The Sully County watchman. (Clifton, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1894, 1891-11-28
QUEER ZUNI WORSHIP.


with curiosities associated with the relig-
| ious worship OF the Iuni and other Pueblo
Indians in New Mexico and Arizona, ut.
| tracted the attention of Star reporter
the other day. There is in the collection
! a great number of fetiches of many sorts,
but the most remarkable of them are
| images In stone, representing the
| gods themselves - especially the .prey
gods" in The shape of animals, which
| The hunter invokes for success in the chase
| In order to make il clear just what these
beast deities are 1t is necessary to quo
| from the count OF the creation by tne~
voiaries.
When all was new. mankind lived in "a
cavarn in the bowels of the earth. The
| place was dark and crowded and the psC
pie were unhappy. Hearing heir lamen-
tatlons the great sun father sent his two
children, armed with the rainbow, the
N .ow of lightning and magic knife of
! flint. With the magic kaife the children
| ,ut the face of the earth and led out the
| PEOPLE into another cavern, which was not
| 20 dark. There they mutt piled and grew
miserable again until The children were
! pursuaded to conduct them into third
cavern, yet bigger. " here there was sort
of twilight, the ravs of the sun sitting
| through the roof Here, however, they
were not content and so they were finally
taken t r.h into the light of day. They
were black and naked, with eyes like those
. of owls, so that the sun blinded hem.
Previously the world had been covered
with water. Now it was damp and
! stablein act, great mo-asg, frequcn
disturbed by earthquakes, and through ! ,
surfacc strange mons rs and beast of prey
ros up to uevour the people The two
child hardened the surface with
tire and burnt up tie ferocious animals,
the forms of many of which can be seen
! to tEis day among tne rocks. shr!veIsd and
| distorted No creatures like these (fcssiiS)
! live Mt the present time, which shows that
everything was different in the days of the
new.
While as yet all beings belonged to one
family, the great father, Bp-shai.ah-kia.
! lived IN the city of he misrs. guarded on
all side, hy the six prey gods. On the
north he was gua"ded by the mountain
| lion on the west uy the boar. Oh the south
| by tne badge, on the east by the wolf. in
air above by the eagle and in the ear h
! | meath by the mole. Among these sub
| otdi ate deiti- he divided the universe.
| CLING 20 each the part above mentioned
| e. app'rtalnlng to each. At present 1t Is
! cir duty 10 carry messages between tfe
! seat father and mankind, for which rea-
IN ;hey are prayed to.
Among the PUebio Indians six points Of
! the compass are recognized and each has
| its color North is yellow, west Is blue,
! Ith i red. east Is Whit the upper re-
gionS are many colored, and the lower re-
/ gions are black. And the prey gods are
repre- seated by their images IN these 81
! colors. For example, there is the yellow
mountain lion Of the north, the blue
mountain lion of the west, the red noun
tain lion Of the soutl, and % on. Llk1
! wise it is with the other beasts, and thu
| a very considerable number of dei.!cs is
| formed. All of them must receive wor.
| shipful attention least they %. angry and
revenge themselves TOR the neglect rs
! the black beer did in the true story o;
| Mitsi.
! Mi-tsi bad become careless about his
J Sacrifices, :, and one day when he was cut.
! ting corral posts along came Il black bear
out Of ticket. He ran aud climbed up
| dead piactrce, but the bear climbed after
/ him aud ne his foot off, 50 that lac was
! lamed for life.
When the hunter is about TO .et forth
, upon an expedition, he takes his image OF
! the particular prey god ne desires to pro-
pitiate and has II loaded by priest with
! the spirit Of the divinity. Then he hangs
! it around his neck and performs many
ceremonies, scattering sacred meai OF seed
1 corn. lI.hlematIc OF productlveness, and
raying the trees and thcketS Of the for
est 10 hold and entangIe his game When
/ he reaches a Spct where the beast is in
pursuit or has lain down. he goes through
more hocus pocus. without which he be-
| lieves he would stanl NJ show whatever in
| the chase. Only the priests are able tc
make the images of the Ceitles OF other
| fetiehes properly. A fetch may he defined
as an object in which a spirit has been in
| duced TO dwell for the benefit OF the owner.
! Ii goes without saying that unless the OBJ
| jet is constructed in the proper manner
nd painted correctly, the spirit will no
consent to stay in it, These spirits are
very p.u ocular about such things. 0n'
every year there is dav set apart for
council OF the fetiches. They are all ar
ranged according 10 their kind and color
| IT, front IF an altar The quadrapeds are
set upright, while the eagles and other
winged ones are suspended by cords from
| the rafters Each member OF :he tribe
addresses prayers 10 them and scatter sgC
rcd meal over them. Prayer chants arc
! sung at intervals, with dancing TO the
l)und of ratties, accompanied by imit.t
tions of the ccies Of the animals wCr
shipped. A feast follows. a. which por-
! tions OF each kind Of food are taken on'
! for sacrifice to th" prey gods.
! lhere ale other deitles besides tGe prey
gods, however. rs hen have to be propitD
ateh, For example, therr IS lle rrm god,
/ toe sun god. the war god and the motne~
! z ,ldrss, who is the no her uf all h. dei
| ties She is rpnrescnted by Il very rXt,a-
ordinary fetlch, mad" of an ear 1T cora.
/ wrapped up il curious Iunole, Wi 4
feathers OF several kinds sticking ont ot
one end Cofn j. regarded py these pap
/ pie, who live on that vegetable. as en-
! blematic Of the spirit # fertility, The
I feathers are those Of an eagle, ITSELF ite
god OF the upper regions, and Of othet
! birds associaeu with religious myths
| Rain is prayed for bv thrnsting mo tnr
ground l.ite sticks with fea' r. attached
| 70 ;hrm, toe scattering 0! sayr meal and
! ether ceremonies accompanying the per
| formance Each feathcred stick repre-,
scn's a prayer, aud the piulnes are in,