Page:Journal of American Folklore vol. 12.djvu/99

 Hopi Basket Dances. 87

colony from one of the other pueblos of the Middle Mesa in com- paratively modern times.

OWAKULTI.

It often happens in the celebration of the Hopi ritual that an old ceremonial dance which, by the death of its priests and loss of knowledge of its rites, has become extinct, is reproduced in muti- lated form as a burlesque. The Owakulti as now presented at the East Mesa is a good example of such a dance. Although formerly celebrated at Sitcomovi, it has not been performed there for a long time and has practically become extinct, while at Oraibi it still remains on the annual calendar of ceremonies, with altars and accompanying rites.

The Owakulti basket dance, or that part of it which was once pub- lic, was revived in the Monkiva at Walpi during their Paliilukonti, or March celebration, in 1893. Three men from Sitcomovi, at that time arrayed as women, danced in the kiva, accompanied by a fourth called the " disk-hurler," who threw baskets among the spectators. This episode may be interpreted as the worn-down fragment of what was formerly a complicated ceremony, which still is celebrated in extenso at Oraibi and possibly in other pueblos.

KOHOXIXO BASKET DAXCE.

At certain times in the Tusayan ritual the striking essential features of foreign dances are introduced in the midst of rites with which they have no apparent logical connection. A Kohonino basket dance rarely performed at Walpi is a good illustration of this tendency.

This dance as presented at Walpi is not, like Owakulti> a worn- down fragment of what was once a great ceremony in the Hopi pueblos, but a borrowed episode from Kohinono clans, and is instruc- tive as showing kinship of the Hopi with this interesting people, on the ceremonial side.

The Kohonino basket dance was introduced as an episode of the Mamzrauti in 1893, and is not an essential part of the dance. This is not a rare custom in Hopi ceremonies, for a similar borrowing may be detected in several ceremonies. 1

1 Thus in the antics of the clowns in Katcina dances we find many things bor- rowed from foreign sources. One of the cleverest of these was the imitation of a graphophone a few years ago. The stove of a tent, with its funnel, was used as a megaphone, and a clown concealed himself under a blanket. Another clown sang and called out into the funnel, and the hidden man responded, much to the amusement of the spectators. A masked participant clad like an American stood by and scribbled on a piece of paper the name of the song thus recorded.

�� �