The Religious Life of the Zuñi Child

The Religious Life of the Zuñi
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
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Title: The Religious Life of the Zuñi 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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RELIGIOUS LIFE ZU¤I CHILD ***

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* * * * *
SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION--BUREAU OF ETHNOLOGY
* * * * *
THE RELIGIOUS LIFE OF THE ZUÑI CHILD.
BY
MRS. TILLY E. STEVENSON.
* * * * *

CONTENTS.
Page.
Brief account of Zuñi 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. Zuñi masks and K[=o]-y[=e]-m[=e]-shi....... 545
XXI. Group of Sä-lä-m[=o]-b[=i]-ya masks........ 548

XXII. Zuñi 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 ZUÑI CHILD.
* * * * *
BY MRS. TILLY E. STEVENSON.
* * * * *

BRIEF ACCOUNT OF ZUÑI MYTHOLOGY.
The Pueblo of Zuñi is situated in Western New Mexico on the Rio Zuñi,
a tributary of the Little Colorado River. The Zuñi 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 Zuñi child
life.
Three miles east of the Pueblo of Zuñi is a conspicuously beautiful
mesa, of red and white sandstone, t[=o]-w[=a]-yäl län-ne (corn
mountain). Upon this mesa are the remains of the old village of Zuñi.
The Zuñi 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 Zuñi as the actual youth and maiden converted into stone, and
are appealed to as "father" and "mother." Many of the Zuñi 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