Page 135 - TheHopiIndians

MESA FOLK OF HOPILAND 127

the bride, arrayed in her finery, performs the last
act in the drama, called "going home." It must be
explained that up to this time the bride has remained
in the house of her husband's people. Wearing the
large white blanket picturesquely disposed over her
head and carrying the small blanket wrapped in the
reed mat in her hands, she walks to her mother's house,
where she is received with a few words of greeting,
and the long ceremony is over.
In this land of women's rights the husband must
live with his wife's relatives. The children, also, are
hers, taking their descent from her and are nearer
kin to her brothers and sisters than to the father.
The house they live in is hers, and all the corn and
other food brought into its grain room. In case of
domestic troubles, she alone has the right of separa
tion and can turn the man from her door. Though
this dark side of the picture is sometimes presented,
the rule is that husband and wife are faithful and
live happily, as becomes the Peaceful People.
It may be interesting to follow the history of the
wedding costume, which plays such a prominent part
in the ceremony. The moccasins are soon put to use
and worn out, and thereafter the woman goes barefoot
like the rest of her sisters. The sash and blankets
are rolled in a mat and hung from a roof-beam in a
back room. Perhaps the larger /blanket is embroid
ered, when it becomes a ceremonial blanket, or it may
be pressed into use for carrying corn and watermelons