The Religious Life of the Zuñi Child | Page 5

days of the old, a young maiden, strolling along, saw a beautiful
little baby boy bathing in the waters of this spring; she was so pleased
with his beauty that she took him home and told her mother that she
had found a lovely little boy. The mother's heart told her it was not a
child really, and so she said to the daughter; but the daughter insisted
that she would keep the baby for her own. She wrapped it carefully in
cotton cloth and went to sleep with it in her arms. In the morning, the
mother, wondering at her daughter's absence, sent a second daughter to
call her. Upon entering the room where the girl had gone to sleep she
was found with a great serpent coiled round and round her body. The
parents were summoned, and they said, "This is some god, my daughter;
you must take him back to his waters," and the maiden followed the
serpent to the hot spring, sprinkling him all the while with sacred meal.
Upon reaching the spring the serpent entered it, the maiden following,
and she became the wife of the K[=o]-l[=o]-oo-w[)i]t-si.
The K[=o]-l[=o]-oo-w[)i]t-si soon appeared with the two Soot-[=i]ke
who had been dispatched for him. They did not travel upon the earth,
but by the underground waters that pass from the spring to the spirit
lake. Upon the arrival of the K[=o]-l[=o]-oo-w[)i]t-si, the Käk-l[=o]

issued to this assemblage his commands, for he is the great father of the
K[=o]k-k[=o]. Those who were to go to the North, West, South, East,
to the Heavens, and to the Earth to procure cereals for the [=A]h-shi-wi
he designated as the Sä-lä-m[=o]-b[=i]-ya. Previous to this time the
[=A]h-shi-wi had subsisted on seeds of a grass. "When the seeds are
gathered," he said, addressing the serpent, "you will carry them with
water to the [=A]h-shi-wi and tell them what to do with the seeds. I will
go in advance and prepare them for your coming." "But," said his
people, "you are our father; you must not walk," and the ten
K[=o]-y[=e]-m[=e]-shi accompanied him, carrying him on their backs,
relieving each other when fatigued. The Käk-l[=o] visited the
[=A]h-shi-wi nine days in advance of the Sä-lä-m[=o]-b[=i]-ya and
K[=o]-l[=o]-oo-w[)i]t-si, instructing the people regarding the
K[=o]k-k[=o], how they must represent them in the future and hold
their ceremonials, and telling them that the boys must be made
members of the K[=o]k-k[=o], and that this particular ceremony must
occur but once in four years. He also gave to the people the history of
himself, how the duck had befriended him and led him to the home of
his people.

BIRTH CUSTOMS.
Having now briefly sketched the mythology relating to the ceremonials
to be described, I invite your attention to the main subject of the present
paper: the Religious Life of the Zuñi Child.
First we will notice the birth customs.
Zuñi child life may be divided into two parts. One I will call the
practical or domestic; the other, the mythologic or religious. The
former is fairly exemplified in the habits, customs, games, and
experiences of our own domestic child life. The other is essentially
different; in it are involved the ceremonials, legends, and myths which
surround the Zuñi child from its birth.
Previous to the birth of a child, if a daughter be desired, the husband

and wife proceed together to the "mother" rock, and at her feet make
offerings and prayers, imploring her to intercede with the great father,
the Sun, to give to them a daughter, and that this daughter may grow to
be all that is good in woman; that she may be endowed with the power
of weaving beautifully and may be skilled in the potter's art. Should a
son be desired, the couple repair to the shrine above, and here, at the
breast and heart of the "father" rock, prayers and plume sticks are
offered that a son may be given them, and that he may have power to
conquer his enemies, and that he may become distinguished in the
K[=o]k-k[=o] and other orders, and have power over the field to
produce abundant crops. In both cases the sacred meal is sprinkled, and,
should the prayer not be answered, there is no doubt that the heart of
one or the other was not earnest when the prayer was offered.
The Zuñi child is born amid ceremony. At its birth only the maternal
grandmother and two female doctors are present. After the birth of the
child, the paternal grandmother enters, bearing as offerings to the new
born babe a large pottery bowl and inside of it a tiny blanket. She then
prepares warm suds of yucca root in the bowl, in which she bathes the
infant, at the same time repeating a prayer of