Page:American Anthropologist NS vol. 1.djvu/604

 fewkes] THE AL6SAKA CULT OF THE HOP! INDIANS 54*

In the great katcina cult these two personages are called Anwucnoshotaka and Hahahvuqti, or " Man of all the Crow clans," and " Mother of katcinas" respectively ; but as this cult is very complex in the East Mesa towns, and is celebrated by many amalgamated cult societies, there are various other names for these two ancestors.

It is instructive to consider somewhat more in detail this aspect of the Hopi katcina cult in the two great characteristic festivals called Powamti and Nimdn.

Reviewing the Hopi calendar it is found that katcina worship appears in ceremonies from December to July, inclusive, and while none of the festivals between July and December is a true katcina, the majority of those during the remainder of the year bear this name. As expressed by the Hopi priests, the Niman ceremony celebrates the departure of the katcinas from the pueblos, to which they do not return for about six months. This Nimdn (" Departure ") ceremony of the katcinas is cele- brated in July, and no katcinas are personated in the Hopi pueblos until December. The time of the return of these super- naturals is not as distinct as that of their departure, and they may be said to straggle back in the December and January rites ; but their return in force takes place in the February ceremony called Powamti which is made up wholly of characteristic katcina exhibitions.

It is of some interest to determine the month of the return, for there are katcina personations in December (Soydlufta) and during the January moon, and it may be held that their appear- ance in the former proves that the advent of these worthies occurs in the month named. The chief participants in the De- cember rite (and the same may be said of the January ceremony) are not distinctive katcinas, or rather there are other cere- monies not belonging to this cult in their composition, and no special distinctive katcina altars are erected. In the Powamti, however, there is a true katcina altar which is essentially the

�� �