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118      MESA FOLK OF HOPILAND

             prayer over it and throws it toward the sun ; so also
             does the mother, and the ceremony is over.
               The assembly then turns to the nukwibi, pigame,
             and other good things, for among the Hopi a feast al
             ways follows a ceremony, just as enlightened people
             enjoy a good dinner after church ; but before they be
             gin the repast, a pinch of the food must be taken out
             and thrown by the ladder or into an inner room as an
             offering to the sun.  The baby, being guest of honor,
             is first to eat of the food, though the act would seem
             a mere pretense. Directly he is laid aside to resume
             his broken slumbers while all assembled fall to with
             keen appetites. Soon the guests arise to depart, and
             receiving their "Indian gifts" return to their homes.
               Custom demands, however, that other things for
             the welfare of the child be done. A boy should have
             a swift insect called bimonnuh tied to his wrist to
             make him a runner, and a girl a cocoon of a butterfly
             to make her wrists strong for grinding corn. Later,
             for some reason, a band of yucca is put on the child 's
             wrist and ankle and left on for several days, when
             the child is held over an ant hill, the bands taken off
             and left to the ants.
               It is pleasant to know that the Hopi are good to
             the old.  In the ceremony just described they are
             given special gifts of food and meal, and if the grand
             mother is an invalid she is tenderly carried to the
             dedication.1
              i Prom Xatal Ceremonies of the Hopi Indians.  .T. G. Owens,
             Journal of American Ethnology and Archaeology, Vol. II, 1892.
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