Page 42 - TheHopiIndians

34 MESA FOLK OF HOPILAND
more pleasant under the warm sun. Still, with all the
work incident to the care of the fields there is time for
ceremony and during the period between the arrival
of the kachinas in December and their departure iu
July, there are many minor celebrations by masked
dancers in addition to the great monthly ceremonies.
Especially interesting in the season of awakening life
anl growing crops are these kachina dances with their
pleasing songs and pageantry, their unlimited variety
and surprises. The "Peaceful People" enjoy this
season in the highest degree. June and July see every
Hopi happy, unless there is something constitutionally
wrong with him or he is afflicted with sickness. It is
difficult to realize how thoroughly all Hopi life is
linked with growing things, showing out in their every
word and action and entering into their ideas of the
unseen world.
When the sun pauses in his march along the eastern
horizon at the summer solstice, the Hopi spend the
day in making feather prayer-plumes as petitions for
blessings. These children of the sun know the course
of Dawa, the sun, and read his positions as we the
hands of a clock.
With the departure of the kachinas a new class of
ceremonies begins. The dancers who previously ap
peared in strange masks and headgear now perform
unmasked, and the cumbrous paraphernalia is laid
away for another year. The great event of the sum
mer, the Snake Dance, is now at hand, and everyone