| OCR Text |
Show 149 "The Barefoot Trail." A number of priests, most on foot, but some on horseback, are seen coming along the trail towards Ojo Caliente. Dressed in white, with headbands, the pilgrims are carrying bags, probably of clay, that has evidently been gathered by this smaller group of priests on what has either been one of the non-quadrennial year pilgrimages or a special pilgrimage because of a drought that then existed. Donkeys are laden with large bundles of willows from Kolhu/wala:wa and food for the pilgrims. The willows will later be cut into prayersticks by the Zunis. A series of prayers and offerings are made at the site near Ojo Caliente. First, two Rain Priests and a Priest of the Bow deposit "their immense bundles of prayerplumes" in Rainbow Springs "as an offering to the Rain Gods." Smoke from the priests' fires represents clouds and is intended to bring rain. Three of the priests ritually bathe in the waters. Then, while the Bow Priest uses a bull-roarer to create the impression of thunder, three priests enter the waters to make offerings of large prayerplumes. The rest of the priests wait for the offerings to be finished while the three who bathed ritually have their hair prepared in a traditional manner. When the three who have been saying prayers and making offerings in the spring finally emerge forty-five minutes later, they are so chilled they need a fire to warm themselves. "Rain is now falling for the first time in months," says the caption to this silent footage. "How can a Zuni fail to have faith in his ceremonies?" 149. Cattell, Owen "The Rain Ceremony," Ethnological Films of the Zuni Indians produced for the Museum of the American Indians, Heye Foundation, under the Patronage of James B. Ford Esquire, Museum of the American Indian, 1923. - 98 - |
