Page 126 - TheHopiIndians
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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.