Page 133 - TheHopiIndians

MESA FOLK OF HOPILAND 125

strive to tear away the intruders, and a great deal of
jollity ensues. When the head-washing is over the
visitors rinse the hair of the couple with the water
they have brought, and return home. Then the bridal
couple each takes a pinch of corn-meal and leaving
the house go silently to the eastern side of the mesa
on which the pueblo of Oraibi stands. Holding the
meal to their lips, they cast the meal toward the
dawn, breathing a prayer for a long and prosperous
life, and return to the house as husband and wife.
The ceremony over, the mother of the bride builds
a fire under the baking stone, while the daughter pre
pares the batter and begins to bake a large quantity
of paper bread. After this practical and beautiful
starting of the young folks in life the mother returns
to her home. But there is much more to do before
the newly married merge into the staid married
folks of Tusayan. The wedding breakfast follows
closely on the heels of the ceremony and the father of
the young man must run through the pueblo with a
bag of cotton, handfuls of which he gives to the rela
tives and friends, who pick out the seeds and return
the cotton to him. This cotton is for the wedding
blankets and sash which are to be the trousseau of
the bride.
The practical side and the mutual helpfulness of
the Hopi come out strongly here, when a few days
later the loud-voiced crier announces the time for the
spinning of the cotton for the bride's blankets. This