Page:American Anthropologist NS vol. 1.djvu/603

 540 AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST [n. s. f i. 1899

Totemic Aspect of Alosaka

The Aldsaka cult may be regarded as another form of that totemic ancestor worship which appears in all Hopi mythology and ritual. The male and female Aldsakas are supposed to be ancestors of a cult society called the AaltA, and are represented symbolically in the ritual by graven images, pictures, or persona- tions by men. The name Aldsaka is simply a sacerdotal name used in this society, but it is applied to a similar conception found in the worship of other societies under other names.

In the Snake-Antelope societies of the Hopi the male and female parents are called Tciia-tiyo (Snake-youth) and Tciia-mana (Snake-maid), which beings are personated in the secret exercises of the Snake dance by a boy and a girl appropriately clothed.

In the Flute ceremony the cult society ancestors are called the Lenya-tiyo (Flute-youth) and Lefiya-mana (Flute-maid), who are represented symbolically by images on the altars and by a boy and two girls in the public exhibition.

In the Lalakonti ceremony these two ancestral personages are represented in a symbolic way by images on the altar and by sand pictures on the floor, and by a man and two girls in the public dance. These personages are called by the Lalakonti society the Lakone-taka and the Lakone-manas respectively.

In the MamzrautA society they are called the Marau-taka and the Marau-manas, and are symbolically represented on the altar by figurines and in the public dance by a boy and a maid called the Palahiko-mana whose headdress with symbolic clouds and squash blossoms so closely resembles that of Calako-mana y or the Corn-maid, 1 that it is difficult to distinguish the two.

1 In the horrible rites of the Aztec at their midsummer ceremony, Hueytecuilhuitl, a girl personating the Corn-mother, was sacrificed before the hideous idol of Chicome- huatl and her heart offered to the image. In the dances preceding her death this unfortunate girl wore on her head an amalli or "pasteboard" miter, surrounded by waving plumes, and her face was painted yellow and red, symbolic of the colors of corn. She was called Xalaquia (pronounced Shalakia). The Hopi Corn-maid, rep- resented by a girl with a rain-cloud tablet on her head and a symbol of an ear of corn on her forehead, is called Calako-mana (pronounced Shalako-mana).

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