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Show medicine, which is a curative for cutaneous diseases. Part of the meat is deposited in the river, with ko'hakwa (white shell beads) and turquoise beads, as offerings to Council of the Gods. Early in the morning part of the group goes to gather yellow pigment, while Shulawitsi ceremonially starts a fire using only sticks and friction, then goes to his sacred peak, a short distance away. The Komosona and Kopekwin gather samples of a black pigment; and seeds, pollen and willows are also collected while the group is camped at this place. More offerings and prayers are made while the Fire God's brand is ignited. 94 The cedar brand must be carried back to Zuni by the personator of the Shulawitsi, or fire god. The group proceeds, singing and praying to the Uwannami for rain and swinging "bull-roarers." After going a bit along the trail they stop to collect the highly sacred reddish mineral pigment used by the personators of the gods. The fire god, at the same time, uses his fire brand to set fire to ignite brush and grass along the way, "that smoke may rise in clouds like the breath clouds from the gods of Ko'thluwala'wa." Zunis believe the smoke rises into the sky, attracting clouds to the area, and thus increasing the chances for rain, according to tradition. According to Zuni tradition, if rain does not come to Zuni during the year following a quadrennial visit, a special visit is made during the next summer. It has been suggested by one Zuni, after his reading of the Coronado narratives, that the "smoke signals" reported by Coronado's chroniclers were in reality fires set by the Fire God along the trail from 94. Hart, E. Richard Fieldnotes on Zuni trail (Wetsak'yaya Onnane), from interviews with Ben Kallestewa and John Niiha with assistance from Andrew Othole, T. J. Ferguson, and Ronald L. Stauber, April 14-15, 1986. If historical and contemporary sources are accurate it seems likely that in the era before matches were available perpetual fires (compared to the Aztecs' by early visitors to Zuni) were lit in each of the kivas from the firebrand kindled by hand every four years at Kolhu/walatwa. - 65 - |
