.] A brilliant star
arose in the southeast, which would shine for a while and then
disappear. The old men said, "Beneath that star there must be people,"
so they determined to travel toward it. They cut a staff and set it in the
ground and watched till the star reached its top, then they started and

traveled as long as the star shone; when it disappeared they halted. But
the star did not shine every night, for sometimes many years elapsed
before it appeared again. When this occurred, our people built houses
during their halt; they built both round and square houses, and all the
ruins between here and Navajo Mountain mark the places where our
people lived. They waited till the star came to the top of the staff again,
then they moved on, but many people were left in those houses and
they followed afterward at various times. When our people reached
Wipho (a spring a few miles north from Walpi) the star disappeared
and has never been seen since. They built a house there and after a time
Másauwu (the god of the face of the earth) came and compelled them to
move farther down the valley, to a point about half way between the
East and Middle Mesa, and there they stayed many plantings. One time
the old men were assembled and Másauwu came among them, looking
like a horrible skeleton, and his bones rattling dreadfully. He menaced
them with awful gestures, and lifted off his fleshless head and thrust it
into their faces; but he could not frighten them. So he said, "I have lost
my wager; all that I have is yours; ask for anything you want and I will
give it to