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Updated: August 1, 2024


An attendant sprinkled water on the coals and a moment after threw them out of the fire opening. The song-priest gathered the wands from around the edge of the painting and four attendants began to erase it by scraping the sands from the cardinal points to the center. Again the people hurried to take sand from the hearts, heads, and limbs of the figures to rub upon themselves.

This sweat house was decorated with the rainbow. Over the entrance were, first, two striped blankets, one upon the other, a buckskin, and a piece of white cotton. Hot stones, etc., having been previously placed in the sweat house, the sick man entered. The song-priest and four attendants sang, accompanied by the rattle.

The old man and woman spoken of are not the first old man and woman in the myth of the old man and woman of the first world. After the prayer the song-priest and invalid took seats by the entrance of the lodge. Hasjelti took his position to the west end and to the north of the line of the Etsethle.

At the close of the song sacred meal was mixed with water in a Zuñi pottery bowl. This meal is made of green corn baked in the earth and then ground. During the preparation of this medicine mixture the song-priest sang: "This food is mixed for the people of the rocks! We feed you with this food, O people of the rocks!"

The stipulation of the medicine man was that we should make no mistakes and thereby offend the gods, and to avoid mistakes we must hear all of his songs and see all of his medicines, and he at once ordered some youths to prepare a place for our tent near the lodge. During the afternoon of the 12th those who were to take part in the ceremonial received orders and instructions from the song-priest.

The invalid upon entering the lodge was handed an Apache basket containing sacred meal, which he sprinkled over the painting and placed the basket near the feet of the rainbow goddesses; the song-priest and choir sang to the accompaniment of the rattle.

The four bunches of feathers were then laid on the tubes. The song-priest rolled up each cloth and holding the four parcels with both hands he placed them horizontally across the soles of the feet, knees, palms, breast, back, shoulders, head, and across the mouth of the invalid, and the invalid drew a breath as the parcel touched his lips. He sat to the north of the rug facing east.

Another wand was passed to the boy; and the children received some instructions from the song-priest, who spoke in an undertone, after which, an attendant filled with water from a wicker water jug a basket that had stood throughout the ceremony at the east of the rug.

The sweat-house priest preceded the invalid and song-priest, the latter carrying his medicine basket, wands, etc. The hot stones and pine boughs were put into the sweat house; meal was sprinkled around the west base and the wands deposited, as before described, by the song-priest.

The invalid did not join in the song. The choir continued an hour without cessation, and then rested 2 minutes, and again began and continued for another hour. At the conclusion of the singing the song-priest handed to the girl a wand of turkey plumes taken from a basket of feathers which had stood, since the placing of the masks, on the west side of him.

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