Page:Journal of American Folklore vol. 12.djvu/105

 Hopi Basket Dances. 93

the Mamzraiiti. This naktci in turn is so close to that of Calako rqana that in some of their variants it is impossible to distinguish the two. We have very many modifications of the tablet on heads of women or figurines in Hopi worship, and in most instances we can trace their introduction to clans which claim that their ancestors came from eastern pueblos.

CONCLUSION.

We have seen in the preceding pages that the annual ceremony called the Lalakonti is not confined to Walpi, but is celebrated in the three pueblos of the Middle Mesa and at Oraibi. We also dis- cover that the public exhibitions connected with these variants are practically identical.

Turning to the East Mesa, we find that only one of the three pueblos upon it observes the Lalakonti. On searching for a reason why the remaining two pueblos, Sitcomovi and Hano, each with a larger population than Cipaulovi, do not have this basket dance, we find that Hano is peopled by clans which speak a different language from that of the Hopi pueblos. It is inhabited by descendants of a colony from the Rio Grande region, hence its ritual, like its language, is not the same as that of Walpi. Sitcomovi, also, does not observe Hopi ceremonials, because the ancestors of its people were likewise foreigners. The population of this pueblo is mainly made up of descendants of the original Asa and Honani clans, the former emi- grants from near the village Abiquiu on the Rio Grande, the latter from Kicuba. It has no Lalakonti, because it has not a sufficiently large representation of the clans which control this ceremony. Sitcomovi has a few survivals of a ritual distinct from that observed by Hopi clans. Thus the fundamental reason why the Lalakonti exists in five Hopi pueblos and is wanting in two others is evident. A clan which introduced this rite is strongly represented in the former, and is wanting in the latter.

These new studies of the Lalakonti support earlier statements that this ceremony was introduced by a phratry or collection of Rain Cloud clans from the south. When their ancestors first came into the Walpi valley, the traditionists of this clan declare the priests who lived on the old site of Walpi knew only a few cere- monies to bring the rain. Their chief, they declare, had much greater powers in this direction, for by their magic they could force the gods which control the rain and growth of corn to do their bid- ding. The Rain Cloud clans, when they arrived at the Hopi mesas, practised a form of the rain cult which was much more highly developed than that of the people which they found living in this region. They were invited to exhibit their powers in this direction,

�� �