Zuñi breadstuff

Front matter

Indian Notes & Monographs volume viii

MUSEUM OF THE AMERICAN INDIAN

HEYE FOUNDATION

Chapter I. Creation, and the Origin of Corn 17

II. The Origin of the Dragonfly and of the Corn Priests, or Guardians of the Seed 55

III. Land Law and Labor 125

IV. Corn-raising, or the " Decay

of the Seed" 167

V. Corn-raising, or the Regeneration of the Seed 193

VI. I'-no-te-kwe a-wen I'-ta-we, or

the "Food of -the Ancients" 216 VII. Na'-na-kwe a-wen I'-ta-we, or the "Food of the Grandfathers" 247

VIII. "The Young Men who were Fond of Parched Corn and Sweet GrueL or The Four

IX. Ta/-a T-ta-we, or the "Food

of the Seed of Seeds" .... 289

X. He'-we I'-ta-we, or the Wafer

Foods 317

XI. Khia' I'-ta-we, or Wheat Food 344 XII. Hu'-mu-a K'ia-na-kwe, or the

XIII. The Story of the Young Hunt-

XIV. How He Learned to Hunt. . . 414 Xv. How He was Divorced 445

XVI. How He Twice Returned .... 480

XVII. About Some Indian Meals. . . 516

XVIII. More Indian Meals 556

XIX. Corn Dances and Festivals. . . 587

Index 643

THIS series of articles on Zuiii Breadstuff was first published in The Millstone of Indianapolis (a trade magazine that long since ceased publication), in its issues extending from volume ix, January, 1884, to volume x, August, 1885. Subsequently an attempt was made to reprint the articles, in condensed form, in Milling of Chicago, but only the first nine chapters thus appeared, extending from volume in, no. 2, July, 1893, to volume iv, no. 4, March, 1894, when their publication was terminated. Mr. Cushing's account of the subject is so replete with information respecting not only the food products of the Zuni tribe, with whom he lived as an adopted member from 1879 until 1884, but of their methods of preparation, and the myths, ceremonies, and daily customs pertaining thereto.

It is needless to say that Frank Hamilton Cushing was in such intimate touch with the Zufii that he was thoroughly familiar with the topics of which he wrote covering that interesting people, and it is for the purpose of making them accessible to students of American ethnology, and especially of the Pueblo Indians, that the articles referred to, until now practically inaccessible, are republished in this series.

In preparing the work for publication, no attempt has been made to change the original text, except where it obviously required improvement in punctuation, the correction of typographical and orthographical errors, consistency in the spelling of native terms, and the romanizing of various terms and expressions in italics where not needed for direct emphasis. The illustrations used in the original articles are all reproduced, somewhat smaller in size, and several photographic plates, from negatives by Mr. Jesse L. Nusbaum, further illustrating the subject, have been introduced.

The following brief sketch of Mr Cushing's life and activities is from the pen of the late Major John Wesley Powell, founder and first director of the Bureau of American Ethnology, quoted from the Twenty-first Annual Report of that institution:

"Frank Hamilton Cushing was born in Northeast, Pennsylvania, July 22, 1857. At first a physical weakling, he drew away from the customary associations of childhood and youth and fell into a remarkable companionship with nature; and as the growth of the frail body lagged, his mental powers grew in such wise as to separate him still further from more conventional associates. In childhood he found l sermons in stones and books in running brooks;' and in youth his school was the forest about his father's homestead in central New York. There his taste for nature was intensified, and the habit of interpreting things in accordance with natural principles, rather than conventional axioms, grew so strong as to control his later life. Meantime, relieved of the constant waste of mentality through the friction of social relation, his mind gained in vigor and force; he became a genius.

"At 9 years of age Cushing's attention was attracted by Indian arrowpoints found in his neighborhood, and he began a collection which grew into a museum and laboratory housed in a wigwam erected by him in a retired part of the family homestead; and his interest and knowledge grew until at 18 he went to Cornell already an expert capable of instructing the teachers. Perhaps by reason of his close communion with nature, he early fell into a habit of thought not unlike that of the primitive arrow maker, and even before he knew the living Indian, grew into sympathy with Indian art, Indian methods, Indian motives. So, in his wigwam laboratory and later at Cornell and elsewhere, he began to reproduce chipped stone arrowpoints and other aboriginal artifacts by processes similar to those of the native artisans; in this art he attained skill to a unique degree, and through it he gained unique understanding of the processes of primitive men. In 1874, at the age of 17, he sent to Secretary Baird an account of the Antiquities of Orleans County, N. Y., which was published in the Smithsonian Report for that year; this was based on his wigwam collection, which later passed into the National Museum. In 1876 he had charge of a portion of the National Museum collection at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia, where he edified visiting archeologists by his interpretation and imitation of native handicraft; for his skill extended from stone chipping to pottery making, basket building, weaving, skin dressing, and all other native arts. In 1879 Major Powell employed him in the Bureau of American Ethnology, at first in collecting artifacts from the pueblos; but the innate sympathy with simple life acquired in his isolated boyhood soon brought him into intimate relations with the living tribesmen, and the bond became so strong that he decided to remain at Zufii, where for five years he was as one of the tribe. After mastering the language he acquainted himself with the Zufii arts and industries; he was adopted into the ancient Macaw clan and the sacred name ' Medicine-flower/ borne by only one person in a lifetime, was given him; then he was initiated into tribal fraternities and gradually inducted into the religious ceremonies and mysteries; and long before he left the pueblo he was second chief of the tribe, the Head Priest of the Bow, and lived in the family of the governor, wearing native costume, eating native food, and participating in all native occupations and pastimes. Such was Cushing's college course in ethnology.

"When he left Zuni Mr Cushing brought with him to Boston and other Eastern cities a party of Zuni headmen and priests, who attracted much attention and awakened deep interest in aboriginal life. One of the results was the organization of the Hemenway Archeological Expedition, endowed by the late Mrs Mary Hemenway, of Boston; in 1886-88 Mr Cushing had charge of the work. Subsequently he returned to the service of the Bureau, and began preparing for publication the records of his researches in Zuni; a part of this material was published in the Thirteenth Report under the title 'Outlines of Zuni Creation Myths.'

His health failing to an extent requiring a change, he was assigned to duty in Florida, where he made an archeologic survey no less remarkable for the breadth of view with which it was conducted than for the wealth of material produced from shell mounds and peat-lined lagoons. He was actively engaged in preparing the results of this work for publication when a slight accident (the swallowing of a fish bone) proved too much for the vital thread, never strong and much enfeebled by wholehearted and absorbing devotion to duty under trying conditions in Zuiii and in Florida. So his professional career ended. He died April 10, 1900.

" Gushing was a man of genius. The history of the human world has been shaped by a few men; the multitudes have lived and worked and ended their days under the leadership of these few. Most of the geniuses who have shaped the history of later times shone as intellectual luminaries alone. Cushing stood out not only as a man of intellect, but preeminently as a master of those manual concepts to which he gave name as well as meaning — indeed, he might fittingly be styled a manual genius. There are two sides to. man, two correlative and reciprocal aspects — the hand side and the brain side. Human development begins in the child, and began in our earliest ancestry so far as we are able to think, chiefly in the perfecting of the hand; for throughout the human world men do before they know — indeed, the greater part of knowing is always preceded by generations of doing. So humanity's dawn was doubtless brightened through manual genius; then came those later millenniums in which the brain side of man rose into dominance and illumined progress — and this was the time of intellectual geniuses. Of late science has arisen, and men have turned to the contemplation of nature and have been led thence to the conquest of natural forces. In the strife against dull nature the manual side of man has again come into prominence, and the pages of later history are emblazoned with the names of inventors and experimentalists in whom the hand side and the brain side have attained perfect union. To this class of men Cushing belonged; yet the application of his genius was peculiar, even unique, in that his efforts were expended in interpreting inventions by others rather than in making inventions of his own, This application of his powers rendered him successful beyond parallel in retracing the paths pursued by primal men in their slow advance toward manual and mechanical skill; and it was through this peculiar application that Cushing's richest contributions to the science of man were made.

"By reason of his peculiar insight into primitive devices and motives Cushing was a teacher of his colaborers, even of those whose years were more than his own. His mind responded readily to the impact of new sights, new thoughts, new knowledge; hence he was fertile in hypothesis, fruitful in suggestion, an avant-courier in research, a leader in interpretation. All his associates profited by his originality and learned much of him. The debt of American ethnology to Cushing is large."

By Frank Hamilton Cushing

CHAPTER I

Creation, and the Origin oe Corn1

WATCHING one day a white-headed Zimi grandmother who was stirring vigorously some yellow batter with a bundle of splints, I asked her what she was making. " Hoe-cakes/ ' she answered, only she called it mu'-we.

"How do you make them?" I inquired. "Sa-k'o, o'-iut-si-na ta k'ia'-kok-shi, hini-na hd i'-ya si' '; tern kwi'l-ip-nan, M ko-la ma-we ta i'-sha-nan wo-lu, shel-an-an ul-iip, hef-po-k'on wo'-tap, te'-na-lap, u-lVhap, — tchim i'-to-na-k'ia, a'ya-naie'I" — replied the old woman.

This is as hard as Zuni milling; but I will try to grind it into English.

'Meal, soft corn-flour and good water, equally I mix; then stirring, red-pepper, salt, and suet, I put in, into husks I roll this, into an oven all place shutting the hole; time passed, I take them out. Now then, for eating they are ready!"

Do not imagine the old woman knew no other way of making corn-food. As prolific of resources as the Chinese are with their rice, not more so are they than are the ancient Zunis with their corn.

Indeed so important to the Zuni is his corn, that it plays an all-essential part, not only in his daily but also in his industrial, religious, and mythologic life, and even in the tales with which he amuses the children about the fireside in wdnter-time.

That this may be better understood among those controlled by a culture totally at variance with that of the Zunis; that the many observances, ceremonials, and formulae connected with corn, its growth, treatment, and preparation for food, hereinafter to be described, may not seem meaningless, it is necessary that an outline of the Zufii mythology connected with corn, and that some, at least, of the philosophy and folk-lore which have grown out of this mythology, be recorded.

Thus, by following me in the pursuit of a useful purpose, I anticipate that my readers will find some part of the interest and pleasure which fell to my lot when, on long winter nights, I listened, in the light of pinon-fires on Zufii hearthstones, to the recitals which first gave me knowledge of these strange beliefs and things.

Thus listening, I once heard a Zufii priest say:

"Five things alone are necessary to the sustenance and comfort of the 'dark ones' [Indians] among the children of earth:

"The sun, who is the Father of all.

"The earth, who is the Mother of men.

"The water, who is the Grandfather.

"The fire, who is the Grandmother.

"Our brothers and sisters the Corn, and seeds of growing things."

This Indian philosopher explained himself somewhat after the following fashion:

"Who among men and the creatures could live without the Sun Father? for his light brings day, warms and gladdens the Earth Mother with rain which flows forth in the water we drink and that causes the flesh of the Earth Mother to yield abundantly seeds, while these, — are they not cooked by the brand of fire which warms us in winter?' '

That he reasoned well, may be the better understood if we follow for a while the teachings which instructed his logic. These relate that:

First, there was sublime darkness, which vanished not until came the "Ancient Father of the Sun," revealing universal waters. These were, save him, all that were.

The Sun-father thought to change the face of the waters and cause life to replace their desolation.

He rubbed the surface of his flesh, thus drawing forth yep'na.2

The yep'na he rolled into two balls. From his high and 'l ancient place among the spaces'' (Te'-thla-shi-na-kwin) he cast forth one of these balls and it fell upon the surface of the waters. There, as a drop of deer suet on hot broth, so this ball melted and spread far and wide like scum over the great waters, ever growing, until it sank into them.

Then the Sun Father cast forth the other ball, and it fell, spreading out and growing even larger than had the first, and dispelling so much of the waters that it rested upon the first. In time, the first became a great being — our Mother, the Earth; and the second became another great being — our Father, the Sky. Thus was divided the universal fluid into the " embracing waters of the World" below, and the " embracing waters of the Sky" above. Behold! this is why the Sky Father is blue as the ocean which is the home of the Earth Mother, blue even his flesh, as seem the far-away mountains, though they be the flesh of the Earth Mother.

Now, while the Sky Father and the Earth Mother were together, the Earth Mother conceived in her ample wombs — which were the four great underworlds or caves — the first of men and creatures. Then the two entered into council that they might provide for the birth of their children.

"How shall it be?" said the one to the other. "How, when born forth, shall our children subsist, and who shall guide them?"

"Behold!" said the Sky Father. He spread his hand high and abroad with the hollow palm downward. Yellow grains like corn he stuck into all the lines and wrinkles of his palm and fingers. "Thus," said he, "shall I, as it were, hold my hand ever above thee and thy children, and the yellow grains shall represent so many shining points which shall guide and light these, our children, when the Sun Father is not nigh."

Gaze on the sky at night-time! Is it not the palm of the Great Father, and are the stars not in many lines of his hand yet to be seen?

"Ah yes!" said the Earth Mother, "yet my tiny children may not wander over my lap and bosom without guidance, even in the light of the Sun Father, therefore, behold!"

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She took a great terraced bowl into which she poured water; upon the water she spat, and, whipping it rapidly with her fingers, it was soon beaten into foam as froths the soap-weed, and the foam rose high up around the rim of the bowl. The Earth Mother blew the foam. Flake after flake broke off, and bursting, cast spray downward into the bowl.

"See," said she, "this bowl is, as it were, the world, the rim its farthest limits, and the foam-bounden terraces round about, my features, which they shall call mountains whereby they shall name countries and be guided from place to place, and whence white clouds shall rise, float away, and, bursting, shed spray, that my children may drink of the water of life, and from my substance add unto the flesh of their being. Thou hast said thou wilt watch over them when the Sun Father is absent, but thou art the cold being; I am the warm. Therefore, at night, when thou watchest, my children shall nestle in my bosom and And there warmth, strength, and length of life from one daylight to another."

Is not the bowl the emblem of the Earth, our mother? For from it we draw both food and drink, as a babe draws nourishment from the breast of its mother, and round, as is the rim of a bowl, so is the horizon, terraced with mountains, whence rise the clouds. Is not woman the warm, man the cold being? For while woman sits shivering as she cooks by the fire in the house-room, man goes forth little heeding the storms of winter, to hunt the feed and gather pine-fagots.

Yet, alas! men and the creatures remained bounden in the lowermost womb of the Earth Mother, for she and the Sky Father feared to deliver them as a mother fears for the fate of her first offspring.

Then the Ancient Sun pitied the children of Earth. That they might speedily see his light, he cast a glance upon a foam-cap floating abroad on the great waters. Forthwith the foam-cap became instilled with life, and bore twin children, brothers one to the other, older and younger, for one was born before the other. To these he gave the k'ia-al-lan, or " water-shield," that on it they might fly over the waters as the clouds, from which it was spun and woven, float over the ocean; that they might blind with its mists the sight of the enemy as the clouds, darken the earth with rain-drops. He gave them for their bow, the rainbow, that with it they might clear men's trails of enemies, as the rainbow clears away the storm-shadows; and for their arrows gave he them the thunderbolts, that they might rive open the mountains, as the lightning cleaves asunder the pine trees, and then he sent them abroad to deliver, guide, and protect the children of earth and the Sky Father. With their bow they lifted from his embraces the Sky Father from the bosom of the Earth Mother, "for," said they, "if he remain near, his cold will cause men to be stunted and stooped with shivering and to grovel in the earth," as stunted trees in the mountains delve under the snow to hide from the cold of the Sky Father. With their thunderbolts they broke open the mountain which gave entrance to the cave-wombs of the Earth Mother, and upon their water-shields they descended into the lowermost of the caves, where dwelt the children of earth — men and all creatures.

Alas! It was dark as had been the world before the coming of the Sun, and the brothers found men and the beings sadly bewailing their lot. When one moved it was but to jostle another, whose complaints wearied the ears of yet others; hence the brothers called a council of the priest-chiefs, — even ere the coming forth of men such lived, — and they made a ladder of tall canes which they placed against the roof of the cavern. Up this rushed the children of earth. Some, climbing out before of their own wills, found deliverance from the caves above and, wandering away, became the ancestors of nations unknown to us; but our fathers followed in the footsteps of the older and younger brothers. Does not the cane grow jointed today,- showing thus the notches which men traversed to daylight?

In the second cave all was still dark, but like starlight through cloud rifts, through the cleft above showed the twilight. After time the people murmured again, until the two delivered them into the third world where they found light like that of early dawn. Again they grew discontented, again were guided upward, this time into the open light of the Sun — which was the light of this world. But some remained behind, not escaping until afterward; and these were the fathers of the western nations whom our ancients knew not.

Then indeed for a time the people complained bitterly, for it was then that they first saw the light of the Sun Father, which, in its brilliancy, smote them so that they fell grasping their eyeballs and moaning. But when they became used to the light they looked around in joy and wonderment; yet they saw that the earth seemed but small, for everywhere rolled about the great misty waters.

The two brothers spread open the limbs of the Earth Mother and cleft the western mountains with their shafts of lightning, and the waters flowed down and away from the bosom of the Earth Mother, cutting great canons and valleys which remain to this day. Thus was widened the land, yet the earth remained damp. Then they guided the people eastward.

Already before men came forth from the lower worlds with the priest-chiefs, there were many gods and strange beings. The gods gave to the priests many treasures and instructions, but the people knew not yet the meaning of either. Thus were first taught our ancients incantations, rituals, and sacred talks (prayer), each band of them according to its usefulness. These bands were, the "Priesthood" {Shi'-wana-kwe), the "Hunter-band" (Sa'-ni-ak'ia-kwe), the "Knife -band" (Aftchi-a-k'ia-kwe or Warrior) , and the Ne'-we-kwe, or Band of Wise Medicine Men. The leaders of each band thus came to have wonderful knowledge and power — even as that of the gods ! They summoned a great council of their children — for they were called the "Fathers of the People" — and asked them to choose such things as they would have for special ownership or use. Some chose the macaw, the eagle, or the turkey; others chose the deer, bear, or coyote; others the seeds of earth, or af-td-a, the spring vine, tobacco, and the plants of medicine, the yellow- wood and many other things. Thus it came about that they and their brothers and sisters and their children, even unto the present day, were named after the things they chose in the days when all was new, and thus was divided our nation into many clans (a* -no-ti-we) of brothers and sisters who may not marry one another but from one to the other. To some of the elders of these bands and clans was given some thing which should be, above all other things, precious. For instance, the clans of the Bear and Crane were given the mu'-et-ton-ne, or medicine seed of hail and snow. For does not the bear go into his den, and appears not the crane when come the storms of hail and snow?

When more than one clan possessed one of these magic medicines, they formed a secret society, like the first four, for its keeping and use. Thus the Bear and Crane peoples became the "Holders of the Wand" — who bring the snow of winter and are potent to cure the diseases which come with them. In time they let into their secret council others, whom they had cured, that the precious secrets of their band might not be wasted. Thus it was that one after another were formed the rest of our medicine bands, who were and are called the finishers of men's trails, because, despite disease and evil, they guard and lengthen our lives; but in the "days of the new" there were only four bands.3

To the Eagle, Deer, and Coyote peoples were given the nal'-e-ton, or "deer medicine seed," which the Hunter band still guards; and to the Macaw, Sun, and Frog peoples the Via'-et-ton, or the " medicine seed of water," which the priesthood and the Sacred Dance, or Ka'-ka, still hold — without the administration of which the world would dry up and even the insects of the mountains and hollows of earth grow thirsty and perish. Yet, not less precious was the gift to the "Seed people," or Td'-a-kwe. This was the tchu'-et-ton, or the "medicine seed of corn," for from this came the parents of flesh and beauty, the solace of hunger, the emblems of birth, mortal life, death, and immortality. To the Badger people was given the knowledge of fire, for in the roots of all trees, great and little, which the badger best knows how to find, dwells the essence of fire.4

To all of these peoples it was told that they should wander for many generations toward the land whence the Sun brings the daylight (eastward), until at last they would reach the "middle of the world/' where their children should dwell forever over the heart of our Earth Mother until their days should be numbered and the light of Zufii grow dark.

Toward this unknown country the "twin brothers of light" guided them. In those times a day meant a year, and a night another, so that four days and nights meant eight years. Many days the people wandered eastward, slaying game for their flesh-food, gathering seeds from grasses and weeds for their bread-food, and binding rushes about their loins for their clothing; they knew not until afterward, the flesh of the cotton- and yucca-mothers.

The earth was still damp. Dig a hole in a hillside, quickly it filled with water. Drop a seed on the highest table-land, and it without waiting shot forth green sprouts. So moist, indeed, was the soil, that even footprints of men and all creatures might be traced whithersoever, they tended. The beings and strange creatures increased with men, and spread over the world. Many monsters lived, by whose ferocity men perished.

Then said the twin brothers: "Men, our children, are poorer than the beasts, their enemies; for each creature has a special gift of strength or sagacity, while to men has been given only the power of guessing. Nor would we that our children be webfooted like the beings that live over the waters and damp places."

Therefore, they sent all men and harmless beings to a place of security; then laid their water-shield on the ground. Upon it they placed four thunderbolts, one pointing north, another west, another south, and the other eastward. When all was ready they let fly the thunderbolts. Instantly the world was covered with lurid fire and shaken with rolling thunders, as is a forest today burned and blasted where the lightning has fallen. Thus as the clay of vessels is burned to rock, and the mud of the hearth crackled and reddened by fire, so the earth was mottled and crackled and hardened where now we see mountains and masses of rock. Many of the great- monsters and prey-beings were changed in a twinkling to enduring rock or shriveled into twisted idols which the hunter and priest-warrior know best how to prize. Behold! their forms along every mountainside and ravine and in the far western valleys and plains still endure the tracks of the fathers of men and beings, the children of earth. Yet some of the beings of prey were spared, that the world might not become over-filled with life and starvation follow, and that men might breathe of their spirits and be inspired with the hearts of warriors and hunters.

Often the people rested from their wanderings, building great houses of stone which may even now be seen, until the conch of the gods sounded, which lashed the

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ocean to fury and beat the earth to trembling.5 Then the people started up, and gathering the few things they could, again commenced their wanderings; yet often those who slept or lingered were buried beneath their own walls , where yet their bones may sometimes be found.

Marvelous both of good and evil were the works of the ancients. Alas! there came forth with others, those impregnated with the seed of sorcery. Their evil works caused discord among men, and, through fear and anger, men were divided from one another. Born before our ancients, had been other men, and these our fathers sometimes overtook and looked not peacefully upon them, but challenged them — though were they not their elder brothers? It thus happened when our ancients came to their fourth resting place on their eastward journey, that which they named Shi-podo-lon-K'ai-a, or " Place of Misty Waters," there already dwelt a clan of people called the A'-ta-a, or Seed people, and the Seed clan of our ancients challenged them to know by what right they assumed the name and attributes of their own clan. "Behold!" said these stranger beings, "we have power with the gods above yours, yet can we not exert it without your aid. Try, therefore, your own power first, then we will show you ours." At last, after much wrangling, the Seed clan agreed to this, and set apart eight days for prayer and sacred labors. First they worked together cutting sticks, to which they bound the plumes of summer birds which fly in the clouds or sail over the waters. "Therefore," thought our fathers, "why should not their plumes waft our beseechings to the waters and clouds?" These plumes, with prayers and offerings, they planted in the valleys, and there also they placed their tchur -e-ton-ne. Lo! for eight days and nights it rained, and there were thick mists; and the waters from the mountains poured down, bringing new soil and spreading it over the valleys where the plumed sticks had been planted. "See!" said the fathers of the Seed clan, "water and new earth bring we by our supplications."