Page:American Anthropologist NS vol. 1.djvu/596

 fewkes] THE AL6SAKA CULT OF THE HO PI INDIANS 533

A conventional symbol of corn was drawn on the lower part of the screen, and the surface was covered with various seeds, as corn, beans, etc., fastened with clay.

The rites performed before this screen were of a very simple nature, and one of the most important was the scraping of the seeds from the lower part into a tray after certain prayers and other observances. To the seeds in the basket was added a small quantity of raw cotton taken from the top of the screen, which' was then carried out of the kiva.

The ceremony before the screen is interpreted as a prayer to Aldsaka for rain, snow, fertilization of seed, and abundant harvests, symbolized by the figures on it and the rites performed before it. These ceremonies are very appropriately introduced in con- nection with those of the Rain-cloud people, since both came from the south and were brought by related clans. 1

Ceremony with the Alosaka Shield

In the Walpi variant of the Soydluna or Winter Solstice cere- mony, we have not as yet observed a ceremony with the Aldsaka figure comparable with that with the screen just described ; but there is a shield upon which is painted an almost identical figure of Aldsaka? The nature of the rites in which this shield is used is imperfectly known, and the character of the Aldsaka worship in the pueblos of the Middle Mesa is yet to be investigated.

Pictures of Al6saka

The symbolism of Aldsaka is shown in a rude drawing made by one of the Hopi to illustrate a legend, and it repre- sents this being on a rainbow, on which he is said to have traveled from his home in the San Francisco mountains to meet an Awatobi maid. Above the figure of Aldsaka is re- presented the sun, which is drawn also on the screen above

1 This relationship is yet to be determined at Oraibi, and the statement is derived from studies of the sociology of the East Mesa pueblos. "*' American Anthropologist ', vol. XI, 1 898, p. 23.

�� �