The Religious Life of the Zuñi Child | Page 7

K[=O]K-K[=O].
The present ceremonials are in direct obedience to the orders and
instructions given at the time of the appearance of the K[=o]k-k[=o]
upon the earth, and their masks are counterparts of the original or
spiritual K[=o]k-k[=o] (Plate XX). The Käk-l[=o] rides, as of old, upon
the backs of the K[=o]-y[=e]-m[=e]-shi, and he is the heralder for the
coming of the K[=o]-l[=o]-oo-w[)i]t-si. Arriving at the village in the
morning, he divides his time between the kivas, there being six of these
religious houses in Zuñi, one for each of the cardinal points, one for the
zenith, and one for the nadir. In each of these kivas he issues to the
people assembled the commands of the K[=o]k-k[=o] and gives the
history of the Käk-l[=o] and the gathering of the cereals of the earth by
the Sä-lä-m[=o]-b[=i]-ya. At sunrise he is gone. The morning after the
arrival of the Käk-l[=o], those who are to represent the K[=o]k-k[=o]
prepare plume sticks, and in the middle of the same day these are
planted in the earth. The same night they repair to their respective kivas,
where they spend the following eight nights, not looking upon the face
of a woman during that period. Each night is spent in smoking and
talking and rehearsing for the coming ceremony. The second day all go
for wood, bringing it home on their backs, for so the ancients did when
beasts of burden were unknown to them. The third day is also spent in
gathering wood, and the fourth day likewise. On the same day the ten
men who are to personate the K[=o]-y[=e]-m[=e]-shi, in company with

the [t]S[=i]-[t]s[=i]-[t]ki (great-grandfather of the
K[=o]-y[=e]-m[=e]-shi), pass through the village, inquiring for the boys
who are to be initiated; before such houses as have boys ready for this
ceremonial these men assemble; one of them enters the house and,
greeting the mother of the boy with "Good morning," inquires the name
of her son. She replies: "He has no name," and requests the
K[=o]-y[=e]-m[=e]-shi to give him one. The man then joins the group,
repeating the words of the woman. In passing from the kiva through the
village the Indian screens his face with a blanket, so as not to see the
women as he passes. On the fifth day they go on a rabbit hunt, the
capture of but one rabbit being necessary. The rabbit is carried to the
He-i-i-que (or Kiva of the North) by the [t]S[=i]-[t]S[=i] [t]ki, who,
after skinning the rabbit, fills the skin with cedar bark; a pinch of meal
is placed for the heart and the eye sockets are filled with mica; a hollow
reed is passed through the inside filling to the mouth. The sixth day the
inmates of the kivas again go for wood; the seventh day large
T[=e]-l[=i]k-tk[=i]-n[=a]-we are made of eagle plumes; the eighth day
is consumed in decorating the masks to be worn. As these people have
not the art of mixing their pigments so as to be permanent, masks and
altars have to be freshly decorated before using; and, when the masks
are completely decorated, they, with the other paraphernalia, are carried
on the same day by the men and youths who have to wear them to some
secluded nooks among the rocks, a distance from the town, where they
put them on, returning to the village by early moonlight.
The impressive ceremonial of initiating the youth into the order of the
K[=o]k-k[=o] occurs but once in four years. No male child above the
age of four years may, after death, enter the Kiva of the K[=o]k-k[=o]
unless he has received the sacred breath of the K[=o]k-k[=o]. Those
who personate the K[=o]k-k[=o] are endowed for the time being with
their actual breath. Besides the Sä-lä-m[=o]-b[=i]-ya of the North, West,
South, East, Heavens, and Earth, and a number of younger brothers
who appear on this occasion, there are P[=a]-oo-t[=i]-wa (Plate XX),
father of the Sun, ten K[=o]-y[=e]-m[=e]-shi, and the
K[=o]-l[=o]-oo-w[)i]t-si.
The Sä-lä-m[=o]-b[=i]-ya of the North wear yellow (hl[=u]p-si-na)

masks; those from the West, blue (hli-än-na); those from the South, red
(shi-l[=o]-[=a]); those from the East, white (k[=o]-h[=a]n); those from
the Heavens, all colors ([=I]-t[=o]-p[=o]-nän-ni); those from the Earth,
black (quin-n[=a]). (Plate XXI.) These colors represent the cardinal
points, the zenith, and the nadir:
North. Yellow. Hl[=u]p-si-na. West. Blue. Hli-än-na. South. Red.
Shi-l[=o]-[=a]. East. White. K[=o]-h[=a]n. Heavens. All colors.
[=I]-t[=o]-p[=o]-nän-ni. Earth. Black. Quin-n[=a].
[Plate XXI: GROUP OF SÄ-LÄ-M[=O]-B[=I]-YA MASKS.
1 NORTH. 2 WEST. 3 SOUTH. 4 EAST. 5 HEAVENS. 6 EARTH.]
They come after sundown to the village. The serpent, made of hide, is
about twelve feet long and eighteen inches through the thickest part of
the body. The abdomen is painted white, the back black, covered with
white stars, which are represented by a kind of semicircle, an entirely
conventional design.