Page:American Anthropologist NS vol. 22.djvu/27

 MASON] THE PAP AGO HARVEST FESTIVAL 15

the near neighborhood but the exact location was not learned. The date of the celebration, however, is set by the principal men of vai'num ke' ( k, Pump House or Iron Pump village. This is said to be due to the fact that a few years ago the most important men left Santa Rosa and founded this new village near Quijotoa where a mining company had erected a pump.

The elders at Iron Pump village, having decided that the time is ripe for a celebration of the Vigita, journey to Achi and a council is held at which time the exact date is set. This journey is made and the council held at night and in secret session, and all details are settled before the public announcement is made. The date set is generally twelve days after the meeting of the council, about the end of November.

The day after the council, the entire population of the twin villages busy themselves cutting bundles of sticks which are left to dry for a day. The following day they are shaved and cut to a uniform size, about a foot in length, adorned with fine turkey (sic) feathers on one end and tied up in bundles of about 8 inches in diameter. These sticks are painted blue or green and represent the growing corn, the turkey feathers being the leaves. 1

Early in the evening of the tenth day before that set for the celebration, all the bundles of sticks are gathered into one great bundle and set in the center of the feast ground. A fire is built near it and around this all the men gather. Then the chief from Iron Pump village makes a speech. This is a set traditional speech, telling how the Vigita originated and how it has been cele- brated from remote times. After a short pause a second speech is recited, setting the date for the festival. After these two speeches the people return to their houses, those from distant villages going to camps in the neighborhood. Two old men, the chiefs of Iron Pump village and of Achi, guard the fire and the sticks all the following day. In addition to the great bundle of prayer-sticks, ten tally- sticks which are preserved from year to year are stuck in the ground near the fire and every evening one of them is pulled out by the

1 Evidently the typical "prayer-stick" of Northern Mexico and the American Southwest.

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