The Religious Life of the Zuñi Child | Page 6

thanks for the life that has
been given them and praying for the future of the child. She then rubs
the entire body of the child, except the head, with warm ashes held in
the palm of the hand and moistened with water. This process is
repeated every morning during infancy and the same paste is put upon
the face of the child until it is several years old. I would remark that
this paste is seldom noticed upon the older children because it is put on
in the morning and drying soon is brushed off by the child. It is
asserted by the Zuñi that in four days after the birth of a child the first
skin is removed by exfoliation and is supplanted by a new one. After
applying the ashes, the paternal grandmother places the infant in the
arms of the maternal grandparent, who performs other offices for the
little one and wraps it in a piece of cotton cloth. The paternal
grandmother prepares a bed of warm sand by the right side of the
mother (leaving a cool spot for the child's head); she then receives the
infant and lays it upon its bed, and over it she arranges the little blanket
which she brought; she then places upon the sand and at the right side
of the child an ear of white corn; if the child be a girl, the mother, or a

three-plumule, corn is selected; if a boy, the father, or single ear, corn.
The fourth day after the birth the child is again bathed in the yucca root
suds by the same grandmother, who again repeats a long prayer. During
the first ten days of the child's life the paternal grandmother remains in
the daughter-in-law's house, looking after the mother and helping in the
preparation of the feast that is to occur. On the morning of the tenth day
the child is taken from its bed of sand, to which it is never to return,
and upon the left arm of the paternal grandmother it is carried for the
first time into the presence of the rising sun. To the breast of the child
the grandmother carrying it presses the ear of corn which lay by its side
during the ten days; to her left the mother of the infant walks, carrying
in her left hand the ear of corn which lay by her side. Both women
sprinkle a line of sacred meal, emblematic of the straight road which
the child must follow to win the favor of its gods. Thus the first object
which the child is made to behold at the very dawn of its existence is
the sun, the great object of their worship; and long ere the little lips can
lisp a prayer it is repeated for it by the grandmother.
The Zuñi are polytheists; yet, while they have a plurality of gods, many
of whom are the spirits of their ancestors, these gods are but mediums
through which to reach their one great father of all--the Sun.
[Plate XX: ZUÑI MASKS AND K[=O]-Y[=E]-M[=E]-SHI.
2 P[=A]-OO-T[=I]-WA. 1 K[=O]-Y[=E]-M[=E]-SHI. 3
SAI-[=A]-HLI-A.]
Returning to the house, the paternal grandmother again bathes the child
in yucca suds; then, for the first time, the little one is put into the cradle.
The baby's arms are placed straight by its sides, and in this position it is
so strapped in its cradle that it cannot even move a hand. These cradles
have hood-shaped tops, and over the whole thick coverings are placed,
so that the wonder is the child does not smother. The cradle is usually
deposited in some safe corner, and the baby is left to sleep or amuse
itself with its infantine thoughts. The cradle is sometimes attached to
two ropes to form a swing, and when the mother becomes conscious of
the child's awakening she uncovers its head at times and the tiny thing
casts its eyes around. On the tenth morning both parents of the child are

bathed in suds of yucca, the whole body of the mother but only the
head of the father. This office is also performed by the paternal
grandmother. The immediate blood relations (female only) then
assemble at the infant's home; that is, all the household of the father's
house and those of the mother's house. Each woman from the father's
house brings to the baby a gift of a little blanket. This select gathering
partakes of a feast, which is presided over by the maternal grandmother.
At the close of the feast the infant is carried by the oldest sister of the
father to the paternal grandmother's house, where it is presented to the
paternal grandfather, who prays to the Sun (Yä-t[=o] tka) to send down
blessings upon the child.

INVOLUNTARY INITIATION INTO THE