The Religious Life of the Zuñi Child

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The Religious Life of the Zu?i Child

by (Mrs.) Tilly E. (Matilda Coxe Evans) Stevenson This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net
Title: The Religious Life of the Zu?i Child Bureau of American Ethnology
Author: (Mrs.) Tilly E. (Matilda Coxe Evans) Stevenson
Release Date: October 24, 2005 [EBook #16932]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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Transcriber's Note: [)x] represents any letter "x" with a superior breve. [=x] represents any letter "x" with a superior macron. [t] represents a raised (superscript) "t"
* * * * *
SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION--BUREAU OF ETHNOLOGY
* * * * *
THE RELIGIOUS LIFE OF THE ZU?I CHILD.
BY
MRS. TILLY E. STEVENSON.
* * * * *

CONTENTS.
Page.
Brief account of Zu?i mythology................... 539
Birth customs..................................... 545
Involuntary initiation into the K[=o]k-k[=o]...... 547
Voluntary initiation into the K[=o]k-k[=o]........ 553

ILLUSTRATIONS.
PLATE Page.
XX. Zu?i masks and K[=o]-y[=e]-m[=e]-shi....... 545
XXI. Group of S?-l?-m[=o]-b[=i]-ya masks........ 548
XXII. Zu?i sand altar in Kiva of the North....... 550
XXIII. [=O]h-h[=e]-i-que, Kiva of the East........ 552
Page.

THE RELIGIOUS LIFE OF THE ZU?I CHILD.
* * * * *
BY MRS. TILLY E. STEVENSON.
* * * * *

BRIEF ACCOUNT OF ZU?I MYTHOLOGY.
The Pueblo of Zu?i is situated in Western New Mexico on the Rio Zu?i, a tributary of the Little Colorado River. The Zu?i have resided in this region for several centuries. The peculiar geologic and geographic character of the country surrounding them, as well as its aridity, furnishes ample sources from which a barbarous people would derive legendary and mythologic history. A brief reference to these features is necessary to understand more fully the religious phases of Zu?i child life.
Three miles east of the Pueblo of Zu?i is a conspicuously beautiful mesa, of red and white sandstone, t[=o]-w[=a]-y?l l?n-ne (corn mountain). Upon this mesa are the remains of the old village of Zu?i. The Zu?i lived during a long period on this mesa, and it was here that Coronado found them in the sixteenth century. Tradition tells that they were driven by a great flood from the site they now occupy, which is in the valley below the mesa, and that they resorted to the mesa for protection from the rising waters. The waters rose to the very summit of the mesa, and to appease the aggressive element a human sacrifice was necessary. A youth and a maiden, son and daughter of two priests, were thrown into this ocean. Two great pinnacles, which have been carved from the main mesa by weathering influences, are looked upon by the Zu?i as the actual youth and maiden converted into stone, and are appealed to as "father" and "mother." Many of the Zu?i legends and superstitions are associated with this mesa, while over its summit are spread the extensive ruins of the long ago deserted village. There are in many localities, around its precipitous sides and walls, shrines and groups of sacred objects which are constantly resorted to by different orders of the tribe. Some of the most interesting of these are the most inaccessible. When easy of approach they are in such secluded spots that a stranger might pass without dreaming of the treasures within his reach. On the western side of this mesa are several especially interesting shrines. About half way up the acclivity on the west side an overhanging rock forms the base of one of the pinnacles referred to. This rock is literally honeycombed with holes, from one-half to three-fourths of an inch in diameter. I visited the spot in the fall of 1884, with Professors E.B. Tylor and H.N. Moseley, of Oxford, England, and Mr. G.K. Gilbert, of the United States Geological Survey. These gentlemen could not determine whether the tiny excavations were originally made by human hands or by some other agency. The Indian's only answer when questioned was, "They be long to the old; they were made by the gods." Hundreds of these holes contain bits of cotton and wool from garments. In the side of this rock there are larger spaces, in which miniature vases, filled with sand, are placed. The sand is ground by rubbing stones from the same rock. The vases of sand, and also the fragments of wool and cotton, are offerings at the feet of the "mother" rock. Here, too, can be seen a quantity of firewood heaped as shown in the right-hand corner of the illustration. Each man and woman deposited a piece, that he or she might always have plenty of wood for heat and light. Some three hundred feet above is another