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 BANCROFT 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
American &** 
 Universi 
 
 HOPI CEREMONIAL FRAMES FROM 
 CANON DE CHELLY, ARIZONA 
 
 BY 
 
 Jr. WALTER FEWKES 
 
 Reprinted from the AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST (N. s. ), Vol. 8, No. 4, 
 October-December, 1906 
 
 Lancaster, Pa., U. S. A. 
 The New Era Printing Company 
 
 1906 
 
DEPARTMENT of MIDDLE AMERICAN RESEARCH 
 
 THE TULANE UNDVEttSBTYof LOUOSDANA 
 NEW 
 
rt Library 
 
 4? 
 
 [Reprinted from the AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST, Vol. 8, No. 4, Oct.-Dec., 1906.] 
 
 rV 
 
 HOPI CEREMONIAL FRAMES FROM CANON D,> ^ 
 
 CHELLY, ARIZONA & ,O 
 
 ^ CO 
 
 BY J. WALTER FEWKES >/ 
 
 ^ 
 
 On a visit to the Museum of the Brooklyn Institute in fikcember 
 
 last, I became greatly interested in two ethnological specimens ob 
 tained by Mr Stewart Culin in Canon de Chelly, 1 Arizona. These 
 objects, to which I have briefly referred in my article on Hopi 
 Shrines, 2 undoubtedly belong to the Pueblo culture. They are 
 not duplicated in other collections, and have a much greater interest 
 than attaches to their rarity, for they seem to verify a legend, cur 
 rent in the East Mesa pueblos of the Hopi, of the former habitation 
 and migration of one of their important clans. They consist of 
 wooden frames with sliding appendages, handles, and symbolic at 
 tachments. Their general appearance is shown in the accompany 
 ing illustrations (figures 22 and 23). 
 
 Mr Culin informs me that these frames were found with certain 
 fragments of masks, a brief account of which has been published 3 
 in a notice that gives also a Navaho legend regarding the origin of 
 the masks and closes with a suggestion that they once belonged to 
 the Asa clan, a Tanoan people now domiciled in the Hopi pueblo of 
 Sichomovi, who are known to have lived at Zuni and to have 
 sojourned in the Canon de Chelly for several years. 4 No reference 
 to these frames is made in Mr Culin's account, and as the evidence 
 of Asa ownership which they furnish is corroborative and more de- 
 
 1 These objects were purchased from Mr C. L. Day by Mr Culin, curator of ethnology 
 of the Brooklyn Institute Museum, to whom I am indebted for many kindnesses in the 
 preparation of this notice. 
 
 2 American Anthropologist, VII, April-June, 1906. 
 
 3 " Hopi Indian Masks from a Cave in the Canon de Chelly, Arizona," Bulletin of 
 the Brooklyn Institute, Jan. 6, 1906. 
 
 * " The Kinship of a Tanoan-speaking Community in Tusayan," American Anthro 
 pologist, 1894, vui, p. 164-165 : "It is likewise said that after they (the Asa) had 
 lived some time with the Hopi a number of them wandered off to the Tseyi [" Chelly "] 
 Canon and intermarried with Athapascan (Navaho) tribes." 
 
 664 
 
665 
 
 AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST 
 
 [N. s., 8, 1906 
 
 cisive than that afforded by the fragments of masks, I have ventured 
 to supplement and support by additional facts the notice referred to. 
 An examination of one of these frames shows its general form as 
 given in the figure, in which a, a' is a wooden bar, apparently in one 
 piece, in which are cut two slots (b, b'). This bar has a round 
 handle (c) midway of its length, opposite a terrace (d) symbolizing 
 
 FIG. 22. Frame carried by Yaya priest. (Brooklyn Institute Museum.) 
 
 a rain cloud. Two pendants (c, e f ) slide freely in the slots (b, b f ), 
 so that if the bar be moved violently sidewise, these appendages 
 strike the ends and the middle, making a noise and suggesting a 
 rattle. Similar frames still used by the Hopi in ceremonies at their 
 East Mesa villages were figured several years ago in a picture of a 
 priest introduced in my account of "The Lesser New Fire Ceremony 
 at Walpi," and later reproduced in a series of native drawings of 
 Hopi kachinas. 1 These illustrations represent masked men called 
 Sumaikoli and Kawikoli, accompanied by priests known as Yayas 
 bearing in their hands similar frames. 
 
 Apparently Mrs Stevenson refers to frames of identical shape in 
 
 1 American Anthropologist, 1901, n. s., in, 438, pi. xi ; also Twenty-first An 
 nual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology ', pi. xxxiv, xxxv. 
 
FEWKESj 
 
 HOPI CEREMONIAL FRAMES 
 
 666 
 
 her description of the Shumaakwe ceremony at Zufii. 1 
 as follows : 
 
 She writes 
 
 A charm fashioned of wood and similar to one of the bars of the suspended 
 form above the altar is carried by a young man whenever the Shumai / koli ap 
 pears, the bearer manipulating the bar before the god, which appears to have 
 mystic control over the Shumai / koli. The writer has observed the same thing 
 among the Hopi Indians. 
 
 a 
 
 FIG. 23. Frame carried by Yaya priest ; length 24 in. (Brooklyn Institute Mu- 
 eum, cat. no. 5633.) 
 
 The same author says also : 
 
 Whenever he [the charm-bearer] waves the charm the Shumaikoli backs 
 off a distance and then starts forward while the charm-bearer vigorously 
 manipulates the charm to draw the god to him. 
 
 And later: 
 
 The charm -bearer stands south of her [the female leader] , facing east, 
 and holds his charm above his face with his left hand and shakes a small gourd 
 rattle with his right, while he sings a low chant, reminding one of the intoning 
 of a Catholic priest. 2 
 
 1 Twenty-third Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology, p. 540, 543, 
 548-549. 
 
 2 The Saiapa who accompany the Zuni Shumaikoli correspond in some respects to the 
 Kawikoli of the Hopi. The Zuni Shumaikoli is of course the same as the Walpi 
 Sumaikoli. 
 
667 AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST [N. s., 8, 1906 
 
 It appears that the main purpose of the ceremony of the Sumai- 
 koli of the Hopi and its equivalent, the Shumaikoli at Zuni, is the 
 same. Both are fire rites ; both were derived from Rio Grande 
 pueblos. 
 
 The true significance of these frames is unknown, but the respect 
 paid to them seems to indicate that they are something more than 
 rattles of unusual shape. In her representations of the Shumaakwe 
 altar Mrs Stevenson figures a cross hanging above it, made of two l 
 of these frames united, a symbol that the Hopi would interpret as 
 a sky, star, or four-world-quarter symbol. 
 
 Of the nature of the rites that are performed when these objects 
 are employed we may judge in part from a study of both Hopi and 
 Zuni variants of the Sumaikoli ceremony. The ceremony recalls 
 in several particulars the Fire dance of the Navaho. 
 
 The Yaya priesthood claim wonderful magic powers in control 
 ling fire 2 and say they are able to cure certain bodily ailments with its 
 products heat, ashes, and smoke. Their patroness is the Spider- 
 woman, but they worship also the Sky-god, symbolized by the Sun, 
 and Masauu, the God of Death. They call upon ancestral beings, 
 known as Sumaikoli, distributed in the four cardinal directions, to 
 bring rain, and in the course of their rites they make prayer-offerings 
 to all these supernaturals. 
 
 The important point to be considered regarding these frames is 
 their clan ownership. We know that their modern representatives 
 belong to the Yaya priesthood, hence it is desirable to discover the 
 clan kinships or affiliations of this fraternity. The Yaya were intro- 
 
 1 Note that two of these frames were found together in the Canon de Chelly cave. 
 This would imply that they were sometimes fastened together in the form of a cross, as 
 at Zuni ; but their handles show that they were carried in the hand as seen in Hopi pic 
 tures of the Yaya priests. They were apparently rattles, suggesting the matracns used 
 for bells in Latin American countries on Good Friday. These matracas are commonly 
 carried in the hands and are used during the tenebraty but sometimes, as at Jalapa, Mexico, 
 the matraca is placed in the church belfry. It is a large wheel with a clapper, and 
 when turned can be heard all over the city. 
 
 2 1 need not here relate the many stories of handling fire, with accompanying necro 
 mancy, that the Yaya ascribe to their ancients. They even claim to be able to eat fire, 
 or to put live coals into their mouths, which may well be doubted. Their claim to cure 
 bodily ailments with fire reminds one of the principle " similia simi Hints curantur." 
 Burning sensations of the skin supposed to be due to fire are, they hold, cured by fire and 
 its products. 
 
FEWKES] 
 
 HOPI CEREMONIAL FRAMES 
 
 668 
 
 
 
 duced into Walpi by either Keresan or Tanoan clans, either directly 
 or by way of Zufii, and thl? 'm^qjjuqtjoti is commonly said to have 
 taken place in comparative!^ moidf/iK $rnes. The Asa clan, who 
 claim that their ancestors Ijvep! in, ,the , Canon, ie, Chelly, are of 
 Tanoan origin ati'd arc s!iiid tr> haV^, b^en related to the 
 Tewa of 1 rfano ana of the Rio Grande pueblos. The 
 presumption is reasonable that these frames were Asa 
 property. If such be the case the exact site of the 
 habitation of this clan in the Canon de Chelly may 
 be determined by the situation of the cave in which 
 the Sumaikoli paraphernalia were found. But the fact 
 must not be overlooked that the present Sumaikoli 
 chief is a member of the Badger clan l who are closely 
 associated with the other Tanoan peoples. Moreover, 
 there are two sets of Sumaikoli paraphernalia on the 
 East mesa : one at Walpi, the other at Hano. The 
 latter, formerly owned by the Sun clan, may have 
 been brought by the ancestors of the Hano clans 
 directly from the Rio Grande. 
 
 According to Museum Notes (the article above 
 cited), there were other ceremonial paraphernalia found 
 in a bag with these fragments. What light do they 
 throw on the clan ownership of the specimens here 
 considered ? One of these objects is a peculiarly fer- 
 ruled stick (figure 24) the use of which is problem 
 atical. This stick is, I believe, a Sumaikoli standard, 
 which was placed at the entrance to the room where 
 the altar of this ceremony was erected, for a similar 
 standard is still used at Walpi when the Sumaikoli is 
 celebrated. The modern representative consists of 
 two ferruled sticks with facets at the ends. One of 
 In these is like the above-mentioned specimen, the other 
 stitute Muse- has a hollow gourd attached at one end. When the 
 um, cat. no. secret rites are in progress these sticks are stuck in 
 the straw covering of the kiva to indicate that such 
 
 1 The Badger clan is sometimes called a Hanumnyamu, or Tewa people, akin to the 
 Asa and Hano clans. It was associated with the former in founding Sichomovi after the 
 return from the Canon de Chelly. 
 
 la 
 
 FIG. 24. 
 Sumaikoli 
 standard ; 
 34 in. 
 
669 AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIS7" [N. s., 8, 1906 
 
 rites are taking place in the room below. The Canon de Chelly 
 stick is much more dabcr-a^te >Jian, |:hestandard now used at Walpi 
 and may have served fo? ^netfyeir piirp^qse. 1 
 
 The evidence. tfra,wn from. ( tfye fragments of masks found with 
 their frames 'tpiiiactes ;,wj,ih tl^ai ,-of ;<tc letter, * for like them the 
 masks are preeminently those bf'Reresari and Tanoan peoples. 
 According to the article cited these masks belong to the Humis 
 and Shalako kachinas, both of which were introduced into the Hopi 
 pueblos from the Rio Grande. 
 
 The Humis, or Hemis, kachina among the Hopi is said to have 
 been derived from Jemez, New Mexico. Naturally it is a favorite 
 with both the Badger and the Asa, as well as with all other clans 
 of eastern origin. The material from the Canon de Chelly is a 
 framework and a painted skin, its former cover, that has been identi 
 fied as the "tablet" 2 of a Humis-kachina helmet. 
 
 A Shalako mask also is mentioned as having been found with 
 the Humis mask. This mask I have not seen, but as the Zuni 
 Shalako at Sichomovi was introduced from the former pueblo 
 about forty years ago by the Badger clan, the occurrence in the cave 
 of a fragment of a mask with other dance paraphernalia of the 
 Badger and Asa clans is readily explained. The Hopi Shalako was 
 brought to Walpi by clans from the ancient settlements along the 
 Little Colorado. 
 
 The Sumaikoli frames and standard, together with the masks and 
 other paraphernalia found in the Canon de Chelly cave, verify the 
 legends of a comparatively late occupancy of certain cliff-dwellings 
 in this region by people from the East mesa. They point distinctly 
 to the Asa clan as their probable owners. Taken in connection with 
 other evidences they support the conclusion that some of the cliff- 
 houses of that canon were inhabited in comparatively recent time. 
 The so-called Hopi pottery found in the canon is not unlike that 
 now manufactured by Tewa potters ; and to these people, no doubt, 
 can be traced the peach tree and the presence of sheep, both of 
 
 1 A similar problematical object was found at Sikyatki and another at Awatobi, which 
 would further indicate eastern influences in these pueblos. 
 
 2 These tablets are now generally made of thin boards, but formerly they were manu 
 factured of skin or cloth stretched over a support. 
 
FEWKES] HOPI CEREMONIAL FRAMES 6/O 
 
 which prove post-Spanish occupancy by them of this section. I 
 believe the specimens above considered are most instructive verifi 
 cations of Asa and Badger clan traditions. 
 
 It might pertinently be asked, " Why could not these objects 
 have been derived from Zuni or possibly directly from the Rio 
 Grande pueblos, in both of which localities the Sumaikoli culture 
 exists and in some of which similar paraphernalia are still used ?" 
 Migratory bands were continually passing near the entrance to the 
 canon where the paraphernalia were found, in their journey from the 
 Rio Grande region to the Hopi pueblos, and some of these migrants 
 may have lagged behind or tarried there for a longer or shorter time, 
 and may have left some of their religious paraphernalia in that 
 region. While no evidence afforded by the specimens makes this 
 supposition impossible, the Navaho legend that led to the discovery 
 of these objects is so explicit that we must conclude that the 
 descendants of their owners now inhabit pueblos on the East mesa. 
 Although the Asa tradition of their life in Canon de Chelly is cir 
 cumstantial, it is not impossible, considering the kinship of the clans, 
 that some of the Badger people accompanied the Asa when the 
 latter sought a home in that place. At least we may definitely say 
 that the frames, standard, and fragments of masks here considered 
 formerly belonged to Hopi rather than to Zuni or Rio Grande 
 people, but that the clans which owned them originally came from 
 the pueblos of the latter. Although there is strong evidence that 
 these frames pertain to the Asa and Badger clans, it has not yet 
 been conclusively shown which of these people introduced them 
 into the East Mesa pueblos. 
 
 Strictly speaking, these objects are not distinctly characteristic of 
 the most ancient Hopi, but belong to that early culture widely 
 spread over the Southwest from which the Hopi have derived much 
 of their mythology and ritual. They were introduced from those 
 eastern pueblos which have contributed to the Hopi the major 
 portion of their religious paraphernalia, as well as prayers and 
 songs, and their introduction is so recent that even the clans which 
 brought them are not wholly unknown. 
 
 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY, 
 WASHINGTON, D. C.