A descriptive study of the dramatic function and significance of the clown during Hopi Indian public ceremony

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Content A DESCRIPTIVE STUDY OF THE DRAMATIC FUNCTIO N I I AND SIGNIFICANCE OF THE CLOWN DURING HOPI INDIAN P U B L IC CEREMONY by F ran k G eorge Bock H i A D is se r ta tio n P r e s e n te d to the FA C U L T Y OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL UNIVERSITY OF SO UTH ERN CALIFORNIA In P a r tia l F u lfillm en t of the R eq u irem en ts for the D eg ree DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY (C om m unication) S ep tem b er 1971 UMI Number: DP22318 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Dissertation Publishing UMI DP22318 Published by ProQuest LLC (2014). Copyright in the Dissertation held by the Author. Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106- 1346 ProOuest Qus C opyright © by FR A N K GEORGE BOCK 1971 » U N IV E R S IT Y O F S O U T H E R N C A L IF O R N IA THE GRADUATE SCHOOL UNIVERSITY PARK LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA 90007 T h is dissertation, w ritte n by rRANK GEORGE BOCK under the d ire ctio n o f hXs... D isserta tion C o m m ittee, and a pp ro ve d by a ll its members, has been presented to and accepted by T h e G ra d u ate S chool, in p a r tia l fu lfillm e n t o f re q u ire ments o f the degree o f D O C T O R O F P H I L O S O P H Y D e a n D ate... S_ e p;t emb er _ _ 19 71 _ f ^ A 72. 6> DISSERTATION COMMITTEE TABLE OP CONTENTS LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS............................. iv LIST OF MAPS ...................................... vi Chapter I. STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM AND DESIGN OF THE S T U D Y ......................... 1 Statement of the Problem .................... 2 Significance of the Study ......... 2 Review of the Literature .................. 3 Design of the Study .................. 8 II. A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE HOPI INDIAN......... 18 The Pre-Columbian Settling of the Hopi . . . 18 The Advent of the White Man into the Southwest ......................... 26 The Growth of Hopi Ritu al.................. 56 III. THE MYTHOLOGICAL TRICKSTER AS A BASIS FOR PRIMITIVE CLOWNING ......................... 91 Primitive Clowning Traits Reflected in the Winnebago Trickster M y t h ........... 93 The Ceremonial Clown in South and Middle Americas ........................... 96 The Ceremonial Clown in North America . . . 123 The Growth of the Pueblo Clown.............. 129 Formation of the Hopi Clown Societies . . . 150 IV. PSYCHOLOGICAL AND SOCIOLOGICAL CONSIDERATIONS OF CLOWNING.................................. 158 The Ceremonial Clown as Mediator ........... 161 Vicarious Release Through the Clown's Antics ................................ 164 Social Control Through the Clown's Actions ....................... 176 The Pueblo Clown and the Hopi W a y ......... 181 ii Chapter V. RECENT OBSERVATIONS OF HOPI CLOWNING .... 200 The Ho'ote Kachina Dance: Shungopovi, Second Mesa, June 27, 1970 .... 202 Various Non-clowning Duties of the Hopi Clown • •• • ...............221 The Ho’ote Kachina Dance: Shungopovi, Second Mesa, June 28, 1970 .... 265 VI. SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS, AND IMPLICATIONS .... 315 Summary........... 315 Conclusions...............................320 Implications ....... 323 APPENDIXES A. THE WINNEBAGO TRICKSTER CYCLE ................ 327 B. TWO SELECTED ACCOUNTS OF PUEBLO INDIAN CLOWNS .................................. 331 C. SIX SELECTED AND EDITED ACCOUNTS OF HOPI CLOWNING.............................336 BIBLIOGRAPHY «... 349 EPILOGUE.......................................... 364 age 36 74 107 109 112 116 119 132 208 215 219 244 247 253 268 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS A View of the Awatobi Ruins, Hopi Indian Reservation, Arizona (Summer, 1970) ......... Koyemsi: A Pueblo Indian Clown .............. A Clown of The Dance of the Moors and Christians of Papantla ....................... A Clown from The Dance of the Conquest at Teotitlan del Valle ....................... Participants in The Dance of Los Negritos of Nahuatzin, Michoacan, Mexico .............. A Yaqui Pascola ................................ Participants in The Dance of Los Viejitos, Patzuaro, Michoacan, Mexico .................. Typical Koshare: A Pueblo Indian Clown . . . Koyemsi Entering Plaza Over Rooftops, Oraibi ............................. Koyemsi Burlesquing Kachina Dancers, Oraibi . Three Clowns in Their House, Owl Kachina Watching, Oraibi ............................. Clowns Resting and Eating in Their House, Oraibi . ................................ Clowns Engaged in a Hunt Burlesque, Oraibi ......................................... A Clown Skit Involving a Negro Impersonator, Shungopovi, 1970 .............. Koyemsi Playing Leapfrog During Mixed Kachina Dance, Oraibi .................. iv Plate Page XVI. Koyemsi Playing a Stick Game, Oraibi . . . 269 XVII. Koyemsi in a Game of Rough-and-Tumble, O r a i b i ......................................... 270 XVIII. Clowns Wrestling in the Plaza During a Kachina Dance, Oraibi ....................... 27 2 XIX. Sketch of Owl Kachina, Shungopovi, 1970 • • 275 XX. Chiiku'wimkya Cavorting in the Plaza Shungopovi, 1970 280 XXI. A Clown in White-face Mocking the White Man, Oraibi.............................. 289 XXII. Owl Kachina Advancing on Clown to Warn Him, Oraib i.............................. 295 XXIII. Clowns Wrestling with Owl During •'Kachina War”, Oraibi..........................297 v LIST OF MAPS Map Page 1. Present Location of the Pueblo Indian Reservations ........................... 20 2. The Three Mesas that Comprise the Hopi Territory .................... 21 CHAPTER I STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM AND DESIGN OF THE STUDY The Hopi Indians of Northern Arizona have a highly developed and complex ceremonial system. Early historians of Hopi culture have studied their rituals and speculated on their origin, significance, and development. The con sensus seems to indicate that the ceremonies of the Hopi are sacred representations, and even personifications, of the deities comprising the Hopi pantheon. It would appear that the inclusion of a character who burlesques these sacred rites, who ridicules the societal tenets, and who indulges in contrary behavior during the ceremonies, would be an anathema to the otherwise sacred rituals. Yet such a paradox does exist. Indeed, the Hopi themselves refer to this intruder as a clown and at the same time regard him with awe and respect. The majority of writers in previous research of the Hopi and other related areas tend to emphasize the Hopi clown*s entertainment factor to the exclusion of histori cal tradition and psychological and sociological implica tions. This entertainment theory does not seem to be an adequate explanation for the continuing life of the tradi tional clown. Nearly all of this writing describes the 1 2 antics of the clown as obscene and relegates him to the level of low comedian* Yet the Hopi themselves apparently hold the clown in high esteem. The appellation ' ‘obscene" is applied not by the Indians, but rather by white obser vers. A few writers attempt to explain ritualistic clowning on a psychological and sociological level, yet they tend to ignore the entertainment factor of the clown. Nearly all of the writers disregard the enigmatic ques tion: How can this buffoon have a continuing life when he flouts convention and burlesques the very society that nurtured him? Statement of the Problem The problem of this study was to determine the rea sons for the durability of the clown in public Hopi reli gious ceremonies and thereby ascertain his basic function and significance in Hopi society and culture. Significance of the Study This study was thought to be significant because there is a need to amalgamate the disparity of viewpoints concerning the function and significance of the Hopi clown. Furthermore, since the role of the clown, espe cially in recent years, has deteriorated so much and Hopi life has changed so rapidly, there is urgent need for original research among the Hopi Indians themselves, and particularly with those clowns still living, in order to find a more relevant answer to the perplexing problem of the clown's longevity before it is too late. Review of the Literature There is an abundance of written material avail able on the Hopi Indian ceremonies. However, the antics of the clown tend to be disregarded or relegated to an oc casional essay or comment reposing in the midst of lengthy discussion on the kachina dances. This study began by a perusal of the following bibliographies and indexes: 1. The general card catalog listing for Indians, Indians of North America; Hopi; Pueblo Indians; and Indians of the Southwest. The libraries involved included University of Southern Cal ifornia, University of California at Berkeley, University of California at Los Angeles, Whit tier College, the Southwest Museum Library, and the Research Center Library of the Museum of Northern Arizona. 2. Specific indexes included the Cross-cultural File, Readers Guide to Periodical Literature, and Dissertation Abstracts from 1956 through 1970. 3. Specific references that proved invaluable in cluded Prehistoric Southwesterners from Bas- ketmaker to Pueblo, by Charles Amsden, a vol ume which contains a supplementary list of publications useful to the student of South western archeology; The American Indian in Graduate Studies, by Frederick Dockstader, a bibliography of theses and dissertations cov ering the North American Indian, that contains 3,684 references, one of which was relevant to this study (see Julian Steward, below); Eth nographic Bibliography of North America, by George Murdock, published in 1960, that con tains over 17,300 entries covering 276 groups of Indians, (the 381 entries on the Hopi Indi ans were all perused for material); Motif-Index of Folk-Literature, by Stith Thompson, in six volumes, that proved valuable for cross- referencing of primitive clowning throughout the world. The scientific publications that provided the best articles relevant to this study included: 1• American Anthropological Association Memoirs 2. American Anthropologist 3. Annual Report of the Bureau of American Eth nology (various years) 4. Journal of American Folklore These publications contained articles by leading scholars in the field of anthropology, archeology, and ethnology, 5 whose writings generally reflected a scientific detachment and adherence to detail that gave credence to the informa tion contained in this study. Julian Haynes Steward inaugurated the first serious study of the buffoon in Indian culture in 1929 with his unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, "The Clown in Native North America." His intent was to ascertain historical rela tionships and comic patterns for all the primitive cul tures in North America. Consequently he devoted just a portion of his paper to the Pueblo Indian in general, and even a smaller segment to the Hopi specifically. His work while invaluable to the field of cultural anthropology, became a point of departure for this study. The most valuable early material on the Hopi is derived from personal observation by people who lived among the Pueblos, chronicling daily life and ceremonies. The leading pioneer in this regard is Alexander M. Stephen, who arrived in the Hopi country in 1881, and began his first systematic study of the Hopi in 1882. When J. W. Fewkes, as director of the Hemenway Expedition, began to study the Hopi in 1890, he enlisted Stephen's assistance. Stephen kept a journal recording both the ceremonial and daily life of the people of the First Mesa from 1891 until his death in 1894. His journal contains minute descrip tions of Hopi ceremonies that he observed, including nu merous accounts of Hopi clowning. Indeed, Stephen set the standard for later research, and nearly every writer since Stephen's time has returned to this detailed journal for source material. Even the fine works of his colleague, Fewkes, often reflect information gleaned from Stephen. The notes comprising Stephen's journal have been collected into two volumes and edited, with additional comments, by Elsie Clews Parsons. The Mennonite minister H. R. Voth, who established a mission at Oraibi in 1893, wrote copiously about the Hopi. He photographed public ceremonies and secret rites in the kiva which had never been previously recorded. During Voth's tenure, Anglo-Americans and other outsiders were not barred from these ceremonies. However, the pub lication of Voth's reports and pictures led to the growth of secrecy instituted by the Hopi. The Voth photographs used in this study are extremely rare because of this re striction. i The list of writers who added to the composite pic ture of the Pueblos is far too extensive for inclusion here. However, their contributions are listed in the bibliography. Special acknowledgement is given to Elsie Clews Parsons, both for her personal work among the Indians and her editorship of leading essays and pub- 1 lications about the Pueblos. Most of the writers reflect the shcolarly detachment of scientific study. There are exceptions, particularly Dumarest, Bandelier, and Voth, 7 who reflect a moralizing attitude or a personal evaluation. Still the works are valuable as original source material. Correspondence with current leading authorities in the field of Hopi research uncovered information not ob tainable in published form. Additional assistance for material has been rendered the author by the staffs of the Southwest Museum at Los Angeles and the Research Center of the Museum of Northern Arizona in Flagstaff. The available literature written by the Hopi Indi ans includes a fine autobiography, edited by Leo Simmons, titled Sun Chief: The Autobiography of a Hopi Indian. Other Hopi works of value include Me and Mine, by Helen Sekaquaptewa, and The Truth of the Hopi by Edmund Nequa- tewa. A previous publication The Book of the Hopi, by Frank Waters, has been subjected to critical fire recently. Due to misinformation and incorrect presentation of facts and actualities, many people, both Hopi and white, feel that this book presents a distorted view of the Hopi Indi an. The main informant, Oswald White Bear Fredericks, a Hopi, disclaims various segments purported to be his in formation. Indeed, Waters repudiates much of his own book in a recent publication of his titled Pumpkin Seed Point. However, sections of The Book of the Hopi have been used as resource material when their reliability could be ver ified. The author interviewed several people in the course of this research, and the material gained is highly relevant to the study. This list includes Barton Wright, Curator, Museum of Northern Arizona; the late Harold Col ton, author of many publications on the Hopi; Ruth D. Simpson, archeologist, and authority on the Hopi; Carl Denzel, Director of the Southwest Museum; Malcolm Farmer, Professor, Whittier College, Whittier, California. Because of the extraordinary maltreatment and broken promises perpetrated by the white man against the Hopi over the years, interviews with Hopi Indians are singularly difficult to achieve. Their mistrust is founded upon many decades of past historical dealings withj the whites. However, the author was able to interview seventeen Hopi Indians, and in the process gained inval- I uable information. Respecting their wishes for anonymity, i the investigator has withheld their names from this list. Design of the Study i In an attempt to resolve the problem, this study began with the following working hypothesis: In order for the Hopi clown to survive he must be a recognized segment of Hopi society, he may act ! as a method of assisting in the society's survival,; i and he performs this assistance in a theatrical manner. The study, therefore, was conducted along the following design in an attempt to isolate and identify the tech niques of Hopi clowning as well as the conditions under which public clowning takes place. First, there was a perusal of Hopi history in or der to establish the societal or cultural context within which the Hopi clown performs. This included social his tory, environmental considerations, contact with foreign influences, present intra-and inter-social conflicts, and the growth of Hopi ritual. The second step was an examination of primitive clowning other than the Hopi in order to ascertain whether the Hopi clown was a unique phenomenon, or whether there may be possible correlations between the antics of the Hopi clown and those of other Indian groups The point of departure for this segment of the study was the Trickster figure of the Winnebago Indians of North America. After establishing this Trickster1s activities, various primitive and recent clowns of South, Middle, and North American Indians were compared for possible corre lations and influences. Since the Hopi have been inordi nately influenced by the other Pueblo Indians, special at tention was paid to the Southwest. The third step was a study of leading theories on the psychological and sociological considerations of prim itive clowning. This segment of the study was an attempt to ascertain the clown*s continuing acceptance, despite 10 his anti-social behavior, through supernatural sanction, infantile regression, social release of tensions, and rites of rebellion. The fourth step was a research of previously writ ten material covering the Hopi clown. There were sixty- one authors included whose works contained some mention of the Hopi clown. Most of this material was found in works on the Hopi kachinas, and the investigator’s task was to isolate the material pertinent to the study. The conclu sion from this research was that the vast majority of au thors reflected in their own works previous studies done primarily by Stephen, and secondarily by Fewkes, Voth, Bandelier, Cushing, Dumarest, and Stevenson. The fifth step in the study was personal corre spondence with fifteen authors on the Pueblo or Hopi Indi ans, and museum personnel. The anthropology departments of eight universities were contacted for information. The following is an example of the letter of inquiry sent: Dear Sir: Presently I am working on my Ph.D. dissertation which is a study of the Clown Societies of the Hopi Indians. My hypothesis is to see if there is a possible connection between the antics of the clown and primitive theatre. This study in cludes both modern and historic observations and recordings. I would sincerely appreciate any information you may be able to forward, any names of museums or people that might have some information. The area of interest for this study is limited to just the Clown Societies, with emphasis on the 11 following: Koyemshi or "mud-heads" Koshari Queranna Hano Clown Tachukti Piayakyamu Tsuku Piptuka White Cloud Clown Kaisale ’’Tricksters" Galaxy Fraternity Newekwe “Delight Makers" (This list is a bit exclusive. I am interested in any of these or other names, societies, etc., that are available.) May I thank you in advance for any considerations given to this request. The results of this correspondence were as follows: 1. Replies from four individuals containing per tinent information. 2. Replies from seven individuals indicating that they could not supply pertinent data, but fur nishing leads for further correspondence. 3. Reply from one individual who indicated that he could not supply any pertinent information nor furnish any leads. 4. No pertinent information from any responding universities. 5. Replies from five universities indicating that they could not supply pertinent information, but furnishing leads for further correspondence. 6. Reply from one university that could supply no information, nor furnish further leads. 7. No replies from three individuals and two un- j iversities. i The sixth step of this study was to conduct inter views with six white people who have made previous studies; of the Hopi clown. These interviews were tape recorded when possible, and all of them were typewritten after the 12 interview. These people were also asked for other sources of information, which they all supplied. The seventh step was to conduct original research by living on the Hopi reservation in order to interview Hopi Indians and to be able to personally observe Hopi ceremonies that involved the clown. Thus the investigator visited the Hopi Reservation in August, 1968, and again during the summer of 1970. During these times, seventeen Hopi Indians were interviewed by the author. Due to nat ural shyness, coupled with a disinclination to be recorded and other personal reasons, these interviews were not re corded on tape. However, upon returning to camp, the in vestigator typed the interviews as best he could, relying upon his own and his family’s memories. These interviews were the source of some of the most pertinent data used in the study. These informants included four men who had been clowns on several occasions. Two of these men had performed as clowns during ceremonies witnessed by the in vestigator. Perhaps the most valuable data of all were col lected by the investigator during the actual ceremonies where the Hopi clown performed. This original research was greatly enhanced by two Hopi informants who sat next to the author during the ceremonies in the summer of 1970. They translated into English when the clowns spoke Hopi, and in general assisted the investigator in understanding 13 the antics of the clown. Collection and Analysis of Data Once the data were collected from the seven sources listed, they were subjected to analysis and organ ized in the following way: 1. First, since the Hopi clown is an important member of his society, whose behavior often reflects that society, Chapter II became a brief discussion of Hopi history in order to better understand the audience as well as the performer. It was established here that only a small part of Hopi ceremony is autochthonal, and that the Hopi clown has been greatly in fluenced by acculturation from foreign sources. It was also ascertained that the Hopi clown enjoys sacred immunity through his mytholog ical parentage and traditional acceptance. 2. It was then decided that criteria for primi tive clowning should be established. Chapter III indicates that, using the Trickster myth of the Winnebago Indians, as a point of refer ence only, certain traits of primitive clowning appear to exist on a sacred/profane continuum which may be the reason for the clown's survi val. Thus, on the profane side, we see re- fleeted throughout South, Middle, and North America, such clowning traits as Contrary Be havior, Abnormal Sexual Activity, Harmless Pranks, Bragging, Foolish Acts, Trickery, Gluttony, Punishment and Escape from Punish ment, Being Out-smarted or Out-tricked, and the Scatologic* Yet through these clowning traits, culture is often brought to the people or re-established for them, or in some way given greater value. Thus the sacred side of the continuum may have one or more of the fol lowing tenets: The Ability to Converse with Nature, the Power to Cure, Evidence of a Grow ing Humanitarianism, Being Good to both Man and Nature, and eventually becoming a Bringer of Culture. Since the Hopi clown was inordi nately influenced by the rest of the Western Hemisphere, a cursory glance at these peoples and their clowns was undertaken, measured against the sacred/profane continuum. Chapter IV became an attempt to uncover those innate qualities within the group and the in dividual that give the clown durability. Since the Hopi clown breaks societal covenants and breaks them with immunity, perhaps part of the answer to why he is allowed and even en- 15 joined to participate in such behavior lies within the psychological and sociological considerations of his clowning. Several lead ing anthropologists and psychologists have tackled this enigma, and this chapter examines various theses and opinions concerning the vi ability of the primitive clown. Thus the po sition of the clown in an unchallenged society is discussed in terms of the clown as: A. Mediator between the individual and a higher configuration. B. A device to help relieve an indivi dual’s unconscious tensions built up by subservience to taboos and rituals. C. A device to ensure vicarious release from tensions toward secular pres sures. D. Either a device for release from scat- ologic indiscretions or a powerful in fluence in terms of cloacic healing. E. Possible comic relief. F. A form of infantile-regression. It was further noted that the clown functions in a theatric sense: that is, he performs in the plaza (as on a stage), before the public (as an audience), and that his effectiveness is measured by public response. This chapter continues with an examination of the Hopi clown in relation to the Hopi Way— a set of standards and values that have guided the Hopi in their search for a meaningful existence. The concluding data were gathered by personal observations of Hopi clowning conducted by the investigator, and included in Chapter V. This original research was gathered while attending one Hopi dance during August, 1968, on First Mesa, and several dances during the summer of 1970 on both First and Second Mesa, and in the village of Moenkopi near Tuba City, Arizona. These personal observations combined with evi dence gleaned from informants as well as per sonal interviews with many Hopi Indians pro vided current information for this study. These recent data were measured against the previous criteria established in Chapters III and IV by direct reference and inference. The analysis of the data indicated certain conclusions that the investigator was able to deduce. These are included in Chapter VI, to gether with significant implications for fu ture study. Since much of the written material pertinent 17 to this study is found in extended accounts, the investigator has included three appendixes for quick reference. Appendix A contains an outline of the Winnebago Trickster cycle as described by Radin. Two selected and abbre viated accounts of Pueblo Indian clowns have been included in Appendix B, and seven se lected and edited accounts of Hopi clowning have been included in Appendix C. Hopefully this study does not deal with the detri tus of some cultural archeology, but rather with a viable reality of Hopi society. Within the context of entertain ment, and measured against the criteria of tradition and sociological benefit, the birth and continued growth of the Hopi clown indicates that this ceremonial buffoon be comes at once the sustained and the sustainer of a cultur al heritage that exists today in the Southwestern United States. CHAPTER II A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE HOPI INDIAN The Pre-Columbian Settling of the Hopi The name Hopi is a contraction of Hcfpitu-shinumu— "peaceful all people"— their own name for themselves.'1 ' They constitute a unique dialectic division of the Shosho- nean branch of the Uto-Aztecan linguistic family, and, so far as is known, are the only Shoshonean people who adopt- 2 ed a Pueblo culture. The ancient ancestors of the Hopi occupied a vast area of the Southwestern United States plateau country consisting of most of New Mexico and Ari zona, as well as parts of Colorado, Utah and Texas, and extending into the Mexican states of Sonora and Chihua- 3 hua. The direct ancestors of the Hopi occupied the ter ritory in Arizona that currently is bounded by Navajo Mountain on the north and the Little Colorado River on the ^■J. Walter Fewkes, "Hopi," Handbook of American In— ians North of Mexico, ed. F. W. Hodge, Bulletin of the Bureau of American Ethnology, XXX (1907), 560. 2 John R. Swanton, "The Indian Tribes of North Amer- ica," Bulletin of the Bureau of American Ethnology, CXLV (1952), 352. 3 Harold E. Driver, Indians of North America (2d ed. rev.; Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1969), p. 10. 18 19 south. The eastern extension is the Lukachukais River and on the west are the sacred San Francisco Mountains. This would approximately correspond to the present Navajo Res ervation limits (see Map 1). Beginning around 1275 the many and varied clans that comprised the Hopi culture be gan a massive gathering toward the spiritual center of the Hopi ancestral homeland in accordance with ancient proph ecy. This Hopi Mecca was Oraibi, a village already estab lished for possibly a century or more, located on the western, or Third Mesa of the present Hopi Reservation (see Map 2). This Gathering of the Clans continued for many years as the people began converging on the area. Other small communities sprang up in the vicinity of Orai bi. Five more villages blossomed into life and became well established communities: Awatobi and Kawaiokuh on Antelope Mesa along Jeddito Wash; Walpi at the eastern, or First Mesa; Sikyatki and Shongopovi located at the middle, or Second Mesa. For approximately four centuries these six cities, comprising the agrarian Hopi nation, existed relatively unmolested. Despite periods of prolonged drought, devas tating effects of pestilence, and the ever present spectre of famine, the Hopi nation survived and prospered. A highly complex religious order was established and a unique form of village government emerged. Even the arts and crafts of these people flourished, and trade with Ute Mt . Southern Ute NAVAJO J i c a r iI I a S f a . CI a r N AVA JO- HOPI ® “" P i c u r i s San Juan Poj oaque Tuba City San Id eIf on so Jemei Cochiti Nambe Santo Domingo San F eIi pi Gal lup < = / / ETiiTnBii Lag u na AIbuquerque Wins low Flagstaff Ramah Z u n i Isleta Acoma r a d 0 M E X I C O N EY W P noeni x LEGEND Heavy Line Light Line Highway Secondary Roads Wash Geological Survey 1965 Scale in Miles 0 25 50 100 MAP 1-- PRESENT LOCATION OF THE PUEBLO AND NEIGHBORING INDIAN RESERVATIONS IN ------------- ARIZONA & NEW MEXICO To Moenkopi & Tubo C ity f A JTmV Hotevil la J: Bacabi a k: I P ' Oroi b 1« Polac C anyon Shongopov LEGEND Heavy Line Light Lines Highway Awatobi Secondary Roads Wash Geological Survey Scale in Miles 196 6 MAP 2- -THE THREE MESAS W ITH EXISTING VILLAGES THAT COMPRISE THE HOPI TERRITORY 7828 76 999^ 22 neighboring as well as distant Indians became brisk. Awatobi became an active cultural and trading center for 4 many friendly tribes. The basic economy of the Hopi lay in the soil. Corn was their staple, and it was that commodity that was the nucleus of their religion, thus their lives. It has been established that cultivated farming has existed in the Western Hemisphere since about 7,000 B.C.~* In Mexi co stone mortars and manos for grinding food first ap peared in Tamaulipas as early as 5,000 B.C.^ Apparently the cultivation of crops had multiple origins in Mexico, and the influence spread throughout the Southwest. The earliest evidence of farming in New Mexico is the corn or maize discovered in Bat Cave which has been dated between 3,500 B.C. and 2,500 B.C. It was a ,!. . • small pod-pop- corn, similar to that from Tamaulipas dated at 2,500 B.C. It was most likely the result of relay diffusion from Mexico, probably up the Sierra Madre Occidental to the 7 Mogollon Mountains of southern New Mexico and Arizona.” There is little doubt that other edible and cultivated 4 A brief and helpful publication on the Hopi Indi an is published by the Hopi Tribal Council, New Oraibi, Arizona. ^Driver, Indians of North America, p. 9. ^Ibid. 7Ibid., pp. 10-11 23 plants diffused with the maize; such plants as squash, pumpkin, and gourds.8 The Southwestern Plateau territory of the ancient Hopi was a vast and often hostile area. Although there are some mountain ranges of great consequence, the land is basically barren and desert, cut with awesome canyons and sparsely vegetated mesas of Moenkopi sandstone. The summer temperatures often hover near the 100° mark, and the winters drop below freezing with cold winds and snow. The sporadic rains may dampen the upper soil without pen etrating deeply, or a cloud burst may send torrents of water rushing down dry creek beds, cutting the gulleys even deeper, finally dissipating their waters on the flat 9 lands below the mesas. The desert people who inhabited this extensive breadth of land subsisted mostly on wild plants for thousands of years before the knowledge of do mesticated plants reached them, probably from Mexico. The cultivating of corn and other plants may be consid ered as one of the most significant consequences in the lives of the people inhabiting the Southwest. These semi-sedentary peoples adapted cultivation to their environment and became the foremost farmers among the American Indians. By the time of the Christian 8Ibid. 9See Map 2. 24 era this plant domestication led to separate traditions and separate but similar types of Indians: the Mogollon, who survived in Northern Mexico until ca. 1700; the Hoho- kam, who were probably the historic Piman Indians; the Anazasis, who were destined to become the historic Pueb los. Farming influence continued to spread east and north. The natural consequence of increased farming was the establishment of a more sedentary life. Driver esti mates that this occurred in Mexico ca. 2,000 B.C., then slowly spread north into the Southwestern United States. Although corn was the staple crop, supplemented by the other edibiles mentioned, a substantial contribution to the Pueblo way of life is found in another cultivated plant— cotton. The Pueblo Indians of Arizona and New Mexico were the only Indians living entirely within what is at present the United States who grew and prepared cot ton in order to make garments in pre-Columbian history.^ When and how this plant was introducted remains a mystery. But cotton garments, indeed even raw cotton, remains to the present one of the most significant materials in Hopi ceremony. The seeming wealth of the Pueblos in terms of do mesticated plants, the sedentary life and the development "^Driver, Indians of North America, pp. 10-11. 11Ibid., p. 143. 25 of culturally active arts and crafts, led to the inevi table jealousies among other tribes. The more nomadic peoples, such as the Apache, the Navajo, and the Plains Indians, were directly responsible for the Pueblos* set ting up defense systems. They did not possess a strong warfare pattern as did many of the Plains or Eastern In dians, so their position was one mainly of defense. How ever, Driver states that every Pueblo had a war priest, and the *’. . . warrior sodality served as a police force 12 within the pueblos and a military force without.** The vestiges of sedentary life extended over a large portion of the Southwest. In all of the Pueblos, farming has been, and remains, the main economic pursuit; village layout and house structure are generally the same; the household is the social unit; there are town or village chiefs, and numerous societies that perform cer emonies for the good of all the people; above all, **. • • the spirits addressed and the rituals or religious tech niques are comparable or identical and derive from a com- 13 .... mon ideology or philosophy.** These similarities gave rise to the Pueblo homogeneity reflected in Bandelier*s statement, "The ancient culture represented in the re- 12Ibid., p. 317. 13 Alexander M. Stephen, Hopi Journal, ed. by Elsie Clews Parsons (2 vols.; New York: Columbia University Press, 1936), I, xxv. 26 mains of the Southwest appears therefore to have been 14 nearly uniform in every section.1 1 This is not to assert that the Pueblo Indians are all governed alike, nor that their religious observances are all isomorphic. Diversi fication is manifest in all Pueblo tribes. Each Hopi village, for instance, guards its autonomy with fervor, and personal freedom is sacrosanct. Despite their isola tion in Arizona (see Map 1), the Hopi are culturally, en vironmentally, and historically, tied closely to all the other Pueblos. From them he has borrowed much of his cer emonialism. Through them he has contacted many alien cul tures. Because of them he has benefited through trade. Yet, in spite of them, the Hopi has maintained a tribal integrity of self-determination. The Advent of the White Man into the Southwest The event that brought about an abrupt change in the Pueblo world, with an accompanying disenfranchisement, was the protrusion into the Southwest by the Spanish in 1540. This was Coronado1s quest for the Seven Cities of Cibola, and first brought the white man and his horse in to the Pueblo environment. What Coronado found along the Rio Grande River in New Mexico were Indians who existed 14 Adolph F. Bandelier, "Final Report of the Inves tigations Among the Indians of the Southwestern United States, Carried on Mainly in the Years from 1880 to 1885,** Papers of the Archeological Institute of America (Cam bridge: University Press, 1890), p. 577. 27 primarily on an intensive system of irrigated and dry farming. They were a people living in villages of contig ious masonry or sun-dried mud (adobe) houses in fixed lo cations, a type of compact unit that was unlike the ran- cherios that Coronado had encountered in Mexico. He had no program of reduction that had proven successful in other areas to the south^ since all of these villages were tightly organized units with an existing elaborate ceremonial life under the direction of priesthoods and clans. Spicer states that ”• • • their [the Pueblos * ] ] role in the drama of cultural conflict and change which began to unfold after the Spanish arrival was one chiefly of a 16 tenacious and, for the most part, passive resistance.” Coronado had not found his Seven Cities of Gold. Yet the Conquistador was persistent and, hearing about another people living in seven cities to the north and west of what he called Cibola (Zuni), he dispatched his lieuten ant, Don Pedro de Tovar, to scout the area. Pedro de Castaneda de Najera, who was Coronado *s chief chronicler, accompanied de Tovar to the area known as Tusayan. De Tovar and a small band of seventeen mounted men and ■^The Spanish program of reduction was to concen trate people into towns around churches. 16 Edward H. Spicer, Cycles of Conquest (Tuscon, Arizona: The University of Arizona Press, 1962), p* 14. 28 three or four footmen made the journey from Zuni, and were 17 the first white men to contact the Hopi, in 1540. De Tovar arrived at night, undetected, at a Hopi village in the Jeddito Valley, probably a few miles east of Awatobi. The next morning, when the people on the mesa discovered them camped below, they sent out a small party— dressed for war— with the intention of asking the white men to leave. There were the usual misunderstand ings in this type of confrontation, and when one of the Spaniard's horses crossed the line drawn on the ground by the Hopi, he was struck by an Indian. Almost immediately there was a tussle, but the Hopi surrendered nearly at once. The rest of the Hopi who had stayed in the village now came forth with food and offerings, and de Tovar with fewer than twenty-five men began the long intrusion of 18 white power into Hopi culture. The early Spanish explorers were met most of the time by friendly Indians plying them with food, hospital ity, and guides. Chronicles of the Chamuscado Rodriquez Expedition of 1591 reflect quite often the friendliness of the Pueblos. One of the first recorded instances of a Pueblo dance is related by Gallegos on that expedition 17 George P. Hammond and Agapito Rey, Coronado Cuarto Centennial Publication: 1540-1940, Vol. II: Nar- atives of the Coronado Expedition: 1540-1542 (Albuquer que! University of New Mexico Press, 1940), pp. 213-17. 29 in the Rio Grande area of New Mexico: These people accompanied us at night and performed dances for us. Their nation has a rhythm in its dances, resembling that of Negroes, produced by beating some skins attached to a vessel in the fashion of a tambourine. After doing this the dancers rise and execute their movements revolving to the rhythm of the music like clowns. They raise their hands toward the sun and sing in their language, with the cadence of the dance, ftayia canoma.M This they do with much unity and harmony in such a way that though there are three hundred savages in a dance it seems as if it were being sung and danced by one man only, due to tj^ fine harmony and measure of their performance. The succession of Spanish explorers and mission aries continued into the Southwest, bringing with them attitudes and ceremonies that continued to influence the Pueblo Indian. Due to their isolation, the Hopi were subjected to far fewer of these outside pressures di rectly. Yet, because of their affinity with all the Pueblos and proximity to the Zuni, the Spanish influence found its way into Hopi life, religion, and ceremonies. Juan de Onate travelled to the Hopi country, which the Spanish called Moqui, in 1598 and in the name of the King of Spain took possession of the villages and re ceived the formal submission of the Hopi chieftans. This was a culminating effort by Onate to implement a full Spanish program of colonization of the Southwest. It 19 George P. Hammond and Agapito Rey, Coronado Cuarto Centennial Publications: 1540-1940, Vol. Ill: The Rediscovery of New Mexico: 1580-1594 (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1966), p. 78. 30 resulted in bitter contests and constant fights between the Eastern Pueblos and the Spanish, and a passive ig noring of the Spanish by the Hopi. The Pueblos of New Mexico suffered the brunt of Spanish occupation. Relat ing briefly the history of these events does not preclude our study of the Hopi, for as history has proven, the treatment accorded the Pueblos of New Mexico indirectly was felt by the Hopi of Arizona* Onate*s colonization attempt was followed immedi ately by Franciscan priests and the setting up of Catho lic missions. These priests, viewing with different eyes than Gallego, saw only paganism and savage denunciation of Christian ideals in the Pueblo's dances. In 1661 sev eral priests raided many of the Pueblo's sacred kivas and 20 brought out 1600 kachina masks which they destroyed. This violation of established Pueblo religion merely wid ened the breach between whites and Indians, and the mis sionaries were becoming alarmingly aware of their failure to supplant the old ways with their new Christian mores. During the first half of the seventeenth century, Spanish soldiers engaged in hunting slaves all along the Rio Grande, and sent many of the recalcitrant Pueblos into forced labor. They were often aided in these slave hunt ing expedidtions by the Apache, and the practice was con- 20 Spicer, Cycles of Conquest, p. 160. 31 21 cloned by the Franciscans. The Hopi nation saw its first Franciscan missions established in 1629. These were the Mission of San Ber nardino at Awatobi, the Mission of San Bartolome at Shong- nopovi, and the Mission of San Francisco at Oraibi. The acceptance of the missionary system at Hopi seemed well established, and consequently they refused to join the Taos Pueblo in a plan of revolt in 1650. However, in 1665 an event at Hopi nearly caused a minor revolt there. Fray Salvador de Guerra meted out severe punishment on a Hopi named Juan Cuna for allegedly making heathen images. He had the Indian brought to the plaza where he whipped him severely then took him into the church where he whipped him again. Finally the priest poured kerosene on the hap less victim and ignited it, resulting in Cuna's cremation. A protest was sent to Guerra’s superiors, and subsequently the Franciscan was removed. This temporarily placated the 22 Hopi, so no real revolt evolved. From all appearances, the missionary program at Hopi went smoothly for the next twenty-five years. Drought and crop failures hit nearly all of the Pueblos in 1667, and lasted for five years. The Indians were convinced it was due to this foreign intrustion. Un- 22Ibid., p. 191. 32 til this time most of the Pueblos had allowed the white man to observe many of his rituals, holding secret only those ceremonies most basic to his religion. Now the added pressure of Franciscan attacks coupled with the years of drought brought tighter secrecy, and many kivas were closed to white man’s visitation. The Pueblos wished to reinstate their dances, to ask for rain and good crops as had been their way and their ancestor’s way. Ordinar ily the Spanish civil government did not interfere with the workings of the church, and therefore church and gov ernment administered their lives as they saw fit. How ever, with growing dissonance from the Indians, church and government united, and decreed public whipping and severe penalties against the Indian leaders who wanted to reinstate their dances. This seemed to be the decisive blow, and sparked a revolution. Despite some existing diversity and a proclivity to live autonomous lives, the Rio Grande Pueblo Indians united to one warlike show of strength and launched the Pueblo Revolt in 1680. They killed most of the priests and drove out all of the soldiers and colonists. The Hopi, who were apprised of the brewing revolution, moved on the missions in their own villages. Although the Hopi evidently did not participate in the revolution outside their own territory, still they killed the two Franciscan priests at Oraibi, and each of the priests at Awatobi and 33 23 Shongnopovi. Despite the fact that the Hopi had not participated in the revolution along the Rio Grande, they did provide direct assistance to many of the Eastern Pueblos. People, fearing Spanish reprisals, fled from their New Mexico villages, and the Hopi offered refuge to many Tewa, Tiwa, Tano, and Keres families. So many im migrated to the Hopi country that two new villages were 24 formed— Hano, at First Mesa, and Payupki at Second Mesa. The Hopi themselves feared a large detachment of the Spanish military would be launched against them, and consequently moved three of their villages, which had been located near springs at the base of the mesas, to the top of the mesas where attack would be extremely dif ficult. Thus, Walpi was moved to the top of First Mesa and Shongnopovi and Mishongnovi were moved to the top of Second Mesa. A third village was established on an even more inaccessible spot on top of the highest outcropping on Second Mesa. This was Shipaulovi, and its purpose was to house the sacred ceremonial paraphernalia in order 25 that it not fall into Spanish hands. Thus fortified the Hopi and the refugees from the Rio Grande awaited the Spanish attack, an event that did 23 * Ibid. 24 ^ Ibid. 25Ibid., p. 192, 34 not materialize for twelve years. When de Vargas arrived at Hopi in 1692 he found the Indians well ensconced and ready to defend their villages. De Vargas offered not to fight if they would swear allegiance, which the Hopi lead- 2 6 ers did, and de Vargas left without a battle. The Hopi were able to accomplish what most of the other Indian tribes in the United States had wished to do— maintain freedom to choose from their conquerors only those ele ments that they wanted. "It is the story of an Indian group who, after intensive experience with Spanish cul ture, was able to fend off further contacts and go its 27 own way. * * However, dissent and dispute reigned among the Eastern Pueblos. Bit by bit the Spanish were able to re gain first a toe-hold then stronger controls, and by 1696, the Spanish were once again in power along the Rio Grande. The Hopi were still anxious to avoid Spanish con frontation and in 1699, seeing the vigor with which the Spanish had reconquered the Eastern Pueblos, a delegation of Hopi went to Santa Fe to ask for new missionaries. The result was that in 1700, three Friars were invited to Awatobi in an attempt to reestablish the San Bernardino Mission there. They succeeded in baptizing 73 Hopi chil 27Ibid., p. 189. dren, and for all appearances, Catholicism was getting another start in Hopi. This did not go well with the other Hopi villages, and after a quick council, a war party of one hundred men raised by a Hopi, Francisco de Espeleta, an apostate Catholic, left Oraibi. Accompanied by men from the other Hopi villages, they attacked Awa- tobi at night. The attacking force killed all the Awa- tobi men, threw the missionaries over the cliffs, and completely destroyed the village and mission. They car ried the women and children back to the other Hopi vil lages, and left a stark reminder of their attitude toward the Spanish and his Catholic church. Thus, in 1700, the Hopi succeeded in destroying those people who favored a return of the missionaries to the Hopi nation, and the anti-missionary leaders dominated in every vil lage. The force of this destructiveness is indicated in Plate I. The photograph was taken by the investigator’s wife during the summer of 1970 and shows all that is left of one wall of the Catholic mission at Awatobi. The Hopi wanted no remnants nor vestiges of Catholicism left and made certain that all of the villages saw the error in following the Spanish religion and the force of Hopi re prisal. Despite modern attempts at Christianizing the Hopi nation, Hopi Catholics are few in number. Awatobi remains deep within their roots and the near-history of Plate I S A View of the Awatobi Ruins, r Hopi Indian Reservation, Arizona (Summer, 1970) 37 its destruction is paramount, even though the village was devastated over two centuries ago* This anti-Catholic feeling is often reflected in the Hopi clown's burlesques and satires directed against the church. A few examples of these diatribes and humorous skits are discussed in subsequent chapters. There were constant forays by the Spanish into the Hopi country, disregarding a treaty proffered by the Hopi asking that both the Spanish and the Hopi remain separate nations. But because of their nearly impregnable de fenses, the Indians were able always to thwart these in trusions. The Spanish governor, Cubero, although he wanted to punish the Hopi and bring them back in line, did not feel able to field a strong enough military force to attack the villages. Consequently the most damage these Spanish expeditions could inflict was to burn some Hopi fields and kill a few Indians who had strayed from the villages. Also, during the eighteenth century, Fran ciscan fathers were traveling through the Hopi country, constantly attempting to convert the Indians to Catholo- cism. Due to their lack of success, a jurisdictional dispute between the Franciscans and the Jesuits erupted, each order vying for the emissary job of converting the Hopi. They were all met with derision or hostility, and little if any success. In 1755, both Father de la Torre and Father Escalante were allowed to visit and speak to 38 several Hopi villages. The people were generally friendly, but would not allow the Catholic fathers to speak of religion. Often the missionaries were shouted down by the Indians. Drought and small pox were constant companions of the Hopi, and caused many deaths and a certain amount of family relocation. In 1777 the situation became drastic. There had been several years of no rain, and in many fam ilies the three-year stock-piling that the Hopi had al ways depended upon for such contingencies had been de pleted. By 1779 many Hopi had gone to live at Zuni, and in 1780 Father Andres Garcia convinced 200 Hopi to leave with him for the Rio Grande. The declining population was recorded by Governor Anza when he went to the Hopi country. He found some of the Hopi living with the Hav- asupai, and this once strong nation that had defied the Spanish conquerors was decimated and scattered. Where just five years previously there had been 7,494 Hopi, 28 there now existed 798 persons. Anza immediately of fered them a site on the lower Rio Grande River, freedom from tribute to Spain, and sanctity from any forms of forced labor. Anza was accompanied by thirty families when he departed for New Mexico, leaving the Hopi nation with 648 souls. Although smallpox hit this remaining 2 8 Spicer, Cycles of Conquest, p. 195. 39 tiny band of Indians in 1781, prosperity also came in the form of rain and good crops. By the following year Fa ther Juan Morfi reported that the Hopi were better off than the Rio Grande Pueblos, and a steady stream of Hopi began returning to their native homeland. Another lucky omen followed— the Spanish made no further contacts with the Hopi. In retrospect it would seem that the Hopi, at least outwardly, presented a solid resolute appearance in opposing the Spanish. Yet this appearance is tempered with a dichotomy of opinion within the Hopi social and religious structure. Some of the people opposed the mis sionaries, yet embraced the Christian philosophies and ethics. Others, generally led by the Oraibi faction, op posed the entire system— missionaries and their Chris tianity. At Awatobi there seems to have been a wider ac ceptance of the Franciscans. Still this acceptance was not universal and there has been speculation that an anti-missionary faction at that pueblo helped set up the destruction of their own village in the name of Hopi religion. Still the resulting fight and conquest of Awatobi by the Oraibi anti-missionary forces seemed to unite this religious multipolarity. "The Hopi after this action of defeating Awatobi did not remain split on the issue of missions, as did the Tarahumaras, but rather became 40 united and were able to remain so for the next century and a half or more through lack of further effective pres sure from the Spaniards. . . . The Hopi for over a century were able to settle . . . issues among themselves without Spanish interference. The result was a clear choice of 29 the Hopi way of life against the Spanish. *’ A new menace to Hopi existence grew to increased dimension in 1812 when the Navajo Indians began extensive raids on the Hopi. Appeal to the Spanish was of little value since they themselves were in the last throes of disintegration in the Southwest United States. Conse quently the Hopi remained nearly defenseless against Na vajo encroachment. By the middle of the nineteenth century the Pueblo world was to experience an outside force against which it had no defense, a tide of influence that engulfed the Southwest and changed forever the lives of the Hopi. This was the Anglo-American conquest. Rather than a bloody conquering of a defeated peoples, it became an inundation by sheer numbers. Through the 1800*s the Anglo-American moved into the Pueblo lands and almost immediately eco nomic disaster for the Indians occurred. Through immi gration that has lasted until the present, the Southwest Indians lost great parcels of land, resulting in land 29Ibid., p. 197. 41 abuse and constant controversies over boundaries. The Indian, always at the mercy of the white man's laws and courts, was the inevitable loser. The Hopi Reservation was established by Executive Order of December 16, 1882, reducing the vast expanse of the Hopi's ancestral home to approximately one-twentieth its former size. This area of 2,427,166 acres is com pletely surrounded by the larger Navajo Reservation (con sult Map 1). Protestant and Mormon missionaries began establishing contacts with the Hopi. H. R. Voth, a Men- nonite minister, established a mission at Oraibi in 1893. He had the Indian laborers build a large stone church near the end of the promontory where it held a commanding view of the Oraibi valley. Ethnologists and anthropolo gists were attracted to the Hopi and men such as Alex ander Stephen and J. Walter Fewkes set up residences on First Mesa in order to study the Hopi at first hand. They were often aided by Thomas Keam who built a trading post east of First Mesa at what is now called Ream's Can yon. Between 1894 and 1897 the United States government established day schools on the reservation. For all in tents and purposes the Anglo-American invasion was a re ality, and the Hopi had little recourse. Segments of the Hopi population saw that coopera tion with the government was the only way, while bitter opponents to the new invasion fought for their tradi 42 tional heritage# Chief Lololoma at Oraibi led the friendly factions and endeavored in many ways to win not only approval by his people, but paved the way for the United States to establish schools and set up health pro grams. The battle between the Friendlies (those who fa vored government support) and the Hostiles (who preferred the traditional) continued, reaching a climax in 1906. Yokioma, the leader of the Hostiles, was forced from Oraibi by Tewaquaptewa, then the leader of the Friendlies. Yokioma and his followers left Oraibi and established the village of Hotevilla a few miles west on Third Mesa. La ter another group established Bacabi, just north of Hote villa. This split can be detected today in political dealings and religious ceremonies. New Oraibi was built at the base of Third Mesa in 1910, and is currently even more progressive than Old Oraibi. Presently the Hopi live in eleven villages located near, or on top of, three projecting mesas in Northeastern Arizona (see Map 2). These villages are Polacca, Walpi, and Sichomovi, located at the easternmost mesa, generally referred to as First Mesa. Hano, a Tewa village closely allied to the others, is also located on First Mesa. The middle or Second Mesa is the site of Mishongnovi, Shi- paulovi, and Shongopovi. Oraibi, Hotevilla, and Bacabi are situated on the top of the western or Third Mesa. New Oraibi is located at the base of Third Mesa, adjacent 43 to the Oraibi Wash. Approximately fifty miles west of Oraibi, near Tuba City, Arizona, is Moenkopi, a Hopi vil lage that lies in the Navajo-Hopi disputed reservation area. The Hopi population, which has been steadily in creasing, now numbers about 6,000. (Accurate census fig ures are nearly impossible to acquire, due to the dissem ination of the tribe, and dissenting factors within the villages). Of this number, nearly 4,500 live on the res ervation in the eleven villages (and the Tewa village of Hano). The remainder live off the reservation. The history of the Hopi Indian from the time of the Spanish entrance into the Southwest until Stephen’s journalistic account of First Mesa was one of gradual as similation and rather slow change. Both economically and socially the Hopi remained somewhat autonomous, and for eign influences tended to be minor. Even from 1900 until World War II, the coherent forces of Hopi culture remained intact. The outside world was increasing its inroads, and many white visitors were making the arduous journey to the mesas to observe the Hopi. Still, the Hopi were able to absorb or dissolve a great amount of foreign in filtration with relatively little change to their cul tural architecture. During the past twenty-five years this alien in flux has accelerated at an astounding rate, and the pre sent Hopi nation presents quite a different aspect from 44 its ancestral beginnings. Despite Driver*s suggestion that all the Pueblos, including the Hopi, are, ,T. . . as 30 devoid of class structure as any people in the world,*1 social, political, and religious stratification are in evidence throughout the villages. The economic structure of the Hopi has altered drastically, and a new concept has found its way to the mesas that had never been part of their heritage. The existence of magic and supernat ural powers that had been exploited as a unifying power for economic survival is being rapidly replaced with a non-incentive program of aid and government welfare. Ba sically this means that the conceptualized primitive so ciety that was clan-based, a fundamental form of social . . 31 and political organization that Radin refers to, is being supplanted by a new type of acculturation. The clans as cohesive units that often transcend even blood- ties are still very much in existence, but the action of children going to white schools off the reservation, com bined with other religious and economic tenets, has re duced the amount of young being initiated into societies, and has tended to alienate many young people from the es tablished precepts of the older clan-oriented generations. 30 Driver, Indians of North America, p. 339. 31 Paul Radin, The World of Primitive Man (U.S.A.: Henry Schuman, Inc., 1953), pp. 149-50. 45 Since a basic requirement of theatre is that it reflects that culture which it serves, we must take a brief look at the present Hopi society in terms of its dissonance and its unity. It is this society that is seen in the Hopi clown's mirror, a mirror that is often distorted in order to better focus and emphasize the re flected image back to its source. Due to the breach between the Traditionalists and the Progressives early in the century, many people felt that an effort should be made to unify the Hopi. There was government interference at tribal and even clan levels and a general disorder was prevalent. Additionally, since the younger children were forced into going to the white schools, there was a disharmony brewing between the generations. This was manifested by a feeling of discon tent among the Hopi who had gone to a white school, learned English, and white ways, only to return to the reservation where there was little or no opportunity to use the newly acquired language and skills. The constant attempt to preserve tribal organiza tion culminated in the formation of the Hopi Tribal Coun cil, whose constituion was approved by the Secretary of the Interior on December 19, 1936. Under this constitu tion, the Hopi Tribal Council ". . . was organized to produce a way of working together for peace and agreement between the villages, and of preserving the good things 46 of Hopi life, and to provide a way of organization to deal with modern problems, with the United States Govern- 32 ment and with the outside world generally.1* Since its inception the Tribal Council has led the fight for better schools, better water supply, better housing, sanitation, electricity, and the myriad improvements that both the council and the government see as having value for the Hopi. Many of these are programs that will give opportu nities for Hopi, who have been educated and trained in white schools, to return to the reservation and continue working in their fields of specialty. Among the Hopi are many qualified masons, carpenters, painters, mechanics, radio repairmen, clerical workers, and heavy equipment 33 operators. The council is endeavoring to bring indus try, road building, and various employment opportunities to the reservation for these trained and often skilled personnel• However, the Traditionalists have staved off the progressive aims of the council, and have drawn the lines between them even tighter. These more conservative Hopi have led the battle against what they consider white en croachment on several grounds: for instance they main tained that there has always been a sacred trust in the 32 Hopi Tribal Council, Hopi Reservation (Oraibi, Arizona, 1970) , p. 5. 33Ibid., p. 12. 47 springs, which are occupied by the appropriate Hopi gods, and that the digging of wells to supply water for the vil lages displays a breaking of this trust to the displea sure of those gods. An example of this type of feeling was shown to the author during one of several visits to Old Oraibi in July, 1970. He had established a rather friendly rapport with the old Hopi woman who is the over seer of the village. No white visitors are allowed in the pueblo until they gain her permission. Since there is no water source at Oraibi the author offered the wo man five gallons of water he was carrying in his truck. She accepted it, but asked its source. When informed that the water actually came from California, she said that she could use it to wash clothes, but could not drink it since it had not come from the sacred spring be low the mesa* A third division of Hopi society is a group that adheres to the United States Government laws and programs as administered by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. This group appears to consist of people who do not embrace the attitudes and programs of the Tribal Council. They tend to hold to many of their ancient customs, yet accept gov ernment aid in terms of electricity, water, and welfare benefits. They seem to side with the Traditionalists in a cultural way, while at the same time seeing the benefits of governmental assistance in a political sense. 48 The center of the Traditionalists is the village of Hotevilla, where neither water nor electricity is piped into the houses. New Oraibi, the location of the Hopi Tribal Council, is often referred to as the center of the Progressives. Members of the third group are lo cated in all the villages. Indeed, the paradoxical thing is that members of all of these groups are located in nearly every village, although it is problematical that there are Progressives living in Hotevilla. In addition to the political diversity, the Hopi have some religious discord. Several Christian sects have established missionaries and schools on the reserva tion, and many Hopi have been converted to Protestant or Mormon beliefs. There are currently no available statis tics on the number of converts. Spicer indicates that in 1955 less than two percent of all Hopi had become members 34 . . . of a Christian sect. Many Christian Hopi who were in terviewed by the author reflected the attitude that one of Dozier's informants related to him; that good Chris tian converts will neither participate in nor attend the kachina dances and ceremonies. A fifty-four year old Hopi (Informant C) told the author that since he had be come a Christian he was no longer allowed to participate in the true Hopi ceremonies or rituals. He belonged to 34 Spicer, Cycles of Conquest, p. 207. 49 the Fire Clan, but his conversion had cost him even this affiliation. Still the author was struck by an attitude shown and expressed by all of the Christian Hopi that he inter viewed. Despite their conversion, they all held Hopi rit ual in the highest esteem, and none made any attempt to criticize nor belittle the Hopi ceremonies. Several, in cluding Informant C, drew highly relevant parallels be tween the two religions, and indicated many instances where their Christian Bible and the Hopi Life Plan were synonymous. Indeed, the roots of Hopi culture go deep, and Christian conversion seems to be tenuous at best. Instances have been recorded by the author that, when Christian Hopi have been buried, they were accorded the Hopi, as well as Christian, burial customs. Informant I, a convert who lives in California, related the following story. In the course of his profession it was necessary to handle some human bones when refinishing an icon for a church. He did the work, but when it was finished he felt obliged to cast sacred meal in four directions and absolve himself from this contact with death. This re flects the Hopi attitude toward the dead, and it is this revered acceptance of ancient precepts that apparently still pervades the Hopi, whether Christian or not. In brief, the Hopi are presently caught in a divis iveness that apparently is gathering momentum. The 50 nature-man cooperative that was the building block of Hopi ideology is slowly being reduced to a mere facade of ornamental stone. The theocratic state of the Hopi ideal society is gradually being replaced by government super vision, reducing the autonomous pueblo-oriented dynamism to the role of a ward. And the Hopi Way, which was once a highly unified code of ethical and practical conduct, is inevitably diminishing into an outmoded set of stan dards that have little relevancy for the young Hopi. In a social sense, the Hopi still reflect many of the traits that Fewkes reported in the nineteenth cen- 35 tury. The author and his family were welcomed and treated most warmly by everybody they met on the reserva tion. The internal strife and factionalization is not readily apparent on the surface, and it was only after several weeks that many Hopi informants relayed informa tion that led to the preceding conclusions. One general attitude, however, was immediately discernable. The Hopi do not like "hippies." Before living on the reservation, the author was apprised of this feeling by Barton Wright, and in subsequent conversations at all the villages vis ited, the negative attitude toward the youthful hippie movement was shown. Despite the lack of water, the Hopi have always maintained personal cleanliness. The washing 35Fewkes, "Hopi," p. 564. 51 of their hair, done daily, becomes essentially a ritual. They have been industrious, rising early in order to be in their fields by the time the sun comes up. In short, their customs are diametrically opposite to many of the habits of the hippies who are invading the reservation, and this hostility is readily seen. The author recorded many instances where hippies were met with disapproval by the Hopi. In several cases busloads of young white people, the men wearing beards and long hair tied with a ribbon around their foreheads "Indian style" and the girls in pseudo-Indian dress, would attempt to visit the reserva tion. They would be stopped by the Navajo police, thor oughly searched for drugs or alcohol, then told to drive straight through the reservation since they were not wel come to stay overnight. The hostile attitude toward these people often manifests itself in the clown*s bur lesques that ridicule the hippies. A myriad of social problems has arisen among the Hopi which reflects the inner dilemma created by the ex ternal forces. The juvenile delinquency rate, which was nearly nil fifteen years ago, is steadily rising due par tially to the paved roads and the ability of the younger 36 people to get off the reservation. It has reached the 3 6 Barton Wright, Curator, Museum of Northern Ari zona, private interview, Flagstaff, Arizona, June, 1970. 52 point where a curfew went into effect in the summer of 1970 indicating that minors are to be off the streets be tween the hours of 9:00 P.M. and 5:00 A.M. Alcoholic beverages are strictly prohibited on the Hopi reservation, yet alcoholism is steadily increasing. Many Hopi own late model cars or pick-up trucks, and beer and liquor are available as close as Gray Mountain, Winslow, and Flagstaff. The selling of alcoholic beverages is a local option and the Apache Reservation has recently passed an ordinance that favors its selling and consumption. There is presently speculation that the Navajo will soon allow the sale of alcohol on their reservation, which would bring the accessibility as close as Tuba City. Many Hopi informants indicated concerned alarm to the author that this encroachment is too close to the Hopi Reservation. There does appear to exist a heterogeneity in the present Hopi society that prevails at all the villages. This divisiveness seems to be the product of a rapid ac culturation that Spicer sums up this way: Later Hopi history presents the picture of a tribe moving in the space of one hundred years from an aboriginal condition of homogeneous vil lage communities to an enclaved heterogeneous col lection of social segments. . . . There is no question that the Hopi Way had persisted into the 1960,s, but it existed within a milieu of very great heterogeneity. Those who spoke of them selves as Hopis ranged from militant Baptists to rigid followers of the Old Oraibi "traditional” leadership. They ranged from college graduates aware of most of the elements of Anglo culture, to aged men and women who had the barest acquaintance 53 with only a few material items of Anglo culture. They ranged from Hopi men married to vigorously progressive Tewa women, to Hopi girls married to Filipino migrants to the United States. They ranged from families still living on clan land and following through all the traditional ceremonies of their village, to families paying rent in Los Angeles on modern apartments and returning to their villages for an occasional Niman Kachina or Soyal ceremony. They ranged from men desperately wanting to obtain cash for land settlements or oil leases, to men convinced that the ancient sacred relation ship to the land had nothing to do with cash. This heterogeneity existed among Hopis in a way not duplicated among the Eastern Pueblos. . . . It was possible. • • for a Hopi to remove himself from the restraint of a given village atmosphere merely by moving a few hundred yards to an off—mesa village, and yet still feel strongly Hopi, since he still lived on the Hopi land and in the Hopi mi lieu. The dissident Eastern Pueblo, on the other hand, had to move into an Anglo-American community and thus move more definitely in the direction of renouncing his Indian heritage. The Hopi villages in their wide range of variation could harbor a much greater variety of political opinion and world view. To say, as had become usual, that it was only a matter of time until Hopi culture would disinte grate and Hopi would become culturally assimilated was to miss the point of what was happening. The question was what form would the disintegration take and what forms of reintegration were taking place under the peculiar conditions of Hopi life. Formal education in Anglo schools did not inevi tably have the result of rejection of the whole range of Hopi culture. Some of the most formally educated Hopi men and women were the most devoted to aspects of traditional Hopi religion and moral ity, and some were the most antagonistic to specif ic features of Anglo culture, particularly the re ligious and moral. Moreover Hopi “traditionalists1 1 by the 1950's had the support of different sects, organizations, and individuals from among Anglos. Hopi and Anglo culture relations were not simple. The heterogeneity of the two different cultural systems insured more complex results of the con- 54 . . . 37 tact than simple cultural assimilation. Despite the overwhelming diversity among the Hopi, there is ground for a kind of unity that does hold the culture in a cohesiveness that often baffles the observer. This is a sense of tribal identity that pervades the Hopi. Informant I, living in California, travels back to Second Mesa whenever possible to attend dances and to participate to whatever degree allowable. Informants Q and R, both of whom also live in California, have relatives living on First and Second Mesa, and return at least once a year for certain ceremonies. If a kachina dance is held in one village, visitors from all the villages will flock to see it, co-mingling Traditionalists, Progressives, and the ones in between. When the author attended the Corn Dance at Moenkopi on June 20, 1970, he conversed with a family who had driven from Laguna Pueblo in New Mexico just to see the kachina ceremony. It would appear that regardless of the Christian admonition, the desire to attend Hopi ceremonies extends to all Hopi, and only extenuating cir cumstances will keep them away. One final potpourri of Hopi society may suffice to indicate the nature of the audience for whom the clown performs. The majority of the Hopi are bilingual, speak ing both Hopi and English. A large percentage of the 37 Spicer, Cycles of Conquest, p. 209. 55 clown*s humor is at the pun level, and they have the unique quality of punning in both Hopi and English at the same time. Talayesva, when clowning, relates shout ing out to his aunts for "monkey food and pies.** The hu mor of gluttony was apparent, but the secondary use of the pun created the greater laugh, for the • . fancy American foods to which we Hopi have attached double meanings, such as ’monkey food* for candy kisses, and 38 *pies* for sexual favors,** indicates the analogous "monkey bite” often left by lovers, and a "piece of pie" equivalent to a "piece of ass" in the vulgar white ver nacular. A large percentage of the Hopi are multilingual, so not only do they speak and understand English, but also Navajo, Spanish, Zuni, and other Eastern Pueblo lan guages and dialects. When the clown burlesques in any number of languages, his audience can usually understand and comprehend the innuendos in both language and action. Many of the Hopi retain a strong fear of witch craft, and by all appearances, it seems to be effective for them. Despite Christian and educational enlighten ment, the Hopi attribute many situations and unexplain able solutions to witchcraft, and as Wright puts it, 38 Leo W. Simmons, ed., Sun Chief: The Autobiog raphy of a Hopi Indian (New Haven and London: Yale Uni versity Press, 1942), p. 188. 56 *'. . . until you have a better explanation you must say 39 witchcraft works among the Hopi, and forget it.1 1 This, then, is the Hopi clown*s audience; diverse in politics and religion and beset with growing social problems, yet unified in tribal identity. The clown at tempts to be a cohesive force in Waal Malefijt’s concept 40 of religion, as he functions relative to family patterns in a social, political and economic organization. His ac tivities are basically for his Hopi audience, his behav ior tempered by his own society. Yet the constant pres sure of external forces cannot be discounted, and the an tics of today’s clowns are hydrated versions of his ear lier forebearers. The Growth of Hopi Ritual Complex historical assimilation coupled with an enclaved societal heterogeneity seems to be the lot of the Hopi Indian. Yet as quick as they might be to assim ilate whatever influential concepts would most benefit their existence, the Hopi likewise held devotedly to those ancient maxims that had served them in their per petual struggle for survival. Their cosmogony begins with a created earth which is mother of gods and men; not 39 Wright, interview. 40 Annemane de Waal Malefijt, Religion and Culture (London: Collier-Macmillan, Ltd., 1968), p. 290. 57 i just the Hopi, but all men. Their prodigious assimila tion may well be a result of this metaphysical concept of causal relationships. The product of this total com pilation is apparently the Hopi religion. Far from being a system external to life, the Hopi religion becomes their most important instrument in the control of nature through the supernatural. This comes as a flow of interest from whatever source, Hopi quintessence or alien effectuations,; 41 not as a planned enterprise. No dichotomy of life- religion insinuates itself into Hopi thought. He and his nature are one, and whatever influences the one, influ ences the other. The outward manifestation of this unity can be found in Hopi ceremony. Parsons found that no matter what the internal divinity within the social or political structure of the Indians of the Southwest might be, all Pueblos have a complex and well developed ceremonial life. She found that this type of religious structure emphasized 42 group experience far more that personal mysticism. Perhaps the cultural tie that binds the Pueblos into a unity that is found nowhere else in aboriginal life ; on the North American continent is their ceremonial j 41 Elsie Clews Parsons, Pueblo Indian Religion (2 ! vols.; Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1939), I, ; x-xi. 42 Ibid. 58 life. De Najera, as early as 1540, observed both the Hopi and the Zuni Indians, and remarked on their similar ity: Tusayan Hopi lies twenty leagues away from Ci bola, or [Zuni) between north and west. It is a province with seven pueblos of the same type, dress, ceremonies, and customs as those of Cibola. In these two provinces, comprising fourteen pueb los,, there must be about three or four thousand men. The question then is what are the Pueblo religious ceremonies, from where did they originate and how were they nurtured, which ones found their way into Hopi cere monial life, and finally, how is the Hopi clown connected to these ceremonies? This complex question prompts an extremely complex answer. The first part of this answer lies in historical truths and fanciful answers. The ques tion of mythological origin must remain in abeyance while the search for archeological history commences. Indeed, the enigmatic question of which came first, the myth or the ritual, must be relegated to the shelf of hypothetical research, to gather dust, awaiting an answer from some other source. Nearly all of the Pueblo peoples of the Southwest belong to the same ceremonial type due partially to re peated co-mingling, and the heart of the Hopi ceremony is the kachina. The Hopi Indians represent their gods in 43 Hammond and Rey, Narratives, p. 253. 59 various ways, one of the most popular by personation. These personations— called kachinas— wear masks and gar ments adorned with characteristic symbols of supernatural 44 beings. The essence of the kachina live in the San Francisco Peaks, near Flagstaff, Arizona, and visit the Hopi villages during approximately half of the Hopi cer emonial year. They are generally good and beneficent, and bring rain, good crops, and happiness to the people. The Hopi offer prayers and food to the kachinas, and re spect them with utmost devotion. The younger children believe in them as true gods, and their identity as men personating kachinas is not revealed until an elaborate initiation ceremony. The importance of the kachina in Hopi ritual is stressed here, because any discussion of the clown must be in context with this supernatural being. The Hopi clowns appear in public during certain kachina dances, and the kachinas are often the brunt of the buf foons' antics. The public appearance of the kachinas is often in the form of a dance. At these dances, these masked super naturals enter the plaza formed by the pueblo-type struc tures of the Hopi villages and form a line along one side. 44 J. Walter Fewkes, "Hopi Katcinas Drawn by Na tive Artists," Twenty-first Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology (Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1903; reprinted and pub. by Rio Grande Press Inc., 1962), p. 15. 60 The kachina begin to sing the first verse of their ka china song, keeping time by stamping their feet. A rhythmic sound is created by tortoise shell rattles fas tened to their legs. At the conclusion of the first verse, they move to an adjacent side of the plaza, and in like manner sing again. The line moves to the third side of the plaza after completing this verse, and repeats the action. One end of the kachina line is always open— they never form a complete circle or square. The "road” that they follow into the plaza, and then to the three sides of the plaza, is corn meal sprinkled to form a path. The kachinas retire from the plaza after this third verse, rest perhaps twenty minutes to half an hour, then return to sing another verse, repeating the same triumvirate action. In addition to the dance, the ka chinas hand out great quantities of food and gifts to the people assembled to watch. Depending upon the type of dance being presented, this routine may begin at sunrise and last until sundown, and be danced in one day— or two days. In some instances the appearance of the kachina in public is the culmination of a longer ceremony that has been performed in the kiva. During the intervals when the kachinas are resting, and depending upon the type of dance, the clowns will put on their skits in the plaza. They make their first en trance after noon of the first day and remain in the 61 plaza for the remainder of the dance. If the dance con tinues for two days, they appear again the second day, earlier in the morning, and remain until sundown. In fact, they are the last to leave the plaza, long after the kachinas have retired. Their antics are not confined to the time during the intermissions when the kachinas are resting, but often continue when the kachinas re- 45 turn. When a Hopi man personates a kachina, he believes that he loses his personal identity, and receives the spirit of the kachina. "When the dancers put on their masks, they not only impersonate the kachina but they are kachina, just as when Keresan doctors draw on their bear claws, Bear comes into them, and they become bears, with 46 the curing power of Bear." It is this reduction of personality and total immersion into the spirit that must be registered in all discussion of Hopi ceremony, whether sacred or profane, kachina or clowning. Before each kachina dance the Hopi men are busy constructing small replicas of the kachinas that will be seen in the forthcoming ceremony. They carve these small likenesses out of dead cottonwood root that has lain im— 45 It is not within the scope of this chapter to discuss the clowns' participation in the ceremony. This will be discussed at length in subsequent chapters. 46 Parsons, Pueblo Indian Religion, p. 170. 62 bedded in the earth until it has become quite dry, and will not split. They paint these figures, add the color ful costumes and feathers and the appropriate properties that the kachina will carry. When finished, the men give these doll-like effigies to the children to play with so they will become well acquainted with them by the time of the dance. In this way the children, when seeing the ac tual kachina ceremony, will have a clear understanding of what the kachina look like, what each symbol on his mask or costume means, and a clearer comprehension of the to tal meaning of the dance. In brief then, the Hopi kachina can be seen in three aspects: the supernatural being who lives on high mountains or in springs and exists within the Hopi mind; the masked personator of that supernatural who appears in the kivas and plazas of the villages; and the small doll- 47 like image carved m the same likeness. Archeology does not provide evidence of a pre-Conquest kachina cult. Despite many present activities that seem to reflect ab- originality in the Hopi ceremonies, there has been little proof that the kachina ceremony is extremely old. Deco rations on ancient pottery contain no clown-priest, yet these figures, especially Koyemsi, are very common on 47 Harold S. Colton, Hopi Kachina Dolls (Albuquer que: University of New Mexico Press, 1949), p. 2. 63 48 modern bowls and pottery. There has been pottery re cently excavated that details masked kachinas as part of the design. However, verification as to age has not been established, nor has it been satisfactorily proved that these examples are Hopi in origin. Probably a segment of the Hopi culture is autoch thonal, yet the germ of cermemonial life may well have originated elsewhere. Fewkes felt that at the turn of the century, no existing Pueblo was able to support sat isfactorily the contention that it was ancestral outside 49 of a very limited area. Anderson, over fifty years la ter, refuted Fewkes* stand on this, yet he lacks enough supporting evidence. He feels that the three most logi cal sources for the kachina cult were: 1) local inven tiveness among the Pueblos themselves; 2) other Indian groups; 3) whites.^ He seems to prefer the former of these theories as being the most valid, and further infers that although the cult is not extremely old, that it is 48 J. Walter Fewkes, "Archeological Expedition to Arizona in 1895," Sixteenth Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology (Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1895), II, 659. 49 J. Walter Fewkes, "Tusayan Katcinas," Fifteenth Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology (Wash ington : U.S. Government Printing Office, 1897),p. 253. ^Frank G. Anderson, "The Pueblo Kachina Cult: A Historical Reconstruction,*1 Southwestern Journal of An thropology, II, No. 4 (Winter, 1955), p. 408. 64 pre-Conquest. He maintains that it has always been an ac tive and vital cult easily assimilating the many changes that time has wrought. Yet each amazing change has stayed within the social ideology of the people. Fewkes indicated that the kachina cult, with ac companying clowns, is extra Tusayan [h°p3 in origin and was not part of the original Hopi ritual. Historically Fewkes has traced the clowning Patun (^Squash] clan as having migrated to the Hopi mesas from the Little Colo- 5 2 raao River area. This migration took route through Awatobi, where tradition has it there were several Patun clans. When Awatobi was destroyed in 1700, this clan moved to the Second Mesa, at a place called Toukubi which now lies in ruins (see Map 2). Fewkes maintains that they lived there with the Atoko (Crane) and Kele [Hawk] clans after migrating from the south, all entering the Hopi country at about the same time. The Tataukyamu, a clowning society, was also in troduced from Awatobi pueblo, by the Piba or Tobacco clan. The home of the Piba-Tabo clans, before going to Awatobi, was a village where the Chevlon River flows into the Lit- 51Ibid.. pp. 417-18. 52 J. Walter Fewkes, "Tusayan Migration Traditions,1 1 Nineteenth Annual Report of the Bureau of American Eth nology , Part 2 (Washington: U.S. Government Printing Of fice, 1900), pp. 595-96. 65 5 3 tie Colorado River. The women’s clowning society, the Mamzrauti, also came to the mesas by way of Awatobi. When the village was destroyed in 1700, the Chief Mamzrau ti priestess of Awatobi was saved when she promised to 54 initiate a Walpi woman into the society’s mysteries. Into an already established ceremonial system then, three clans were introduced, part of whose functions was clowning. This influence, Fewkes submits, has been added to the Hopi ceremonial calendar in comparatively modern times by colonists from other Pueblos. He feels that the present Hopi ritual is ”a composite of composites” just as the people are.^ As further proof that the clown particularly is a recent innovation in Hopi ceremony, Fewkes states: Masked personages called clowns do not participate in any of the oldest ceremonies in the Hopi ritual, but are almost universally present in Katcina dances. Pictures of the heads of these clowns have not been found on ancient pottery, but are very common on modern. This would indicate that they were lately introduced, and that the dances in which they occur are modern additions. 53 J. Walter Fewkes, ’ ’The New-fire Ceremony at Wal pi,” American Anthropoloqist, N.S., II, No. 1 (January- March, 1900), 80-138. 54 J. Walter Fewkes and A. M. Stephen, ’’The Mam- zrau’-ti: A Tusayan Ceremony,” American Anthropoloqist, O.S., V (July, 1892), 219, n. ^J. Walter Fewkes, ’’The Growth of the Hopi Rit ual,” The Journal of American Folk-lore, II, No. 42 (July- September, 1898), 174. 66 The particular group of these clowns called Paiakyamu which are so commonly represented on the handles of modern dippers are characteristic of the Tanoan pueblo Hano, the potters of whggh pueblo made most of the pottery known as modern. Fewkes further indicates that the sixteenth century wan derers through Hopi do not describe the kachina dances nor make mention of any clowning. He therefore concludes that the former home of the Hopi kachina must assuredly 57 be the Pueblos of New Mexico. A remote substantiation of the idea that the im mediate ancestors of both the masked kachinas and the clowns existed in the Rio Grande Pueblos comes from de Najera's chronicles of the Coronado Expedition in 1540, and Gallegos' writings in 1581. In fact, Gallegos* re port includes the earliest recorded clowning activities of a Pueblo Indian; "When this is over two Indian coyotes appear and go around among the dancers, howling in a 5 8 startling and pitiful manner." The editors' (Hammond and Rey) footnote on this quotation is: "The 'coyotes' must have been Indians disguised as coyotes who went around howling and cavorting to amuse the crowd. The cun ning coyote played the same role in Mexican folklore as 56Ibid., pp. 177-78. 5 Ibid., p. 179. 5 8 Hammond and Rey, Rediscovery, p. 101. 67 59 as the sly fox did m old European animal tales.1* Hammond and Rey may well have carried their anal ogy farther, since it appears that the coyote has been the trickster of various Indian mythologies, and often has played not only buffoon, but has been brunt of his own folly. Among the Maidu, the Miwok and the Yokuts of California, for example, Coyote appears at many of the dances as a clownish character. His antics and his howl ing set the audience to laughing, and he inevitably loses his decorum while losing his prey. This coyote-clown is not a spirit nor a spirit impersonator, but acts rather as an entertainer, sergeant-at-arms and messenger between the dancers.^ The coyote dance of the Salinan Indians was probably a clown dance, and among the Kechayi a coy ote is impersonated by a man whose face and body **. • . 61 are painted any way to be funny.1 1 The aspect of the coyote as a trickster, a clown, and a bungling cheat and liar can be traced back to Pueb lo mythology. The Hopi tell many stories of this char acter and his attempt to get the best of others, gener- 59 Ibid., n. ^Julian H. Steward, f,The Clown in Native North America" (unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, University of California, 1929), pp. 31-32. 61Ibid., p. 32. 68 ally then to fall prey to his own greed and inabilities. Wallis collected several coyote stories from Hopi in 6 2 19 36. His informant was a forty-two year old Hopi man who had heard the tales many times while relaxing in the kiva, and who continued to pass on these stories about the clownish behavior of coyote. Perhaps one final example of the coyote-clown com plex in Hopi story-telling will suffice. This particular story involves Coyote who wants to eat Turtle, but is un successful as Turtle displays superior intelligence. Coy ote continues to get more angry and his actions become more clownish. Finally, Turtle pleads with Coyote not to throw him in the water, where he will surely drown. The thoroughly distraught Coyote sees this as a way to des troy this hated enemy, and proceeds to pitch Turtle into the water. Of course Turtle mocks Coyote saying thanks 6 3 for sending him home to the water, where he lives. This widespread dissemination of coyote-clown stories cannot necessarily be ascertained to mean that each group influenced the other, and that the Rio Grande coyote impersonator who astonished Gallegos was a direct 6 2 Nelson D. Wallis, "Folk Tales from Shumopovi, Second Mesa," The Journal of American Folklore, XLIX, Nos. 191-192 (January-June, 1936), 1-68. rr o H. R. Voth, "Four Hopi Tales," Field Columbian Museum of Natural History: Anthropological Series, XI (1912), 141. 69 or even indirect descendant of the Wichita or California coyote-clown. The buffoonery of both may be coincidental, and until further proof can be gathered, the question must remain moot. However, there does seem to be a preponderance of evidence that the Hopi clown, and the ceremonies where he participates, have been influenced by outside groups. The most immediate influential culture is probably the Pueblos* of the Rio Grande area in New Mexico. The many years of mutual trade and peaceful coexistence between the Hopi and their Eastern neighbors evidently brought many cultural advancements to the Hopi. Still, as Fewkes warns us, each culture has developed in its own way, adapting only those elements that each feels is benefic ial to its own culture. It is a mistaken idea, and one which has led to many misconceptions, to suppose that what is true of one group of pueblos is true of all. While in a general way the mythology and ritual of all may be said to have general resemblances, there is far from an identity between the ceremon ials, for instance, of the Hopi and the Zuni, or those of the Rio Grande pueblos and Tusayan. It is not a question of knowing all by an intimate knowledge of one; but each branch, even individual pueblos, must be investigated separately before by comparative knowledge we can obtain an adequate conception of the character of the pueblo type of mythology and ritual. Moreover, there is evidence that this difference existed in ancient times, and while the differentiation of manners and customs of different pueblos may have been less rapid in the past than today they were far from being iden tical. It does not follow, except in certain lim its, that the most primitive pueblos today show in their survivals a better picture of the character 70 of life in another pueblo than the existing state of things in the latter* To reconstruct the prob able character of the ancient culture we trace similarities by comparative studies. These comparative studies indicate that even be fore the immigration of the Tewa, the Tiwas and the Keres into the Hopi nation (who probably took much of their ceremonial life with them), cross-cultural exchange be tween all the Pueblos was a usual practice. However, again the warning from Fewkes that despite the unifying factors between the Hopi and the Eastern Pueblos, there has always existed a detachment in form of language, phys ical distance, and ecological necessities. He goes so far as to repudiate the contention that the Hopi and Zuni had a rather close bond. It would seem both from legendary and other reasons that there has not been the warmest friendship between the inhabitants of Tusayan and Cibola. This is not to be wondered at, for only on rare occasions has there been good feeling be tween two pueblos even of the same speech. The massacre of Awatobi at the hands of other Hopi has been told elsewhere, and even at the present day Oraibi is not on the best of terms with the other Hopi towns. The legends of the Hopi are full of quarrels of one pueblo with another, and bitter hatred sometimes developing into bloody wars in which their own kindred were attacked and pueblos destroyed. The environment of the pueblos of Tusayan DiopI) and of Cibola [Zuhi| is so similar and the rain-cloud worship so imperative in both that, a priori, we should expect the rain-cloud symbol to be as frequent in Zuni as in Walpi. I am much 64 Fewkes, "Tusayan Katchinas," p. 305. 71 surprised therefore in studying the description of .Zuni ceremonials to find nothing said of the char acteristic Hopi symbols of the rain clouds, the semicircles and the parallel lines of falling rain. If the rain clouds at Zuni are limited to the ter raced figures found on the prayer-meal bowls and the same made in sacred meal we certainly have a significant difference between the symbolism of these two peoples. In Tusayan there is not one of the great religious festivals where the semi circular clouds and falling rain do not appear as symbols. Thus far students of the Zuni ceremon ials have^jgot figured one instance in which they are used. Fewkes sums up his warning against a hasty conclu sion that the Hopi were overly influenced by the other Pueblos. A study of the group of Katcina ceremonials . . . brings out in prominence the conclusion that while some of them may be identical, as a rule there is considerable difference in the ritual of the Tusayan people and their nearest neighbor the Zuni. If variations exist between these neighbors we are justified in the suspicion, which observa tion as far as it has thus far gone supports, that there are even wider differences between pueblos more distant from each other. The ethnologist fully cognizant with the ritual in one pueblo has a general conception of the character of all, but changes due to suppression of ceremonials, survi vals, dying out of societies, and many other causes have modified the pueblos in different ways. The character of the ancient system is adulterated in all. We can form an idea of this modification in no better way than by a minute study of the ex isting ritual in every pueblo. Upon such comprg^ hensive study science is at the very threshold. We are not to read in Fewkes1 admonition that there is little or no resemblance between Hopi and the 6 5Ibid., pp. 309-10. 66Ibid., p. 313. 72 Eastern Pueblos’ ceremonies, and therefore influential lines are tentative at best. Rather, we should surmise that as assimilative people, the Hopi found outside ele ments of value in terms of their own ritual from many sources, including the Rio Grande Pueblos, and we must be careful not to draw the conclusion that the Zuni nor Coch- iti nor Sia nor any Rio Grande Pueblo was the sole source of Hopi ceremony. It does remain that all of Hopi ritual is not autochthonous but that a certain percentage springs rather from germinated seeds planted by foreign cultures. Fewkes indicated that as the Hopi ritual developed, adap tation of that ritual to his environment has been para mount. ^ If the Eastern Pueblos were not the only contrib utors to Hopi ceremony, including clowning, the question is then raised, from where did this influence come? Bandelier, in an admittedly more romantic than scholarly vein, states: "Whoever has seen the dances of the New Mexican Pueblos must be struck by the resemblance be tween the so-called 1Entremeseros,' or clowns, and the description of the solo dancers among the Opata and Eu- deves [Indians of Mexic<^ > as given by Pfefferkorn. Since Spanish, and thus Catholic elements have forced 7 Fewkes, "Growth of Hopi Ritual,1 1 p. 183. r o Bandelier, ’’Final Report,” p. 80. 73 their way into Pueblo folklore, they probably have also 69 managed to emerge as part of Pueblo ritual. One of the popular Hopi clowns is Koyemsi (see Plate II). He is often referred to as a Mudhead, and can be seen during various ceremonies of the year. His body is stained brown with mud which has been collected from around the sacred springs. This close affiliation with water is reflected in the numerous ceremonies where Koy emsi has a sacred as well as profane function. The clown remains one of the most important mediators between the Pueblo and their life-giving water suppliers— rain and springs. The wet clay that can be found at the springs is used as body make-up for its religious significance. There is also a connection between the red clay and the manner in which the mythological Koyemsi was created. As this mythological creature rolled in the red earth, it clung to him, and the present Koyemsi still resembles 70 this grotesque figure. The reddish-brown sack which Koyemsi wears over his head has three or more knobs fas tened to it. Usually there is one over each ear, the other knob or knobs on top. These knobs contain earth and often seeds. This is another significant property to 6 9 Elsie Clews Parsons, "Spanish Elements m the Kachina Cult of the Pueblos," Proceedings of the Twenty- third International Congress of the Americanists (New York, 1930), p. 582. 70 Koyemsi's birth is related in Chapter III. Plate II 74 Redd i sh brown, Koyemsi: A Pueblo Indian Clown 75 denote fertility and thus gives the clown yet another tie-in with the sacredness of the Hopi hierarchy. Occa sionally knobs carry the footprints left in the dust by individuals in the village. This apparently gives the clown control over those people, and the villages greatly fear the Koyemsi's power over them. Koyemsi*s facial features are quite grotesque as a result of his birth. The eyes are round, protruding orifices. The mouth is often similar in size and shape to the eyes, or may be a protruding, beak-like device. There appears to be no nose. The appearance is at once abhorrent and grotesque, yet comical. It cannot be equated with the funny-face of the western world*s circus clown. Yet in its exaggeration and fanciful quality, Koyemsi*s mask relates the same non-human qualities that the circus clown portrays. It is in Koyemsi*s creation that the degree of pathos can be seen permanently etched on his countenance. The kilt that Koyemsi wears is often made from an old dress, and thus continues the comic element of hand- me-down costuming. His props are a feather, which he uses as a magic wand, a brush, an instrument for probing, or any other comic element his fertile mind invents. The gourd rattle in his right hand is used in attempts to distract the kachina while they dance, warn spectators or other clowns, or again as a comic prop to further his 76 antics. His boots, which once were made of leather, may 71 be simply tennis shoes at the present day. The scarf around his neck hides the line between the mask and his shoulders, giving the appearance that this grotesque head is his own rather than a substitute. The Hopi designate their six directions with colors, and when these colors are used on their costumes the significance of the direc tions is being expressed. The six directional colors are Yellow refers to the North or Northwest Blue-green refers to the West or Southwest Red refers to the South or Southeast White refers to the East or Northeast All of the above colors taken together refer to the Zenith ^ Black refers to the Nadir. Thus if the Koyemsi pictured in Plate XI were to appear at a Hopi village, his red scarf, wristlets, and one stripe on his kilt would represent the South or South east; the direction of warmth. His white gloves would represent the East or Northeast, the home of the Sun. The green band or stripe on his kilt would represent the West or Southwest, the direction of the San Francisco Peaks, home of the kachinas, as well as the resting place of the Sun. The black kilt and socks represent the Nadir the underworld from which all Pueblos emerged, and their home after death. The total combination of colors on 71 There apparently is no significance to his foot wear other than practicality. 72 Colton, Hopi Kachina Dolls, p. 13. 77 Koyemsi represents the Zenith, that great sky that roofs over all the peoples of the world. Apparently these col ors and their combinations on Koyemsi have no direct con nection with clowning, but rather represent the Pueblo world in a more serious sense. It would appear that Koy emsi wears these colors representing the person who be longs to both worlds— the sacred and the profane. Koyemsi may appear in mixed kachina dances, and is often the singer for a dance. Depending upon the cer emony, he may be either a sacred or profane character. But Koyemsi is not of Hopi origin. The Hopi borrowed this clown from Zuni, where he is called Koyemshi. Koy- emshi also appears at other Pueblos. At Laguna he is 73 called Gumeyoish or Kumeyoish and indulges in similar clownish antics. At Acoma there are twelve Gumeyoish, 74 equivalent to Koyemshi, who appear at the masked dances, and at Jemez, Koyemshi becomes Guymeyoishi. Here the masks are identical with Hopi, Zuni and Laguna, although they may vary in color. The Jemez Guymeyoishi do not dance, but they do engage in foot races and say funny 75 things. Thus it is clear that Koyemshi, in all his disguises, is a popular clown among the Pueblos. 73 Steward, "The Clown in Native North America," p. 15. 74 Ibid., p. 16. 78 Parsons feels that this Pueblo clown— Koyemshi— is derived, in part, from the Grandfathers or abuelos of 76 Mexican origin. These abuelos still appear at Alcalde, a predominately Mexican town near San Juan, which is the most northern of the Tewa Pueblos, in a dance called the Matachinas. The Matachinas dancers of Middle American and Mexican heritage wore grotesque masks, and were seen in the battle of the bulls. According to such writers as Parsons and Kurath, the parallel with the Pueblos is ob vious, and the line of descent is rather direct. "The Matachini dance forms part of the Cora, Tarahumara, and New Mexico Pueblos church pageantry, among the Pueblos 77 with a battle of old man clown and bull masker." Par sons find that the Matachina is danced at all of the Tewa Pueblos, and at Taos, Jemez, and some of the Keresan 7 S Pueblos. Although the Matachina mask differs in some details, Parsons feels that in a broader sense of the 79 word it ". . . approaches . • ."a kachina mask. The origin of Koyemshi, in Zuni mythology, has a 76 Parsons, "Spanish Elements," p. 582. 77 Gertrude P. Kurath, "Drama, Dance, and Music," Social Anthropology, ed. by Manning Nash, Vol, VI of Handbook of Middle American Indians, ed. by Robert Wauchope (9 vols.; Austin: University of Texas Press, 1964-70), p. 170. 7 8 Parsons, "Spanish Elements," p. 583. 79Ibid., p. 584. 79 8 0 distinctly Christian flavor according to Parsons. This foolish Zuni character is the fruit of an incestuous al liance between a boy and his sister, both the children of a priest. They ". • • display the stain of their birth in their grotesque appearance and uncouth behavior. They are sacred clowns, privileged to mock at anything, and 81 to indulge in any obscenity." Parsons interprets this as a variant of the Adam and Eve story, especially since incest and punishment for sin are ideas alien to the 8 2 Pueblos. Even the dust containing footprints in the Koyemshi knobs, which gives power over the person who made the print, is attributable to European sources rather than aboriginal North American. Among most of the Pueblos, mythology gives birth to clowns, or clown-type of societies, in pairs. This duality is seen among the Keres as Koshare and Kurena; with the Isleta as Shifun and Shure; with the Jemez as 8 3 ~ Tabosh and Tsunta tabosh. The Zuni also has this dual clown-creation in the Ne’wekwe and Shi’wanakwe. Thus the 81 - Ruth Bunzel, "Zuni Kachmas," Forty-seventh An nual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology (Washing ton : U.S. Government Printing Office, 1930), p. 5 21. 8 2 Parsons, "Spanish Elements," p. 584. 8 3 A relating of the origins of these clown socie ties is discussed in Chapter III of this study. 80 Koyemshi would appear to be a third clowning group, a kind of extra personage that has been formed outside the two basic societies. Parsons thus sums up this alien in fluence in Zuni (hence Hopi) clowning: "It is my guess that the Koyemshi are a composite of the Mexican abuelos 84 and Ne’wekwe buffooning, a Ne’wekwe joke, so to speak." If the origin of the Hopi Koyemsi is an amalgama tion of Mexican and Zuni ceremony, then perhaps other parallels may be drawn between the Western Hopi and the Mexican-influenced Eastern Pueblo. An example may be found on First Mesa, in Hopi. Here the homologous clown ing societies were Wuwuchimtu and Singers. The burlesque masks were kept in the kiva of the Wuwuchimtu, and . . 8 5 are of the type of the San Juan Grandfathers.** One of the functions of the old men in Mexican dances is to dis tract the performers from their duties, ,f. • • just as the Singers try to make the Agaves or Horns laugh, in the 86 Hopi Wuwuchim [ceremony] • " In addition to suggesting that the many Mexican ceremonies where Old Men-clowns participate (los vie j itos, the abuelos of the Matachinas) found their way into the Pueblos, Parsons enumerates several other types of Mexi- 84 Parsons, "Spanish Elements," p. 585. 85Ibid., p. 586. 86 , . , Ibid., n. 81 can and Middle American traits that are observed in the Southwestern United States. For instance, the disciplin ary Kachina of the Hopi bears marked resemblance to the Mexican influenced Bogey in the East. The Hopi attitude toward their kachinas is remarkably parallel to the Cath olic attitude toward their saints. The saints and the kachinas once lived among the people. The saints departed earth for the sky to serve as beneficial spirits and in tercede for those left behind. The kachinas occupy much of the same position. Many saints have taken sacred sanctuaries at springs or wells, and many kachinas in like manner live beneath springs or lakes. Carrying the argument of Spanish influence farther, Parsons and Beals point out amazing similarities between the Pueblo clowns and those of the Mayo and Yaqui Indians in Mexico. The following account was recorded at Navojoa during the Lenten season in 1932. It was the Fifth Friday, the Fiesteros were making the stations of the Cross of San Ignacio, and we had just joined the procession of the image- carrying women, the rezador and his acolytes, and the group dedicated to the annual service, when the Fariseos appeared on the scene to burlesque the devout and "play1’ around them. These masked men teased one another; they fell over dogs and rolled in the dust; they displayed mock fear; they set a doll on the ground to venerate it as a saint; and they simulated eating and drinking the excreta they would pretend to catch in their wooden machete from the body of passing burro or horse or man or woman, even one kneeling in prayer. This last diversion was a variant on the filth eat ing and drinking practices of the Pueblos clowns, otherwise every new trick or bedevilment that was 82 enacted on the outskirt of that religious proces sion was one X had seen in our Southwest. The Fariseos behaved just as would the Koyemshi were there Catholic processionals at Zuni which the Koy emshi had to attend. X gasped ig^amazement, in wardly— the dust was smothering. Their argumentation is extensive in this article, and it leaves little doubt that there are not only paral lelisms but such a plethora of coincidental behavior that Parsons* statement ”. . . every new trick or bedevilment . • • was one I had seen in our Southwest” indicates a 88 high degree of similarity. The enigmatic question raised here, for which Parsons and Beals proposed no an swer, is whether these many parallels are due to migra tory influence from the Mayo-Yaqui territory through Cor onado 's quest into the Southwest, or whether the Pueblo could have been influenced by trade conditions and cross- cultural ties in pre-Conquest time. A far more ancient account of possible Mexican in fluence upon Pueblo ceremony can be found in Parsons * ar- 89 tide, "Some Aztec and Pueblo Parallels.” She finds that in both cultures, impersonating the gods is an out- 8 7 Elsie Clews Parsons and Ralph L. Beals, ”The Sa cred Clowns of the Pueblo and Mayo-Yaqui Indians,” Ameri can Anthropologist. N.S. XXXVI, No. 4 (October-December, 1934), 491. 88 It is not within the scope of this chapter to enumerate these many examples. Later discussion reveals to what extent they are pertinent to the Hopi clown. 89 Elsie Clews Parsons, "Some Aztec and Pueblo Par allels,” American Anthropologist, N.S., XXXV (1933), 611. 83 standing trait, the impersonation being done by similar personnages in each culture. Although in an earlier 90 work she attributed the use of masks by the Pueblo ka chinas to Spanish influence, she now finds an account of a mask worn by an Aztec impersonator in the same cult where it flourishes among the Pueblo— the rain god. Quoting Sahagun's translation, she relates how the priest of the god Tlaloc walked at the head of the procession going to the temple: He wore on the head a crown shaped like a casquet, adjusted about the temples and widening towards the top; from the center of this crown rose many plumes. His face was smeared with liquid ulli (gum) which in this state is black like ink; • • • he also wore a very ugly mask with a big nose, and a mane of hair down to thg-^waist; this hair wig was inserted in the mask. Drawing the comparison, Parsons' remarks: The long hair and the black face paint are Pueblo mask traits. To my mind here is stronger evidence for belief that the kachina dance mask was pre- Spanish than the statement of Luxan that the Ti- guas used many masks in their dances and cere monies. This statement was made in 1582 and there is a possibility that the Spanish mask had spread. Besides, Luxan does not state how the mask was ac tually used, and it is unlikely that he himself saw any masks, at least in use, since ^ e Indian fled at the approach of the Spaniards. She furthers her case by pointing out many ritual istic parallels in terms of rain, curing, and the treat- 90 Parsons, "Spanish Elements." 91 Parsons, "Some Aztec and Pueblos Parallels," p. 6LL 92Ibid., p. 612. 84 ment of the dead. However, for the purpose of this study we turn to those elements that might be interpreted as having parallel traits in terms of clowning. There are in Sahagun a few references to clowning or burlesque, which is so prominent a trait in Pueblo ceremonialism and which is found throughout modern Mexico in connection with folk-dances. The most striking Aztec instance occurs in rain god ceremonial after the lake sacrifice of human hearts, precious stones, and ritual paper. One of the priests took an incense burner and, acting like a poltroon (or even fool), placed on it four papers . . . set fire to them and made the motion of offertory while they were burning . . . This appears to be a burlesque of a most sacred rite, quite in the Pueblo manner. Other instances of Aztec clowning also suggest Pueblo parallels. On top of the Aztec temple where the pole was climbed danced a buffoon dressed like a squirrel. The dance on the roof tops by Zufti Koyemshi is re ferred to as a squirrel performance. In the Aztec rain ceremony of every eight years there were im personations of "poor people,*1 wood-carriers and peddlers, and sick persons, which remind us of the impro^sed comedies of the Hopi called Piptuyak- yamu. As a final discussion of external influences upon Hopi ceremonial clowning, we turn back to the United States, north of the Southwest Indians* home, and concen trate briefly on the Plains cultures. Nearly all of the cultural aspects of the Hopi are found in the Plains Indians. Such things as fetiches, tribal societies, scalp dances, and above all, in rela tion to this study, the clown societies. Headdresses in many instances are alike in both cultures (the Buffalo 93Ibid., pp. 623-24. 85 Headdress of the Plains Buffalo Dance is in use in all 94 the Pueblos) and often may have led to kachina masks. Many of the Plains Indians had not only animal masks, but clown masks as well. Parallel to these Plains Indians, clown or burlesque masks were quite popular among the Hopi, where they were in the protective keeping of the ,, .. ^ 95 Clown Societies such as the Wuwuchimtu on First Mesa. Perhaps of even more parallel importance than the clown masks is the facial and body painting of the two cultures. The pigmentation itself is sacrosanct in both, and the similarity of colors (black and white) and design (stripes) is striking.^ It is in the organization of war societies that Parsons finds the strongest links between the two cul tures. War, for the Plains Indian, has always been a reality, and thus the organization for war is well devel oped. However, the basically peaceful Hopi has had no strongly organized war society, and what little attention has been paid to such a group within the society has been largely a matter of internal policing, or the occasional skirmish forced by the Spanish. The Plains Indians in- 94 Elsie Clews Parsons, "Ritual Parallels in Pueblo and Plains Cultures, with a Special Reference to the Paw nee," American Anthropologist, N.S., XXXI (1929), 644. 96Ibid., pp. 644-45. 86 eluded in their war and military societies Backward and Contrary Behavior Societies, and dressed these members in quite outlandish costumes. Among the Cheyenne, for in stance, the Contraries or Inverted Bow String Warriors were essentially fearless and foolhardy warriors who be haved in a totally contrary way. They wore rags or old clothes, and behaved unnaturally in terms of their cul ture's code. Still they carried special bow-lances and 9 7 held positions of utmost importance m battle. The Kiowa Chief Dogs (or Real or Principal Dogs) comprised a militaristic society in which unusual feats of bravery in battle were expected, yet engaged in fool- 98 ish and contrary speech. Parsons draws further paral lels between the Plains clown-warrior and the Hopi clown- groups: The out-and-out clown groups of First Mesa of which two out of three are known to be borrowed from Zuni and the Tewa; the Zuni clowns— Ne'wekwe (and the affiliated society, the Shi'wanakwe) and Koyemshi; the moiety clown groups of Isleta— Black Eyes and Red Eyes or Gophers; the Koshare and Ku- rena of the Keres, the Kossa of the Tewa; the Ta bosh and Tsunta tabosh of Jemez; the Black Eyes of Taos and Picuris— all these have various traits of the Plains military societies: inverted speech or talking backwards, foolhardiness (more particularly in eating), stalking a stray creature, dog or chicken (instead of buffalo) showing mock fear 42. 97 Steward, "The Clown in Native North America," 98^.,, Ibid. 87 99 initiating by trespass, and inspiring fear. Parsons feels that not only can an affiliation be traced between the Plains and Pueblo cultures, but that this pre-Conquest influence helped pave the way for the Spanish ceremonial elements that she believes were im bedded in the Pueblo clown. The mimetic attitudes when ceremonial masks were used prepared the way for Catholic dramatic and dance processional and for kachina dramatizations. • . . The Buffalo horned headdress may have reached Zuni before the Spanish demonio and con tributed to the production of the horned kachina mask. To the northeast again to certain traits of the military societies of the Plains we may look for parallels among the Pueblo which prepared a welcome for the Spanish feature of clowning or burlesque. I have little doubt that the Pueblo clown societies were once such war groups as the military societies of the Plains. Inverted speech, a trait of the Zuni Ne1wekwe, the Laguna Kashare, the Tsiinta tabosh of Jemez, and the Black Eyes of Isleta which is a large factor in the development of Pueblo clown humor, is one indication of such parallelism or affiliation. The Pueblo clown groups still act as scouts more particularly for the kachina. They 'make the road.' Another aspect of striking similarity is the prom inence of phallic display and apparent sexual license among the Pueblo clowns. Again Parsons comments on the similarities between the two cultures: The phallic character of the Pueblo clown also points to the sex traits or privileges of the war groups of the Plains tribes. Phallicism may be 99 Parsons, "Ritual Parallels," p. 694. ^■^Parsons, "Spanish Elements," p. 595. 88 come obscenity in humor between the sexes, and ob scenity has characterized the relations between the Hopi erstwhile military societies and the wo men's societies. A more perplexing matter is the possible affiliation of the out-and-out clown groups among certain Plains tribes, groups which are in some cases, the Crow for example, quite in dependent of the military societies. These Plains clowns wear masks and their behavior in some de tails iJqjxtraordinarily like that of the Pueblo clowns. In a footnote to this report Parsons has included some elements of those quoted details: They wear ragged or dirty garments, and canvas or cloth masks, with mud or clay for pigment; they simulate excessive fear in stalking an animal, fleeing from a dog; they are food and tobacco beg gars, making uncouth demonstration of pleasure in receiving presents; they burlesque anyone, regard less of social distinction; they mimic copulation; they trap recruits; they are said to arrive fro^Q^ a great distance— all Koyemshi or Kossa traits. Parsons presents a solid case for the Plains cul ture's having cultivated the Pueblo ceremonial soil to such a degree that Spanish ritual had fertile ground with in which to grow and mature. If this is so, the Francis cans took advantage of this fecund field and expanded it to suit their own needs. Summary of the Historic Growth of Hopi Ritual In retrospect, a few summary statements can be made that may set the Hopi ceremonial clown in proper per spective. Despite isolated phenomena of instances of vi- 101Ibid., pp. 595-96 10 2 Ibid., p. 596, n. 89 olence, the Hopi have basically lived as their name im plies— peacefully* This very peacefulness may have helped lead to their survival because, although they may have sworn allegiance to many outside influences, the Hopi have continued to live more autonomously than nearly any other surviving Indian nation in the United States. Their pueblo style of dwelling, their agricultur ally oriented economy and their hostile environment, all have contributed to their ceremonial and spiritual life, and as a consequence, have helped mold the institution alized concept of Hopi clowning. In spite of their iso lated state, the Hopi were inordinately influenced by the other Pueblos along the Rio Grande, who were in turn greatly affected first by the Plains Indians and then by the Spanish and Mexican invasion of the Southwest. This latter influential strain was felt more through the Fran ciscan missionaries than the Spanish military, and des pite the passive (and, on occasion, active) resistance to the Catholic doctrine, the Pueblo Indian did assimilate a large amount of Christian ceremony into their own native ritual. The colonization opened by Onate finally fell in 1680 when the Pueblos revolted. Only the Hopi remained free of Spanish reconquest. When the Tewa, Tiwa, Tano, and Keres peoples moved to the Hopi territory in fear of Spanish retribu tion, they apparently brought with them many ceremonial 90 customs, including some clowning traits. The Hopi nation remained generally aloof for many years, subjected only to sporadic Spanish missionary thrusts and nomadic Indian raids. However, drought and crop failure decimated the once-prosperous tribe, and political diversity within the Hopi societal structure nearly rent the tiny nation. The Anglo-American invasion persists to the present, and has brought additional restrictions to, as well as fodder for, the Hopi clowns. The prototypes for the Hopi ceremonial clown ap pears to have been the matachinas, the abuelos, los vie- j itos, and other buffoons of Mexico. The welcome for these assorted clowns into the Southwest was apparently prepared by the Contrary and Backward Behavior groups of the military societies associated with the Plains Indians. Perhaps the best explanation how the Hopi clown was able to germinate and mature into the bloom of institutional buffoon lies in the ability of the Hopi to assimilate cultural elements from other people. Yet this explana tion must be leavened with Fewkes* admonition that the Hopi culture, despite a multitude of external factors, developed to a great extent in its own way. It used those foreign traits that it could adapt to its own nat ural and cultural environment, while at the same time it rejected foreign acculturation that negated its own basic philosophy. CHAPTER III THE MYTHOLOGICAL TRICKSTER AS A BASIS FOR PRIMITIVE CLOWNING Disorder belongs to the totality of life, and the spirit of this disorder is Trickster- — Karl Kerenyi The phenomenon of a trickster may be found in the simplest of aboriginal societies and in the most complex civilizations. In both his early, archaic form, and in his advanced state, this trickster often represents a duality of nature. He may be both a creator and a des troyer, a giver and a negator, a bringer of culture and a buffoon. This duality is seen in a sacred/profane con tinuum, for despite his basic buffoonery, Trickster often elucidates man's attempt to solve certain problems and dilemmas intrinsic to his own life. This mythological Trickster behaves from impluses over which he has no control. He is as a child, direc tionless, without goals, acting in whatever manner suits him, with no thought of the implications of those actions. He knows neither good nor evil. Radin states, "He pos- ^”The Trickster in Relation to Greek Mythology,” in The Trickster: a Study in American Indian Mythology, by Paul Radin (New York: Philosophical Library, 1956) , p. 185. 91 92 sesses no values, moral or social, is at the mercy of his passions and appetites, yet through his actions all values 2 come into being." Humor, irony, and unabashed laughter permeate everything that Trickster does. His antics are outside the realm of ordinary behavior, and his comic feats are akin to the super-human. He is constantly dup ing others, and in return is being constantly duped him self. The reaction of aboriginal societies to Trickster, in Radin1 s words, ,f. . . is prevailingly one of laughter tempered by awe. . . . Yet it is difficult to say whether the audience is laughing at him, at the tricks he plays on others, or at the implications his behavior and activ- . • 3 lties have for them.1* Perhaps one of the most illustra tive examples of a buffoon against whom the Hopi clown may be measured is found in the Trickster myth cycle of Winnebago. The characteristics of this Trickster are found scattered throughout the Western Hemisphere. As discussed earlier, the South, Middle, and North American 4 Indian societies had a profound effect upon the Hopi, consequently this discussion will be limited to tracing the Trickster in these societies. 2 Paul Radin, The Trickster: a Study in American Indian Mythology (New York: Philosophical Library, 1956), p. ix. 3 I b id., p« jc • 4Cf., Ch. II. 93 Primitive Clowning Traits Reflected in the Winnebago Trickster Myth The Winnebago belong to the Siouan speaking peoples of the north-central area of the United States. It ap pears that they were influenced by the flourishing civi lizations in Mexico, and their society is a combination of an old basic culture, borrowings from the Mexican civi lizations, and influences from the French, American and Christian conquerors and emissaries. As a consequence, war, to the Winnebago, has been paramount in their very existence. 5 The Winnebago Trickster myth cycle begins with a parody on war and from here we see Trickster involved in all of the traits of a guileless, yet bumbling buffoon. The first acts of the Trickster automatically de-social- ize him. He co-habits with women when it is forbidden by tradition and law, and then destroys the sacred war-bun- dle. This last act is an inconceivably sacrilegious ac tion, for the war-bundle represents the single most im portant implement to the Winnebago warrior. It contains his weapons for both offense and defense in battle, and has been blessed in ritualistic ceremony. This is tanta mount to destroying his very life. These first ridicu- 5 A complete retelling and comment on this myth are found in Radin, The Trickster. A synthesis of this myth is included in Appendix A of this study. 94 lous actions are part of Tricksterfs method of discour aging anyone to accompany him, and he is now devoid of any guarantee of success or weapons for combat. These acts break his ties with man and society, and he is off on his adventures. He indulges in behavior that is con trary to the socially accepted ways. He engages in ab normal sexual activity, harmless pranks, and foolish acts that leave him exhausted and often questioning his own sanity. He brags, he tricks animals and people into foolish acts that often result in their deaths. Yet, when they die, Trickster laughs and thinks how smart he is, how stupid they were. His gluttony leads to constant downfalls. His behavior brings him punishment, and only through cunning and trickery does he escape. As often as Trickster dupes others, he is duped by others. He has a penchant for the scatologic as often he indulges in clo- acic activity. Yet, since Trickster possesses no values— ethical or moral— his antics contain no deceit. He kills, not wantonly, but guilelessly. His mentality, like that of a child, finds him completely unanchored and aimless. His right hand argues with his left, and his silly question of "Why me?" begins to show the error of living an in stinctual life. As he begins to hold others and the world to blame for compelling him to act foolishly, he is also beginning the transformation that will see him 95 eventually emerge as a man. This emergence is manifested by his occasional flashes of humanity, his curing power, and his ability to converse with nature. Out of his pro fane existence, Trickster, the Bringer of Culture, emer ges. Because of him, various divisions of nature came into being, such as certain plants, and edible herbs. Due to Trickster's labor, obstacles in life were removed in order to benefit his people. Trickster, after break ing many taboos, becomes aware of his actions and their consequences, resulting in his recognition of his own mortality. A Winnebago elder whom Radin quotes, stated: The person we call Wakdjunkaga [Trickster] . . . was created by Earth-maker, and he was a genial and good-natured person. Earth-maker created him in this manner. He was likewise a chief. He went on innumerable adventures. It is true he committed many sins. Some people have, for that reason, insisted that he really was the devil. Yet, actually, when you come to think of it, he never committed any sin at all. Through him it was fulfilled that the earth was to retain for ever its present shape, to him is due the fact that nothing today interferes with its proper functioning. True it is that because of him men die, that because of him men steal, that because of him men abuse women, that they lie and are lazy and unreliable. Yes, he is responsible for all this. Yet,yone thing he never did: he never went on the war path, he never waged war. Wakdjunkaga roamed about this world and loved all things. He called them all brothers and yet they all abused him. Never could he get the bgt- ter of anyone. Everyone played tricks on him. Many of the bizarre antics of Wadkjunkaga can also 6 Radin, The Trickster, p. 147. 96 be seen by each Winnebago as his own. Moved into the universal, one can see that as a consequence of mortality and humanization, Trickster becomes the mark of all fool ish and irrational acts of all mortals. This then makes the Trickster cycle a monstrous satire on mankind, a sat ire that strikes out against onerous obligation to clan rivalry and war customs. Briefly the Trickster indulges in the following on the profane side of the continuum: Contrary Behavior, Abnormal Sexual Activity, Harmless Pranks, Bragging, Foolish Acts, Trickery, Gluttony, Punishment and Escape from Punishment, Being Out-smarted or Out-tricked, and the Scatologic. On the sacred side of the continuum, Trickster may be seen as: Conversing with Nature, Having Power to Cure, Showing Evidence of Humanity, Bringing Good to Nature and People, and Becoming a Bringer of Cul ture. This sacred/profane continuum is still seen, re flected in the role of the ritualistic Hopi buffoon today. He is a dramatic, living remnant of the mythological Trickster whose existence in South, Middle and North Amer ica can be measured into the dim recesses of the past. The Ceremonial Clown in South and Middle Americas Many historians agree that clowning is an old form of entertainment in the Western Hemisphere, since the appearance of a clown in recorded history extends to 97 the pre-Columbian. One of the earliest recorded accounts of clowning indicates that at pre-Conquest Aztec feasts, "young jesters, in their cups, who cut capers and amused 7 people, blew the flutes." The Aztec danced from child hood on, interspersing such activity with clowning antics. Toor expresses this ancient predilection to humor: During the intermissions, the people were enter tained by buffoons, who mimicked others in their way of dressing and dancing, or disguised them selves as animals. In other dances men exhibited humor and great skill. In one dance of buffoons a jester was in troduced who pretended not to understand what his master was saying, regeating and changing the meaning of his words. The early Spaniards witnessing these agile men thought they must be possessed by the devil, they were so capable. The Maya were known caricaturists, as evidenced by 9 ancient artifacts, such as the Chama Vase. The humor is evident in this Old Empire polychrome from the Chixoy Valley, Alta Vera Paz, Guatemala. An early evidence of the combination of the sacred and profane is seen in the 7 Fray Bernardino de Sahagun, The Gods, Book I of Florentine Codex: General History of the Things of New Spain, trans. from the Aztec by Arthur J. 0. Anderson and Charles E. Dibble, School of American Research, Monograph No. 14, Part 2 (12 vols.; Santa Fe: School of American Research and University of Utah, 1950), p. 22. Q Frances Toor, A Treasury of Mexican Folkways (New York: Crown Publisher^ 1947), p. 315. 9 Sylvanus G. Morley, The Ancient Maya (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1946), PI. 88, facing p. 424. wall murals of Bonampak. On the east wall of Room One there is a face ornamenting a parasol. This face has a toothy, grinning leer, and pop-eyes. The absurdity of such a grotesque clown face is emphasized by the reali zation that that section of the mural depicts a solemn procession where a prisoner is going to be sacrificed to the gods.^^ After the conquest, the existence of the clown re mained secure. The introduction of Christianity to the American continents brought new concepts, thus new fodder for the clown's behavior. More recordings of the clown became available, and the growth of the ritualistic buf foon is more easily traced. This more modern clown can be seen on the sacred/profane continuum as his antics are explored and measured against the Trickster's behavior. Sacred/Profane Continuum Deep within the Trickster myth lie the ingredi ents from which the ever present entertaining clown was fashioned. As Kereliyi states: Entertainment is never lacking in mythology, and the predilection for the drastic, for what is un seemly by human standards, is a peculiarity of ar chaic mythology. The emphasis on drastic enter tainment is also characteristic of the late archa- icism that breaks through in Aristophanes or in a phlyax play, and it provides the dominant note of 10 Mexico: Pre-Hispanic Paintings (New York: New York Graphic Society, 1958), PI. XXI. 99 11 the Winnebago trickster stories. The ways in which the Trickster myth saw dramatic reality among the Indians is nearly universal, subject only to the diversity that geography or climate or a num ber of ecological considerations would shape. Radin re lates, for instance, the Mataco myth of Tawkxwax and the Mud Wasp, which becomes somewhat representative of the South American Indian Trickster. Nakwo is a kind of mud wasp which makes his nest with earth. Formerly this mud wasp was a man. When he had gone hunting and left his chil dren at home, Tawkxwax, the trickster, happened to pass by and he ate all of Nakwo's children with the exception of one who managed to escape. When Nakwo came back he asked the boy: "Where are your brothers? Who ate them?" The child said, " I know; it was Tawkxwax." Nakwo followed the trail of Tawkxwax and fi nally arrived at the place where he was lying asleep near a pool. Nakwo took some clay and stopped Tawkxwax' mouth, nose, eyes, and penis. He also smeared his fingers with mud. The pitoi bird, who was then a man, went fishing in the near by pool. He saw Tawkxwax, whose stomach had swol len up. The bird went immediately in search of other birds who had become men too. They all came out with axes, but when they tried to cut off the mud, their axes broke off. A big bird whose head is very large tried in his turn, but his axe was not strong enough and broke off. The birds did not know what to do, for they no longer had any axes. Then came a very old bird who was armed with a tiny axe, but a solid one. Just as he was open ing the anus of Tawkxwax, all the accumulated ex crement spouted on him and covered him with filth. Since that time this wasp is very bad-looking and ■^Karl Kerenyi, "The Trickster in Relation to Greek Mythology," p. 180. 100 . 12 his wings are gray. This Mataco myth captures many of the antics that are often seen in the ceremonial clown of today: that is a trickster who tries to get the best of others, a pen chant for ridicule of the reproductive organs, a humor based on the ludicrous, and an emphasis upon the scato- logic. Still the sacred continuum comes to the fore as Trickster brings to the world the explanation of natural phenomenon. This myth dramatically clarifies to people how wasp came to look as he does, and how man must co operate to attain solidarity. Another story, told by the Adinaye tribes of South America, indicates many of Trickster’s profane antics. Yet through these actions the Bringer of Culture emerges. This myth relates how Sun, occupying a superior position, causes Moon to mistake a hornet’s nest for a water gourd, with the accompanying attack upon Moon by the maddened hornets. Blinded by the hornets, Moon trips over a log and has his testes squeezed by Sun. Yet Sun always jokes Moon out of his (Sun’s) role as perpetrator of the tricks. In essence, Moon was being punished for his shame and hu man response, holding Sun in such awe. Through the var ious ludicrous happenings to Moon, ending with his pun- 1 2 Paul Radin, Indians of South America (Garden City, New York: Doubleday, Doran and Co., 1942) p. 177. 101 ishment, the Trickster-transformer cycle is complete. The hero gradually succeeds in developing his function 13 as a brmger of culture. This type of story with its duality of purpose finds dramatic outlet in the actions of various clowns throughout South and Middle America, and eventually in the Hopi Indians of the southwestern United States. For example, during The Feast of Assumption (a Roman Catholic Holy Day) held on August 15 in Santa Cruz Quiche, a vil lage near Chichicastenango, Guatemala, they hold a dance called La Culebra (The Snake Dance) or Los Gracejos (The Dance of the Jesters). A similar dance is held at Chi- calaja, near Quezltenango, from January 15 to 18. The dance is pure slapstick. All the participants wear masks and are costumed in motley dress. The most important member is a man in a fur-trimmed suit who brandishes a stuffed fox. He prances about during the dance and dashes at the audience in mock-threatening manner. This feigned threat holds no terror, as the younger children tease and taunt this clown. The dancers whip each other, to the delight of the onlookers. Yet during this buffoonery, a serious aspect is present, for one man reverently carries a snake as a symbol of rain-giving. It is, in short, a sacred and profane, non-Christian, ritualistic appeal for 13Ibid., pp. 155-160. 102 good crops. The fox symbolizes fertility of the fields, and the snake ”. . . connected with the widespread ancient cult of the plumed serpent— represents life— . . . ,.14 giving ram. " There has been a long history of using the primi tive clown, with his Trickster-oriented antics, during celebrations of many of the Catholic Holy Days brought to the Western Hemisphere by the Spanish. These actions in clude burlesque and mockery of the white conquerors, and often irreverent ridicule of church services. Wilson re ports that dances held on the Day of St. Paul and the Day of St. Peter in the villages of Guarnos and Guartire in Miranda State, Venezuela, include satires against the whites. These performances ridicule the whites during colonial days when the plantations were owned by auto cratic white men and the Indians worked for them in vir tual slavery. The modern burlesques of these plantation owners is apparently the vituperative reaction that still 15 lives m their legends. The village of Santiago Chimal- tenango, Guatemala, combines a religious dance in honor of Good Friday with a satire on the Spanish introduced ' ’chicken pull.” On the Saturday following Good Friday 14 Dorothy Reynolds, "Guatemalan Dances at Colorful Highland Festivals,” Americas, VIII, No. 1 (January, 1956), 34. ■^Betty Wilson, "Adventures in Folk Music,” Amer icas , VIII, No. 9 (September, 1956), 15-20. 103 many of the Indians borrow ladino (high fashion Spanish) clothes and ride through the plaza. They reduce the Span ish game of a chicken pull to a ridiculous race with chickens. The Indians, both the spectators and the par ticipants, seem to find the entire burlesque quite hu morous, particularly when the person being mimicked is 16 ladino from whom the Indian borrowed the clothes. This Guatemalan Roman Catholic Holy Day with the performance of a clown can be seen repeated in numerous festivals extending throughout Middle America. There still exist village carnivals where the people present conflict-type ceremonies that began in pre-Conquest times. The villagers act out a conflict between good and evil, often represented by a bandit versus the government troops, priests against devils, whites and blacks, or the Moors and Christians. At Zaachila, a village near Oaxaca City, a carnival depicts a fight between the priests and devils. There is quite a pitched battle, and to the de light and acclaim of the spectators, the devils win. The devil clown insinuates himself into countless religious ceremonies throughout Middle America. In the highlands of Chiapas during a village dramatization of 16 Charles Wagley, "The Social and Religious Life of a Guatemalan Village," American Anthropologist, N.S., LI, No. 4, Part 2 (October, 1949), 117. 104 the crucifiction of Christ, the • • unkempt, ragged [Barabbas] , with one foot shod and the other bare, drag ging his chains, came into evidence with his clowning to 17 . lend a light note.” In Potami, a Yaqui village m So nora, Mexico, laughter, merriment and burlesque are in tegral parts of the life. Spicer writes: Laughter is a frequent accompaniment of Yaqui cer emony. The Sunday konti is a uniformly serious occasion unrelieved by any sort of humor . . . but household fiestas . . . have pascola dancing with its accompanying merriment as a necessary part. The most rigidly ritualistic ceremonial season of the year, the wachma, is constantly relieved by the humorous action^gOf the chapayekam in their capacity as clowns. The chapayekam referred to by Spicer perhaps epit omize the clown-devil in Middle America. Their burlesques and satires are quite unrestrained. The chapayekam in troduce horseplay, simulated sexual intercourse, and bestiality into their antics. But it is their irrever ence and blasphemous acts that draw down upon them the taint of sinning and its accompanying punishment. The following illustration by Spicer indicates to some degree the extent to which these clowns go. The chapayekam interrupt important church rituals with ritual of their own, sometimes even drowning out an altar service of chants and prayer with the 17 Frances Toor, Mexican Folkways, pp. 214-15. 18 Edward H. Spicer, "Potami: a Yaqui Village in Sonora," Memoirs of the American Anthropological Associa tion , LVI, No. 4, Part 2, Memoir No. 77 (August, 1954), 172-73. 105 clatter of their painted sticks and the recurrent insistent beat of their drum and mournful descend ing notes of their flute. The chapayekam, in short, in plain view for all to see, flout the whole ritual of proper behavior in relation to the supernaturals. They are ultimately ritually des troyed in payment for these sins, but meanwhile they have afforded delight and comic relief to all in the pueblo at a time when it would seem, under the domination of the soldiers of Pilate, that the villagers are most in need of some sort of comic relief. The behavior of chapayekam reflects Trickster. He stands unabashedly alone, a destroyer and a mocker. He is at once a dramatic example of the mythological Trick ster, and the precurser of much that is found in the Hopi clown. Yet he is not alone in this respect. Other Mid dle American clowns may be found that retain the Trick sters antics. Often the clown is used in many religious ceremonies where he is relegated to the sidelines as a minor participant. Perhaps one of the most popular of this type of ceremony is the traditional Conquest of the Moors. This blended ritual drama takes place on the Catholic Holy Day of Corpus Christi. In this village fes tival , the Moors and Christians clash in a battle mime that approaches dangerously close to an authentic fight, with ultimate victory for the Christians. The contes tants, who are townspeople, wear elaborate and gaudy costumes complete with helmets and the traditional Moorish 19Ibid.. pp. 173-74. 106 turbans. They wear bearded masks, brandish wooden swords, and in general present quite a spectacular appearance. While the mock battle progresses, buffoons dressed in ragged or simple attire, jump about the plaza molesting both the spectators and the combatants. Plate III shows one of these clowns. His costume is simple, white cotton, in contrast to the richly costumed Indian combatants in the background. This is a deliberate attempt to ridi cule the white man through gross exaggeration and con trast in costume. The burlesque of the whites is carried through the stick-horse that the clown is riding. Com pared to the fine horses that the Indians ride, this de liberate mockery of the ,fhobby-horseM white man generally brings favorable reaction from the assembled Indians. The white-face mask completes the caricature and leaves no doubt in the minds of the spectators that the white man is the brunt of the clown’s ridicule. The painted eyebrows and mustache are exaggerated examples of the white man's penchant for facial hair, an ornament ordi narily abhorrent to the Indian. The clown's actions suggest another trait of the white man. He does not take sides with either the Moors or the Christians, but rather molests and annoys both. This appears to be another indictment against the White man's ability to profit from both sides of a war while not engaging in either side. These Mexican-Indian clowns A Clown of the Dance of the Moors and Christians of Papantla 108 have free reign to comment through their actions, their costumes and masks, and their pantomimes and props, on the deep-rooted dislike for the white conquerors who over came their early societies. The conquest-type of dance exemplified by the Con quest of the Moors has other counterparts in the native dances of the Mexican Indians, There is enacted the fight between Pilate and the Christians where Pilate ap pears in plural, since so many men participate. Another conquest-type of dance enactment depicts the struggle be tween the Indians and the Spanish conquerors. Whether it is the Moors and the Christians, Pilate and the Chris tians, or the Indians and the Spanish, these conquest- type dances tend to follow the same pattern. They occur during Catholic Holy Days, there is a mock battle, the Christians win, and at least one, and generally several, clowns are present to burlesque and taunt both the com batants and the spectators. The clowns are costumed in rags or simple peasant dress in contrast to the elaborate costumes of the combatants, and are masked. However, the clown’s mask is not always white-face. It appears that any foreigner is fair game for these buffoons, Plate IV shows a clown during The Dance of the Conquest at Teotit- lan del Valle wearing a black-face mask. The black man was first brought to this continent as a slave, and used as such in some parts of Mexico. A Clown from The Dance of the Conquest at Teotitlan del Valle During the Oaxaca State Fair 109 During the conquest dance at Teotitlan del Valle the clown depicted in Plate IV appeared and proceeded to bur lesque and taunt the mock-combatants and the spectators. One of the elaborately dressed Indian combatants can be seen in the background of Plate IV, taking a cigarette break. The clown's costume again contrasts in its sim plicity with the colorful arrayment of the Indian. Yet there is a distinct difference between this clown's cos tume and the peasant dress of the clown in Plate III. The Negro impersonator has added rick-rack and some fancy design work to his tunic. This appears to be more dressy than the white-face clown of Plate III. The difference appears to be one of value. Despite the fact that the Mexican Indian held the Negro as a slave during some mo ments in history, it also appears that the Indian regarded the black man in a similar situation as his own: con quered, controlled by alien forces of white men, forced to accept a religion different from his own. This bond may well be reflected in the clown's attire as well as his actions. His ridicule of the white man remains more devastating than his burlesque of the black. A somewhat different burlesque of the Negro is the Dance of Los Negritos of Nahuatzin, Michoacan. Los Ne gritos (little Negroes) are broad burlesques of the black men brought to this continent. This dance becomes a mockery of these subjugated people, and the ridicule is Ill carried through costumes, masks, and actions. Plate V depicts two clowns posed for the photograph. They wear what the Indian considered typical dandified Negro clothes: black suits, dress shirts, and ties. The mockery in cos tume is completed by the long, multi-colored ribbons and the elaborate headdresses. The masks are constructed of wood and highly lacquered. They do not project exagger ation of features, but rather are more realistic to make the appearance more believable. The dance, which is evi dently quite old, is a M. . . rather aimless affair of 20 crude jokes, slapstick, and prancing horseplay. • . “ The obvious clash between the white and black races is apparent in the performances. Reynolds states: Emboldened by anonymity, the performers give vent to a mordant wit they would not dare display at other times, weaving any unusual chance occurence into their buffoonery and interspersing their howling wj£h rough jokes at the expense of the watchers. This racial clash is often highlighted by the negritos' attempt at enticing the Margaritas— white men dressed as women and performing in a serious ceremony. The proclivity for the native South and Middle American to burlesque and ridicule his conquerors, the white man, and those who are subjugated, the black man, 20 Reynolds, “Guatemalan Dances,*1 pp. 31-35. 21Ibid., p . 35. Participants in The Dance of Los Negritos of Nahuatzin, Michoacan. Their Masks Are Black Lacquered, the Ribbons Multi-colored 113 finds its counterpart among the Hopi Indians of Arizona. Plates XIV and XXI indicate graphically this clowning trait, and discussion on the Hopi clown*s burlesque of both the white and black man will be found in subsequent discussion. The role of the clown has been ever keeping pace with the social changes. As the Spanish hammered out their conquest on the anvil of Indian antiquity, the forge of ancient fires supplied the temper for the tool of sociological comment. And no better tool was wrought in that smith than the clown. The depths of this social comment can be seen in the Huichol carnival of Tuxsan, Jalisco. The carnival lasts nine days, and consists of singing of Christian songs and myths, a bull dance, and a burlesque of the non-Indian Mexicans. Here one can see the fires of Indian discontent illuminating the schism between the two peoples. Yet, this social commentary is done by clowning and burlesque, and the risk of reprisal is eliminated. Toor gives the following account of a burlesque of the Mexican treasure hunters performed by the Huichols: There is an army of young men, commanded by a general, captain, and lieutenant, who mock the Mexican treasure hunters. The general, an older, serious man, directs his soldiers with a cow horn, uses reed tubes for field glasses, and scribbles on paper to communicate with the saints. The sol diers cleverly carve sabres, pistols and rifles from wood, and ride sticks for steeds. As they are unacquainted with horses, they treat them as 114 they do their burros, insulting and beating them as they jump, kicking and pretending to be thrown off, shouting and howling with laughter. This burlesque alternates with the bull dance. When all gather at the Casa Real before retiring at midnight, the soldiers march seriously down to the river to water their “horses" before shutting them up for the night in jail. The highlight of the burlesque is the treasure hunt. The Mexicans arrest all the Huichol offi cials, tying ropes around their necks and threat ening them with hanging if they will not reveal the hiding place of the treasure. The officials maintain they know nothing about it but when they see that the soldiers are about to hit upon the treasure with their reed field glasses, they point out the place where it is hidden. The soldiers then release the officials, but retain the topiles to help them find more treasures, which consist of broken pieces of pottery, buried during the pre vious carnival. However, they serve as barter for tortillas, salt and chile. Soon after the carnival starts, the Mexican liquor venders appear on the scene, bringing with them musicians who are hired by the Huichols to play folk tunes on harp and violin, to which they dance late into the night. All this adds to the gaiety of the festivities but does not disturb the ritual. A notable type among the Mexican dances is the Yaqui pascola. This is a Deer Dance that probably had its origin in pre-Conquest days. Although originally in tended as a dance for luck in hunting, it now is per formed at Catholic religious fiestas and ceremonies. The deer dancer dances with two, three, or four clown-types called pascolas, from whom the dances derive their name. These deer dancers have bare torsos, a simple costume of kilts, and they wear strings of dried cocoons, filled with 22 Toor, Mexican Folkways, p. 202. 115 gravel, tied around their legs. They carry a large gourd rattle in each hand. The most striking part of the cos tume is a stuffed deer's head which is fitted on the dancer's head, and held by a leather chin strap. The pascolas (refer to Plate VI) wear a simple type of sim ilar kilt, and their feet and torsos are also bare. Their heads are uncovered, and a knot of hair, called a "candle" stands upright, tied with a ribbon. The small wooden mask with grotesque features, shaggy eyebrows and a beard, is so tied to their head as to allow easy removal. Ac cording to Toor1s observation: The first dances are by the pascolas to the music of the harp and violin. One dances after another, with his mask pushed off his face and the rattle stuck in his belt. They dance close to the musi cian, with body slightly stooped, arms hanging at the sides and knees bent a little, at times per forming steps that resemble the European clog, at others the Spanish zapateado, but always stomping the ground twice with the same foot and alternat ing. Every dancer introduces variations— he may drag one toe around in a semicircle, while hopping on the other; extend the heel and drag it back; skip, jump up and down on both feet; strike heel against ankle— as if in competition. As they move, the rustling sound of the cocoons affords a pleas ant accompaniment to the music. While waiting to dance, the pascolas amuse the spectators, for they are also clowns. They [pull their masks on] , make jokes, take liberties in making salacious references to the female rela tions of the men around them, including the wives. But nothing they say or do is resented, even their obscene stories and movements. The people answer back all talking Cahita and everyone laughs good- naturedly, saying "Ah well, that is why they are pascolas. 23Ibid., pp. 332-33. A Yaqui Pascola 116 117 Thus we have still another type of clown, who com bines the movements of a serious dancer with the antics of a buffoon. This dual function is seen in many Indian ceremonies in all of the American continents. It often appears to be a combination of past and present; a rem nant of a culture's heritage being pressed into a ser viceable union with that culture’s present needs for so ciological change. This may be seen in the pascolas1 candle lighting this buffoon’s way to goodness. This be comes a beacon for others to follow was well as the clown, for foolishness is not the way to goodness. Apparently the grotesqueness of the mask and the shaggy beard are merely ornaments to ensure laughter rather than contain ing deeper psychological or sociological meanings. How ever, the ease with which the mask may be removed appar ently is a realistic device on the part of the players to identify more quickly the sacred/profane duality for his audience. Beals noted that the pascolas always remove their masks (or become "human”) when dancing to the violin and harp, but don them again when dancing to the aborig inal drum and flute or whenever they engage in any clown- 24 mg. A final look at the clown as social commentator in 24 Ralph Beals, ’'Masks in the Southwest,” American Anthropologist, N.S., XXXIV (1932), 166-69. 118 the Middle American cultures is a brief examination of a very popular buffoon type; los viej itos (the little Old Men). Apparently these buffoons are not so overtly dev astating as los negritos. The dancers are usually young men who dress and act like decrepit old men (refer to Plate VII). They wear long, flaring trousers, embroi dered at the bottom, a tunic with a red sash, strong shoes, a wide brimmed hat with ribbons, and a silk ker chief around their necks. Their masks are carved from wood, and painted as old faces, some sad, some smiling, with fibre hair, and some with beards. Each dancer car ries a staff with a carved animal’s head. Toor relates the typical kind of viej itos dance: The musician directs the dancers, who some times dance together and singly, each trying to outdo the other in steps and clowning. One of their serious figures is called ’’The cross of the four stars,” in which the dancers form files, one pointing in each direction. Some of the mountain groups are rougher in their clowning, pushing each other around but never losing a measure of the dance. In Petamba there are sometimes as many as forty vie)itos taking part, one of them a Maringuilla in fine city clothes and a mask of a pretty white face. The dancers form two files and each one dances with the woman; then they form a circle around her; then in pairs they make a reverence to her and dance a son. When all have finished, the dancing continues in two files to a variety of j arabes or any other dance tunes. When the dancers want to change the son, they shout and pause to make a circle around Maringuilla, after which the music starts again. The costumes are similar to those of the lake villages, except that the dancers wear kerchiefs over their heads instead of hats. The vie j itos is danced on secular occasions Participants in The Dance of Los Viejitos, Patzuaro, Michoacan, Mexico 120 but chiefly during the religious fiestas. How old the dance is no one knows,^ut there was such a dance before the Conquest. Burlesque of the elders by the youth appears to be a favorite theme among the Indians from South America to North America. The Hopi youth, who are constantly bad gered and teased by their uncles and other males, look forward to the day when they can retaliate in kind. The youngsters in Mexico especially revel at los viej itos, and work diligently to carve grotesque masks and out landish costumes for ridiculing the aged. The masks il lustrated in Plate VII indicate the care taken to reflect the infirmities of old age; bad-eyes, lost teeth, wrinkles, bulbous nose, scraggy hair, and in general misshapen fea tures. They wear the shawls of old men to protect them from the cold, and they must rely upon canes since they pretend to be too feeble to walk unaided. In short, these young clowns ridicule the very physical attributes that occur with age and that are diametrically opposite the physical prowess that the young manifest. These traits for reducing the aged to infirm non-entities finds outlet often in the clowning traits of the Hopi as well. Yet despite the overt ridicule of the old men, there appears to be a certain mixture of respect with the satire. The Mexican dance is probably pre-Conquest, and 25 Toor, Mexican Folkways, p. 357. 121 it helps to venerate the older traditions, the old way, and the wisdom of age. The disrespect is aimed primarily at outmoded ideas that senility may produce, and often be comes a satire against the unbending dictates of an older generation. Summary of the South and Middle American Continents Patterns of clowning begin to emerge from the di verse account of rituals. The concept of a ceremonial clown is as old as the mythological legends that have persisted in any given culture. And this embryonic buf foon shows traits that are paralleled in today's cere monies; a trickster who, while trying to outsmart the other person, is outsmarted himself; a clown who find great enjoyment and laughter in ridicule and broad acts of sexual activity; through it all, a bumbling, thought less, yet guileless bringer of culture to his people. With dramatic reality, this clown maintains the right to ridicule even the most sacred, while granted amnesty from all retribution. The introduction of Christianity brought new con cepts to the clown in the Western Hemisphere, including the personification of a Christian Devil. Yet ancient heritage dies hard, and it soon was evident that a suc cessful marriage of old and new concepts in clowning could survive. Carlos Merida indicates this amalgamation 122 of primitive and Christian clown concepts when he discus ses the history of Mexican theatre. To him, vestiges of the primitive remain in all the countries of the Old 2 6 World. This increasing combination is illustrated by the development of the religious loa of Guatemala, where the primitive and pagan beliefs were snythesized, and in some instances replaced by Christian ones. As this pro cess developed, a special phenomenon manifested itself. The clown-devil of Christian influence often became the most popular performer of the loas. His tricks and lures, his costume, and his grimacing characteristics were wont to distract the people from the serious side of the cere mony. Even attempts at making the clown-devil a contrite and pensive individual seemed to have failed, as the more popular types were those buffoons given to clownish and overt antics of evil. The dual nature of a serio-comic character has emerged from this amalgamation. We have a person who can be at one time the serious dancer, respected and vener ated for his dancing, and in the next instance a clownish boob, prancing and joking, playing the buffoon to all, and he accomplishes these paradoxical roles with no feel ings of schismatic malevolence on the part of the spec tators. 2 6 Carlos Merida, ,fPre-Hispanic Dance and Theatre," Theatre Arts Monthly, XXII, No. 8 (August, 1938), 561-68. 123 The Ceremonial Clown in North America The phenomenon of a ritualistic clown is not unique to the South and Middle American continents. The North American Indian, similar to his southern brother, saw the development of a mythological trickster and the growth of clown societies. Radin indicates that the overwhelming majority of trickster myths in North America parallel in many ways. Despite certain renderings of the myth pecu liar to a given group, remodeling of the myth tends to indicate influences rather than autochthonal disparities. For instance, nearly all of the trickster myths of North America give some account of the creation of the world and '*. • . have a hero who is always wandering, who is always hungry, who is not guided by normal conceptions of good or evil, who is either playing tricks on people or 27 having them played on him, and who is highly sexed." The sacred/profane continuum seems to prevail, for Radin hastens to elaborate that ,f. • • almost everywhere he has p Q some divine traits.M Thus, despite minor variations from tribe to tribe, the trickster as a rather universal manifestation of ceremonial clowning finds mythical life throughout North America. Dramatically this can be seen reflected in the antics of many clown societies of the 27 Radm, The Trickster, p. 155. 124 North American Indian. The clown has developed into a recognized institu tion throughout California, and his primitive antics can be traced extensively in various ceremonies. This cere monial clown is often licensed to parody or burlesque the serious dancers and acts as a profaner of ritual. He often serves as entertainer between dances, functions as a sergeant-at-arms to help maintain audience discipline, and on occasion may fulfill the role of ghost-impersona- tor. The clown wears a grotesque make-up of white clay, and he often uses pegs to prop open his eyes and grass 29 stuffed in his mouth to distort his cheeks. Perhaps one of the most common California clowns is the Coyote personator. He usually wears a coyote skin fastened to his back with the animal’s head drawn over his own. The coyote’s tail hangs behind. This buffoon paints his face 30 and body ". • • any way to be funny." Similar to most tricksters, the clown societies among the California In dians indulged in contrary behavior, indecent speech and activities, and senseless antics. Yet the sacred/profane dichotomy persisted, for as Steward points out, in nearly every tribe that was studied, the clown also served a 09 Steward, "The Clown in Native North America," p. 29. 30 Ibid., p. 32. 125 . . 31 serious and often religious role. Trickster finds life also in many observed cere monies of the Plains Indians of North America. One of the most frequent trickster-type antics is the contrary- behavior pattern. Among the Cheyenne, clowning is as signed to the Contrary Society, and consists of foolish and anti-natural behavior derived from thunder who is be lieved to have with him people who act in this strange 32 manner. They wear old clothes and paint themselves as foolish looking as possible. The Cheyenne Inverted War- 33 nor Society is similar to the Contrary Society, but their actions are even more unnatural. The members are fearless, yet pretend fear and often act foolhardy when in battle. They also wear outlandish costumes and make-up in portraying their clownish behavior. 34 The Bluejay* syndrome, as outlined by Ray, indi cates a typical process of backward or contrary behavior that prevails in North America. The Bluejay personator undergoes a transformation that strips the individual of 31Ibid., pp. 27-35. 32Ibid., p. 41. 33 Also referred to as "Cheyenne Contraries1' and "Cheyenne Inverted Bow String Warriors." 34 Verne F. Ray, "The Contrary Behavior Pattern in American Indian Ceremonialism," Southwestern Journal of Anthropology, I, No. 1 (Spring, 1945) " , 75-113. 126 human characteristics and substitutes the traits of the mythological being. Clothing is discarded and a costume of bark and fir is worn. His manner and actions take on the aspects of the jay, and he is often employed in a pseudo-shamanistic capacity. When the ceremony is over, this jay must be captured (through physical means) and transformed back into a human. The comparison with the Trickster evolving into a human is obvious, and the cere mony tends to relay to the audience the image of the Blue- jay (Trickster) as culture-bringer. According to Ray, this characterization, with only minute tribal differ ences, occurs among the Plateau tribes occupying a rather compact area. This consists of Flathead, Coeur d*Alene, Spokane, Kalispel, Colville and Spanpoil Indians. Des pite the overt nature of contrary behavior and inverted speech, Ray suggests that the sacred side of the contin uum must be stressed. He indicates that through Blue- jayrs antics, M. . . humorous performances sometimes re sult; one trend [even] led to the development of a near- typical clown. But clowning is not the objective; in deed, hardly more than incidental. In many instances the . . 35 activities are profoundly serious." In contrast to those societies where performances of Bluejay may be incidentally humorous are the many 35Ibid., p. 75. 127 tribes where contrary behavior becomes a deliberate at tempt at humor. The Plains Ojibwa buffoons wear absurd costumes of ragged shirts, leggings and moccasins, and a cloth mask with narrow slit eyes. They canvass the camp for food, feign hunting, converse in inverted speech, and in general act in grotesque and anti-natural manner. The story is told of how these buffoons, called Windiqokan, once acted rather foolishly, speaking inversely, in order to distract a war party of Sioux. When the Sioux let down their guard and began laughing at the buffoons, these comics turned on them, killing several Sioux and driving the rest away. This is a clear parallel to Trickster as he often tricked others to their destruction ., 36 xn like manner. Buffoons corresponding to the Plains Ojibwa are found among the Plains Cree, the Assiniboin, the Black- foot, the Oglala, and the Canadian Dakota. In each case this buffoon wears absurd costuming and make-up, and in dulges in behavior contrary to societal standards. Yet each buffoon holds a position of importance as healer or possesses spiritual power; he not only makes his audience laugh, but he is revered by his audience. Lowie describes many clown traits paralleling the mythical Trickster, among the Crow Indians. He describes 36Cf., pp. 93-96. 128 a Fourth of July performance in 1910 where two men dressed as clowns dashed through camp on horseback, attracting many young men who followed them. They proceeded to hide in the brush, donned masks or make-up to disguise them selves completely, and then returned to the camp. His narrative continues: As soon as the people catch sight of them, they cry, "The akbi1arusacarica are coming!" The clowns walk as if they were lame and act as clum sily as possible, so that the spectators cannot refrain from laughing at them. The people crowd in on the performers to watch their antics. One of the clowns is dressed up as a woman, wearing a fine elk-tooth dress; he is obliged to walk, talk, and sit like a woman, and is stuffed so as to sim ulate pregnancy. Among the clowns there is a singer who has been provided with a torn drum, the worst that could be found. The clowns attempt to make fun of any one they like, regardless of his distinction, because every one is laughing at them. The spectators try to identify the actors and to inform one another who they are. Then the clowns act like monkeys. They talk to one another in whispers and bid one^n- other dance so as to make the people laugh. The clowns continued their antics through the afternoon, finally running back into the brush to remove their dis guises, after which they returned to camp. Just before leaving the merriment, many of the boys of the tribe pelted the buffoons with dung. Parsons has indicated the"strong possibilities of 37 Robert H. Lowie, "Military Societies of the Crow Indians," Anthropological Papers of the American Museum of Natural History, XI, Part 3 (1913), 207-08. 129 cultural ties between the Plains and the Southwest Indi ans, and establishes reasonable parallels between the 38 clowning complexities of both, Ray tends to doubt his torical linkage between these two, but allows that psy chological affinity of Plains and Southwest clowns is ap- 39 parent. Whatever cultural ties may exist the fact re mains that the clowning complex in North America is the strongest among the Pueblo Indians of the Southwestern United States, And as indicated in Chapter I, the Hopi clowns saw dramatic life as a direct result of inter- 40 societal exchange with all of the other Pueblos, The Growth of the Pueblo Clown The Pueblo Indians hold a common belief that their ancestors dwelt in a world below this one, and due to a number of extenuating circumstances, left that world and came to dwell in their present locations. However, there is a tie with this first world that is often misunder stood by the white man. The Pueblo believes that many others stayed below, and that when a person dies here on earth, he is transported back to this world. This idea substantiates Diamond's admonition that, to the primitive mind, history is cyclic, as opposed to lineal, and any 38Cf., pp. 84-88. 39 Ray, "Contrary Behavior Pattern," p. 84. 40 Supra, pp. 62-84. 130 event outside this sacred cycle falls, as it were, out side history since "• • • it is of no importance in maintaining or revitalizing the traditional forms of 41 society.1 1 This connection with the former world plays an important part in the birth and maturation of the Pueblo clown. All of the Pueblos have a type of religious orga nization based on a hierarchy. This permeates their lives, and because certain clowns are high up on this scale, they are revered and held quite sacred. The Hopi Indians have not had a clown per se born of mythological parentage, but they have borrowed the buffoon from other Pueblos, especially Zuni, and the borrowed clowns re tained their rank when they reached the Hopi. Here, then, is an accounting of some of the most important clowns: their birth, their appearance, their rank in the hier archy, their immunity, and their general behavior. The ceremonial moiety system of the Pueblo Indian is expressed to a certain degree by the dualistic clown- 42 ing organizations which persist through the Southwest. These organizations reflect the two-season rationale of Indians— summer and winter— and the lines are sharply 41 Stanley Diamond, ed., Primitive Views of the World (New York and London: Columbia University Press, 1964), p. v. 42 Steward, "The Clown in Native North America," p. 4. 131 drawn between them. The first clowning organization in terms of both origin and in placement on the mythological hierarchy, is the Koshare. Koshare represents sun, sum mer, day and maturing plants. His counterpart, repre senting moon, winter, night, and growing plants is Kurena. Koshare (refer to Plate VIII) is represented all along the Rio Grande. There is a striking similarity in his mythological birth among the various Pueblos. Ac cording to Laguna legend, Iyatik (Corn Mother) said to her sisters: "I wish we had something to make us laugh.*1 So she rubbed her skin and covered the ball of epi dermis (corn meal) with a cloth. Out came the Kashare, Jq make fun, to make people forget their troubles. The cheani, the Laguna curing society, was very much an noyed by this fellow, Kashare, who took to doctoring when he was not supposed to. At Sia pueblo, the story is told this way: The first man created was called Ko*shairi [Ko- share3 : he not only acts as courier between the sun and the kachina, but he is the companion, the jester and musician (the flute being his instru ment) of the sun; he is also mediator between the people of the earth and sun; when acting as courier between the sun and the kachina and vice versa and as mediator between the people of the earth and the sun he is chief for the sun; when accompanying the sun in his daily travels he furnishes him music and entertainment; he is then the servant of 43 Parsons, Pueblo Indian Religion, p. 95. Plate VIII 132 P p l * * * * ; ’ • ' * - * ■ ' * r : : 4 : Typical Koshare Pueblo Indian CloWn 133 44 the sun. The Kere's legend parallels Laguna. Iyatiku is Mother in the first world and lives at Shipap, where the people emerge into this world from the underworld. She and her sister, Nautsiti, sing creation songs and pre sently Mautsiti leaves to the East with wheat. Iyatiku, who makes the Chiefs of the Directions and vivifies the kachina, becomes lonely. Longing for something to make her laugh, Ityatiku rubs her skin and covers the ball of epidermis with a blanket. From underneath comes Koshare to make fun and make people forget their troubles. Iyatiku makes an &jgh [the rainbow] for him to climb up and down. The Jemez Indians have a clown named Tabosh, who corresponds to the Koshare. His birth does not resemble the epidermal creation from Corn Mother, but his con nection with the sun is still evident, as well as the in evitable emergence from an underworld. These early peo ple crawled through a hole far to the north, so began their journey to the south where it was warm. For a long, long time they j-ourneyed; but the land of sunshine was not reached. On, on they marched till their food supply became scanty and their blankets became worn out. Then one by one they died of cold and hunger. For a while those who survived kept up courage even under the adverse 44 Matilde C. Stevenson, "The Sia," Eleventh Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology (Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1894!) , pi 33. 45 Parsons, Pueblo Indian Religion, p. 246. 134 conditions, and continued their onward march. At last, however, their numbers being so depleted they became despondent and wished all to die. At this juncture the mother god, the Moon, prayed to her husband, the Sun, to save the rem nant of men, their children. So the Sun took one of the survivors to our people, painted his body in transverse black and white bands, decorated his hair with corn husks, and suspended eagle feathers behind each ear. As soon as he was thus painted and decorated, this man became a "funny man," and began to dance, cut capers, and make grimaces. So interested did the people become in his performing that they for got their sorrows and became glad. They then re sumed their journey, which they continued till they reached the Rio Grande confluence. Here in this valley they <jgased their wander ings and took up their abode. Here the Jemez were soon attacked, driven into the caves and annihilation seemed certain. Through prayer a man, Pest-ya-sode, was sent to expel the enemy and in struct the people how to live in the villages in the open. Pest-ya-sode taught them religious rites and ceremonies and instituted the sacred hunt. He showed them all man ner of religious life. He made the clown-dancers the sprouters of grain; the ’'funny men*1 the maturers of grain and of everything that lives and grows upon the earth. To the god-clown dancers he gave power to repre sent men before the deities. To the medicine-men he gave the power over "sickness" and over death. To the Sun priests and their aids he gave the ^ power to intercede between those above and men. Perhaps one final accounting sums up the birth of 46 Albert B. Reagan, "Notes on Jemez Ethnography," American Anthropologist, N.S., XXXX (1927), p. 723. 47Ibid.. p. 724. 135 Koshare and his importance to the Pueblo, Bandelier re tells a story that emphasizes the significance attached to the legend of Koshare and the fear that people today have of the men impersonating these legendary people. The story was told to Bandelier by a Tehua Indian and has been subsequently confirmed by some of his friends among the Queres. It recounts the story of a woman who has been accused by her father of ill-doing. He relates to her that the Koshare are quite displeased with her, but the woman scorns the admonition and defies the Koshare. However, the father indicates that the Koshare are ex tremely potent and to defy them may bring great troubles down on the defier. He concludes the story by telling his daughter that should the Koshare no longer consider the woman precious, and thus order the father to kill the witch, he must obey the command even if it means taking 48 the life of his only child. The miraculous birth of Koshare tells not only of his origin, but indicates certain traits that this clown has as a ceremonial buffoon. There are prescribed func tions, both social and ritual, that Koshare performs. Due to his high place in Hopi hierarchy he has also in herited numerous immunities. In brief form, then, here is an outline of some of the functions and a guide to 48 An edited recounting of this story in extended form may be found in Appendix B. 136 Koshare's significance in a sampling of Pueblo cultures. Cochiti Pueblo.— The Ko'shairi, with Kurena, form togeth er with a non-clowning society, the Curdzi, creating a non-curing group. They function there as a managing so ciety, and are used to lead in the dancers and amuse the 49 people. Both sexes may belong to the society, gener ally for life. Membership may be acquired by pledging, trespassing, applying, or in some cases, by a gift as a 50 child. The ritual of the Ko'shairi clown society, in keeping with his mythological origin and god-given ad monition, is primarily concerned with fertility of crops and promotion of general public welfare. Although some Ko'shairi may belong to the Flint, a curing society, they do not engage primarily in curing. However, an invalid cured by a Ko’shairi is automatically initiated into the 1 • 4. 5 1 clown society. During the Spanish occupation of Cochiti, the Cath olic priests were jealous because the clowns performed miracles and did whatever came into their heads. After being threatened by the Franciscans, two of the Ko'shairi 49 Esther H. Goldfrank, "The Social and Ceremonial Organization of Cochiti," Memoirs of the American Anthro pological Association. XXXIII (1927), 42-43. 5QIbid., pp. 52-54. ~^Fray Noel Dumarest, "Notes on Cochiti, New Mex ico," trans. and ed. by Elsie Clews Parsons, Memoirs of the American Anthropological Association, VI, No. 3 (July-September, 1919), 191. 137 returned to shipapu to hold council with the Mother who had given the clowns their power. When they revealed to her that they had been criticized, the Mother said to them ". . .that the koshare wayatyama had no power to do secret things or miracles, that they had power only to amuse the people and to make the shiwanna [kachina] come 52 and to have koshare dances.” Isleta Pueblo.— The moiety of summer and winter people is carried throughout the village by the clowns. The Isleta counterpart of Koshare, called Shure, essentially repre sents the more conservative hence anti-Anglo-American party. The Ship-hung may be equated with the Kurena, and 53 represent the progressive party at Isleta. The former is an expression of the summer people while the latter represents winter. The actual clowns of Isleta are the Grandfathers, called te ' en, who are three men from each of these moieties mentioned. They act as watchmen for the kachina dancers, and are the only ones who wear 54 masks. 52Ibid., p. 192. 53 Elsie Clews Parsons, "Notes on Isleta, Santa Ana, and Acoma," American Anthropologist, N.S., XXII (1920), 57 , n. 54 Elsie Clews Parsons, "The Laguna Migration to Isleta," American Anthropoloqist, N.S., XXX (1928), 608. 138 Jemez Pueblo,— The Tabosh (Koshare) of Jemez reflects the fertility idea seen in the other Pueblos, Part of this clown*s function is to perform, with certain women’s so cieties, ground cleansing and growth producing cere monies. They have also a spiritual function to represent 55 men before their deities. Laguna Pueblo.— As in so many cases, the primary function of the Kashare at Laguna is not curing. However, he does participate in some disease-sucking, and to be cured in this manner means automatic membership in the clowning society. In addition to being able to remove evil in fluences the Kashare join with the Kurena in rain-making ceremonies. At one time they were in charge of the ka- 5 6 china cult. The inverted speech trait of the clowns which is evident throughout the Southwest, is used to a 57 great degree by the Laguna Kashare. The above sampling is necessarily incomplete and rather exclusive, since it covers so few Pueblos. Still it is representative to some degree, and a few conclu sions can be drawn concerning Koshare. First, his miraculous birth follows the usual pat tern of giving credence to divination in order to justify 55 Reagan, "Notes on Jemez,” p. 7 24. 56 Steward, ’’The Clown in Native North America.” p. 8. 57 Parsons, ’’Spanish Elements,” p. 595. 139 a supernatural being* Second, those things that gave him birth are held in the highest esteem— the sun, Corn Mother, and the corn meal which comprises Corn Mother's skin. This naturally places him on the most revered of levels, high on the sacred hierarchy, and subsequently feared. This also results in certain immunities that mere mortals, or even lesser supernaturals, are not al lowed. Third, he is a bringer of welfare to the commun ity. Although perhaps not totally fulfilling Radin's Trickster culture-hero figure, Koshare nevertheless does have within his power the fertilization of the seeds. This means he also has an inordinate connection with life- giving rain, that commodity so sparse in the Pueblo In dian environment. Through all of his sacredness and ceremonial func tioning as a life-giver, it is still another attribute that helps make him so close to his society. He is to amuse the people, help them to forget their burdens, and bring the happiness that the sun and rain and good crops will supply the people. These are all embodied in Ko share. His likeness is universal throughout the Pueblos, and his influence has been felt in Hopi. The physical being that is Koshare manifests him self in a high degree of uniformity throughout the Pueb los by his costume and paint. The typical appearance of Koshare is seen in Plate VIII. He has alternating bands 140 of black and white painted on his body; his face resembles a mask, done with black paint around the eyes and mouth; he most often wears two tall horn-type attachments on a skull cap, topped with the ever present corn husks (often these may simply be his own hair tied to resemble horns, but still with the husks). They frequently wear a simple breech-cloth and ties around their wrists and legs. The variations by village show some diversity from this basic appearance, yet wherever one goes in the Southwest the Koshare is easily recognized. The second personage in the Koshare clown moiety is Kurena, the clown representing moon, winter, night, and growing plants. Kurena's birth and existence appar ently do not have the significance of Koshare, and per haps just a brief examination of this clown will suffice. At Sia, for example, the legend is that Quer'ranna (Kurena) was the second man created, after Koshare, and held a similar relationship to the moon that Koshare did to the Sun. Quer'ranna received his power or medicine 58 from the moon. At Jemez, the society that corresponds to Kurena is called Tsun'ta-tabosh or Ice Society, in- 59 dicatmg the winter connection. When Pest-ya-sode 5 8 Stevenson, "The Sia," p. 33. 59 Parsons, Pueblo Indian Religion, p. 129. made the clown dancers (Tabosh) the sprouters of grain, he in turn made the Tsun* ta-tabosh the ". • • maturers of • ,,60 grain. *’ The similar attributes among the Pueblos with the Kurena are two-fold; one, they are not so overtly the buffoons as the Koshare, and two, they are always con nected with weather-control or rain-making. Kurena*s costume varies considerably and does not carry out the universal motif seen in Koshare. At Cochiti, for in stance, they may wear handsome shirts, trousers, and at- 61 tach hawk feathers to their hair. Yet at other vil lages they may frequently appear wearing yellow and white masks and possibly black paint on their face and black dots on their bodies. The Zuni, often considered part of the western complex of Pueblos along with the Hopi, exerted perhaps more influence on the Hopi clown than any other Pueblo with the possible exception of the Tewa and Keres who moved to Hopi after 1680. The Zuni, also, have a clown 6 3 moiety system, the Ne'wekwe and the Shi*wanakwe. Of the two, Ne'wekwe is somewhat similar to Koshare, al- ^Reagan, "Notes on Jemez,** p. 724. ^Goldfrank, "Organization of Cochiti," pp. 90-91. sr *y Paul Coze, "Of Clowns and Mudheads," Arizona Highways, August, 1952, p. 18. 6 3 Parsons, "Spanish Elements,** p. 585. 142 though unlike Koshare, Ne'wekwe is an order of one of the 64 curing societies, and is more prominent m the winter than in the summer. The Ne'wekwe or Galaxy Fraternity may be one of the four original fraternities organized soon after A'shiwi emerged into this world. The legend relates that when A'shiwi was migrating throughout the land, Bitsitsi was appointed musician and jester to the Ne’wekwe fra ternity. Their migration ended at Ojo Caliente, approx imately fifteen miles southwest of the present Zuni vil lage. Here, Ne'wekwe's god Kokkohlan appeared and asked about Ne'wekwe's medicine. The god then gave the frater nity human excrement to use in conjunction with their own medicine. Bitsitsi then disappeared below the lake and •• ^ 65 since then has been called Pa'yatamu. The gift from Kokkohlan partially accounts for the scatological pen chant that Ne'wekwe have, and their powerful medicine for curing. The actual creation of the person Ne'wekwe, the Zuni clown, is similar to the magical birth of Koshare from Corn Mother's epidermis: In the first Zuni curing society there were but two old men and one old woman. The sons of Sun 64 Parsons, Pueblo Indian Religion, p. 129. 65 Matilde C. Stevenson, "The Zuni Indians: Their Mythology, Esoteric Societies, and Ceremonies," Twenty- third Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology (Washington: U. sZ Government Printing Office, 1904) , pp. 429-30. 143 said to them, "It is too bad you are alone. Take rubbings from your skin and make a little figure. Cover it up and sing over it." This they did, and a little boy came up, the first Ne'wekwe, a rest less, reckless chatterbox, saying gge opposite of what he meant and saying anything. Membership in the clown curing fraternity is open to both sexes and is permanent. However, the women do 67 ^ not ". . . come out to play." Most of the Zuni Ne'wekwe paint their bodies ashen and wear skull caps to which they have fastened corn husks, similar to the Koshare. One member paints black and white strips on his body, and 6 8 ties his hair in horn-like bunches. The importance of the Ne'wekwe in the community is acknowledged by the entire Pueblo. A sacrosanct baton is 69 used by the chief of the Ne'wekwe as a sign of office. And this ceremonial clown is free to do what he pleases, regardless of the rules. He will say the opposite of what he means. He will often speak in English or Spanish before a kachina, speech which is absolutely forbidden to all others. He may call out the name of a deceased person in the plaza, a breach that under any other cir- 70 cumstances the family would resent. 66 Parsons, Pueblo Indian Religion, p. 95. 67Ibid., p. 132. ^Stevenson, "The Zuni Indians," p. 436; Pis. 30,31. 69 Parsons, "Ritual Parallels," p. 643. 70 - Parsons, "Notes on Zuni," pp. 229-30. 144 Mimicry, burlesque, and ridicule are the stock in trade of the Ne’wekwe, and they don’t limit these farci cal tirades to their own people. Stevenson’s account of a Ne'wekwe burlesque of a Catholic service is complete with ridicule of the saints and holding the pater noster . . 71 up to derision. Parsons relates a burlesque of a witch-hunt accomplished by nine Ne’wekwe which culminated 72 m a hanging that went, on purpose, ridiculously wrong. The scatologic practice that the Ne'wekwe in herited from Kokkohlan for medicinal purposes seems to manifest itself in their public antics. Urine is con stantly being poured on the Ne’wekwe, as well as their companions the Koyemshi, from the roof-tops. The women of the village often fill large containers with urine which they then douse liberally on the clowns. These buffoons also handle and consume quantities of excrement during their appearance in the plaza. Frequently the clown who indulges the most in these antics is considered 73 the best of the group. This particular practice alone has caused many to avoid trespassing or curing by the Ne’wekwe, since that would mean automatic membership in the fraternity. ^Stevenson, "The Zuni Indians," pp. 437-38 ^Parsons, "Notes on Zuni," p. 231. ^Stevenson, "The Zuni Indians," p. 437. 145 One of the first accounts of the practice of scat ologic antics that is reminiscent of Trickster comes from Captain John G. Bourke, who visited and lived among the Zuni in the Southwest. His account of a performance of the Ne'wekwe, which he spells Nehue-Cue, indicates the consumption of an amazing amount of urine by the twelve clowns. The entire performance included the burlesque of Catholic services and ludicrous references to all the spectators in the room. Bourke describes the typical black and white body paint and the corn-husk horns tradi tionally associated with this group. The white man came under special ridicule for his gluttony and waste as well as his Catholicism. Bourke's report scarcely hides his repugnancy at observing the Zunis' scatologic indulgences, and despite his attempted scientific conciliation to this reported rite, his obvious distaste for the ceremony is 74 evident. Ne'wekwe's accomplice and very popular buffoon is Koyemshi— the Mudhead. These clowns are of Zuni origin but appear often under different names in all the pueblos. Outside of their homeland of Zuni, however, they appear most frequently in the Hopi villages. The legend of Koy emshi ' s birth, as related by Cushing, is that the first 74 A full account of Bourke's observation of this ceremony is included in Appendix B. 146 people were seeking the Middle, and had grown weary in their search* A highpriest among them, Ka'wimosa (meaning "of the Ka'ka," master maker or source) had four sons and a daughter. He sent the oldest of the sons out in search of the Middle, but the boy never returned. Ka’wimosa re peated this twice more, using the next two sons respec tively. None returned. Finally he sent his youngest son Se'weluhsiva together with his daughter Si'wiluhsitsa toward the east. The brother and sister traveled some distance when, being weary, they stopped to rest. While the girl was sleeping, the young man, watching the gentle breeze rip ple her light garments over her body, was consumed with passion for his sister, whom he violated. The action of intercourse awakened the girl, who berated her brother severely amd attempted to run away. Si'weluhsiva was so beset with anguish that he: • • • beat his head and temples and tore away his hair and garments and clutched his eyes and mouth wildly, until great welts and knobs stood out on his head; his eyes puffed and goggled, his lips blubbered and puckered; tears and sweat with wet blood bedrenched his whole person, and he cast him self headlong and rolled in the dust until coated with the dun earth of the plain. And when he staggered to his feet, the red soil adhered to him as skin cleaves to flesh and his ugliness hard ened. 7 5 ~ Frank H. Cushing, "Outlines of Zuni Creation Myths," Thirteenth Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethno1oqy (Washinqton: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1896), p. 440. 147 Si’wiluhsitsa became extremely wrought up over this, yet justified her brother’s behavior with the statement, ”. . • ’But he loved me!*” So she then forgave her brother, and even yearned for him. They spent the rest of their days talking loudly, laughing or crying. Act ing as silly children they played on the ground and their gibberish echoed ceaselessly from the mountains. Yet even as they acted so, they were as wise as the high priests since they were progenies of a priest. Twelve children— today's Koyemshi— were born through their in cestuous alliances, all of them of strange personalities, insane or deformed or acting in a peculiar manner. Cushing gives the following description of the appearance and conduct of the ten surviving Koyemshi (see Plate II): In time there were born to these twain 12 children. Nay, neither man children nor woman children, they! For look now! The first was a woman in fullness of contour, but a man in stat ure and brawn. From the mingling of too much seed in one kind, comes the twofold one kind la'- hmon, being man and woman combined. . . . Yet not all ill was this first child, because she was born of love, ere her parents were changed; thus she partook not of their distortions. Not so with her brothers; in semblance of males, yet like boys, the fruit of sex was not in them! For the fruit of mere lust ripens not. For their parents, being changed to hideousness, abode together witlessly and consorted idly or in passion not quickened of favor to the eye or the heart. And lo! like to their father were his later children, but varied as his moods. . . . Thus they were strapping louts, but dun colored and marked with the welts of their father. Silly were they, yet wise as the gods and high priests; for as simpletons and the crazed 148 speak from the things seen of the instant, utter ing belike wise words and prophecy, so spake they, and became the attendants and fosterers, yet the sages and interpreters of the ancient dance dramas of the ka'ka. Named are they not with the names of men, but with names of mismeaning, for there is pekwina, priest speaker of the sun. Meditative is he, even in the quick of day, after the fashion of his father when shamed, saying little save rarely, and then as irrelevantly as the veriest child or dotard. Then there is pi'lan shiwani (bow priest war rior). So cowardly he that he dodges behind lad ders, thinking them trees no doubt, and lags after all the others, whenever frightened, even at the fluttering leaf or a crippled spider, and looks in every direction but the straight one whenever dan ger threatens I There is eshotsi (the bat) who can see better in the sunlight than any of them, but would maim himself in a shadow, and will avoid a hole in the ground as a woman would a dark place even were it no bigger than a beetle burrow. Also there is muiyapona (wearer of the eyelets of invisibility). He has horns like the catfish and is knobbed like a bludgeon squash. But he never by any chance disappears, even when he hides his head behind a ladder run or turkey quill, yet thinks himself quite out of sight. And he sports with his countenance as though it were as smooth as a damsel1 s. There is potsoki (the pouter) who does little but laugh and look bland, for grin he can not; and his younger brother Nalashi (aged buck) who is the biggest of them all, and what with having grieved and nearly rubbed his eyes out (when his younger brother was captured and carried off by the Kyamak- yakwe of snail ka'ka of the south), looks as an cient as a horned toad; yet he is frisky as a fawn, and giggles like a girl; yea, and bawls as lustily as a small boy playing games. The next brother, itseposa (the glum or ag grieved), mourned also for his nearest brother, who was stolen by the ka'ka, too, until his eyes were dry utterly and his chin chapped to protru sion; but nathless he is lively and cheerful and ever as ready indeed as the most complaisant of beings. Kyalutsi (the suckling) and tsalashi (old youth), the youngest, are the most willfully impor- 149 tant of the nine, always advising others and strut ting like a young priest at his first dance or like unto the youthful warrior made to aged think ing and self-notioned with early honoring. And while the father stands dazed, with his head bowed and his hands clasped before him or like to broken bows hanging by his sides, these children romp and play (as he and his sister did when turned childish), and verily are like to id iots, or to dotards and crones turned young again, inconstant as laughter, startle to new thought by every flitting thing around them; but, in the pres ence of the ka'ka of old, they are grave, what though so uncouth. And they are the oracles of all olden sayings of deep meanings; wherefore they are called the kayemashi (husbandmen of the ka'ka or sacred dance drama); and they are spoken of, even by the fathers of the people, as the alashi tsewashi (sages of the ancients). And most pre- cious7in the sight of the beings and of men are they! Thus, when the public sees the Koyemshi hiding be hind ladders or running from crippled spiders, or laugh ing and strutting about the plaza, they see manifested before them the idiosyncrasies and insane action of all people, synthesized into one performance. Yet the Koy emshi are sacred and precious to the people. For as Cushing states, not only are the Koyemshi Sages of the Ancients, but as Cushing’s informant tells him: But for their birth and the manner thereof, it is said that all had been different; for from it many things came to be as they are, alike^gor men and gods and even the souls of the dead! 77Ibid., p. 402. 7 P , Ibid., pp. 402-03. 150 This once again fits the Trickster image as a bringer of culture, and reflects the idea perpetuated by Radin that although the buffoon possesses no values and acts indiscriminately, that it is through him that all values come into being. Koshare, Kurena, Ne'wekwe, and Koyemshi— these are but a few Pueblo clowns that found their way into Hopi ceremony. Yet they made important contributions, and their lives among the Hopi were enhanced or dimished as each village either accepted, then amplified, the clown's duties, or denied and reduced his function. When these ceremonial buffoons migrated to Hopi, some mutation took place, yet the parallels are obvious, and the mythologi cal Trickster as discussed by Radin saw dramatic life in Hopi society. Later discussion will peruse the Pueblo clowns in their Hopi context in terms of both function and significance. Formation of the Hopi Clown Societies The Hopi have had four basic men's societies into one of which every Hopi boy had to be initiated. These societies are Tataukyamu, Wuwuchim, Agave and Horn. The coming of Christianity with its accompanying converts has drastically affected this long-standing Hopi law. Pre sently many Hopi boys do not want to go through the rigors of initiation. Indeed becoming a member of one of the 151 many Christian sects that now permeate the Hopi nation precludes initiation into the religious societies that comprise the Hopi culture. Still, for purposes of this study, a brief examination of two of the four basic so cieties is necessary, for they included clowning traits. These two societies— Tataukyamu and Wuwuchim— are two of 79 the most powerful groups in Hopi religion. In organi- 8 0 zation, the Tataukyamu or Singers control the joint 81 ceremony of all four societies. A third society— the Mamzrauti— will also be considered. This is a woman's society that also engages in some clowning. The cultural ancestors of the Wuwuchimtu and Ta taukyamu were descended from Taiowa, an individualized supernatural and patron to the clowns who is not a ka- 82 china per se. Mamzrautu, the women's clowning society, was a sister clan to these two men's societies. Ac- 79 Absolutes cannot be drawn, however, since the Hopi regard each mesa and each village nearly autonomous in its social and religious organization. As an example, the Agave Society is considered the most powerful on Sec ond Mesa, yet less outstanding on First Mesa. Still the Agave chief at Walpi (on First Mesa) during Stephen's day was of such a dominating and powerful character that he went to Washington with the Town Chief in a party es corted by Thomas Keam in the 1880's. Parsons, Pueblo Indian Religion, p. 128 and n. 80 * Parsons terminology, Pueblo Indian Religion. 81 Parsons, Pueblo Indian Religion, p. 128. 82Ibid., p . 179. 152 cording to Hopi legend, Taiowa invented the flute and taught the mysteries of Wuwuchimtu to one son and the mysteries of Mamzrauti to a daughter. These two, brother and sister, erected altars in the Underworld some distance apart in front of the Atkya Sitcomovi— the Flower Mound of the Underworld, upon which sat the God of Germs. The boy taunted his sister, calling out, "My sis ter, you are a nasty maid." She replied in kind, and after many jibes and jeers they closed this oral abuse by pouring water on each other in jest. Fewkes' narrator summarized this action by saying: ". • • and thus we 8 3 hope the rain may water our fields." A singularly im portant footnote to this is added by Fewkes: "The key to all ceremonies is embodied here. The priest imitates the natural processes he wishes to bring to pass, or shows 84 the god what he wishes him to do." This homeopathic approach to worship and its attending control of nature 8 5 has been perused by many anthropologists from Frazer on, and despite varying opinions, still tends to be deeply rooted in Hopi ritual. An illustrative example is when 8 3 J. Walter Fewkes, "The New-fire Ceremony at Walpi," American Anthropologist, N.S., IX, No. 1 (January- March, 1900), 125. 84 Ibid., p. 125, n. ^James G. Frazer, The Golden Bough: a Study in Magic and Religion (12 vols., 3rd ed., rev.; London: Macmillan and Co., Ltd., 1935). 153 the clowns in public ceremony are thoroughly drenched with water, the belief being that this will ensure rain. Indeed, they equate the amount of water poured on the clowns in direct proportion to the chance of rain— thus 8 6 the more water used, the better chance of rain. The Squash clan, to which the clown societies be long, is also called Sorrow-people. Steward believes this is an inverted reference, since their actions are 8 7 not sorrowful. Added power was bestowed upon these so cieties by the Germ God when he gave them seeds of corn, squash, melon and bean. The results of the combination of water-pouring and seed-planting is seen in the emphasis upon the phallic and fertility displays that are prominent in the rites of these societies, as well as the ribald and (to the kahopi ear) obscene remarks exchanged between a 88 the Wuwuchimtu and the Mamzrauti. The importance of clowning to the basic religious and cultural structure of the Hopi cannot be overempha sized. Just as Radin indicates the impact that the Trick ster has on Winnebago society, apparently the impact that these clowning societies have on the Hopi is paramount to their cultural existence. To the person who is not Hopi, 86 Expanded discussion on this point follows later in this study. 87 Steward, f,The Clown in Native North America," p. 11. O Q Fewkes, "New-fire Ceremony," p. 125. 154 the antics of the clown do seem often obscene and taste less. His preoccupation with the scatologic, his obses sion for the phallic, and his passion for gluttony, all border on the offensive to the non-Hopi beholder. Dozier quotes a Hopi-Tewa friend as saying that good Christians, including Hopi converts, will not participate in nor 89 watch the dances. But the significance of the clowning societies to Hopi culture is partly illuminated by Fewkes in this statement describing the Wuwuchimti New Fire Cer emony : The festival of the new fire is performed by four religious fraternities or societies called the Aaltu or Alosaka, the Kwakwantu, Tataukyamu, and Wuwuchimtu. The dominating element in this great yearly festival which opens the Hopi year, is the wor ship of the germ god, Alosaka or Muyinwu. Fire is a living being, a mystery, a spirit, and the creation of fire is symbolic with the creation of life. The making of the new fire may be considered as a kind of sympathetic magic or symbolic prayer for the rejuvenescence of nature, and the various so called phallic proceedings which accompany it have the same significance. This festival is not regarded as a fire-worship ceremonial, but an as pect of the worship of the mystery or medicine which fire shares with every other living or mov ing thing^ embracing both organic and inorganic obj ects. Hopi ceremonial organization is extremely complex, and within that organization are various clans, groups 89 Edward P. Dozier, "The Hopi-Tewa of Arizona," University of California Publications in American Anthro pology and Ethnology, XLIV, No. 3 (1954), p. 299. ^Fewkes, "Hopi Katcinas," p. 26. 155 and even kachinas, who display a great deal of humor. Often these people resemble the clown’s antics, and the spectators find them amusing. The Qoqlo, for example, is regarded as akin to the clowns, and many of his actions on the last day of the Soyal (Winter Solstice) are consis tent with a clowning characterization. They frequently burlesque the dancers of other religious societies. Yet they are not clowns, in the same sense as Koshare or Koy emshi, and the described actions are better accounted for by Kennard's advice that ,f. • . this is but one of the many occasions in a public dance when the Hopi sense of 91 . . humor finds expression in burlesque.’' In addition to the Qoqlo kachina there is the Hahaiwuhti, who is a ka- china mother full of clownish good humor, running about and jabbering in a high, falsetto voice. She, although portrayed by a male, often pours water on the spectators who enjoy the action. There is also Kwikwilyaya, the imitating kachina. His distinguishing trait is that he is capable of mimicking with mirror-like precision and rapidity every action and gesture of a person before him. There is no way of getting rid of this imitator, and the spectators are nearly in hysterics over his absolutely perfect imitation, especially if he uses a white person 91 . Edwin Earle and Edward Kennard, Hopi Kachinas (New York: J. J. Augustin, 1938), p. 16. 156 as his model. According to Wright, "of the kachina that act like clowns or can function as a clown at one time or another or get involved in a comic situation, there must be at least fifty. The inference from the number of clowns and the amount of public clowning would seemingly indicate that humor is a fundamental ingredient of Hopi life. It per meates his life, and is reflected in his personal and social relationships as well as his public ceremonies. The Hopi is often quick to see the humor in a person or situation, and just as often laughs at himself when he becomes the butt of a joke. This humorous strain finds itself woven into many stories. Stories that are not about clowns, nor do clowns take parts in the tales. They reflect, rather, the humorous qualities inherent in the Hopi Way. Stephen recounts one such tale: The Hehe'ya Trick Hu'ike At Kisyu dwelt the Hu'ike kachina Gth e Hu'ike are men, always angry and growlingj. The Hehe'ya are industrious, but they are siwahovi man that no woman will marry, a hermaphrodite^]• The Hui'ki were one day working in their fields and the Hehe' ya came to help them. About noon, the Hii'iki being hungry said to the Hehe'ya, "Go you to the village and tell our wives to give you some food and bring some out to us," and as they were starting on this errand the Hui'ki said, "By what name are you peo ple known, how shall we call you?" The Hehe'ya said, "We are called i'ich chova (hasten to copu late)." When they reached the village they found ^Wright, interview, June, 1970. 157 the women preparing wafer-bread and other food, and having delivered their message, the women set food before them, and made bundles of food for them to take out to the fields. After the Hehe'ya had eaten, they said to the women, "Your husbands also said that you should copulate with us," but the women said, "Surely you are liars; go away; take the food out to the fields, and do not speak so foolish." But the Hehe'ya had loitered so long that the men in the fields were growing impatient and began to call to them to hasten their return. The cunning Hehe'ya expected this, so they said to the women, "Surely we are speaking truth, but if you do not believe us, listen to your husbands." So the women listened and sure enough they heard the men calling from the fields, "I'ich chovaI", and thus being convinced they yielded themselves to the Hehe'ya, who gave no more thought to car rying the food for the field workers. After a while the Hui'ki came in to the village and dis covering the trick that had been put upon them, they ^shed the Hehe'ya with yucca and drove them away. The Hopi Way then becomes the milieu in which the clown lives. This buffoon was both born into, and adopted by, a culture where ritual and ceremonialism are especial ly elaborate and extensive. He grew through societal membership into a recognized element of that culture's religion. His duties are many, his functions are con trolled, and his significance is established. 9 3 Alexander M. Stephen, "Hopi Tales," The Journal of American Folk-lore, XLII, No. 163 (January-March, 1929), pp. 50-51. CHAPTER IV PSYCHOLOGICAL AND SOCIOLOGICAL CONSIDERATIONS OF CLOWNING One of man’s strongest defenses against a hostile environment has been the establishment of order. This tendency, perhaps even need, to assuage fears and reduce threats has taken many forms, such as animism, magic, coercive rites, and dramatic ceremony, Radin indicates that the growth of new myths and new dream-myths often springs from a struggle for existence. That struggle has been both communal and individual in nature. Indeed, he points out that aboriginal societies, in contrast to civilized ones, apparently held higher respect for in dividuals. While such societies demanded a degree of social and political integration, they also possessed a concept of personal security that transcended govern mental forms and tribal or group interests.'*' Social stratification existed, but, according to Radin, every individual was entitled to the basic commodities of food, shelter, and clothing. To deny a person these things was '*'Radin, Primitive Man, p. 11. 158 159 2 to consider him dead. Still this high degree of indiv idualism must not interfere with an orderly working of the community which was governed by fixed rules enforced by public opinion. Despite an individuality as described by Radin, no one had the right to break established laws or taboos without some degree of punishment. The estab lished life-style pattern existed for the benefit of all, and it must not be broken to accommodate an individual. The degree to which each person within a society was sub limated to the community becomes, in Radin*s thinking, economic. He feels that the high degree of systemization within societies is due to a persistent need for communal 3 economy. In short, the position of an individual within a society was secure only to that degree that he was not a detriment to that society, and indeed was a contributing member to it. Substantiation for the idea that the in dividual could maintain his autonomous position only in relation to the above criteria comes from many sources, such as Gluckman, Waal Malefijt, Campbell, and Levi- Strauss. Levy-Bruhl, for example, indicates that the ^Ibid., p. 15. 3 For instance, Radin feels that puberty rit^s be came important as a transition not only from youth to adult (a rebirth), but that this transition was ". . . the passing of an individual from the position of being an economic liability to that of an economic and social asset.1' Ibid. , p. 152. 160 social group or clan is the real unit within a society, 4 and the individual becomes an element of the group. If societies have devised a patterned method of defense against the threats of their social environment, the question then arises, how is it possible that any society can abide a person within its social structure who flag rantly violates that society's mores? Perhaps even more baffling is the question, how can that person be afforded immunity from reprisal, when such activities are strictly forbidden to others in the group? The Trickster, whether mythological or dramatically real, historically has bro ken taboos, defied authority, and burlesqued the most sacred rites of societies across the world, and with im punity. There evidently must be certain criteria within a given society that allows such transgressions. Norbeck attempts a partial explanation of this phenomenon when he explains that 11. . . customs may be defied and burlesqued, and social superiors mocked, re viled, and threatened in only certain kinds of societies. Gluckman holds that institutionalized rebellious rites occur only within an established and unchallenged social order, and that our modern civilized society has no place 4 Lucien Levy-Bruhl, The 1 Soul' of the Primitive (New York: Frederick A. Praeger, 1966), p. 87. 161 5 for them because our social order itself is questioned.1’ Thus Norbeck, and Gluckman, contend that an established order accepts as right and good, and even sacred, rebel lious rites and excesses because the order itself keeps this rebellion within bounds. The ceremonial buffoon evidently occupies a unique position within this type of established order, recognizable by all, and given immun ity by the society itself who is responsible for estab lishing the order and consequent punishments for trans gressions of that order. The Ceremonial Clown as Mediator Levi-Strauss suggests that this unique position of the buffoon becomes that of a mediator through his polarity of actions. He indicates that the basic problem in Pueblo mythology is to discover a mediation between life and death, a problem of special difficulty since the Pueblo understands the origin of human life on the model £ of vegetal life. Due to their agrarian-oriented history, the Pueblos have relied for their basic existence upon agriculture. The highest form of life for the Pueblo springs from the ground, and this life-commodity is cy- 5 Edward Norbeck, Religion in Primitive Society (New York: Harper and Row, 1961), p. 205. £ Claude Levi-Strauss, "The Structural Study of Myth," Myth: A Symposium, ed. by Thomas A. Sebeok (Phil adelphia: American Folklore Society, 1955), pp. 59-60. 162 clic in nature. Since it is periodical there appears to be an alteration between life and death. Agriculture provides food without the necessity of "killing,” there fore it represents life. On the other hand, hunting, which also supplies food, is similar to warfare, since killing must take place. This places hunting in a death- syndrome for the agriculturally oriented Pueblo. When the Indian sees both ends of this diametric— life and death— in the simplest of terms, there apparently is no psychological schism created. It is when the ambiguity of the animal-food (thus life destroyed) pattern insin uates itself into the plant-food (life) complex that a contradiction arises. It is this opposition of relative values that of necessity must be alleviated for the mem bers of the society. Levi—Strauss indicates that ". • • the fact that contradiction appears in the middle of the dialectical process has as its result the production of a double series of dioscuric pairs, the purpose of which is to operate a mediation between conflicting terms, . . . which consists in combinatory variants of the same 7 function; (hence the war attribute of the clowns. * .)." The central pair of "dioscuric mediators" becomes cere monial clowns, mediating between divine messengers and war gods. In brief summation, Levi-Strauss postulates: 7 Ibid., p. 61. 163 Thus, the mediating function of the trickster explains that since its position is halfway be tween two polar terms he must retain something of that duality, namely an ambiguous and equivocal character. Not only can we account for the ambiguous charac ter of the trickster, but we may also understand another property of mythical figures the world over g • . he may be good and bad at the same time. That Trickster may fulfill this dual role with im punity becomes especially important when seen in the con text of a society where fixed rules are paramount to that society’s existence. The ceremonial buffoon takes on added importance as mediator when viewed in the light of the flexibility of primitive peoples to the outward con servatism of their society. There remains a type of checks and balances within the society that helps to maintain an integrated relationship between the indiviual identification with the group, as well as a connection with ”. . . a larger configuration in which the individ- 9 ual and the groups are separate and distinct units.” Trickster, then, occupies a meaningful position between the individual’s concept of self and his concept of this higher configuration. Yet this higher configuration may pose psychological problems which the individual in that ^Ibid., pp. 63-64. g Paul Radin, Primitive Man as Philosopher (New York: P. Appleton and Co., 1927), p. 52. 164 society is unable to comprehend or adequately validate in terms of his own existence. Often the very religion that brings a patternization and solidarity to his life may also pose a threat to the individual. Honigmann indi cates it this way: In the cultural life of a society, religion, with its emphasis on the fatalistic character of human life, the awesomeness and exotic character of the ritual, the enforced subordination of the individual before the mysterious rites, may all serve as threats to the individual in the sense that they instill in him an unpleasant^gense of helplessness, powerlessness, and fear. Vicarious Release Through the Clown*s Antics Apparently a meaningful path out of the morass must be made available for the individual if he is to remain a contributor to his community. Honigmann continues: Any . . . cultural situation that is fraught with urgency, that is ordinarily taboo to the society at large, and that cannot be adequately compre hended by the individual in the light of his daily experience, may have some of its awesomeness and power discharged or reduced by being brought into the individual’s experience through distortion. Clowning and burlesque act as common denominators or cultural enzymes whereby the religious material is translated into a more familiar form. The sa credness and terror are taken out of the priest, rituals, etc., and the crowd laughs where other wise it must act with reverence, fear or wonder. What may in other societies be done individually or secretly, accompanied by severe manifestations of guilt and anxiety, among these Indian groups is John J. Honigmann, 1 1 An Interpretation of the Social-Psychological Functions of the Ritual Clown," Character and Personality, X (September, 1941-June, 1942), 220. 16 5 handled painlessy and collectively through the ceremonial clowns with whom the crowd identi fies. Levine offers further substantiation for the idea that ritualistic clowning may serve as a device to help relieve an individual's unconscious tensions built up by subservience to ritual and taboos. He indicates that humor, by way of a sanctified clown, ”. . . provides a socially acceptable mode of releasing libidinal, aggres sive, and infantile impulses which might otherwise be ex- 1 2 pressed m antisocial behavior m these societies.” As he indicates, rituals and taboos, which are akin to neurotic symptoms, serve a dual function of gratification and defense. They both are effective compromises so long as the drive remains repressed. The institutionalized antics of the clown become a communally accepted regu lator which allows the expression of socially disrupting behavior. The ceremonial buffoon does not limit his activi ties to a denigration of religious ritual and ceremony. As Honigmann states: Any phenomenon which is highly charged with emotion may foster so called defensive institu tions on the part of the society. In every culture there are objects, rituals, 11Xbid., pp. 220-21. 12 . . Jacob Levine, "Regression in Primitive Clowning,” The Psychoanalytic Quarterly, XXX (1961), 72. 166 and personages that are taboo with respect to the degree of familiarity permitted toward them on the part of the majority of the society. They are endowed with great potency or mana, making their violation or common handling extremely dangerous or the occasion of great sin. They are also mys terious in the sense of being incompletely under stood. Ritual associated with such tabooed mater ial is always a more or less unexplained set of operations for communicating with invisible, su pernatural beings or forces. Such procedures in most cases are outside the everyday experience of the society. They appear as a phase of communal life which is restricted, forbidden, tabooed, and not understood by the society, but toward which are demanded certain responses and attitudes of awe, fear, reverence, etc. Enforced attitudes, incomplete participation in the stressed cere monies, as well as rigidly maintained separation from the tabooed objects, personages, or rituals, all combine to instigate feelings of frustration, powerlessness, and insecurity in the members of the society. The resulting behavior may conceiv ably take a variety of forms, such as humor or burlesque, which^igay have become more or less in stitutionalized. Consequently a gamut of meaningful secular mores within a society may also be the clown's target for ridicule, burlesque, and travesty. His satires bring constant at tention to the accepted societal standards by flagrant violation of those standards. Often the clown's antics reduce the venerated tribal authorities to bumbling id iots. They break the society's attitudes toward conser vation of food by their gluttonous behavior, and their abnormal sexual appetites stretch far beyond the bounds of accepted societal sex practices. Most of these ac tivities are easily understood in context of overt buf- ^Honigmann, "The Ritual Clown," pp. 222-24. 167 foonery, but perhaps the most perplexing trait of con trary behavior for modern observors to comprehend is the clown’s predilection toward the scatologic. The mytho logical Winnebago Trickster again sets the standard for studying the buffoon’s inordinate preoccupation with ex crement. In episode twenty-three of the myth cycle, Trickster defies a laxative bulb who warns him, "He who chews me will defecate, he will defecate!" The result is a continual passage of wind that Trickster cannot con trol, culminating in a constant flow of defecation. Ep isode twenty-four finds Trickster at the top of a tree having excreted a mound of refuse to that level. He presently slips from the limb, plunging into this mon strous mound of dung. He disappears completely into the pile, and blinded by the filth, barely escapes with his life. After knocking into trees in search of a lake, he finally finds the water, and at last is able to wash himself clean. Radin quotes, "It is said that the old man [^Trickster] almost died that time, for it was only 14 with the greatest difficulty that he found the water." Similarities can be drawn between the Winnebago Trickster and the Mataco Tawkxwax. This latter buffoon breaks con vention (by eating Nakwo's children) and nearly loses his 14 Radin, The Trickster, p. 28. 168 15 life from the internal build up of excrement. Aside from the mythological, Campbell states that in practically every primitive society studied, smearing filth, wet clay, or paint on the body gave magical pro tection and beauty to that individual. He has discovered that among advanced as well as primitive peoples, the scared clowns are often initiated by a ritual of eating 16 excrement. Opler has indicated the longevity of clo- acic behavior by relating that the name for the Jicarilla Apache clown, when translated, means literally "striped 17 excrement." This Apache clown has a medicine made of the excrement of a dog and of a child, mixed with a clay and a plant, which they administer as a preventive 18 against vomiting. Bourke, despite his rather negative reaction to the scatologic practices of the Zuni, never theless does try to explain this practice in terms of analogous reasoning. His relating of the Urine Dance of the Zuni (Appendix B) hardly conceals his personal dis taste for the performance, but his explanation that fol lows attempts to find the source for the ceremony. ^ Supra, pp. 99-100. ■^Joseph Campbell, The Masks of God: Primitive Mythology (New York: The Viking Press, 1959) , pi 7 2. 17 Morris E. Opler, "Myths and Tales of the Jica rilla Apache Indians," Memoirs of the American Folklore Society, No. 31 (1938), p. 18, n. 18Ibid., pp. 184, 206. 169 Religion, in its dramatic ceremonial, pre serves, to some extent, the history of the partic ular race in which it dwells. Among nations of high development, miracles, moralities, and pas sion plays have taught, down to our own day, in object lessons, the sacred history in which the spectators believed. Some analogous purpose may have been held in view by the first organizers of the urine dance. In their early history, the Zunis and other Pueblos suffered from constant warfare with savage antagonists and with each other. From the position of their villages, long sieges must of necessity have been sustained, in which sieges famine and disease, no doubt, were the allies counted upon by the investing forces. We may have in this abominable dance a tradition of the extremity to which the Zunis of the long ago were reduced at some unknown period. A simi lar catastrophe in the history of the Jews is in timated in 2 Kings xviii. 27; and again in Isaiah xxxvi. 12: ’ ’ But Rab-shakeh said unto them: hath my master sent me to thy master, and to thee speak these words? hath he not sent me to the men which sit on the wall, that they may eat their own dung and drink their own piss with you?” In the course of my studies I came across a reference to a very similar dance, occurring among one of the fanati cal sects of the Arabian Bedouins, . • • • As illustrative of the tenacity with which such vile ceremonial, once adopted by a sect, will adhere to it and become ingrafted upon its life, long after the motives which have suggested or commended it have vanished in oblivion, let me quote a few lines from Max Muller’s ’ 'Chips from a German Workshop,” "Essay upon the Parsees,” pp. 163, 164, Scribner’s edition, 1869: "The niranq is the urine of a cow, ox, or she-goat, and the rubbing of it over the face and hands is the sec ond thing a Parsee does after getting out of bed. Either before applying the niranq to the face and hands, or while it remains on the hands after being applied, he should not touch anything di rectly with his hands; but in order to wash out the niranq, he either asks somebody else to pour water on his hands, or resorts to the device of taking hold of the pot through the intervention of a piece of cloth, such as a handkerchief or his sudra,— that is, his blouse. He first pours water on his hand, then takes the pot in that hand and washes his other hand, face, and feet.”— (Quoting from Dadabhai-Nadrosi ’ s ’ ’Description of the Par- 170 sees.”) Continuing, Max Muller says: ’ ’Strange as this process of purification may appear, it becomes perfectly disgusting when we are told that women after childbirth, have not only to undergo this sacred ablution, but actually drink a little of the niranq, and that the same rite is imposed on children at the time of their investiture with the Sudra and Koshti,— the badges of the Zoroas- trian faith." Campbell takes a more psychological/physiological approach by relating, in his system of imprints, the universal infantile fascination with excrement that man ifests itself most emphatically at about the age of two and a half. In many societies the infant experiences the first impact of severe discipline in the matter of when, where, and how it may permit itself to respond to nature; the worst of it being that for the child, at this period of its life, defecation is experienced as a creative act and its own ex crement as a thing of value, suitable for presen tation as a gift. In societies in which this pattern of interest and action is regarded as un attractive, a socially determined reorganization of response is imposed sharply and absolutely, the spontaneous interest and evaluation of the earlier period of the child's thought being then strictly repressed. But they cannot be erased. They re main as subordinated, written-over imprints: for bidden images, apt on occasion, or under one dis guise or another, to reassert their force. Throughout the higher mythologies there is abundant evidence of dualistic systems of imagery deriving from this circumstance. They are to be recognized in the prevalence of an association of filth with sin and cleanliness with virtue. Furthermore, there has been a suggestion from Dr. Freud to the effect that the infantile urge 19 John G. Bourke, Scatoloqic Rites of All Nations (Washington: W. H. Lowdermilk and Co., 1891), pp. 6-8. 171 to manipulate filth and assign it value survives in our adult interest in the arts— painting, smearing of all kinds, sculpture, and architec ture— as well as the urge to collect precious stones, gold, or money, and in the pleasures de rived from the giving and receiving of gifts. And it may be noted further, . . . that in practically every primitive society ever studied the smearing of paint and clay on the body is thought to give magical protection as well as beauty; that in India, where cowdung is revered as sacred and the ritual distinction between the left hand (used at the toilet) and the right (put ting food into the mouth) is an issue of capital moment, a ritual smearing of the forehead and body with colored clays and ash is a prominently deve oped religious exercise; and, finally, that among many advanced as well as primitive peoples the sacred clowns— who in religious ceremonies are permitted to break taboos and always enact obscene pantomimes— are initiated into their orders by way of a ritual eating of filth. In our own circuses the clown is garishly painted, breaks whatever taboos the police permit, and is a great favorite of the youngsters, who perhaps see reflected in his peculiar charm the paradise of innocence that was theirs before they were taughtnthe knowledge of good and evil, purity and filth. The question of the scatologic practice among the Pueblo Indians is obviously complex. The thought that excreta have medicinal properties is reflected in Parson’s somewhat guarded statement when she declares that clowns • • use excreta as a medicine against sickness from contact with excreta, which is a partial explanation of 21 their filth-eating and filth-smearing ways." White 20Campbell, The Masks of God, pp. 71-73. 21 Parsons, Pueblo Indian Religion, p. 130. 172 offers the idea that consuming excreta was strictly for amusement since it appears to be contrary to the natural 22 inclinations of a society. Norbeck tends to support this thesis when he states that although many societies engage in rituals of rebellion as a method of support for significant social values, there appears to be little need for scatologic behavior to emphasize the repugnancy of consuming excreta. He indicates: Reversals and burlesques do indeed dramatize proper behavior, and they may be said thereby to support social values. . . . Few could contend, however, that it is useful in any society to point out the impropriety of eating excrement or drink ing urine by having clowns do so in an atmosphere of burlesque. . . . Reversals of normal procedures and other sharp contrasts with customary behavior constitute a comic theme that is certainly very common and perhaps universal; and the principal significance of many of the American Indian rites may indeed lie in the psychological and social im plications of comic relief. Thus, despite the deeper implications of purpose ful clowning as a psychological release from tensions, or some communal reaction (conscious or subconscious) against rigid religious and social taboos, there may well be certain elements within primitive clowning that pro vide comic relief for the spectator. The scatologic, while deeply rooted in primitive healing, may also serve 22 Leslie A. White, "The Pueblo of San Felipe,*' Memoirs of the American Anthropological Association, XXXVIII (1932), 18. 23 Norbeck, Religion in Primitive Society, p. 211. 173 this function. Whether it be religious or secular, psychological release or comic relief, the unifying factor in the clown's performance is that it is done in public. The primitive apparently feels the necessity of using the public arena for the clown's performance, for if the re sults that our various authors intimate are in effect, then a substantial segment of a society (or at least a community within that society) must be present to observe the buffoon. Levine indicates that the antics of the clown provoke laughter from groups, where there is appar ently more freedom for the clown to share a vicarious 24 communal violation of the most sacred taboos. Honig- mann, elaborating on Goldenweiser, indicates that the clown's function is ". . . to break the rules. In dress, speech, and action he does the opposite of the proper 25 following rather the proscribed and improper." This naturally creates a shocked response from the audience; but a shock of amusement, not protest. "The clown's be havior is a vicarious gesture of the group, a gesture of liberation from the pressure of exacting routine. He is 2 6 sort of positive scapegoat." Levine summarized the 24 Levine, "Regression," p. 73. 25 Honigmann, "The Ritual Clown," p. 224. 174 social institution of clowning in a communal setting this way: First, it permits the release of impulses, mainly sexual and agressive, which are normally socially taboo and which therefore cannot be per mitted direct expression without resultant social disintegration. Second, it expresses and allays those individual fears and anxieties, shared by the group, mainly with respect to sexual and hos tile agressive drives toward parental and author- itative^b j ects that are protected by rigid taboos. In short, the ritualistic clown can perform his anti social behavior best in a publically sanctified setting. This situation tends to support Bergson’s theory that laughter cannot be isolated, but must be in context with 28 others. As a consequence, laughter aimed at stimuli that are nurtured by a society, becomes societal in it self, a type of group function that sanctifies anti social behavior. Yet merely a communal response of laugh ter to a contrary action may not wholly explain the func tion of that action. Rather it would appear that a type of cognitive dissonance upon the part of the spectator would develop seeing his cherished institutions being ridiculed, despite the suggestion that each viewer car ries within himself rebellious attitudes that have been sublimated by the restrictions placed upon him by those 27 Levine, ’ ’ Regression, pp. 72-73. Henri Bergson, , ! Laughter,M in Comedy, ed. by Wylie Sypher (Garden City, New York: Doubleday and Co., Inc., 1956), p. 64. 175 very same tenets. The idea of vicarious release may be only a partial answer, since the clown's performances carry within them the seeds of social control just as meaningful as the mores they burlesque. Disher tends to think that purposeful laughter is not so distinct as the more spontaneous. He allows that the desecration of the sublime in Medieval Europe by scurrilous buffoonery kept alive the cause of religion by giving rein to the ridiculous instead of . . letting 29 it gather strength behind interdicts and bulls." This becomes a type of comic relief in Disher's thesis, as he maintains that ". • • the mind can only sustain rapture 30 when relieved by spells of laughter." Welsford tends to substantiate the comic relief idea when he explains that . . the buffoon may be regarded as a fool, be cause, although he exploits his own weaknesses instead of being exploited by others, .... nevertheless he . . . earns his living by an openly acknowledged failure to 31 Thus attain to the normal standard of human dignity." the buffoon ministers to the vanity of his audience, be coming not only a safety valve for suppressed instinct, 29 M. Willson Disher, Clowns and Pantomimes (1925; reprint ed., New York/London: Benjamin Blom, 1968), p. xviii. 31 Enid Welsford, The Fool: His Social and Literary History (New York: Farrar and Rinehart, Inc., n.d.) pi 3. 176 but something of a balm for the inferiority complex. However, Welsford continues that comic relief is not the entire answer either. Welsford considers the buffoon so universal that he represents the underdog in all soci eties, a person with whom everyone is ready to identify. Welsford states: There is nothing essentially immoral or blasphe mous or rebellious about clownage. On the con trary it may easily act as a social preservative by providing a corrective to the pretentious van ity of officialdom, a safety-valve for unruliness, a wholesome nourishment to the sense of secret spiritual independence of that which would other^ wise be the intolerable tyranny of circumstance. This brings us to another important consideration of clowning— social control. Social Control Through the Clown ’s Actions Turning to Radin again, we find that he indicates that primitive law, unlike Western law which is written, is public by implication. He states: A law is a custom that, for the moment, is indi vidualized and given a specified and restrictive form and an overt coercive force in the interests of the comm^ity at large and the individual in particular. This custom-law, although partially a hold-over from the past, more importantly becomes an integral part of a primitive's life. A primitive individual who defies this 32Ibid., p. 317. 33 Radm, Primitive Man, p. 222. 177 custom may find punishment in a number of ways, depending upon the seriousness of his infraction. The authority for inflicting disciplinary action upon a disobeyer is the group— a community bound together by both visible and invisible ties, with a definite structure. In a general sense then, according to Radin, all primitive laws are 34 public laws, publically enforced. Crime entails pun ishment and a crime atoned is wiped out, the criminal's slate is clean. There apparently remains no feeling of sin but rather that an individual who has offended against the harmony of communal life, is punished, and his punishment means that harmony has been reestab- 35 lished. How then does humor or clowning fit into this harmony-restored syndrome? How can laughter become a punishment? Again Radin offers some explanation. The Trickster, in all of his contrary antics, re solves nothing so much as to demonstrate what happens when man's instinctual nature is given free rein. The ceremonial buffoon is a symbol of that instinctual side, and as such becomes an object lesson by being made ridic ulous or laughed at. He is the symbol of the irrational and non-socialized being that exists within everybody. The buffoon's antics become a satire and critique on his 34Ibid., pp. 226-244. 35Ibid., p. 249. 178 society, Radin states, "The moral . • • is perfectly clear. The life instinctual, so it states, leads inev itably to crime and the making of irrational demands. Both must end in tragedy. But how can man be warned against such an existence? In two ways, so it is here implied: by depicting the inexorable and tragic conse quences that follow such a life and by holding it up to ridicule. ”33 It would appear then that the clown's burlesques and satires may serve as a general deterrent to anti social behavior. In many cases this was carried past the community as a whole and leveled against individuals within the society. Driver points out that throughout the North American continent, free initation and public ridicule of individuals was predominant. Many of the Indians of this hemisphere practiced a joking relation ship within the clan, and personal disapproval of an in dividual’s anti-social behavior was often the target of the clown’s performances. Driver explains that this type of ridicule was often more than balanced by public ap proval for beneficial acts. Still, the stain of communal reprimand remained firmly entrenched in the person so chastised. Driver indicates that although public accusa tions leveled against an individual may sometimes be 36Ibid., p. 339. 179 groundless, still ". • • the threat of one's protagonist finding real holes in the armor of his personality was always present and served as a deterrent to deviant be- 37 havior. " Smith tends to contradict himself concerning the social control that laughter may possess. He agrees with Sully that laughter stems from a play-complex, and be littles laughter as a reformer of conduct when he states that ". . . the social significance of laughter is an 3 8 acquired meaning." Yet he accepts Bergon*s idea that comedy is to serve man in his social relations and makes another statement that ". • . socially, comedy has a pre- 39 servative effect upon the established conventions.1 ' This latter attitude would tend to fortify the idea that an audience would laugh at a preconceived basis of aware ness in terms of specifically attempting to preserve the good by ridiculing the bad. Smith further confuses his own issue by indicating that comedy does not achieve social regeneration, and consequently fails as a group corrective. He feels that it remains in the realm of a play-function.^ 37 Driver, Indians of North America, p. 384. 38 Willard Smith, The Nature of Comedy (Boston: The Gorham Press, 1930), p. 75. 39Ibid., p. 81. 40 Ibid., pp. 81-82. 180 However, others feel that a significant part of the clown's function is educative control. Ruesch and Kees, in a general discussion of nonverbal communication, indicate that human functions of communication evolve and 41 are dependent upon cultural determinants. This type of communication helps shape a society into a cohesive unit with communal knowledge. This coalescence will determine a societal reaction to various stimuli, and these authors suggest that ". . . nonverbal language is frequently used 42 to effect social control. Much of the clown's antics are pantomimic and strictly nonverbal in nature. Apply ing Ruesch and Kee's suggestion then, not only does the community within which the clown performs understand those actions through a collective consciouness, but ad ditionally his antics may well serve as a communal con trol factor. Crumrine indicates that among the Mayos of Mexico, the impersonator and buffoon Capakoba serves to startle the people into ". . . thinking and learning about their 4 3 cultural structure and system of social relations.'1 41 Jurgen Ruesch and Weldon Kees, Nonverbal Commun ication (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of Califor nia Press, 1956), p. 2. 42 Ibid., p. 191. 43 ~ N. Ross Crumrine, "Capakoba, the Mayo Easter Cer emonial Impersonator: Explanations of Ritual Clowning," Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, VIII, No. 1 (Spring, 1969), 20. 181 This does not detract from the psychological considera tions of this ritualistic clown, but rather supplements his functions as taboo-breaker and ridiculer. In fact, Crumrine indicates his role is that of an anomalous medi ator whose actions create reappraisal and constant reaf firmation toward society rather than feelings of schis matic malevolence on the part of the spectators. He sum marizes the role of the ritualistic clown this way: . . . they protect the customs while at the same time they are burlesquing them. They "know no shame" yet they "confess on behalf of the community.1 ’ This anomalous role . . . mediates numerous other oppositions: human-animal, living- dead, male-female, child-adult, health-sickness. The conflicting portrayal of opposing themes cre ates cognitive dissonance which enhances the final traditional solution when it is presented. Through the role of ritual impersonator, numerous opposi tions and conflicts within the structure of cul ture and society are ritually mediated, ritual learning takes place, and individuals better under stand and more deepl^indentify with their cul tures and societies. The Pueblo Clown and the Hopi Way Much of what has been covered in considering the primitive clown on a somewhat universal basis applies to a discussion of the Pueblo Indian clowning complex. How ever, cultural considerations and societal individualism of the Pueblo Indians must be examined for further under standing of the complex functions and significance of the Hopi clown. 44 Ibid., p. 1. 182 Pueblo Indian ceremonial organization is ex tremely complex. A definition found in Pueblo terms is that • • poor people are people without ceremonial property or connection, belonging in no rain or curing 45 society— people who are not 'valuable. 1 * ' However, the majority of the Pueblo do belong to some society and do have value. Some societies are composed entirely of kin, some are clan structured, and others a heterogeneous mix ture. The ceremonial structure of these Indians is in evitably organized around the basic needs of the pueblo as a whole. Within the Pueblo religion there is a deeply felt concept that ritual infraction will involve a person in disaster. Accidents, lack of rain, and any number of minor or major misfortunes are often attributed to in- continency or some unconventional break in ritual. As Parsons states, ’ ’Ritual impropriety together with witch craft, having a bad heart, are the Pueblo’s characteris- 46 tic explanations of untoward happenings and misfortunes. It would seem that to ridicule the sacred would be taboo. Yet, similar to the concepts previously discussed, the contrary exists in the clown’s behavior for not only does he burlesque the sacred dancers and profance other ele ments of Pueblo ritual, but he indulges in this activity 45 Parsons, Pueblo Indian Religion, p. 112. 46 Ibid., p. 106. 183 with complete immunity to reprisal. Indeed, the clown's travesty of prayer and sacred ceremony is not only ac cepted by the culture, but the ceremonial buffoons who engage in these seemingly sacrilegious antics are en joined to perform in this manner. Chapter II discussed the historical and cultural implications of the Eastern 47 . Pueblos on the Hopi. The following discourse will briefly examine the psychological and sociological fac tors of the Hopi which may shed some light on their cere monial clown. The Hopi classify all living creatures and nat- 48 ural phenomena by a vast system of correspondencies. The ceremonial clown is an integral part of this com plexity. This categorizing tends to allow each organ of the societal organism to affect, in one way or another, each other member. The organism itself may not die when one facet is destroyed, but the society will quickly work to amend the infraction that caused that member to dis rupt the harmonious workings of the total, and conse quently reestablish a societal balance. The role of the Hopi religion to meaningfully attain this harmony sub stantiates Waal Malefijt's concept of the function of re ligion, which, for the purpose of unifying discordant in- 47 Supra, pp. 56-80. 48 Claude Levi-Strauss, The Savage Mind (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1966), p. 40. 184 dividuals into similar beliefs, often becomes the rela tionships that religion bears to family patterns, politi cal and economic organization, social values, and recog- . . . 49 nitron of the social structure as a whole. However, the Hopi have been subjugated by frustrating accultura tion, and fears of various kinds have manifested them selves throughout Hopi history. Many of these fears re main inadequately sublimated, and suppression of physical aggression seems to prevail particularly among the youth. There is a widespread permissiveness on the part of par ents toward their children during the early years. Spanking is seldom practiced, although there may be some gentle handslapping. Teasing and joking relationships among clan members are often used as a form of discipline. Maternal uncles and fathers share in the education of the children, but guidance toward the Hopi Way seems to have devolved primarily on the maternal uncles who are re sponsible for reproving a man for deviation from custom.^ Dozier further documents the role of the maternal uncles as educators: Social control is vested primarily in two agencies— the extended family and the village as a whole. Within the family, the mother's brother 49 Waal Malefijt, Religion and Culture, p. 290. ^Robert H. Lowie, f l Hopi Kinship," Anthropological Papers of the Museum of Natural History, XXX (19 29), 384. 185 . . • is responsible for the maintenance of order and the discipline of younger members. . . . In the village, social control is exerted through gossip, public ridicule, social os^jacism, and . . . by the charge of witchcraft. This aspect of public ridicule becomes an impor tant factor in Hopi discipline, and the clown often per forms the role of disciplinarian by publically ridiculing individuals guilty of social infractions. The Pueblo In dians, including the Hopi, are conditioned since infancy to avoid any activity that might prompt gossip. Parsons indicates that ”. . . being talked or sung at or about is quite unpleasant to a Pueblo as it is to us, perhaps more so, particularly in terms of ridicule, and I have the im pression that one source of this sensibility is reproving 5 2 the children by laughing at them.1’ In this manner the Hopi grow ever fearful of public scorn. As a consequence, punishment through public humility by the clown is a cause of sadness, anger and shame for the Hopi, and they 5 3 attempt to avoid it at all costs. Bandelier relates how one woman at Zuni was con stantly being ridiculed in public by the Koshare simply 51 Dozier, ’ ’ The Hopi-Tewa of Arizona,” p. 339. 52 Parsons, Pueblo Indian Religion, pp. 54-55. 53 Excellent discussion on this aspect of behavior control and its psychological impact i:s found in Laura Thompson and Alice Joseph, The Hopi Way (New York: Rus sell & Russell, Inc., 1965), Tables VI, VII, VIII, and IX, pp. 145-46. 186 54 because they did not like nor trust her. Parsons re ports Beaglehole's observations of a thief being jeered 5 5 at m a pointed allusion by the clowns at Mishongnovi. Voth records an instance at Oraibi where an alleged witch received the curse of the gods by being told that her 56 punishment shall be ridicule by the people. The con cept of public ridicule as a forceful device in social control is reiterated by Eggan~^ and Goldfrank^ who em phasize that this technique becomes both servant and po liceman for the society. Dozier seems to feel that this type of control is not presently so prevalent as in the past because the clowns ". . . are afraid to make fun of town members. Instead, Navaho and whites become the subjects for ridi- 59 cule." There remains little doubt concerning the lat- 54 Bandelier, Delight Makers, p. 32. 55 Parsons, Pueblo Indian Religion, p. 54, n. ~^H. R. Voth, "The Oraibi Powamu Ceremony," Field Columbian Museum of Natural History: Anthropological Series, III, No. 1 (1901), 130. 57 Dorothy Eggan, "Instruction and affect in Hopi Cultural Continuity," Southwestern Journal of Anthropol- ogy, XII, No. 4 (Winter, 1956), 347-370. 5 8 Esther S. Goldfrank, "Socialization, Personality, and the Structure of Pueblo Society, with Particular Ref erence to Hopi and Zuni," American Anthropologist, N.S., XLVII, No. 4 (October-December, 1945), 525. 59 Dozier, "The Hopi-Tewa of Arizona," p. 339. 187 ter part of his statement. Indeed, Dozier himself was subjected to an unsuspected drenching by the clowns. His hostess remarked that this was their way of telling him 6 0 that he smoked too much. However, subtleties of Hopi village life do not always make themselves clear to the white observer. The author of this study, during the summer of 1970, observed a demonstration of public ridi cule of a Hopi woman that indicates the continuing im portance of this particular method of social control.^ It would appear that despite the outer wrappings of humor, the ridicule in public by the clowns remains one of the most potent packages of social control. There apparently exists within the framework of joking rela tionships and clowning activities a personal vulnerabil ity that frightens the Hopi. Another type of social controller, while not per se a clown does have basic connections with the total clowning complex. Although personal discipline in terms of physical punishment is largely lacking among the Pueblos, one of the most frightening factors of disci pline in the children’s early life is personified by cer tain ogre-type kachinas. Esther Goldfrank states that 60Ibid., p. 340. 61 This incident is discussed in Chapter V. 188 ”. • . many societies resort to bogey tales to scare children into being good, but for the Pueblos, this is 6 2 not enough. They bring their bogeys to life.” Con sequently many ogre and other types of kachinas of frightening countenance and manner comprise part of the Hopi kachina pantheon, and often they brandish weapons 63 and snares to frighten the children. The discipline of the children reaches its culmi nation when boys and girls are initiated into their re spective societies. Part of the initiation takes place in the kiva where they are whipped by a kachina. The ordeal is generally quite frightening. After this rit ualistic flogging, the kachina personators remove their masks and reveal for the first time to the children that they are mortal men, not the supernaturals that the chil dren believed them to be. This entire rite leaves an im print on the Hopi that apparently shapes his adult per sonality to a greater degree than the earlier parental permissiveness shown the young. Goldfrank contends that the shift from indulgence to control exemplifies the cat egory of weak infant discipline changed into severe adult 64 discipline. Eggan suggests that as a result of this, 6 2 Goldfrank, ’ ’Socialization, Personality, and Structure,” p. 525. 6 3 - , . , . , Ibid. 64Ibid., pp. 530-539. 189 the Hopi culture is rent with discord, gossip, and fear; fear of spirits, of witchcraft, and of the unknown or unusual. The Hopi learned not to engage in overt battle, either with outsiders or other Hopi, but ". . . with a tongue as pointed as a poison arrow, . . . he carries on 65 a constant warfare with his fellow.” Thompson and Joseph's authoritative work on the aspect of Hopi acculturation merits one quick comment. Their documented case histories tend to reveal much of what Eggan and Goldfrank contend. Perhaps the recounting of one typical case will suffice to indicate the nature of fear in the young peoples' minds. The subject was a fourteen year old Hopi girl named Helen who was with drawn, extremely shy, with a desire for appeasing others. Her father was dead and she lived with her mother. The authors relate the following: It may be that after the father's death the family situation was more insecure than is ap parent. If nothing else it is known that widows and their children are favorite targets for jokes made by the Hopi clowns, and in one of the tests (Emotional Response) Helen herself says that she is sad and ashamed when ggople say mean things to her during the dances. The sudden shift in parental permissiveness in the early years to a harsh discipline levied at initiation 65 Dorothy Eggan, "The General Problem of Hopi Ad justment," American Anthropologist, XL.V, No. 3, Part 1 (July-September , 1943), 373. 6 6 Thompson and Joseph, The Hopi Way, p. 82. 190 brings bewilderment and a tendency toward maladjustment. Tiie kahopi syndrome is forcefully implanted in the young minds, and remains a constant discipline factor for the 67 rest of the Hopis1 lives. The Hopi clown, with his freedom to ridicule whomever he pleases, appears to be at the apex of this entire disciplinary complex. This com plex has two sides. The Hopi seek with guileless honesty, those patterns of personal and social behavior which are acceptable in the Hopi Way, and they fear with certainty the behavioral aspects which are unacceptable, or kahopi. As a consequence, public ridicule and gossip are anathema to the Hopi, and they are quick to perceive those forms of behavior which will be most in keeping within the tenets of their religion. The clown plays a part of ut most importance as a catalyst in the individual’s search for the Hopi Way. Benedict tends to disagree that the psycho- sociological role of the Pueblo clown serves as any of the functions discussed— vicarious tension release, primitive regression sanctified by public approval, or even as educative and disciplinary. She makes an analo gous comparison of the Hopi to an Appolonian concept by stating that ”. . . the Dionysian pursues his values of existence through the annihilation of the ordinary k^Eggan, "Hopi Adjustment,” pp. 357-373. 191 bounds and limits of existence. The Apollonian distrusts all this, and has often little idea of the nature of such experiences, . . . he keeps the middle of the road. . . . 6 8 The Southwest Pueblos are Apollonian." Benedict's idea would seem to contradict all of the previous suggestions as well as being opposed to the actuality of the behav ioral pattern. The clown, by her own definition, is quite Dionysian in character, as his antics seem to in dicate, and if his audience exists at the Apollonian stratum then, by her own declaration, the audience would have little idea of what the clown's antics mean since they would have little idea of the nature of such exper iences. In short, they would perceive very little mean ing in the clown's burlesques and receive little if any vicarious experience from his behavior. The spectators would not place the buffoon's actions at a philosophical level, and consequently the clown’s behavior in terms of ritual infraction would not be tolerated by the society. This attitude would tend to set the clown apart from the religion, and essentially reduce him to the category dis cussed by Luomala. If the [religious contex-Q of the foolish band . . . becomes extinct, its stupidity and simplicity of culture are increasingly exaggerated since no need exists to keep the humorous slander ^^Ruth Benedict, Patterns of Culture (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1934), pp. 78-79. 192 in bounds as for a living group. With no living band [Dionysianf] to tease, the functions of the comic tales constrict to serve the society [Appol- lonianG only as entertainment, rebukes to the stupid, illustrations of "not-so" behavior, expres sion of obscenities, g^d secondary explanations of landscape or customs. Yet observers have recorded innumerable times that spectator reaction to the Hopi clown had been one of meaningful laughter and animated understanding of the burlesques and skits being performed. Additionally, as Waal Malefijt indicates, in societies where ritual is especially elaborate and extensive, there are few if any specialists. Nearly every adult male participates, par- 70 ticularly among the Hopi. This would apparently indi cate that clowning behavior is understood and accepted by the Hopi society in general, and that participation by a large percentage of the Hopi males in ceremonial life automatically brings countenance for the clown's actions. It would appear that the clown and his audience are cut from one piece of cloth. As Norbeck suggests, the cere monial clown can work only within the established order, 71 not extraneous to it. 69 Katherine Luomala, "Numskull Clans and Tales: Their Structure and Function in Asymmetrical Joking Rela tionships," in The Anthropologist Looks at Myth, comp, by Melville Jacobs, ed. by John Greenway (Austin and London: University of Texas Press, 1966), p. 192. 70 Waal Malefijt, Religion and Culture, p. 236. 7lSupra, p. 160-161. 193 Yet with all the emphasis upon the psychological impact upon the spectator and the sociological implica tions of public clowning, we must not lose sight of Rad- in1 s admonition that ”. . . we must be careful not to treat magic, coercive rites and religion apart from the individuals who use them for strictly personal, egotistic 72 and antisocial purposes.” If there are in fact aspects of vicarious experience on the part of the audiences, then the infantile release of tensions on the part of the clown-participant must be of extreme importance. Yet surprisingly enough, little attention is paid to the psychological implications of the clown-performer himself. Levine confines his discussion to the social value of clowning in terms of spectator catharsis. Honigmann likewise discusses clowning at the group level, empha sizing the institutionalized results rather than the psyche of the clown involved. Charles partially illus trates the performer himself this way: A clown holds the licentious thing in his hands, psychologically speaking; he is objective at the same time that he has a most intimate and thoroughgoing relationship with the tabooed thing. He goes through a ritual of impersonation as if he were the outrageous thing itself or its per sonification; yet at the same time he knows, his audience knows, and both he and his audience know that the other knows, that he is not that thing. Very frequently he is one of the most honorable persons in the community. He is playing with 72 Radin, Primitive Man, p. 138. 194 fire; but he is not the fire. The moment he iden tifies himself with the fire he is no longer funny; that fine, delightful sense of balance and mystery is lost, and the clown becomes pathetic, ineffec tive, disgusting. What the successful clown does, with his im personation, is so exquisitely balanced withal so dynamic an experience, that he is indeed a de- lightmaker, as Pueblo Indians call him. We watch him, following his motions breathlessly while he builds through skillful suspense to a surprise climax. We lend him our active, imaginative at tention: our hearts beat faster if he runs, we feel a sympathetic shock if he falls. We lend him our own powers; to a large extent we identify our selves with him; we are going through the same ex perience imaginatively which he concretizes before our eyes. He is a priest, therefore, performing a rite both in his own and in our behalf. And what is this rite? It is the locating, naming, bringing to a head, and expressing of a psycholog ical element which has been causing trouble in the unconscious; a renegade element, which for the sake of self-integration and further progress in personal living should be brought up to conscious ness, released, to a certain extent experienced and consciously related to, and so assimilated into the personality of the beholder. Nowhere in a primitive society does an individual have the opportunity to release tensions and revert to those sublimated activities as he does by being a clown. It would appear that the primitive clown, released from the restraint of a confining culture, may indeed be a microcosmic personification of the macrocosm of his so cial structure. The release of the complexities of life finds outlet in the antics of the clown who is given the sanction to disperse, not vicariously but rather liter- ^Lucile H. Charles, "The Clown's Function," The Journal of American Folklore, LVIII, No. 227 (January- March, 1945), 32. 195 ally, those tensions. Even the knowledge that subsequent ritualistic punishment will be levied against him seems not to deter the individual. However, this is too cur sory a discussion on such an important facet of primitive clowning. Obviously more research on the psychology of the clown as a performer is needed to fill this gap in our knowledge of the primitive. Summary and Conclusions of the Psychological and Sociological Considerations of Clowning It has been consistently established that harmony is necessary to a society, and that disorder is the anti thesis to cultural longevity. Transgression against so cietal taboos has resulted in punishment as a method to reestablish harmony. Yet disorder is a part of man’s heritage, and in his constant attempt to alleviate or reduce that disorder, he has invented a trickster who personifies this disruptive force, giving the individual in a society an outlet for his own unharmonious drives. But only an established and unchallenged social order can ' tolerate such a trickster; a clown who has sanctified ap- j proval to break that order1s patterns. Nearly all cul tures have elements within them that predetermine what | is laughable. Freud has indicated that a person must be 196 74 capable of humor in order to perceive what is humorous, and Radin has made the statement that ". • . it is safe to assume that there has always existed professional hu morists and satirists in the tribe. • • , and an audience 75 that was delighted to listen to them.” This universal ity of humor, existing within those cultures which Nor- beck describes as being able to give life to that humor, is exemplified by the existence of the trickster. This trickster is often elevated to a high place in a society’s pantheon, and from this invulnerable po sition can serve as the mediator, in LeVi-Strauss1 con tention, between good and bad, and enjoy the unique ad vantage of having both of those diametrics within his psychological make-up. This buffoon may serve a variety of roles in this unusual position. He may become a de vice to assist individuals within the society to release vicariously those tensions built up within them by the very order that gives their lives sustenance. His func tion may be to give vent to sublimated tensions in either a religious or a secular vein. His penchant for the scatologic is a perplexing problem that finds partial answer in Campbell’s infant imprints of experience, and 74 . Sigmund Freud, "Humor," in Collected Papers, ed. by James Strachey, Vol. V (5 vols.; New York: Basic Books, Inc., 1959), 221. ^Radin, The Trickster, p. 154. 197 partial explanation from the healing powers inherent that Parsons and Opler reiterate. The major unifying factor is the clown’s perfor mance in public, and as such it retains important power. Although a segment of the buffoon’s antics may be clas sified as comic relief, there appears to be more substan tiation for the idea that his actions, in context with his audience who sanctifies this contrary behavior, be come an extension of public law— that the clown is a de vice for social control. This becomes paramount in Hopi society where the demands for harmonious living are quite strict. All facets of this Pueblo Indian’ s life point toward an accepted manner of living called the Hopi Way. Public ridicule is strong, and becomes a major deterrent against breaking the harmony. At adolescence, when the young are ritualistically whipped, the weak infant dis cipline is abruptly changed into a strong adult control that shapes the Hopi for the remainder of their lives. The Hopi Way syndrome, and its antithesis the kahopi, be come the major controlling factors in Hopi societal life. This communal discipline thrives among these people, and becomes a major function of the ceremonial clown. The study of the primitive clown becomes a psycho logical look at an attempt by socialized man to solve partially his covert and overt problems through the buf foon’s antics. This clown, whose life is so natural, 198 becomes the alter-ego; we tend to discover ourselves through him. As Radin states: The symbol which Trickster embodies is not a static one. It contains within itself the prom ise of differentiation, the promise of god and man. For this reason every generation occupies itself with interpreting Trickster anew. No gen eration understands him fully but no generation can do without him. Each had to include him in all its theologies, in all its cosmogonies, des pite the fact that it realized that he did not fit properly into any of them, for he represents not only the undifferentiated and distant past, but likewise the undifferentiated present within every individual. This constitutes his universal and persistent attraction. And so he became and re mained everything to every man— god, animal, human being, hero, buffoon, he who was before, good and evil, denier, affirmer, destroyer and creator. If we laugh at him, h^grins at us. What happens to him happens to us. One final note of caution. The attempts to ex plain the clown's behavior through supernatural sanction, infantile regression, release of tension, and rites of rebellion, are all guideposts that give aid to the belea guered traveler. Yet this morass of socio-psychological explanation may quite possibly cloud the theatric or en tertaining contributions of the clown, and as such re duce any discussion of his functions to the analyst's couch and reveal his significance merely as a spectator's alter-ego. We cannot lose sight of amusement— the fruit of the clown's theatric life— no matter how deeply rooted our tree of knowledge becomes in socio-pyschological soil. 76Ibid., pp. 168-169. 199 His medium becomes his life, for without humor, the Hopi clown would fail to exist. Although the reason for the clown's birth cannot be ascertained this ceremonial buf foon has grown to maturity by cultural insistence. There are various ways in which a culture can dispose of this trickster. By stressing his ridiculous traits, society can reduce his original functions to harmless entertain ment, or even assimilate him as a culture-hero. It can transform him into a devil through Christian influence, or merely reduce him in rank from a deity by another, higher deity. Yet society cannot destroy this mytholog ical beast grown into sociological fact. This unicorn is, in all reality, in our garden, much to the delight of all. CHAPTER V RECENT OBSERVATIONS OF HOPI CLOWNING As Radin traces the Winnebago Trickster myth, we see this buffoon journeying from one activity to another. At one time he breaks tribal rules, then later he pulls off a harmless prank. At one moment he tricks another into some dire predicament, only to be tricked himself at a later time. In short, his escapades are episodic, and seldom does he become engaged in more than one zany antic at a time. The Hopi clown, on the contrary, appears to perform most of his contrary behavior all at once. He often has only a day or a day and a half in the public plaza, so his actions become a tumble of activity rather than a series of events. Within a given skit the clowns may be subjected to drenching and flogging, exhibit phal lic antics, subject spectators to ridicule and burlesque, indulge in contrary behavior, and help the kachina dis tribute food and gifts to the audience. They often com bine their buffoonery with religious activity when they sprinkle corn meal on kachina dancers, or supply the "road” that the kachina follow. They may play a harmless and fun "guessing game,1 ' and follow this with a burlesque 200 201 of the sacred. They may go begging from door to door, and then act as valets to the kachina and sergeant-at-arms. Briefly the clowns may be called upon to entertain, amuse, participate in the serious dance, and act as policemen, all within the scope of one skit or at various times dur ing the day-long kachina dance. Thus one descriptive ob servation of a performance of several Hopi clowns may in clude all, or nearly all, of Trickster's behavior. Ad ditionally many traits that are autonomous to the Hopi buffoon may filter through his actions. Before discussing the Hopi clown and his antics there is a temptation at this point to take to task many of the authors quoted because there appears to be a pat tern evolving that indicates research extraneous from the cultural context. The proclivity for writers, from Fewkes to Levine, to instill their own appellations upon primi tive ceremonialism tends to obscure discussion and leads adequate research away from its stated hypotheses. When Levine, as an instance, indicates that a primitive audi ence may share with the clown ". . . obscenity and licen tiousness. • • , " he immediately forces a standard of measurement upon the culture which may not have relevance at all. Parsons, Campbell, and others who refer to filth- eating acts, or that the clowns indulge in perverse be havior, are too often making judgment statements that tend to subject the Indian's ritual to a white man's 202 standard. This type of external evaluation has no place in a study of a ceremony that lies outside the context of a white person’s involvement. The following descrip tion is an attempt at relating the antics observed, com paring them to the mythological Trickster, and applying certain psychological and sociological criteria already discussed. Whenever possible, interviews with Hopi in formants were used to help substantiate the reactions of the Indians, in contrast to the external standards im posed by the whites. The Ho’ote Kachina Dance Shunqopovi, Second Mesa June 27, 1970 The investigator arrived at the Hopi village of Shungopovi on Second Mesa at 5:10 A.M., the morning of June 27, 1970. There was little activity in the village, but a chanting could be heard just below the south rim of the mesa. The public plaza was empty except for a steel folding chair and a small spruce tree that had been propped upright near the west end. This tree, perhaps three feet high, represented a tall spruce and is called kachina spruce (kachi Tnum sala * buyi)• Upon its boughs were fastened four prayer-feathers, and at its base was a set of blue-green prayer-sticks. These adornments are 203 | prayers for rain.'*' There was a path or "road" of corn- j meal leading from the plaza to the south rim. At 5:20 A.M. a Koyemsi (Mudhead) appeared at the rim, carrying a drum. He was followed by the Ho'ote kachina and other I members of the clan. Following the cornmeal path, they j filed into the plaza. Koyemsi sat on the folding chair i and adjusted the drum between his legs. He was facing north, and the kachina line formed along the east and north sides of the plaza. There were approximately i twenty-five Hopi in attendance, as well as the investi gator and his family. After casting cornmeal on each ! i i kachina as they stood in line, the clan members, both | male and female, took seats around the plaza, and the j Ho'ote dance began. They followed the usual practice of i i dancing three verses to a song. After each verse the j I kachina would re-form along two more sides of the plaza, ! i being careful never to make a complete circle around the i arena. After the third verse they left the plaza throughj the south entrance and retired to below the south rim. j t This intermission lasted perhaps twenty minutes, and the | dancers returned, to repeat the action. This ceremony continued throughout the morning. By 12:00 o’clock there were perhaps one hundred or more Indians, and a scatter ing of whites in the audience. Many sat on the long, low ^Stephen, Hopi Journal, p. 324. j 204 i i adobe protuberances outside the houses, and many were i standing on the roofs. Some had brought chairs from their1 i houses. During the lunch break, most of the audience left the plaza, but by 12:30 P.M. all had returned, and the at-; tendance had swelled to about two hundred. The audience j was attentive to the kachina dancers, but there seemed to j I be an air of expectancy around. Many in the crowd kept ; looking toward first one roof, then another, often point- | ing to a section of one of the roofs. I ! Suddenly at 12:45 P.M., a burst of laughter from i several persons standing on a house top at the south of j the plaza brought the attention of all assembled. Five ' I Chukii*wimkya clowns had appeared on that roof. Their i bodies were covered with an ochre colored mud, they wore no masks but had a large black inverted V over each eye, i i a horseshoe shaped black mark under each eye, and a simi- j lar horseshoe mark under their mouths. Three of the { clowns wore stocking cap bald pates to which rabbit fur ! had been glued. One clown had his natural hair plastered i | down with the ochre mud, and the Head Clown had tied his i hair in three semi-pony tails, one over each ear and one on the top of his head. The mud or clay that the clowns used comes from around the sacred springs, and carries with it the religious connotation of the water spirits. i The Hopi clowns are closely allied to rain or water, and ; the mud which they use as body make-up becomes religiously] ! 205 j ' quite symbolic. All of the informants interviewed by the j author corroborated the importance of the clown’s using j the sacred clay. The black marks used on their faces em- ; phasized the features much in the same way that the cir- ! cus clown emphasizes the wide open, innocent eyed look, and the perennially laughing mouth. The color black is | i . ! used for two reasons; it stands out m sharp contrast to i i the pale-ochre clay, thus emphasizing the markings, and j it symbolically represents the Nadir, which is the Hopis’ previous world. The rabbit fur fastened to the bald patesi i becomes humorous in appearance, but additionally, as sev- | j eral informants related, it indicates veneration of this j I i animal. The hair is tied up on short spears reminiscent ! of the "candles'1 work by the pascolas (supra, p. 115) , and j | i the corn husks of the Koshare (Plate VIII). Seven infor- j mants Indicated to the author that this type of ornamen- j tation was simply traditional, with apparently no other , i ! reason than it made the clowns look funny. All seventeen ! informants unanimously indicated to the author that the j Hopi clowns represent evil or badness as opposed to the j ! i goodness of the kachinas. Since the Christian influence has been felt throughout the western hemisphere, a sur- 1 mise may be extended here that the pascolas1 "candle," Koshare’s corn husks, and Chukii’s hair-spears may all ! j represent the devil's horns. The author found no Hopi j ! substantiation for this idea, and he expresses here only I an hypothesis that may induce further study. .. .. i The Chuku'wimkya costume consisted of a pair of ■ shorts over which each had hung a breech cloth. One ■ | clown’s shorts consisted of a pair of swim trunks, an- j other wore boxer-type shorts, and the other three wore j Levi jeans cut off just below the knee. They all wore j tennis shoes and socks, with a small anklet of sheep j j hooves around their right ankles. Due to the drenching I and physical abuse heaped upon the clowns near the end of | the two-day ceremony, this type of costuming becomes most i i practical. Informants J and K, both of whom had been j i Chuku'wimkya clowns during the Ho'ote kachina dance, ex plained that they could not afford to have finer clothes i destroyed. They wore tennis shoes rather than the tra ditional mocassions for this same reason. All of the in formants interviewed indicated that tradition dictated i the cloth tabs on their wrists and legs, and they were ! gust ornamentation. I i Each clown had a white bandoleer, and a small sack which held corn meal was hung around his neck in front. The head Clown carried the inevitable doll stuck in the back of his breech cloth. The doll, bought at a store, was the type whose eye lids move, and consequently its eyes kept opening and closing as the clown danced and pranced around the plaza. The physical appearance of the Chuku'wimkya closely 207 | resembles the first accurate description recorded by j 2 A. M. Stephen in 1893. The historical continuity of this Hopi clown’s appearance tends to indicate a cultural strain that has resisted change, and as such becomes in- i i dicative of a societal integrity for preserving certain ; life-styles within the Hopi society. The initial ap- ' pearance on the rooftops indicates another traditional j standard that nas persevered since at least Stephen’s timeJ Stephen, in his Journal, makes numerous mention | that the clowns invariably came in over the housetops. Voth captured Koyemsifs entrance in a photograph, circa j 1900, seen in Plate IX. There is some confusion as to the reason that the Hopi clown first appears on the roof. I Stephen indicates that this manner of appearing resembles j 3 walking on, and descending from, the clouds. Don Tala- I j yesva (Sun Chief) a Hopi who has performed as a clown on j ! numerous occasions, corroborates this point of view. He ! states in his autobiography: ! When the Katcinas returned to the plaza at | about noon, . . . we QzlownCI fan westward around j the village, climbed on the roof, and sneaked along on hands and knees. When we reached the ! edge next to the plaza we sprang up, yelled, and | dropped again four times, to represent clouds j rising from the four directions. On the fourth I time we stood looking around and making short I ^Stephen, Hopi Journal, pp. 158, 203, 402. ^Ibid., p. 553. Koyemsi Entering the Plaza Over the Rooftops, Oraibi (H. R. Voth Photo) 209 j l speeches. I said, "See the beautiful valley and the lovely flowers; what a wonderful sight to behold!" We^were lucky, for the people yelled and laughed. The investigator asked seventeen Hopi informants i during the summer of 1970 why the clowns first came in j over the housetops. Seven informants indicated that this | method of entry is traditional and two stated that they always have, which may be categorized as traditional. ! I Three informants thought that it meant the clowns were ! i descending from the heavens. One man, informant J who i had been a clown, responded that he was supposed to enter j on the housetops. Four informants, one of whom had also \ i ! been a clown, indicated that they were walking on the ; clouds, observing the spectators as if they were people ; i in a valley far below. This tends to corroborate both j i Stephen and Talayesva, especially if one equates the j ! heavens with the place where clouds gather. Perhaps the ! real reason has been lost in antiquity, and perhaps the idea that the clowns descending from the clouds is a i j fairly recent attempt at interpreting this tradition. | | The fact remains that the traditional entrance for the | I clowns is over the rooftops, and here on the roof they j draw attention to themselves by loud shouting and zany j actions. They make elaborate plans for descending to the | plaza floor, which they eventually carry out in the most | ___________ - j 4 i Simmons, ed., Sun Chief, p. 187. ; extraordinary and amusing manner. i During the ceremony observed by the investigator, | i the Chuku1 wimkya ran from one housetop to another, pre- j j i tending to jump off, then stopping short, one foot sus- ! j pended over empty air. There was a great deal of mock j fear on the part of the clowns, as if the distance to the | ground was too awesome. The evidence of mock fear is found in Trickster, and the Hopi, who prides himself on strength and fearlessness, finds the satirical mockery of this trait quite humorous. The audience at this per- j formance indicated by loud laughter and boisterous helpfulj I | hints to the clowns that it very much enjoyed their anticsi Although the kachina were still dancing in the plaza, lit- 1 tie attention was paid to them. j The clowns next obtained a long, wooden, weathered j 1" X 12" plank. They set one end on the roof, lowered the other to the ground, and then attempted to slide down it one at a time. Still indicating mock fear, one clown would begin down the plank head first. He would start j trembling and yelling, and then abruptly the others would haul him back up to the roof. While this was going on, one of the clowns left the roof and appeared in the win dow of the house where the board was located. As each clown, climbing head first down the board, reached the i level of the window, this clown would poke at them, jig- j gle the board, yell, and in general frighten the descend- j | 211 | | ing clown who would quickly be pulled back up the board j to safety. Each of the four Chuku' left on the roof thus j : | attempted to descend the board to the plaza and each was i frightened by the fifth into scampering back up to the ! : j rooftop. The four clowns on the housetop then held a j ; I i hurried conference and left the roof. The fifth clown, j ! in the window, grabbed the plank and maneuvered it into a position where it then stretched from the window sill to the ground. This in effect made it a slide, perhaps eight i feet in length, from the window to the floor of the plaza. I Once this slide was in place, the rest of the clowns ap- i ! peared at the window. Singly they climbed through the j I window and stood on the board slide. Shaking and quaking j each would start walking down the plank, bouncing it up ! : and down, acting as if they were losing their balance then ; catching it again. Finally each would fall back and fin- ; ish sliding his way down to the plaza on his posterior. Every seeming miscalculation or apparent misbalance by a clown would be met by a roar of laughter from the audi ence. After each clown succeeded in getting to the ground,, 1 he would turn back and bounce the board as the next clown repeated the comic entrance. Eventually all five Chuku* i i reached the ground, some falling part way off the plank, I tripping over themselves, and behaving in a typical clown- j ing manner. During this entire comically distracting en- ' j | trance the kachina continued their rythmnic dancing in the] 212 ! plaza, paying no heed to the clowns; it was as if these buffoons did not exist, so intent were they on their dancing. The contrary behavior of these comic clowns in mock fear, and their total disregard of the sacred cere- i mony were evident. However, when the investigator asked i his informants for their reactions, the replies were sub- I stantially the same. The one aspect that all of the in formants agreed upon is that the clown’s descending to the! i plaza was done for only one reason— to amuse. The una- j i nimity of opinion on this point was that the clowns were | going to be working for a day and a half to amuse the au- j I dience, and that they wanted to get the spectators laugh- | I ing as quickly as possible. Consequently various physical! ways of reaching the ground were tried, and those that j received the most laughter were the ones usually repeated j over and over again. Fred Kaboti's drawing which appears j 5 ^ in Indians of the Americas indicates one such popular i method of the clown's entrance. Kabotie, a Hopi Indian, j has drawn the Koshare clowns tumbling head first down | the ladders to the plaza, a manner of entrance that was j quite popular and garnered laughter in response. Tala— yesva found that he was able to get his audience laughing 5 . ! National Geographic, Indians of the Americas (Washington, D. C.: The National Geographic Society, ! 1961) , ill. , p. 406. j 213 ; i readily by sliding down a rope head first, consequently j he used this method quite often.^ Many times in the : I course of observing the clowns, the investigator *s infor- i mants indicated that the actions were simply to amuse. There seemed to be particular emphasis upon amusement, for the informants felt that if the audience did not laugh, j then whatever educational or social value the clowns were i j attempting to employ would lose their value. j When the five Chuku* finally reached the plaza via I their shaky plank, they captured a small boy and attempted! i | to cut off the boy’s pants to resemble their own abbre- j i ! viated shorts. The spectators laughed at this little pani I tomime, and the boy escaped due to the bumbling antics of j the clowns. This Trickster trait (that of the buffoon | i being unable to accomplish the simplest of activities) I was repeated on numerous occasions throughout the after- | noon and the following day. After the abortive attempt j i at cutting the boy’s pants, the five clowns began a slow j i tour of the coutryard. Suddenly, with mock and exagger- j j ated surprise they saw the kachina dancers. Immediately ! I the clowns decided that they, too, would dance, so they I formed a line quite close to the kachina line. They be gan a sideways shuffling that soon evolved into a pushing, jostling affair, rather than dancing. This mockery of a j ^Simmons, Sun Chief, p. 187. ! 214 sacred dance can be traced through Trickster’s antics, j as discussed in Chapter III, and has been part of the Hopi clown’s antics as far as memory serves. Stephen makes consistent reference to this particular activity in his Hopi Journal, and such early observars as Fewkes j , and Bandelier indicate its continuing existence. Plate X ! I i I j is a graphic illustration of this type of contrary be- ! I havior, photographed by Voth, circa 1900. This picture ' indicates the Koyemsi clowns burlesquing a Mixed Kachina ! j dance. The kachina line is solemnly engaged in dancing j J and chanting a form of prayer. Two Mudhead clowns have forced their way between the kachina father and the ka china line while two other Mudheads are rushing to join ; them. They will dance out of step to the kachina, chant- i - ing their own words, often rather blasphemous. Similar toj ' I the five Chuku’ who burlesqued the Ho’ote kachina, these j J clowns’ actions are tantamount to little children hopping [ along with their elders, unaware of the seriousness of the i dance. t ! The Chuku' tired of playing this game, and contin- j i ued their slow progress around the plaza. They would stop and speak to various people in Hopi, point to some one on the roof and make some comment to them. Each time this happened the audience laughed approval. Just as the five clowns were nearing the kachina spruce, the third j verse that concluded that segment of the Ho’ote dance j Koyemsi Burlesquing the Dancers During Mixed Kachina Dance, Oraibi (H. R. Voth Photo) 215 216 | terminated, and the kachina father began leading the ka- | chinas out of the plaza for the rest period. The Chuku'- j wimyka immediately thwarted this movement, even attempting; ! to get the kachina father to sit in a folding chair that ' had been brought in. Eventually the clowns ended up standing next to the kachina who begins each segment of j the dance by shaking his gourd rattle. Each clown stepped forward, and in Hopi announced to the kachina that they j were here to make the people laugh and be happy, and asked; i that the kachina bring food back with them for the people.! They combined this entreaty with rather gross remarks in English, which caused a great amount of laughter. The Head Clown introduced himself to the kachina j I as ’’Mother-fucker”. The second clown, a rather rotund | individual, introduced himself as "Bullshit." Informant P j | a Hopi woman of about 25 interpreted for the author part | of the conversation this Chuku1 had with the kachina. j "My name is Bullshit. I am called this because I eat so j ' much and I'm full of shit. Please bring us plenty to eat i so I can continue to be called Bullshit." All of this wasj in Hopi with the exception of the coarse English vernac ular. The smallest Chuku'wimkya, a man who was quite crippled, was introduced as "Chickenshit," and he too, asked the kachina to return with food. The fourth clown i i was called "Blubber," and apparently there was no partic- j t ular name for the fifth. I 217 i i The similarities between these entreaties and the I antics of the various South and Middle American clowns 7 toward the Catholic church services is striking. In ad- j dition, the gluttonous appetite of Trickster, manifested ! throughout primitive clowning, finds still another outlet j in these clowns’ asking for great quantities of food. j However, it is probably in their use of English profanity j that the Chuku’ garner the greatest response of laughter. : The Hopi Way excludes epithets, and the blatant and exag gerated use of terms that represent the white man's pro fanity becomes a clear indictment of the kahopi attitudes j and languages of the whites. Time and again during the j i day and a half that the clowns performed, white man’s j j ways came under scurrilous attack by these clowns, to the j evident delight of the Hopi. ! The clowns finally allowed the kachina to leave, ' and as soon as the plaza was empty, they proceeded to j build their traditional house. This was accomplished by j two of the clowns dashing out of the plaza, then presently! | returning with handfuls of ashes. Letting the ashes sift i t through their fingers, as they walked, the clowns formed j 8 ' a rough floor plan of a square house on the ground. j 7Cf., Ch. Ill, pp. 101-108. g Informant G indicated that this was the action taking place and invited the investigator to help. He declined. I 218 This chukii *wimyakita, or simply clown's house, encompassed the kachina spruce. Plate XI shows a similar chiikii' wim yakita photographed by Voth, circa 1901, with three nearly naked clowns standing in it. The kachina spruce is stand ing squat against the ground, and quantities of food are already piled next to it, including an empty bowl. The j kachina line can be seen at the right of the photograph. Owl kachina, back to the camera, is keeping a wary eye on the clowns. He will soon issue a warning to them to be have, and will then leave the plaza. Despite the cere mony taking place, many of the spectators are intently watching the scene at the chukii' wimyakita, to see what humorous antics the clowns will do next. Often during the kachina dances the audience's attention remains riv eted to the clowns as if they dare not miss one single funny action, nor miss the next joke. After the Chukii' had made their house, they ac quired some steel folding chairs for furniture, untied the white bandoleers they wore, and spread them on the ground for tablecloths. The head Clown untied the small doll that was stuck in his girdle and left it at the ka china spruce. This doll has been described as the clown's 9 sister who is to take care of the house. This effigy is reminiscent of the dolls or stuffed animals used by the 9 Stephen, Hopi Journal, p. 489, n.; Simmons, Sun Chief, p. 188. Three Clowns in Their House at the Kachina Tree with Owl Kachina Watching Them. This Was During The Long Hair Kachina Ceremony, Oraibi <H. R. Voth Photo) 219 220 Serrano clowns of Puebla, Mexico, during the Conquest bur lesques.^ Soon after the clowns established their house, women began bringing food to them. On First Mesa, ac cording to Stephen, the clowns' clanwomen perform this duty.^ On the other mesas this is evidently the duty of 1 2 the clowns' paternal kinswomen. This simply means that although it is a particular aunt's obligation to supply food, whenever a man performs as a clown, usually all of his aunts, whether kindred or ceremonial, bring him great quantities of food. The foodstuffs are placed within the clowns' house, and repeatedly throughout the dance the aunts appear with more food. This becomes the great ware house supplying the clown's trait of gluttony. Once the clowns appear in the plaza they do not leave until the dance is concluded for that day, usually about sundown. Although there was no overt clowning behavior during this segment of the recorded ceremony, the audience seemed in tent on the action which consisted of the five Chukii' con versing and eating. Presently the Ho’ote kachina reappeared led by the kachina father and Koyemsi. They each carried boxes, ^Toor, Mexican Folkways, p. 195. 11 Stephen, Hopi Journal, p. 1065. 1 2 . Mischa Titiev, "Old Oraibi: A Study of the Hopi Indians of Third Mesa," Papers of the Peabody Museum of American Archeology and Ethnology, XXII, No. 1 (1944), 15, n. 221 baskets, or sacks of food, or watermelons in their arms. The Chuku* immediately went to their aid, assisting the kachina in setting the food in the center of the plaza. There evidently was a proper place for the food to be set down as both the kachinas and the clowns were very careful to place the food in a particular spot. There was no clowning in this activity. The Chuku1 were per forming just one of several duties that have no clowning connotation. Each time following a rest period when the kachina reappeared they carried great quantities of food, i and each time the clowns helped them. Various Non-clowning Duties of the Hopi Clown.--Part of the reason for assisting is due to the mask that the ka china wore. They had but small slits out of which the personator could peer, and consequently his vision was obscured somewhat. As a practical measure, the clown could take a burden from a kachina and place it on the ground without fear of dropping it. Yet this simple ac tion of assistance is but a part of an entire set of j j duties that the Hopi clown performs that have no humorous i connotations. Parallel to the flashes of humanity that j i I Trickster displays, or the actions of various primitive ! clowns, the Hopi clown also manifests his role of culture^ I bringer by certain activities that elevate him above the level of buffoon. He is often called upon to announce 222 : pending kachina dances to the village or to various kivas* Stephen and Fewkes indicate numerous times when the Sing ers or other members of the clown societies would leave one kiva, go to the other kivas in the village, and an nounce an upcoming kachina dance by shouting down through the kiva entrance to the men assembled inside. Parsons reiterates this activity, indicating that the practice had continued from late nineteenth century. The gathering of wood for certain ceremonies ap pears to be another duty of the clown. During the Powa'- mu ceremony, at the full of the December-January moon, the clowns leave the village on the fourth day after sighting 1 the new moon to gather pinon pine and cedar. They tie ! the bundles of wood to their backs or on burros, and re turn to the village the same evening. The next day the ' clowns color their bodies with a pinkish clay and wear a ; woman*s dark woolen dress. They gather the bundles of wood which have been left outside the village, or in specially chosen houses, and enter the village, gathering around the kivas. They sing and often tell facetious i stories about how they procured the wood. The clowns are | sprinkled with sacred corn meal. They then distribute j the bundles to various women of the village who have | j either won at a game played earlier in the kivas, or who j have previously given gifts of food to the clowns. There j is a joviality and fun to this entire ritual, and the ! 223 13 clowns usually receive more food-gifts from the women. Often the clowns participate in the road-making ritual which apparently has deep religious significance and cannot be considered clowning. The road is a line of sacred meal sprinkled on the ground ”. . . for the 14 Spirit or Spirits to travel m by, ’the road for them.’” These lines of meal lead to or from altars, shrines, springs, fetiches, or any sacred place that spirits may 15 wish to visit or where they may dwell. Whenever there is to be a public kachina dance, there is a road made leading from the kiva to the plaza. This line is sprin kled by the kachina father, sometimes several clan members, and often the clowns. The kachina follow this road when they enter the plaza to dance, and each time they move to another part of the plaza, the road is again made for them.1^ During the summer of 19 70, the author inadver tently trespassed over the meal-road, and was quickly warned away by some Hopi villagers standing nearby. Closely connected with the making of the road is the sprinkling of the kachina themselves with corn meal 13 Stephen, Hopi Journal, pp. 179-80; Fewkes, Hopi Katcinas, pp. 33-41. 14 Parsons, Pueblo Indian Religion, p. 360. 15Ibid., p. 480. ■^The practice of sprinkling meal to form a road upon which the kachina will walk seems quite widespread among the Pueblos. Parsons, Pueblo Indian Religion, p. 360. while they are dancing, Stephen notes in all of his ac counts of the clown during kachina dances that they would stop their buffoonery and antics periodically, and with solemnity follow the kachina father around the perimeter of the kachina line, sprinkling meal on each dancer from the pouch the clowns wore tied around their necks. Fewkes noted that the Chiiku'wimkya 11. • • do not dance or sing with the Katcinas, but sprinkle them with meal and 17 pray to them." The author observed that this custom of the clown was consistently carried out during the ka china dances observed during the summer of 1970. It would appear that whenever the clown drops his burlesque and humorous antics to perform the duty of sprinkling the corn meal, that once again the sacredness of the clown was reestablished in the eyes of the community. The building of the road and the sprinkling of the kachina with meal are emblematic of a person with a good heart and pure intent. Although this seems alien when con trasted with the clown*s burlesque of the sacred, appar ently his audience is quite willing to accept this sudden shift with no feelings of ambivalence. There tends to be an alliance between the several parts that makes Hopi ritual a totality. This applies to the clown's attendance upon the kachinas during a dance. 17 Fewkes, "Tusayan Katcinas," p. 293. 225 Not only does the clown become involved in making the road and sprinkling the dancers with meal, but he becomes, in effect, something of a personal valet for the kachinas. Often it becomes the clown’s duty to tie various articles onto the kachinas* costume, such as cornhusks, feathers, 18 and colored cloth, and to assist in arranging the masks. While the dance is in progress the clowns keep a wary eye on the kachinas, prepared to aid the dancers if costume and mask adjustments are necessary. The author observed the clowns on numerous occasions would move to a kachina during the dance and adjust a belt that had loosened, or a leg rattle that had slipped. If possible, the kachina would continue dancing while the clown made such an ad justment. If it meant a major restoration, the kachina would step out of line while the clown set right the im proper costume. When his costume had been adjusted, the kachina would step back in line and immediately resume the beat and words to the song. Valeting apparently was a very practical duty, since in the course of several hours of dancing many ves tiges of the kachina's costume would work loose. Since the Hopi regard the kachinas at so high a spiritual level, it would seem that it would take a special person in their Hamilton A. Tyler, Pueblo Gods and Myths (Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press, 1964;, p. 206. 226 society to be allowed the privilege of assisting the ka chinas, Informant G indicated to the author that it was considered improper to even point at a kachina, and touch ing one was felt to be tantamount to sacrilege. The im propriety of touching or pointing at kachinas was substan tiated by three other Hopi informants. The practicality of costume adjustment is rein forced in the light of Parsons' discussion on unconven- 19 tional breaks in established order. Since accidents and unconventional breaks in ceremony and ritual may be considered by the Hopi ranging from dangerous to fatal, then it would appear that a reasonable existence of some measure of protection would be inevitable. Thus, the clown who enjoys immunity unique in the society, may pos sibly attend and help the kachinas so they don *t stumble during the dance, nor jar loose any part of their cos tumes or masks. One of the most important nonclowning duties of a Hopi clown is the role of sergeant-at-arms. In this posi tion, the clown is empowered to set and maintain many po lice like duties, and to punish those who would transgress his admonitions. Due to the fear and respect seen re flected in Bandeliers' The Delight Makers, the clown is at all times regarded in matters of life and death for the 19 Parsons, Pueblo Indian Religion, pp. 103-06. 227 village, and a tremendous influence as intermediary. As Parsons states, the clowns are *'• • • punitive and have express police or warrior functions, particularly getting out dancers or racers or workers on town enterprises like 20 repairing a bridge or getting m a harvest." Tyler noted that the clowns often count the dancers * ’. • • to 21 make sure that all of them are present.1 1 Steward re iterates the importance that all of the Pueblos place on the clown as sergeant-at-arms, indicating that so far as the total clowning complex is concerned, this particular 22 trait is best developed in the Southwest. Apparently the police type duties may extend be yond control of their own people. During the kachina dances, even while he is clowning, he keeps a watchful eye on the audience seeking those people that would defy custom. The Hopi have very strict rules against photo graphing or drawing any part of their ceremonies in the 23 villages; still many people attempt to record these rituals and the tribe is always wary of such infractions. Hogue reports seeing a clown take a camera from a white 20 Ibid., p. 131. 21 Tyler, Pueblo Gods and Myths, p. 206. 22 Steward, "The Clown in Native North America,1 1 pp. 55-61. 23 "Hopi Reservation,*1 p. 8. 228 24 tourist, smash it, and destroy the film. During the Butterfly Dance at Walpi during the summer of 1967, the author observed a young white girl with a sketch pad and pencil making drawings of the dance. Immediately she was accosted by three Hopi who took her paper, tore it up, and escorted her to the edge of the village. The sergeant-at-arms role seems to be well estab lished among the South, Middle, and North American Indians. This unique, dualistic role once again places the clown- priest on a high level of authority and invokes obedience and awe from the Hopi people. Perhaps the combination of fear and respect is paramount in the continuing ability for the clown to preserve these policing duties; fear of public ridicule and scorn, which the clown is capable of levying, and respect for his apparent immunity from re prisal. This also brings a responsibility upon the clown for absolute integrity. Informant K, who had portrayed a clown during the Ho'ote Dance, indicated in interview that whenever a person had transgressed social behavior to the degree that he was to be publicly chastised, that a great deal of discussion preceeded the clown*s bur lesque or ridicule of the transgressor. This discussion took place in the kiva, among the elders of the village, 24 Alexander Hogue, "Picturesque Games and Cere monial of Indians,1’ El Palacio, XXVI, Nos. 9-12 (March 2— 23, 1929), 181. 229 and when the decision to chastise was made, the clown was admonished to accurately depict, and stay within the lim its of, the transgression. In summarizing the clown’s role in nonclowning duties, once again Radin's suggestion of the Trickster as culture-bringer as well as buffoon seems to apply. Com munal cooperation is woven irretrievably within the Hopi cultural fabric, and the maintenance of this material is carried out in two ways. There is the constant reminder given and lived by the people known as the Hopi Way, and the attending fear of transgression against this concept. The Hopi clown, who was originally embodied within two of the four basic Hopi societies, is an integral part of this communal fabric, and becomes a control force for it. The great and enduring religious ceremonies that are the mark of Hopi dramatization relate the cosmic notions and uni versal laws of their lives to the people. The clowns re main irrevocably a part of this cyclic life, and being blessed with powers beyond reprisal, are indeed respon sible for bringing culture as well as entertainment, often in the form of nonclowning duties. Throughout the two day Ho'ote ceremony observed by the author during the summer of 19 70, the five Chuku*wimkya performed many of the tasks described as nonclowning duties. These activ ities were intermingled with their buffoonery, yet on each occasion of such duty the Hopi audience seemed aware 230 that they were sacred rather than profane in nature since no laughter ensued. Returning to the description of the clowns' activ ities during the Ho'ote Dance, when the kachina had re entered with the food supply, which the clowns helped to place in the plaza, they regrouped similar to the other times and began their dance again. The kachina father proceeded to walk along the kachina line, sprinkling each dancer with a small amount of sacred corn meal which he carried in a small pouch. The five clowns followed the kachina father, repeating the sprinkling action, using the corn meal that each carried in the small pouch that hung around his neck. Occasionally a clown would let out a chant, or partially sing along with the dancers. In formant G indicated that the clowns assisted the younger boys as they danced, and sometimes these chants helped the novices to retain (or regain) the beat or the proper words to the song. When the kachina father and the clowns reached the last dancer, they sprinkled Koyemsi seated at the drum then cast another small amount of meal along the road that the kachinas would follow when they moved to their next dance location (for the second verse). They then cast still another small quantity of corn meal on, or at least toward, the kachina spruce. When the clowns finished this sacred ritual, they returned to their profane antics. One clown, who had a 231 small sprig of artifical flowers that were attached to a short wire, ran up behind Koyemsi and wrapped it around the small pod, that holds the seeds and earth, on the back of his mask. This Chuku* spent several minutes there, mimicking Koyemsi, and mincing about. The drummer paid no heed, continuing his steady rhythmic beat for the 25 dancers. Presently another clown appeared at the east entrance to the plaza* He resembled the Koshare type of clown, with tall, striped black and white horns, topped with corn husks. His body was painted with black and white stripes, and he wore a similarly painted mask. His costume was a pair of Levi jeans cut off at the knees and tennis shoes. He would be the Pai*yakyamu that Stephen 26 saw on First Mesa. He had a vodka bottle stuck in his hip pocket, and a wine bottle hidden in the corn meal pouch hanging around his neck. His pantomime was of an old man, leaning on a white cane for support. He circled the Ho*ote looking intently at them as if he had never seen anything like this before. Mocking failing eyesight, he would walk right up to a dancing kachina and peer in tently at him. Occasionally he would mutter something, then move to another. He would reach out with a shaking 25 This was a dance occasion where Koyemsi, the Mud- head clown, performed as a drummer and this particular individual had no clowning duties. 2 6 Stephen, Hopi Journal, pp. 157-58. 232 hand and gingerly touch part of the costume of one of the dancers. His pantomime of a nearly blind, palsied old man was quite good as he haltingly walked around the ka china line, bending on his cane. Occasionally he would stop and sneak a drink from the bottle hidden in his corn meal pouch. This Pai*yakyamu did not elicit a great amount of laughter from the spectators, but they followed with interest his journey around the kachina line. When the kachina finished the third verse of their song, they began distributing the food that they had brought with them. They would each pick up an item of food, search the audience for a recipient, and then pro ceed to give the chosen person this gift. The five Chukii* helped distribute the food in a similar manner. There remains deep within the Hopi a gift-giving attitude that remains difficult to assess. Parsons states, **The view that service should be compensated, that a gift necessi tates a return gift, is deeply held. When Anza offered the Cacique of starving Oraibi a horse loaded with sup plies, the Cacique refused on the pretext that he had nothing with which to return the gift, for without such his customs would not allow it— pretext to the Spaniard 27 but gospel truth to the Indian. * ' The Hopi still prac tice a complex gift exchange that permeates nearly every 27 Parsons, Pueblo Indian Religion, p. 77. 233 action. He pays the person who cures him; he pays the clowns and the kachinas for helping bring rain; he pays the animals he hunts and the crops that he grows; he pays the eagles that he keeps in captivity; and he pays all the beings he associates with his natural sources for life. These payments are made by way of gifts. The in vestigator was made aware of this penchant for gift-giving when he received a handsome, hand-made, woven Hopi placque of the Sun God from a Hopi woman. This was obviously sent as a return gift for a token gift of appreciation that the investigator had given her for being an informant. The gift-giving syndrome appears to reach a high peak during the kachina dances. The entire village is aware of who is sponsoring the dance— and it is in this way that the sponsor is making payment for something re ceived earlier. For example, a person who has been cured of some malady may not have the wherewithall for immediate payment. This is not pushed. However, recompense is expected eventually, and thus the person who has been cured may sponsor a kachina dance perhaps months later. A large amount of food will be given away by the kachina, and the clowns, to the man who did the curing, to his clan, and even to the village as a whole. In this manner a gift is given in return for a gift, and the sociological balance has been reestablished. Driver tends to feel that the public presentation of gifts reflects an attitude of 234 public approval that often more than compensates for the negative attitudes that public ridicule by the clowns may 28 bring. Titiev reflects the idea that the economic sys tem of the Hopi tends to confirm the sociological impor- 29 tance of the clans and their component households. The vast amount of food given away at the kachina dances be comes an integral factor in this economic system, and evidently gives direct significance to the clowns * and the kachinas* action of giving away so much food. There fore, when a clown scurries about the plaza distributing food and gifts to spectators on the roofs and standing in the courtyard, he is in essence helping some villager re turn a favor. He knows to whom the food goes and from whence it came. Not all of the gift-giving is based on repayment for an indebtedness. Often the clown is asked by an older person to present something to a child without the recipient knowing who gave it. The impression left is that the clown presented the child with a gift, so the youngster must be good and behave according to the Hopi Way as a way of thanks. Also, the Hopi are a hospitable people and quite often during a kachina dance, strangers are singled out and given food by the kachina or clowns. 28 Driver, Indians of North America, pp. 385-386. ^Titiev, "Old Oraibi, * * p. 200. 235 While attending the Corn Dance at Moenkopi in June, 1970, the author received a gift from a Koyemsi of some homemade bread. This was the first time the author had attended a dance at Moenkopi village so he was essentially a total 30 stranger whom the Hopi clown welcomed through a gift. When the dancers finished distributing the food and left the plaza, the Chuku* invited the old man clown Pai*yakyamu to join them for something to eat. They set Koyemsi*s drum up in the center of the plaza for a table, brought over their folding chairs, and had the old man sit down. They then spread food out on the drum and Pai'yakyamu proceeded to eat. It was quite difficult for the old man to feed himself since the mask had a very small hole for the mouth. When he attempted to drink from a can of soft-drink, the liquid went into the hole in the mask, but then simply poured out under the mask, down over his chin, and drenched him. He took small bits of watermelon and other food and attempted to stuff them 30 . . Conclusions concerning the total significance of gift-giving cannot be ascertained at present. There ap pears to be much more behind this Pueblo trait than is apparent through existing research, and the position the clown occupies in this complex societal pattern is shroud ed with many unknowns. As an instance, the widespread fear of the clowns extends into the gift-giving complex, because to deny a clown food when he asks or begs for it would put a person in great jeopardy. The gift-giving syndrome of the Hopi clown deserves more research, for despite the outward manifestations of joy and happiness it brings during the public kachina dances, there remains a degree of psychological consideration that requires more research. 236 through the small orifice. The five Chukii' gathered around Pai'yakyamu, sitting on the ground or on chairs, listening intently to a story which the old man was ani matedly telling them. The audience was generally amused by the story and the action taking place. Informant G, who was mildly amused at this scene, said simply that the old man was bragging. He did indicate, however, the ka- hopi actions of wasting so much food and acting so wrong in eating. Apparently, as all the informants indicated, the clowns constantly eat and in a manner that is incor rect to help show the youngsters how ridiculous it is. The old man finished his meal, and the Chuku* be gan carrying the remaining food back to their house. One of the Chukii* spotted the vodka bottle that Pai'yakyamu had in his hip pocket, and stole it from him. When the old man noticed his vodka was missing, he accused the Chuku' of stealing it, and a heated argument ensued. During this feigned fight, one of the Chiiku' discovered the bottle in Pai*yakyamuTs pouch which he pulled out to show the audience. It was a bottle of Thunderbird wine. Each clown then would take a drink of the wine, stagger somewhat, and hand it to another. Two of the Chukii' made elaborate preparations to hide their drinking by throwing the white mantles over their heads. The Head Clown dashed into the audience and brought out a white man who was given a drink of the wine. The arguments over the alco- 237 holic beverages between the clowns, the drinking on the sly, and the involvement of the white man, all seemed to point an accusing finger at the whites as well as labor ing the point of Hopi behavior toward drinking. There were several instances during the two days of the clowns’ skits where alcohol was used as the basis of the humor. Informant D, a Hopi woman in her fifties, indicated that these skits were not directed at any one individual but rather as a social comment on Hopi society in general. This attitude was substantiated by all seventeen infor mants, most of whom elaborated upon the social problem 31 that the Hopi have with drinking. While this skit of drinking the old man’s wine was going on, the Ho’ote kachina returned, again laden with food. All of the clowns immediately stopped their buf foonery and assisted the kachina as before. As soon as the kachina began their dance, the clowns returned to their own antics, each taking great draughts from both the vodka and wine bottles. Pai’yakyamu attempted to steal a watermelon from the clown’s house, which he drop ped, and it broke open. This brought a great amount of mock anguish from the Chukii*. This lasted for approxi mately five minutes, when the Pai’yakyamu decided to leave. His exit from the plaza was simple, and no fur- 31Cf., Ch. XI, p. 52. 238 ther pantomimes included him. The clowns left in the plaza again followed the kachina father, sprinkling corn meal, and often acting as valet to the kachina. They would stop and adjust some part of the kachina*s costume that had worked loose, or retie the bells or rattles that a kachina wore on his legs. After completing their rounds of sprinkling the meal, the clowns again reverted to their buffoon roles. They took what was left of the broken watermelon that Pai’yakyamu had dropped and placed these pieces in the center of the plaza. They then dashed into the crowd and returned with several small boys to whom they gave the pieces of watermelon to eat. The boys remained in the plaza until the conclusions of that segment of the dance. The food distribution was repeated, and the ka china left the plaza for their rest period. Now the boys had to work for the watermelon that they had eaten. The clowns took several of the empty boxes that had been used to carry food, gave one to each boy, and set them to cleaning up the plaza. The clowns organized this into a contest, the winner being the boy who picked up the most trash. He would be rewarded with a prize, in addition to the watermelon that he had already eaten. Upon signal from the Head Clown, the boys began running around the plaza, picking up every scrap of paper, every bottle or can they could find. The audience cheered them on, even 239 pointing to bits of refuse to be picked up by one of the youngsters. Three informants indicated to the investi gator that for the boys this was a double pleasure, for not only did they all receive some gift of food or drink from the Chuku1 but that the village youngsters deem it quite a privilege whenever a clown notices them, speaks to them, or asks them to do anything. Also there was a discernible threat in the clowns' voices as they commanded the boys to pick up the trash. Because of the fun (with its accompanying reward), and the threat, there was a monumental amount of clean-up work accomplished in a very short length of time. When every scrap had been picked up and put in the boxes, the clowns' rewarded every boy with a soft drink. Two of the clowns then marched the clean-up crew out of the arena, each boy carrying his box of trash to be deposited at the village dump. While the boys were gone, two of the Chuku* ran from the arena then reappeared almost immediately. Each clown rolled a large metal barrel into the plaza in pre paration for a barrel race. This was accomplished by putting one clown in each barrel and at a signal another clown would roll the barrel with its occupant the length of the plaza, turn it around, and roll it back. Upon reaching the starting line the four clowns changed posi tions, and repeated the action. This scene produced great laughter from the audience. The spectacle of the clowns 240 tumbling inside the barrels, the lack of control in rol ling them, the crashing together of the barrels, and the constant yelling of the participants all contributed to the amusement. When the clowns had finished the race, they ran into the audience and again brought to the arena some small boys. They put a boy in each barrel, and now with two clowns pushing each barrel, commenced another race. This brought even greater laughter from the audience. As each boy emerged from the barrel after a race, he was dizzy, and although he attempted to walk as straight as possible, he staggered and fell down. The audience laughed uproariously at this. The clowns rewarded each boy after his ride with a bottle of soft drink. Many young boys in the audience ran forward, volunteering for a ride in the barrel race, and each one received a reward when it was over. Using the barrel race as a criterion, it would ap pear that some of the clown*s behavior may simply be done for amusement. According to some observers, and many Hopi themselves, the aspect of entertainment is the most important factor. This point of view is that when a clown performs his burlesque and skits that it is just for fun. One of Parsons* Hopi informants, living in Hano, emphasized the funny traits of the clown in the following; Some of the Walpi wants to invite kachina from 241 Mishongnovi to come over to dance. . . . Same * Qa HopiJ says he wants them to dance all day to give pleasure to the children of the Town Chief. . . . in the afternoon the clowns come out from Butterfly Kiva, four or five, singing a funny song, saying funny things. Their aunts bring food to the clowns. They eat out there, eating in a funny way. All^he people laugh and are happy over these clowns. Crow-wing, a Hopi informant who assisted Parsons, records the following in his journal. These notations give an in sight into the Hopi attitude toward clowning and the fact that clowns who will evoke the most laughter are the ones chosen. May 17 Q9 2lU. We have a meeting at tewa kiva about the clowns who are going to Second Mesa. There are six men. The kachina men [^impersonators] want them to come because they are the best clowns, they make everybody laugh. For this reason they want them to come. On Sunday these clowns play hockey. They want to have some kind of a game at Second Mesa, for the people to enjoy. We are hold ing our meeting to think up for them what they can do to make people laugh. May 21. There is a dance over at Second Mesa. Peo ple from the mesa went to see it. I went. The clowns from Tewa went over, too. They dressed up in tewa kiva, then they came out. As they went along, they said to the people, "Let's go over to Second Mesa," and they said funny words. They got there in the afternoon. The people were glad they came. The women gave them some food, and they ate there and did funny things. People came from dif ferent towns, so there were lots of people there. The dance laste^o^to the evening, so we came back home very late. 32 Parsons, Pueblo Indian Religion, p. 778. 33 Elsie Clews Parsons, ed., "A Pueblo Indian Jour nal: 1920-1921," Memoirs of the American Anthropological Association, XXXII (1925), pp. 85, 87. 242 No mention is made of burlesque or that the clowns are in volved in any form of social control. However, Parsons indicates that even games such as shinny and hidden-ball are played as ritual or connected with ritual. She states, "By Tewa and First Mesa shinny may be played for fertility; the seed-stuffed ball must be played with until it bursts and the time it takes to 34 burst is an omen of good or bad crops." When the clowns call people into the plaza to guess what they have under a blanket, the successful one receives the object guessed, which is generally food. There is an aura of fun during these games, but the rewards are often valuable prizes that indicate the ritualistic nature of the game, often 35 equating it to fertility or rain, This attitude appar ently prevailed during the barrel race with the youngsters for on each occasion the participants were rewarded with food or drink of some type. Clowning for no other reason than amusement remains a moot point at best. The barrel race described continued until the Ho1- ote kachina returned to the plaza bearing food. The clowns again assisted dancers, and all of the young boys returned to the audience. During this segment of the dance the clowns spent the time in their house, resting 34 Parsons, Pueblo Indian Religion, pp. 793-794. 243 and eating* These five clowns had been performing stead ily for perhaps two hours, and apparently wanted to rest for awhile, so they did not engage in any overt buffoonery while the kachina danced* Still the audience seemed to direct their attention toward the clowns as if they feared that these buffoons may indulge in some humorous antic that they might miss* The break in their comic antics to occasionally rest and eat has a continuity that extends to the earliest recordings of Stephen in his Hopi Journal* Voth captured on film a similar scene (seen in Plate XXI) during the Long Hair Kachina Dance at Oraibi in about 1901. This picture indicates that one clown has just turned to the photographer and has offered him some food. Notice that the spectators appear amused at the antics, and despite the fact that the kachina are dancing (out of range of the camera), their attention is directed at the clown groups. When the Ho'ote kachina finished the segment of dance being described they once again were assisted by the clowns in giving out food. After the kachina left the plaza, the Chuku* proceeded to set up another race using dogs. One clown produced a large dog, another clown brought in a small puppy, and they attempted to get these animals to race each other. The race was a failure, but presently the three other clowns appeared carrying several small puppies. They let the large dog Plate XII Clowns Resting and Eating in Their House During Long Hair Kachina Dance, Oraibi (H. R. Voth Photo) 244 245 go, drew a line in the dust at one end of the plaza and set the puppies down on the line prelude to racing them* Some of the animals were so young that they had not yet opened their eyes* The Chukii 1 who drew the line cried, "Get ready, set, go!" Naturally, due to their age, the pups simply tumbled about. Most of them could not stand on their legs, and none comprehended that they were to run a race. The audience laughed quite jovially watching the squeaking, fumbling pups. The five Chuku* proceeded to help the puppies race by first gentle prodding, then pushing them* They would push these bewildered puppies a few inches, then perhaps a foot or so. The audience laughed at the awkwardness of the puppies to even stay on their feet. Suddenly one clown scooped up a pup in front of him and threw it a few feet forward. Another clown followed suit, only throwing his pup farther. Soon all the clowns were tossing the pups, until bit by bit they actually were picking up the puppies and throwing them fifteen to twenty feet down the plaza. This action evidently hurt some of the pups quite badly as they whimpered and moved about as though in jured. Presently they threw all of the puppies into a pile in the center of the plaza, and one of the clowns went in search of a cat. One was shoved through the win dow near the investigator, and the clowns began chasing this animal around the plaza. The audience was laughing 246 and stamping approval as the five Chuku1 chased the cat all over the plaza. The cat finally made good its escape by darting through the audience, so the clowns gathered up all the puppies and threw them in a large box which they took to their house. The seeming cruelty to animals is seen in the mythological Trickster, and repeated in primitive clowning in many parts of the world. The exhibit observed by the investigator is considerably toned down from several ac counts given by earlier observors among the Hopi. Stephen for instance, records a clowning skit during the Ana* ka china ceremony on Wednesday, July 13, 1892, when a clown lassoed a large mastiff and another clown slowly beat it to death with a stone while riding on its back. When the animal was finally killed, they cut off its head and chased one another about the plaza, brandishing the head 3 6 as a weapon. Once again Voth has pictorial evidence of this kind of activity. Plate XIII depicts a moment during the Long Hair Kachina Dance when the clowns were engaged in a skit involving the seemingly insensate torture and killing of a dog* The mud-smeared Chuku* kneeling in the foreground has a skin thrown over his head and hanging down his back, the clown’s way of depicting a great hun ter. He has stalked and finally killed his ferocious 36 Stephen, Hopi Journal, p. 554. See also Appen dix C. Clowns Engaged in a Hunt Burlesque, Where a Dog was I £ Stalked and Killed, Oraibi. (H. R. Voth Photo) I 248 game— a hapless dog. The hunt and kill have been done in exaggerated pantomime, ridiculing basically the manner in which the white man hunts. His clown companions are watch ing in amusement from a short distance, and most of the spectators nearby are engrossed in the skit. This skit took place between the appearances of the kachina dancers. This entire skit, a burlesque of the white hunter, was ap parently humorous to the audience as they understood the intended ridicule. Yet despite the overt cruelty and profaneness of the display described by Stephen, and the scene photo graphed by Voth, the sacred counterpart remained an es sential part of the ceremony. Stephen went on to des cribe how one of the kachinas took the dog’s head as well as quantities of food and deposited them at a shrine a short distance below the edge of the cliff as a food- 37 offering prayer. However, since the puppies in the skit observed by the author were not killed, perhaps this sa cred part of the ceremony has been dropped. Indeed, when the investigator sought information later as to the dis posal of the pups, he was told by Informant K, who had been one of the five Chuku1wimkya, that they had given them to several small boys in the village after the entire ceremony was concluded. Also reaction was sought from 37Ibid., p. 55. 249 eight of the informants who saw the puppy race with its resultant injuries. Seven of them thought the whole skit was funny, and seemed unconcerned about the puppies. In formant E, a fifteen year old Hopi girl, indicated dis pleasure with the skit. She felt that the action was ". • • just awful. . .1 1 and said that the pups reminded her of her own puppies at home which she evidently ^ 38 loved. Since the Ho'ote kachina had not reappeared yet, the clowns now brought out two brooms and two more card board boxes. They again brought several boys from the audience and began a relay race. The object of this race was to hit the small box with the broom the length of the plaza, around a goal, and back to the starting line. The two goals set up, one for each team, were the Koyemsi's drum and one of the folding chairs. Two clowns began the relay race by hitting their respective boxes with their i brooms, knocking them down the plaza, around the chair and drum, and back to the starting line. Here they handed the brooms to two boys, who repeated the action. They con tinued as two teams, alternating clown and boy. This soon 38 There appears to be inconclusive proof that this particular clown skit was done for the specific purpose of indicating a kahopi treatment of animals. That it was nothing more than a traditional way for the clown to gar ner laughs remains moot. 250 dissolved into the clowns1 attempting to hit their op ponents* boxes in the opposite direction, or hitting each other with the brooms. The boxes were soon destroyed, and it eventually evolved into a broom-swinging free-for- all. The audience thoroughly enjoyed this activity as gales of laughter swept through the crowd. As before, each boy received a bottle of soft drink from the clowns for participating. At this point the Ho’ote tfachina re turned, and again the clowns helped them spread the food on the ground in the center of the plaza. The kachina began their dance, and the five Chiiku * were standing in the center of the plaza, waiting their turn to walk past the kachina line to sprinkle the sacred corn meal. Suddenly two Koyemsi sprang into the court yard from the east entrance. They wore the typical Mud- head masks and their bodies were smeared with reddish- brown clay (refer to Plate II). In addition to the usual knobs they each had four feathers sticking straight up from the mask. Instead of the typical skirt, they wore Levi jeans cut off at the knees, and tennis shoes. They all had cowbells tied about their waists that hung down behind, clanging at every step. They each carried two small branches of cottonwood tree which they brandished as whips. These two Koyemsi ran into the arena, and went directly to the five Chukii', who pretended great fear of these intruders. The Koyemsi, speaking in Hopi, warned 251 the clowns to behave themselves and threatened to return and whip them later if they did not behave* The Chukii* retreated in mock fear, trembling at the threats, and promised to be good. The Koyemsi stayed but a few min utes, then dashed out, still brandishing their whips. Informant G, a man in his eighties, indicated to the au thor that these Mudheads, as well as other kachinas, will return the next day to wage the Kachina War on the clowns, at which time the five Chuku'wimkya will be whipped and drenched with water. As soon as the Koyemsi dashed out of the arena, the Chuku* stopped their cowering and returned to their buffoonery. The threats had left no lasting im pression on them. During the next intermission between dances, the clowns were resting in the plaza. One clown took Koyemsi's drum and began a soft rhythmic beat, and the rest simply lounged on the ground or sat comfortably in the folding chairs. They then began singing impromptu songs to the beat of the drum. The audience enjoyed this quiet sing ing, but occasionally would break out in laughter. In formants G and H indicated that the clowns were singing the praise of various women assembled in the plaza. They sang how pretty some were, how sexually exciting some were, and named them each time in their songs. They pres- sently sighted a man on one of the roofs, and yelling out his name "Phillip," started after him. They ran to sev- 252 eral ladders leading to the roof, but Phillip saw them coming, and was able to escape. The clowns returned to the courtyard, sighted another man, and gave chase to him who also escaped. At this time the kachina filed back in, and the repeat action of food handling took place. It was while the kachina dance was in progress that one of the most significant skits of the day began which con cluded after the Ho'ote left the plaza. A clown dressed in a black suit and wearing a Negro mask appeared at the east entrance. He held the hand of a small boy, also in Negro mask, who accompanied him. As he entered, the Negro impersonator waved and shouted greetings in English to the assembled spectators. The small boy was wearing just a red skirt that came to his knees. Hanging below this was a large ball, about the size of a tetherball, which caused the boy to walk spraddle legged (refer to Plate XIV). There is an amazing similarity between this Negro impersonator and the Mexican clown seen in Plate V. They are both dressed up in the dandified suit that ex emplifies a satirical picture of the Negro. The Hopi completed his ridicule through the minstrel-type make-up on both the man and the boy, and the long, black cotton pigtails on the older and the short pigtails on the younger clown. The tetherball hanging below the boy*s skirt was an obvious phallic device, and coupled with a large false penis beneath the skirt, created a great deal Plate XIV 253 A Clown Skit Involving a Negro Impersonator, During The Ho^te Kachina Dance, Shungopovi, June 27-28, 1970 254 of laughter. These two circled the entire plaza, the man waving to the audience and greeting everyone in English and in a very friendly manner. When the Ho*ote retired, the two Negro clowns went to the center of the plaza where the Chuku' were waiting. They conversed entirely in English, the clowns often repeating the Negro imper sonator's lines. The Negro impersonator related the story that he was out here from New York seeking a wife for his son who, he said, was endowed with a huge penis, and would make a good husband for some Hopi girl. The Chuku' offered to sell several girls who were in the audience, but none seemed to be good enough for the Negro. This was all met with laughter and shrieks from the spectators. The Chuku' wanted to know just how big his son1s reproductive organ was. The Negro lifted the red skirt of the young clown, disclosing a false penis of enormous size. This disclosure brought forth even greater laughter. The Chuku1 obviously overwhelmed by the enormity of this phallic device, immediately asked the Negro if he could help them to each grow reproductive organs of this pro portion. The Negro offered them assistance, and asked what each one wanted to do with an enlarged penis. When the Head Clown said he wanted to be able to pound a woman with his, the Negro sent him in search of a hammer. The second clown shouted for all to hear, "I want to screw!" 255 He was sent in search of a screwdriver. Continuing this line of analogous reasoning, each clown was sent in search of a tool that could be used to help him better his sexual intercourse. The Head Clown returned with a hammer, the second returned with a screwdriver, the third brought back a small sledge and cold chisel, the fourth clown returned with a flashlight, and the fifth brought a shovel. The Negro then pulled down the trunks or shorts of each clown, and using a length of blue cloth, proceeded to tie the object that each had brought back onto the clown's penis. The explanation was that this added weight would help them grow bigger reproductive organs. As each clown had his particular tool tied to his penis, he bent over, walked around, and complained how much it hurt, all in exaggerated style. One clown, when the shovel was tied to his organ, urinated down the handle and onto the ground. The crowd roared with laughter at this. The Negro impersonator indicated that they all must wear their implements for a week, then taking the small boy, he slowly left, still waving and greeting everyone in the most friendly manner. Outwardly the preceding skit had all the earmarks of just a humorous burlesque based on the Trickster's ob session with the phallic. The ridiculousness of the pre mise, coupled with the activation of a ludicrous nature, and it would appear to be another example of earthy humor. 256 There may also be a connection with the Mexican clowns, los negritos, where ridicule of the Negro is paramount (supra, pp. 110-113, Plate V). However, subsequent in terviews with various informants indicated that this fif teen minute skit was one of the instances of public ridi cule of an individual, coupled with social disapproval of a growing problem in Hopi society. The individual who bore the brunt of the clowns* burlesque was a Hopi woman who had gone to New York a few years ago, and had returned recently with two small chil dren who obviously were fathered by a Negro. The woman attempted to disguise this fact by repeatedly shaving the children’s heads, hoping their hair would grow straight. The day this burlesque was performed by the clowns, the investigator noticed that this woman and her children were in the audience. The allusion was pointed and quite ev ident to the people of Shungopovi. Even visitors from other villages understood the meaning, and informants from Oraibi indicated that they knew of the situation and saw in the clowns’ behavior the moral lesson involved. In addition to the individual criticized by this burlesque, it was brought to the author’s attention that the other edge of this two-sided sword of ridicule was equally sharp. The author was able to interview one of the men who had participated as one of the Chuku’wimkya, two weeks after the drama. The man, Informant K, was 257 asked whether there was any social comment connected with the skit about the Negro and his son. Informant K re plied : Very definitely. Many of our Hopi women, the younger women, are drinking a lot. Many times they will go into Winslow. They will drink and often times they will be happy to have men buy them drinks, and then they will go with the men. Many of them seem to be seeking outNegroes. One woman in the village had gone away for a length of time and had come back with Negro children. The clown’s abnormal sexual behavior, as discussed in Chapters III and IV, finds its outlet in this public display of the phallic at this Hopi ceremony. But many inroads of external acculturation have leavened the Hopi clown's antics, and the overt displays of simulated inter course and phallic play that are recorded by Stephen are slowly but surely being taken out of Hopi ceremony. Be fore the turn of the century Stephen recorded that at the Ana* kachina ceremony the clowns were compelled to run a foot race with two Wa * wash, or Running Kachina. Each clown was easily overtaken by the Running Kachina, at which time Hair Kachina would throw the clowns to the ground and using a large pair of sheep shears, cut hair clipping from the clown's head, pubes, and scrotum. The Wa'wash Kachina then took over, drew back the foreskin on the clown's penis, and rubbed sand on the 39 Informant K, private interview, Shungopovi, Hopi Reservation, Arizona, July 10, 1970. 258 glans. Wa * wash would then flog the clowns quite severely with yucca, finally letting them go free. At one time while a Wa1 wash was sitting astride one of the supine clowns he suddenly wheeled around, still seated, and uri nated copiously into the mouth of the clown, who ". • • 40 sputtered and screamed but did not resist very strongly." The treatment accorded the clowns evidently was not to punish them for transgressing the mores of society. There remained a sacredness in this exorcism that reached its culmination immediately following the physical pun ishment. At that time other kachina, using several vari- ieties of cactus, concocted a medicine and gave a sip to each clown. The clowns were then flogged with each vari- iety of the cactus used, after which ". . . the clowns and the dramatic figures went round the village . . . and treated everyone to a touch of cactus on the shoulders 41 and neck, Fewkes and me among the rest." Many early records indicate the proclivity toward 4 2 public exhibition of sexual activity. But slowly the restraints of white man’s civilization have eroded this type of ceremony, and the moments of overt sexual behavior; have been reduced to mere shadows of the ritual reality 40 Stephen, Hopi Journal, p. 555. 41Ibid., p. 556. 4 2 Refer to Appendix C. 259 that once existed* Don Talayesva (Sun Chief) perhaps best expresses the Hopi attitude toward the white man *s puri tanical persuasion that has resulted in a curtailment of a type of religious ritual that had known centuries of existence prior to this century. To the Hopi, living in an arid country, depending upon their natural environment for life, fertility was of utmost importance. Their prayers and activities carry within them the hope of life. These may be for food supply or they may be for progeni- tization* No matter how outwardly obscene such activity on the part of the clown may appear, there remains the all-important concept of fertilization. Talayesva re counts the time when he was performing as a clown in a public dance. In addition to the Hopi spectators and a few foreigners, the principal of the day school— a white man— was watching. The principal seemed particularly up set over what he considered the obscene behavior of the clowns. Just his presence at the dance was causing the clowns to subdue many of their antics. At one point in their skit Talayesva lost a checkers game to a male clown personating an Old Lady Kachina. The Old Lady Kachina had warned Talayesva that if he lost she would take his loincloth. She grabbed my G-string to snatched [pic] it off. I looked around for government employees and saw the school principal watching us with a frown on his face. I whispered, “Stop, there is the principal, and he looks cross." The old Katcina 260 replied in an undertone, "That doggone white man should stay away if he can’t stand it." "She" let go my G-string and said, "Well, we will have a race. If you win, you may do what you please with me; but if I win, I surely shall have your loin cloth. " We agreed to race, but were afraid that the white man would spoil that too. We were to run in laps. I started because I was the poorest runner, although the tallest clown. When we counted four, the race began. The old Katcina could run like a horse. She passed me with her braids sticking out behind and her skirts flying like a whirlwind. Adolph overtook her in his lap, and they ran neck and neck. Logan came out about one step ahead. The old woman fell on the ground wailing, "Oh, what shall I do to save my life? Abuse me as you please, but let me live." The principal was still watching, but we decided to take our reward in spite of him. We dragged the "lady" around the corner out of his sight and placed her on a sheep skin. I claimed first turn as Chief of the Clowns. I made ready, then glanced around and saw the white man had moved to a better view and was lean ing forward, looking. The people laughed, but I was angry. We called off the demonstration, led the old Katcina to our "house," gave her some corn meal, and told her to take our prayers to the Six-Point- Cloud-People. She seemed very pleased and said, "All right, your reward shall be rain." Then I turned to my partners and said, "I'm going to fix that white man." I walked up to him, shook hands, and said in Hopi, "Well, white man, you want to see what goes on, don't you? You have spoiled our prayers, and it may not rain. You think this business if vulgar, but it means some thing sacred to us. This old Katcina is imperson ating the Corn Maiden; therefore we must have in tercourse with her so that our corn will increase and our people will live in plenty. If this were evil we would not be doing it. You are supposed to be an educated man, but you had better go back to school and learn something more about Hopi life." He seemed embarrassed, reached into his pocket, drew out a half-dollar, ^nd said, "Here, take this and get some tobacco." 43 Simmons, Sun Chief, pp. 189-90. 261 Fertilization lies at the base of much of Hopi rit ual, not just in the comic. The Soyal Ceremony, one of the most sacred of all Hopi rituals, is followed by an equally sacred fertilization rite. The Mastop Kachina, with the most serious intent, race through the village simulating sexual intercourse with all of the Hopi women in the audience. This is a ritual where the Mastop pre tend to fertilize their mothers, their sisters, and their 44 aunts, and none of the women attempt to avoid them. The pantomimic conceptualization of a fertilizing process becomes paramount to a culture whose existence is held within the grasp of its physical environment. The ability to find the humor in this elemental commodity, as well as the serious, tends to indicate a sophistication of thought that transcends the primitiveness of its manifestation. The spectators laugh at the simulated copulation of the clown, at the same time they comprehend the deeper signif icance of the prayer for survival. This instructional concept in the clown *s behavior is rather unique, and ap pears to bode well for a culture that has included it as part of its educational program. Besides the deeper meaning of symbolic fertiliza tion, there remains another Hopi attitude toward sexual activity that appears to permeate their society. Appar- 44 Titiev, "Old Oraibi," p. 111. 262 ently the Hopi do not feel a sense of shame or naughtiness connected with sex or sexual behavior. Titiev reflects this in his writings, indicating that from infancy on, children are quite aware of sexual matters. He reports that babies are often soothed by stroking their genital organs and that affairs of sex are freely discussed in the presence of youngsters. Indeed, parents make little ef fort to conceal their marital relations even though they sleep only a few feet from their children. The younger boys are taught all manner of phallic remarks and actions when they serve as clowns. Even simulated copulation is practiced with pre-adolescent boys by adult women during 45 clowning performances. The Hopi attitude toward the natural and early ed- I ucation in sex is reflected in Talayesva*s autobiography. He indicates how, as a youngster, he was constantly teased by his aunts, his grandfathers, and other adults, concern ing his penis and all other sexual matters. He reports that on occasions he was the recipient of simulated in tercourse by his clowning aunts. His early sex education 46 included close scrutiny of animals as they mated. Titiev even correlates the scatologic habits of the Hopi with their free attitude toward sex. As he indicates, the 45lbid., p. 30. 46 Simmons, Sun Chief, p. 76. 263 act of elimination is considered so natural that the ac companying exposure of the organs involved seems to arouse little response. The Hopi dress often reveals the sexual organs of the males and the breasts of the females. Titiev feels that this does not mean that the Hopi are exhibitionists, but rather indicates, to him, that they consider such things as much a matter of fact as any other part of their daily behavior. Titiev concludes: To a person brought up in such a community, things of the body arouse none of the shame that they do in other cultures. Accordingly, sex ac tions, as such, are not regarded as reprehensible, and youthful love affairs are J^ghtly treated as perfectly natural occurrences. Despite the illustrations of overt sexual behavior on the part of the clowns, coupled with an early permis sive attitude toward sexual education, the Hopi are by no means devoid of a sense of modesty. Indeed, as Titiev clarifies, girls are often quite shy and act exceedingly coy. However, the bashfulness displayed by the Hopi girls may grow ”. . . out of a dread of publicity rather than from any other cause, for in a pueblo secrecy is almost impossible, and eavesdropping and gossip are freely in- 48 dulged m by one and all.1 1 Once again fear, imbedded early in Hopi life, becomes the salient factor in social 47 Titiev, "Old Graibi," p. 205. control. In short, the laughter and general amusement of the audience toward the phallic play during the Negro skit seemed genuine, and none of the informants interviewed viewed the burlesque as obscene or licentious. After the Negro personator and his “son1 1 left the plaza, the Chuku * continued to walk about the courtyard, straddle-legged and in mock pain. After perhaps five minutes they decid ed to remove the implements, and when attempting to untie them ran into difficulty. The audience continued to laugh at the trouble the clowns were having. The Chuku* after finally freeing themselves of the painful implements,: collapsed into chairs in their house to recover. In a matter of just a few minutes the Ho’ote Kachina gathered for the final dance of the day* It was nearly 7:00 P.M., and close to sundown. While the kachina were dancing, the clowns engaged in no more clowning activities but rather picked up whatever boxes were left and in general cleaned up the plaza. They joined the kachina father and the clan members both male and female, in sprinkling the kachina with corn meal for this final dance of the day. When the dance was concluded, the kachina father, four male clan members, and the Chuku’wimkya led the kachina out of the plaza. The kachina then went into one kiva, the Chuku* into another. The Ho*ate Kachina Dance Shungopovi, Second Mesa June 28, 1970 Sunday, June 28, 1970, the second day of the two- day Ho'ote Kachina Dance began in the plaza at 10:35 A.M. with the appearance of the kachina and the Koyemsi drum mer. The line formed, and with the chant of the kachina 7 j father, began the dance. At approximately 10:45 another drum could be heard in the distance, and presently the five Chuku*wimkya from the previous day made their en trance through the same passage as the kachina. They entered the plaza looking as they had at the end of yes terday’s ceremonies, although they had applied a bit more ochre clay on their bodies, and obviously had touched up their facial make-up to some degree. The clowns were prancing in a mockery of the kachina dancers, keeping time to neither the kachina*s drum nor their own. Their singing resembled more a caterwauling than a chant. It seemed nigh impossible that the Ho’ote could retain their own rhythm or singing, particularly when the Head Clown, who was pounding a drum, moved right up next to Koyemsi and proceeded to pound his drum louder and totally out of cadence to Koyemsi*s beat. However, none of the kachina ; paid the slightest attention to the clowns, and apparently none lost the beat nor missed the words of the song. In addition to the costumes of the preceding day, the Chuku* 266 wore garlands of fruit or vegetables strung around their necks. These included peppers, onions, oranges, and as sorted food. As these clowns pranced about the plaza, breaking through the kachina line, mock-dancing to the beat of their drum, their aunts would run up to them and snatch these garlands from them. The author*s usual in formants had not yet arrived, so he was unable to ascer tain the meaning of the strung food and the aunt’s taking it from the clowns. Until the Ho’ote left for their rest period, the clowns continued their disrespectful show toward the ka- chinas. They burlesqued the dance, they pounded their drum off-beat from the Koyemsi drummer, and they contin ued to break the kachina line by walking or prancing be tween the dancers. Explanations for this clown behavior tend to focus on a good/bad syndrome. Yet the bad aspect of this dichotomy stems more from a childlike naivete* reminiscent of the Trickster figure discussed by Radin. Informant I, a Hopi man in his fifties, related that when he has been asked to be a clown the admonition was simply to let his inhibitions go and revert to "childishness; do the things a child would do." Thompson records the fol lowing told to her by a Hopi informant: The clowns represent ourselves. They do all the things we do. The Christians do not approve of them. The clowns act like children. They don’t know how to behave. They come down the ladder head-first, make jokes. The kachinas do not take 267 notice of the clowns. The kachinas are always the sarae.^gThey represent the unchanging law— eter nity. The idea that much of the clown's behavior is child ish is reiterated by many authors writing about the Hopi. Voth graphically caught the clowns in children's games near the turn of the century. Plate XV shows a group of Mudheads playing leapfrog during a Mixed Kachina Dance. These buffoons have forced their way between the kachina line at the right and the kachina father who is standing at the center. Apparently they act as if the dancers are not important, and they are more intent on playing their game. The spectators appear quite amused at this child's game performed by the clowns, and they, too, are dis tracted from the kachina line. During this same dance, the Koyemsi played another game among themselves; a type of relay race using a stick. Voth's photo (Plate XVI) shows the kachina line in the background while the clowns indulge themselves in their own amusement, totally disre garding the dancers. Still a third photo taken during the same dance shows the clowns engaged in a rough-and-tumble, heedless of the dancers (Plate XVII). All of the infor mants indicated that the Hopi pride themselves on phys ical prowess, and a game such as this of piling-on be comes as much a measure of strength and courage as well 49 Laura Thompson, Culture in Crises (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1950), p. 130. Plate XV Koyemsi Playing Leapfrog During Mixed Kachina Dance, Oraibi, (H. R. Voth Photo) 268 ! Plate XVI Koyemsi Playing a Stick Game During Mixed Kachina Dance, Oraibi. (H* R. Voth Photo) 269 Plate XVII Koyemsi in a Game of Rough-and-Tumble, Oraibi (H. R. Voth Photo) 271 as a simple game. The young girls watching the clowns seem to be enjoying the action, and these young men bask in the approving smiles and laughter of the girls. There tends to be a showing off, as is often the case when young men want to catch the attention of young women, and this type of brawl becomes the arena for their overt dis play of physical strength and endurance similar to the running races in which Hopi boys engage. Voth also caught some clowns engaged in a wrestling match, obliv ious to the ceremony taking place next to them (Plate XVIII). These Chukii1, similar to the brawling Koyemsi, pit strength and endurance against one another in a child-^ like innocence, unaware of the importance of the kachina dancing nearby. While acknowledging the childishness of the clowns, the Christian-influenced Hopi tend to also equate clown ing with something evil. Informant D, a Hopi-Tewa woman of 52 converted to Christianity, substantiated the belief articulated by Dozier that good Christians see too much evil in clowning, and should refrain from even attending 50 the dances. She accepted the idea that the clowns be have in a childlike manner, but expressed the opinion that they represent "evil, " rather than "bad," while the kachina represent "good." Still the conclusion seems to 50 Dozier, "The Hopi-Tewa," p. 299. Clowns Wrestling in the Plaza During a Kachina Dance Oraibi. (H. R. Voth Photo) 272 273 be that the behavior of the clown, especially toward the kachina, is guileless and springs from his childish lack of knowledge concerning the significance of these super naturals* Later in the dance, when the clowns receive their whipping, the awareness of the importance of the kachina will be imparted to the clowns directly and to the Hopi vicariously* This entire ritual parallels the initiation ceremony administered to the young. Before initiation, the Hopi child sees the kachina with innocent eyes. Initiatory whipping in the kiva brings purifica tion and the knowledge that the kachinas are being imper sonated by men. From this moment on both the children in private ritual and the clowns in public ceremony view the world through different and more knowledgeable eyes. When the Hofote left the plaza for their first rest period during the ceremony observed by the investi gator, the Chuku* set their doll-sister near the kachina spruce in the ash-house they had built the previous day. Again their aunts brought huge amounts of food, and the clowns began eating. They seemed to never stop stuffing in food. All during the day they would be nibbling on bread, eating watermelon, drinking soft drinks, consuming fruit and cooked meals, and great quantities of piki; gluttonous acts that traditionally have been included in the clown's antics discussed earlier. Informant G indi cated that in previous times the clowns would take some 274 type of medicine that would help increase their appetites. Talayesva, during one of his stints as a clown, states in his autobiography that 11. • . our aunts brought more food. We ate and ate like young worms, but were not satisfied. It is a mystery that clowns can eat so much and so long 51 and remain hungry. " Whatever may have given the clowns the capacity for eating so much cannot be ascertained here. However, the trait of gluttony seen in the mytho logical Trickster was carried out throughout the Hopi clowns' performances. When the Ho'ote returned for the second stanza, the clowns continued eating and began a dance in mockery of the kachina. However, this soon paled, and the Chukii' again assumed a serious demeanor and accompanied the ka china father in the corn meal sprinkling ritual. The clowns had finished this rite and had returned to their house when the Horned Owl Kachina appeared at the east entrance to the plaza. This kachina was bare to the waist but wore a rawhide cape thrown over one shoulder. He wore trousers, moccasins, and the traditional sash around his waist. He carried a bow in his left hand and a small bun dle of reeds in his right. His large owl mask completely covered his head (refer to Plate XIX). He was coming as a messenger, to warn the clowns to behave themselves. He 51 . Simmons, Sun Chief, p. 189. Plate XIX 275 Sketch of Owl Kachina During the Ho'ote Kachina Dance, Shungopovi, Summer, 1970 276 circled the entire courtyard, looking this way and that, apparently seeking the clowns* When he returned to the east entrance, he stomped and gave his first warning* This consisted of stomping his right foot twice in suc cession, emitting a sound that resembled a muted "Ohh hoo," then a syncopated double stomp of his right foot* Then, while looking directly at the clowns, Owl Kachina, his head swinging back and forth, walked to each side of the plaza and stopped. At each station he repeated the warning* After he had given his warning the fourth time, back at the east entrance, he left the plaza. This was the first of four times that Owl Kachina would come to the plaza and give the same ritualistic warning to the 52 clowns to behave. The Chukii* paid no heed to the Owl, and continued their antics. At several unscheduled intervals throughout the afternoon there would be a loud whooping and yelling, and three or four Mudheads would rush into the plaza brand- 52 The number four is a favored numeral among all the Pueblos. The Zuni governor is empowered to strike a recalcitrant four times to enforce his order (Parsons, ‘ 'Notes on Zuni, " pp. 274-275). Confinement periods among the Pueblos is four days and spirit exorcism is performed on the fourth day after death (Parsons, Pueblo Indian Re ligion , p. 100). The Hopi often consult a chief four times before advice is given (Voth, "The Oraibi PowamO Ceremony," p. 105). Throughout Hopi legends the number four stands paramount in numerical significance (Nequa- tewa, Truth of a Hopi). This significance has carried into Hopi daily life, and becomes indicative of the Owl Kachina*s reasons for stomping at each of the four compass points, and for returning four times to warn the clowns. 277 ishing willow whips in both hands. These Mudheads were messengers, also warning the Chiiku * wimkya to be good. They would dash at the clowns, poking or hitting them with willows, occasionally jabbing the willow whip in the anus of a clown, then run out of the plaza. The whole action would consume perhaps one or two minutes. Informants G and H indicated that the Chukii* will continue to misbehave despite the warnings, and that all of the Mudheads, the Owl Kachina, and other clowns will engage in the Kachina War toward the end of the afternoon. These two Hopi stated that the war was to punish the clowns for being so bad during the kachina dance, and for eating so much, and for behaving kahopi. The intermission at noon lasted longer than the other breaks between the kachina dances. At that time the Chukii1 set up a cardtable and four folding chairs near their house. They set bowls and plates of food on the table and sat down to eat, even though they had been eat ing all morning. Presently they sprang from the table and went in search of others to come to the table and eat. One clown approached the investigator, who was wearing a beard, and said, in English, ,fHey, Jesus Christ, come and eat! Come and have a meal, come and sit, come and eat!" The author proceeded to the table and as he sat down, one of the Chiiku* said, "Here, help myself. Have some of my food. Help myself to eat.** The Chiikii* referred to the 278 author as Jesus Christ several times, due, no doubt, to the author’s beard, and continued to admonish him to "help myself to my food." The inverse or backward speech trait listed by Radin, as well as Steward, Stephen, Fewkes, and other ob servers, was evidently being used in the reference to "help myself to my food." The tone of voice of each Chuku* fairly rang with sarcasm, and the enunciation of the ep ithet "Jesus Christ" resembled a verbal snarl. Presently three other white men were brought to the table, two of whom also wore beards. One of the Chiiku' announced to the audience, again in English, that this was "the last sup per." This was greeted by a great deal of laughter. In fact all the mockery of these white men, including the in vestigator, was met with laughter and roars of approval. During this noon repast, five young boys and an older man, all dressed as Mudheads, ran into the plaza. The older Mudhead had written on his back, "Whipper Team No. 6 — Coach," and each of the young boys had "Whipper Team No. 6" written on his back. They brandished whips made from short pieces of red cloth tied at the end of short sticks, and several wooden tops. They would wrap the cloth whip around the top, send it spinning on the ground, then keep it spinning by snapping it with the whip. They gave some similar whips to the Chukii* , and commenced a game of racing their tops up and down the 279 plaza, the Mudheads against the Chukii' wimkya. According to Informants G and H, this was a very popular game with the children. Audience reaction was diverted from the whites eating at the table, and they paid close attention to the game. The spectators laughed and applauded, and appar ently enjoyed watching the game very much. They seemed to take the side of the Mudheads, and yelled approval whenever one of the young boys got the best of a Chiiku*. Plate XX is a sketch of one of the Chukii* trying to keep his top spinning with the cloth whips, and eat watermelon at the same time. The smaller figure of a Chiiku* is sneaking up to strike the larger clown with his whip and then steal the top by whip-spinning it away. He is hold ing a piece of homemade bread in his hand. They never stopped eating, even while playing the game, giving graphs ic illustration to the kahopi attitude of gluttony. The Ho*ote Kachina can be seen dancing in the background, oblivious of this distraction. Two of the young Mudheads had the type of pants that fit tight, coming just below the knee, black with a white stripe down the outside, referred to as surfer's pants in Anglo vernacular. Seeing this costume, one Chiiku1 ran over to a house and brought back five pairs of mailman's blue-gray trousers with the red stripe down each side, which the five clowns donned for the Whipper 280 Chiikii• wimkya Cavorting in the Plaza During The Ho'ote Kachina Dance Shungopovi, June 27-28, 1970 281 Race. This brought laughter again from the audience, and Informant G indicated that it was a caustic, visual refer ence to the United States Government’s program of giving old clothes to the Indians. When pressed on this subject, the informant made polite but strong allegations that the Hopi had a great deal of pride, and that the government’s ’ ’handouts” were demeaning. Five other Hopi interviewed corroborated this attitude, indicating that much of what is donated by well meaning whites, including the United States Government, ends up as costumes for the clowns. The indication was that the ridiculous use to which these clothes was put by the clowns was the Hopi Way of showing pride in their own abilities to clothe and take care of themselves, coupled with a rebellious attitude toward the white donors. As discussed earlier (supra, pp. 49-50), there is a widespread resentment on the part of many Hopi toward continuing governmental supervision supplanting their older, pueblo-oriented dynamic society, and the clowns, in public performance, are visual proof of this disharmony. The game with the tops became even louder. When ever a Mudhead would miss his top and strike one of the Chiiku’ with his whip, the clown would howl in mock pain, dancing up and down on one leg. The audience seemed to especially enjoy watching this whole game. Suddenly, as quickly as they had run in, the Mudheads all departed the 282 arena* The Chuku* divested themselves of the postal uni- 53 forms, and prepared for a watermelon eating contest* They pulled four rather reluctant Hopi women from the au dience and had them stand side by side in a straight line. Then one clown ran over to the investigator’s fifteen year old daughter, pulled her to her feet, and asked, **Do you like fish?” She allowed herself to be pulled out in the arena, and stood next to one of the Hopi women. The picture presented to the predominately Indian audience spoke silently but eloquently of the difference in atti tudes between the Hopi and the white. The four Hopi wom en wore simple peasant type blouses, colorful shawls and somber, full pleated skirts that came about mid-calf. Plain, simple black shoes completed their dress. The re searcher’s daughter was wearing a green and yellow striped sleeveless blouse and abbreviated culottes. The contrast in dress was quite apparent, and although there were no pointed allusions to the difference, the effect of the decorous Hopi method of dress compared to the typical in formality and display of legs in the white person’s mode of dress was recognizable by all. When all five females were lined up, the clowns 53 By this time the audience was paying no attention to the four white men seated at the table, so the investi gator returned to his family near the west wall and again sat next to Informant G. 283 stood facing them. The girls put their hands behind their backs, and upon a signal from the Head Clown, each Chiiku* began stuffing bits of watermelon into the mouth of the girl opposite him. The girls chewed and swallowed as quickly as possible, but the clowns forced more water melon into their mouths than they could consume. The food ran down their chins, and eventually more of the fruit ended on the ground than was being eaten. The au dience laughed uproariously at this contest, shouting en couragement to the contestants. Suddenly the clown who was feeding the researcher’s daughter threw what water melon he had left over his shoulder and raised his hands in victory. This was met with applause and more laughter. As a reward for winning the clown presented the investi gator’s daughter, Susan, with a loaf of homemade bread. Once again three traits of typical buffoonery were represented in this short contest. First, the trait of speaking inversely was manifested when the clown repeat edly asked Susan, ”Do you like fish?” His constant re ference led her to believe that she actually was going to have some fish to eat. A second trait, gluttony and the perfidy of wasting food, was seen in the manner in which more watermelon was proferred that could possibly be con- I sumed, culminating in actually throwing away a large slice of watermelon. The third facet was the presentation of a gift by one of the clowns to a person who had been chosen to perform in a clowning skit. As the clowns were cleaning up the area where the watermelon eating contest had occurred, the kachina re- turned for the next dance segment. Again the Chiiku* as sisted these dancers with the great quantities of food which they brought in, then retired to their house where they rested and continued eating. Just before the ka china left the plaza for their next rest period they dis tributed the food which they had brought with them, again assisted by the clowns. During this intermission the clowns set up a skit which was a burlesque that pitted the culinary skill of a white woman against the simple cooking tasks of a Hopi. The Chukii' brought out a long table and spread it with great quantities of food obtained from the store house of supplies that their aunts had stacked in their chukii * wimyaki ta. Presently two more clowns, both male, appeared from the east end of the plaza. One was dressed in a woman's long, red, sleeveless summer dress imprinted 54 with white hibiscus flowers, no stockings, and sandals. He wore a white mask with black hair in long pigtails. Informant G, greatly amused at this caricature, assured 54 During his tenure on the Hopi Reservation, the investigator saw no Hopi woman dressed in this manner. Apparently this garish attire had been donated by some well-meaning white woman. 285 the researcher that this clown represented the “bahana," or white person. The other clown, wearing the Mudhead mask, was wearing a typical Hopi woman's dress of black woven material, tied over the right shoulder, leaving the left shoulder bare. When these two clowns reached the table, they took places at each end of it and began pre paring food. Informants G and H indicated that the bahana "lady" was making a tossed salad, as a white person would, while the other clown was making tamales, Indian style. The burlesque of the white woman was a fine intense satire. She elaborately and repeatedly washed her hands, using strawberry soda, and chopped up volumes of vegetables, all of which she threw into a large bowl. She would mix the ingredients, add many more, mix again, wash her hands, add ingredients, and mix again. It was an exaggerated and overblown burlesque of a white woman making a salad. In contrast to this, the Hopi woman-clown quietly mixed ingredients for tamales and had them cooking on the fire before the bahana salad-maker was half finished. The ef fect was devastating, and the audience laughed and ap plauded the performance. Perhaps in no other way are the clowns' burlesques as annihilating as they are when levelled against the white man. Earlier discussion on the South and Middle American Indians, who influenced the Pueblos to a large degree, we find continuing instances where the conquering Spanish have been, and continue to be, mocked by the 55 clowns. The history of these conquered people ridiculing their oppressors has made its mark on the Pueblo Indians. Goldfrank reports a satiric enactment of a rooster pull at Cochiti. Reminiscent of the Guatemalan burlesque, the Cochiti Pueblo clowns dressed in high hats and long black coats, the type of dress introduced by the Spanish. They acted out their rooster pull with a great deal of buffoon ery and burlesque of the Spanish who brought the custom to 56 the Southwest. Fray Noel Dumarest, while living at Cochiti from 1893 until his death in 1903, recorded simi lar burlesques with the Spanish-Mexican the brunt of their ridicule. During one skit, when a group of clowns acting the parts of animals was chasing another group which was burlesquing the Mexicans, a Koshare *'. . . grotesquely dressed as an American*' approached. This newcomer acted peacefully, as if he were sowing corn. However, behind his back he carried a large whip. This Koshare would sneak up on the unsuspecting clowns, then suddenly lash out at them with his whip, sending them screaming and run ning. As Dumarest remarked, **The moral of this pantomime 55Cf., Ch. Ill, pp. 102-113; Plate III. Goldfrank, **Social and Ceremonial Organization of Cochiti,** p. 46. 287 is always to beware of whites, whatever their appear- 57 ance." The clowns performed a satire during the Twelfth Night Ceremony at Cochiti that was a direct descendent of the Matachinas of Mexico. The Mexican clowns wear masks with long fibre hair, and they carry whips. They usually brandish stuffed animals, and relate obscene stories to each other within hearing distance of the audience. The satiric resemblance to the conquerors of Mexico brings 5 8 laughter and amusement from the assembled Indians. The Cochiti counterpart, also called Matachinas, resembles this Mexican burlesque and according to legend was origi nated by Montezuma so that his descendents might always 59 ”. • • have the pleasure of mocking their conquerors.1’ The concept of ridiculing their enemies and mocking their conquerors finds ready outlet in the many skits and ' burlesques of the Hopi clown. Unlike the Eastern Pueblos, the Hopi never totally succumbed to the Spanish. Even when they swore allegiance to Spain it appears that it was more for appeasement, and little changed their lives. Consequently the Hopi burlesques do not contain the ridi cule of the Spanish or Mexicans to the extent seen at 57 Dumarest, ’’Notes on Cochiti,” p. 186. 58 Detailed information on the Mexican Matachinas is available in Toor, A Treasury of Mexican Folkways, and Kurath, "Drama, Dance, and Music.” 59 Dumarest, "Notes on Cochiti,” p. 186 288 Cochiti or the other Eastern Pueblos. However, the Anglo-, American infiltration created fodder for the clown’s ap petite, and in scores of recorded instances, the vituper ative assault upon the Anglo sent the Hopi clown's audi ence into paroxysms of laughter. Stephen records many examples during the early 1890's when the Hopi clowns bur lesqued the white school teachers, the hunting techniques of the whites, and even the white man's commercialism. These skits are full of "obscene" humor, and cast the white man into the role of a ludicrous parody of a human . . 60 being. Pictorial evidence is again supplied by Voth in Plate XXI. A white-face clown is seated in the center of the plaza at Oraibi, playing with a stick in a child ish manner. His costume itself is a comment on the white man. He wears pants of white cotton, a white dress shirt, and vest, probably all donated by some white person who wanted to help what he considered as underpriveleged In dians. This ludicrous attire contrasts with the elabo rately costumed kachina dancers who can be seen at the right of the photograph. The kachina father has just passed the clown, his back to the camera. He and all of the Indians spectators are wearing the typical working 6 0 The recording of a few of these burlesques from Stephen's Hopi Journal are included in Appendix C. Plate XXI zZZ. | A Clown m White Face Mocking the White Man, Engaged in a Childish Game, Oraibi. (H. R. Voth Photo) Jri 289 290 clothes of the Hopi; heavy shirt and Levi jeans. The con trast in costuming is complete when comparing the imprac tical white man's clothes that the clown wears with the durable and practical clothing of the Hopi. The clown has painted on a white face rather than wearing a mask. Later in the ceremony, during the ka china war with the clowns, his white man’s clothes will be torn from his body and his white face will be washed off by the drenching. This action will return the clown to his rightful position as a member of the Hopi society. The game that the clown is playing is merely a childish banging of the ground with sticks. He makes no attempt to match the beat of the drummer for the kachina dancers. Indeed, his whole demeanor, his actions, his appearance, seem to point in one direction; a burlesque of the white man’s disregard for the sacredness of the kachina dancers. All seventeen Hopi informants interviewed by the author in the summer of 1970 expressed deep concern over the lack of respect shown the kachinas by so many whites, and they all indicated that often the clown’s burlesques were aimed at ridiculing the white man for this breech of eti quette. The Hopi attitude is caught by Voth's photo graph of the clown’s mockery. A comparison of Plate XXI with Plate III indicates the penchant of the Indian for mockery of the white man from Mexico as well as the United States. Both the Hopi 291 and the Mexican Indian wear the white cotton costume in complete contrast to the Indian participants dressed in elaborate costuming. Their props are simple and their activities are a burlesque of the white man. Mockery has the psychological aura of ego-building, and a bereft peo ple can often show through ridicule that their own heri tage is superior to those acculturated mutations forced upon them by foreign influences. Educationally this ridi cule has an added advantage by graphically displaying for the audience how ridiculous incorrect behavior looks. Kennard reports an incident he observed in the early 1930*s that again displays the flagrant violation of Hopi social decorum often seen in the white man. One of the most humorous burlesques that I have seen was a take-off of the behavior of swarms of tourists who invade the villages for the Snake Dance each year. First several clowns ran into the plaza carrying small black boxes, and then proceeded to "take pictures" of everything in sight from every imaginable angle. They even dragged people out of the houses and made them assume ridiculous poses. Then they settled them selves on the housetops, removed their shirts, and exhibited all the manifestations of restlessness seen on such occasions. Finally a clown entered at the far end of the plaza and immediately called in a loud voice to another sitting at the opposite end. They carried on a conversation in English and at the top of their lungs. The new arrival strode across the plaza, made a great fuss as he clambered up the ladder, and they indulged in,-a great deal of hand shaking and back slapping. The skit following the burlesque of a white woman’s 61 Earle and Kennard, Hopi Kachinas, pp. 31-32. 29 2 making salad began as a devastating comment on the social problem of alcohol. The Chiiku* produced a large tub and began pouring into it raisins, rice, and fruit juice. The concoction consisted of several pounds of rice and raisins, and perhaps two gallons of pineapple or grapefruit juice. After tasting some, the clowns decided that it needed stomping, so each clown in turn took off his tennis shoes, climbed into the tub, and proceeded to stomp the mixture. They tasted it periodically by licking the toes of a clown extended for that purpose, and decided they needed help. One of the Chukii1 ran into the audience and pulled out a white man. He looked to be about twenty years old, had an unkempt beard, and wore rather old clothes and boots. In formant G described the man as • . typical hippie . . . * * with apparent disgust in his voice. The clown declared, in English, that the white man was to help them make wine, and succeeded in pulling the young man out to the tub. The clowns kept yelling, ,fTake off your shoes, you're going to help us make wine 11 1 He refused to do this, and began to struggle. Because of the white man's reluctance, it appeared that the clowns decided not to force the “hip pie*1 into their act, and attempted to continue their bur lesque without him. However, he remained and forced his way into the clowns* activities. Unable to get the white man to return to his place, the Head Clown continued the skit and offered his wet toes for the interloper to taste, 293 which he refused to do. At one point when a Chiiku1 of fered his toes for the white man to taste, the white man bit the clown. Audience reaction began to change as the white man pressed his presence into the skit. The laugh ter subsided to a considerable extent, and the humorous quality that had prevailed waned discernibly. Presently the white man and the Hopi clowns began first splashing then eventually throwing the mixture on one another. This action reached its culmination when the white man picked up the entire tub and threw its contents at the Head Clown. The clown ducked, and the majority of the concoction splashed on the audience sitting nearby. What had once been a well performed burlesque dissolved into a noncomedic scene devoid of laughter or amusement, due to the white man's interpolation. It appeared to the author that the white man's behavior substantiated the negative attitude already expressed by the Hopi toward the hippie. Soon after this episode the Owl Kachina messenger appeared again and repeated his actions and warnings. This time the Owl Kachina, in addition to stomping at each side of the plaza, pursued the Head Clown for a short dis tance, hooting his warning. The clown turned his back and scurried away from the Owl, much as a mishcievous boy j runs from a chastising adult. (Plate XXII illustrates this action, although taken just after the turn of the 294 century by Voth). The Owl Kachina abruptly stopped ad vancing on the clown, and walked to the south side of the plaza. When the Owl had reached this area, the Head Clown went over to the Owl for a conference. They squat ted and spoke in very low tones. Two of the other Chukii ' sneaked up to listen in on this conversation. Informant G indicated that the Head Clown was probably promising the Owl that they would behave, but since they spoke so low, he could not be sure. Soon after this the Owl rose, stomped another warning and left. However, the clowns continued their childish antics by mocking the dancers (which resembled a mincing type of gait), by gluttonous eating, by yelling insults at men in the audience, and 6 2 by making sexually inviting remarks toward the women. It was late in the afternoon, during the Ho'ote Kachina Dance, when suddenly all of the Mudheads who had appeared earlier, accompanied by Owl Kachina and several other masked figures, dashed into the plaza. There was a total of eighteen of these figures, all carrying whips. They immediately sought the Chuku*wimkya, and the Kachina 6 2 These taunts were always in Hopi, and Informant G would translate when he thought the remark was funny. These remarks included references to the amorous abilities of several young women, calling them by name, and point ing to other women in the audience and indicating that they were the clown's private wives. These taunts are reminiscent of Talayesva's accounts of clowning in his autobiography (Simmons, Sun Chief). a in IX A Owl Kachina Advancing on Clown to Warn Him, Oraibi (H. R. Voth Photo) War began. The Chuku* were wrestled to the ground, pieces of their clothing torn off, their baldpate wigs and ten nis shoes forcefully removed, and everything thrown in the air or on top of the roof of a nearby house. The Mud- heads rushed up to various doorways of the houses where buckets of water were handed them. They ran back and drenched the Chuku* unmercifully. The Chuku* were also being whipped by the eighteen kachina who had entered. The clowns fought back valiantly and would try to wrestle one of the Mudheads or the Owl to the ground, all the time being whipped by other kachinas. Voth was able to photograph a typical moment during this type of activity near the turn of the century (Plate XXIII). His picture depicts two Chuku*wimkya having grabbed Owl Kachina. The clown at the right of the photograph is attempting to wrestle the whip that has been used in dealing out the beating away from the Owl. The other clown has grabbed the Owl *s right hand and is calling for help from the clown nearest to the camera. Presently the Owl secured his release from these two Chuku* by assistance from his helpers, and they continued their whipping and drenching of the Chuku* The fight observed by the investigator finally in terrupted the Ho*ote dancers, who just milled around watch*. ing the commotion. Eventually the Ho*ote began drifting out of the plaza rather than being led out by the kachina "Kachina War:" Clowns Wrestling with Owl Near Culmination of Kachina Dance, Oraibi* (H. R# Voth Photo) 297 298 father, without attempting to finish their dance. When the Ho*ote left, the war was reaching a climactic moment. The five Chuku* had been washed clean of all the ochre mud, the baldpates were gone, and they had lost their ten nis shoes. They appeared to be totally defeated. When evident victory was achieved, the eighteen masked kachina who had fought the five Chiiku * raced out of the plaza. The five clowns began picking up their apparel, and some spectators standing on the roof threw the clowns* tennis shoes back down to them. The clowns were a thoroughly drenched and sad looking lot. Stephen makes repeated reference to both the whip- 63 ping and the drenching of the clowns in his Hopi Journal. This activity extends into Hopi mythology when the first two clowning societies taunted and threw water on one an other before the throne of the God of Germs in the Under world.^ Aquatic aspersion often has been augmented with urine in the past, and as usual, the recipients, despite their battle oriented actions, have always courted rather than avoided saturation.^ The mythological traits of taunting and drenching begun by these two clowning soci- ieties are very much in evidence and remain part of the 6 3 Consult Appendix C for typical references. 64Cf., pp. 151-153. 6 5 Stephen, Hopi Journal, p. 922. 299 basic concepts of ritual to the present day. The reason that so much water or urine is used in this ritualistic practice has been discussed by many writers, and the con census seems to reflect the Hopi*s penchant for analogous 6 6 reasoning. These people believe that like produces like, and thus water poured on the clowns is a prayer for rain to pour from the skies. Using this reasoning, the Hopi believe that the more water used in this ritual, the more rain will fall. Since rain is a basic commodity to continuing life, the drenching of the clowns is highly symbolic, and deeply meaningful. Even the use of willow twigs carries this analogous thought, since the willow tree grows near water. Substantiation for the willow- water symbolism comes from several sources. Barton Wright, Curator of the Museum of Northern Arizona, ex pressed the thought that the use of willow for whipping the clowns is Hopi medicine for rain, since the willow grows near the water. Informants D, G, H, K, and L, all Hopi Indians, reiterated the idea that because of its proximity to water when growing, the use of willow was intentional for the ritualistic whipping. And this fla gellation of the clowns is intricately associated with the drenching. 6 6 Consult Parsons, Pueblo Indian Religion, pp. 88- 97, for discussion on thinking by analogy. 300 Although there appears to be no mythological prec edent for the whipping of the clown, the affinity between drenching and flogging indicates its relevance to this discussion. Parsons discusses two explanations for rit ualistic whipping, the first being that flagellation by the kachina is performed as a purification rite. This might be thought of as an exorcism for the perverse be havior of the clowns, a type of punishment for their sins reminiscent of the chapayekam and other Middle American 6> 7 clowns. None of the seventeen Hopi informants inter viewed substantiated this view. They indicated that the whipping the clowns received was to punish them for their misbehavior, and through this public flogging, the people were also punished in a symbolic way. This would indeed seem to indicate that the clown stands in a position of public scapegoat, and that whipping him becomes a vicar ious experience of punishment for the spectator*s im proprieties. Sending rain as a means of compensation for whip- 6 8 ping is the second idea discussed by Parsons. Thus, rather than punishment for perverse behavior, the whip- ing becomes an integral part of a rain-prayer. Parsons indicates that the kachina say to the clowns, f,You are 67Cf., Ch. III. 6 8 Parsons, Pueblo Indian Religion, p. 474. 301 69 our fathers, now we must whip you that ram may come.*’ Crow-Wing, one of Parsons* Hopi informants, stated that on First Mesa, the more the kachina whipped the clowns, the more rain the kachina would have to send in compen- 70 sation. Stephen and Fewkes observed an attitude of the Hopi that the more the clowns were flogged, the greater would be the chances for rain. Stephen indicated this when he noticed the kachina **. • . made deferential mo tions before lashing the clowns, explaining that they lash and drench them that rain may come. Usually the clowns on recovering their freedom thank the kachina for the 71 lashing." Informant G was the only person who indi cated that the whipping was a way of asking for rain rath er than a punishment inflicted on the clowns. Four other informants, including two who had been clowns during the Ho'ote Dance observed by the author, agreed that perhaps in the past flogging was a prayer for rain, but that they had not understood that to be the primary purpose for the practice any more. Since Informant G is in his 80 *s it may be that he recalls a vestige of ceremony that has passed from one state— a prayer (which the younger Hopi have only heard about and no longer practice), into an- 70 Ibid., p. 269. 71 Stephen, Hopi Journal, p. 454. 302 other— punishment. Returning to the ceremony observed by the investi gator, the five Chiiku*wimkya were still gathering their possessions when the eighteen who had drenched and whip ped the Chuku* reappeared, carrying food. They had come to make peace. The food was passed around and everyone shook hands. Still the Chuku1 had to sing for their ran som. Beginning with the Head Clown, each clown in turn was taken to the end of the plaza away from the kachina tree where the eighteen punishers formed two lines. They then forced each Chuku* to sing his way back to freedom. As each clown chanted his song he shuffled in a sidestep down between the masked men. The audience enjoyed this very much, and broke out in laughter quite often. These droll stories carried sexual implications of a nature 72 reminiscent of those enumerated by Stephen. This cer emony of singing for their ransom is apparently an inte gral part of the clown’s ritual. It contains not only the seed of entertainment, for these amusing anecdotes are enjoyed by the spectators, but also can be related to a forgiveness/gift-giving syndrome that permeates the Hopi lives. The Chiiku* have been punished, and prayers for rain have been extended. Apparently this final rit ual is a joyous occasion of hope and good will. Hope that 72 Consult Appendix C. 303 the gods will be pleased and send abundant rain, and good will between the Chiiku ' wimkya and their tormentors liter ally, as well as good will among all peoples figuratively. This dualistic beneficial admonition was indicated by all 73 nine informants interviewed. When the Ho'ote Kachina returned to the plaza they formed as usual and began the last dance of the day. After the first verse the Ho'ote and the clowns gave away the huge amount of food that the kachina had brought in, and the spectators began leaving the courtyard as soon as this supply of food had disappeared. The Ho'ote fin ished the last segment of their dance to a nearly deserted plaza. During the height of the ceremony there were an estimated four hundred people in attendance. Now in the last moments of the dance, just previous to sunset, there were approximately twenty people. The final moments of the ceremony included thanks extended to the Ho'ote by the kachina father and the Chiiku'wimkya. The courtyard was nearly deserted by the time the last ritual was com pleted and the Ho'ote Kachina retired to their kiva. These kachina, led by their father, filed out, leaving the 73 . .. . . Apparently it was important that all five Chuku' sing a ransom song. The Ho'ote dancers began returning to the arena during the third Chiiku* song and when the Ho'ote appeared the eighteen Mudheads, along with Owl Ka china left the plaza. Immediately the Chiiku' who had al ready sung formed two lines and made the remaining two clowns sing their ransom songs and move in the sidelong hop toward the food piled in the clowns' house. five Chiiku1 wimkya alone in the plaza. The clowns gathered up the drums left behind, began singing softly, and slowly left through the east entrance to the courtyard. There were five Hopi spectators in addition to the investigator left in the plaza who witnessed this closing of the Ho'ote Kachina Dance. Summary Obviously from this one account of clowning one can trace threads of continuity extending back through earlier recorded observations and into the legends of the Hopi. The present Koyemsi, for instance, still resemble the mythological creatures that sprang from the incestu ous alliance between brother and sister. The physical appearance of the Chuku*wimkya of today matches the des- 74 cription given by Stephen, except presently they wear tennis shoes and often cut off Levi jeans and shorts pur chased at a store. Much of the behavior that Stephen noted in his Journal is still being performed by the clowns. There seems to be a consistency in the clowns1 initial appearance over the housetops and in their activ ity of building a house from ashes and placing their doll- sister in it. The clowns’ aunts, both clan and blood re lations, bring them food throughout the day, giving im petus to the trait of gluttony. The Chuku*wimkya evi 74 Stephen, Hopi Journal, pp. 158, 203, 402. 305 dently still practice inverse or backward behavior, mock the kachina, and burlesque the sacred. They indulge in phallic play, and publicly ridicule individuals as well as foreigners. The culmination of their activities re mains an exorcism combining drenching and whipping. In short, the clown appears at present to continue to exert both social and nature control. However, several mutations have accurred that have altered the clowns' antics since Stephen's time. There has been a decided lessening of the scatologic in the clowns' antics, and a total reduction of public display 75 of simulated copulation. The physical maltreatment of the puppies recorded during the recent Ho'ote Dance does not contain the severity noted by Stephen's account of the torture and death of a large dog, nor perhaps at an even more significant level, did this recent episode con clude with the sacred food-offering prayer that culmin ated the earlier ritual. Perhaps these differences are merely a matter of degree. Several older informants in dicated that the presence of the white men at so many ceremonies has caused the clowns to subdue many of their activities particularly those antics which the white man considers obscene. Don Talayesva, in earlier reports (supra, pp. 259-260), relates the relentless encroachment ^ C f . , Appendix C. 306 of white moral standards on the Hopi clown. He reiter ated this point during an interview with the author on July 10, 1970. At that time he indicated that although much has changed in the clowns* behavior due to the whites, the real ceremony remains in the hearts of the Hopi, and even with many of the particular antics no longer in existence, both the clown and the spectators know **. . . in their hearts, the right way.** One possible cause of breaks in continuity may come from the manner in which the clowns are chosen to perform. The demise of the clowning societies meant the end of the traditional clown and his place has been sub stituted by a person chosen to clown. The author had the fortuitous opportunity to interview four men who had per formed as clowns at one time or another, and they all in dicated that they had been chosen to clown by the kachina who were to dance. Several other informants substantiated this fact. It would appear that the threads of continuity in terwoven through the fabric of ceremonial clowning are intrinsically strong, extending back into time, and ap parently still intact. However, these ritualistic fibres are constantly being subjected to rigorous changes from without and reevaluation from within. The extraneous social pressures that are subverting many of the clowns* antics are, paradoxically, supplying the buffoon with additional fodder for his activities. Information supplied the investigator by two men who had been clowns during the Ho’ote Dance described earlier, gave insight into the motivations for their clowning as well as personal relevance to the Chuku'- wimkya's performance. The first man interviewed was In formant J, a fifty year old Hopi Indian living in Shungo- povi. The interview was conducted outside the general store at Shungopovi, and Informant J seemed rather reti cent about talking at length. He kept looking around as if he hoped none of the Hopi saw him talking to a white man. Consequently the entire conversation lasted only fifteen minutes. The first thing that Informant J said was that clowning was very hard work. He had had to work very hard preparing for the ceremony, and the day and a half in the plaza had been extremely difficult. The aspect of the hard work has been substantiated by many informants. Earlier Informant P, a Hopi about fifty-five years old, had expressed great relief in not being chosen as a clown since it was so difficult. He had been a clown in a previous dance several weeks earlier, and was still resting from the ordeal. Informant J mentioned that he had been chosen by the Ho'ote Kachina to perform as a clown, and this was an obligation that he must fulfill. Yet he did express his 308 enjoyment at being a clown and despite the effort involved he ". • • got a kick out of it.” He seemed to have some difficulty in understanding some questions, or perhaps a reluctance in answering them. Consequently the author was unable to ascertain whether their skits had been plan ned or were spontaneous. Feeling reluctant to subject the informant to any more discomfort, the author thanked him for his cooperation and they parted. The following day the investigator returned to Shungopovi and engaged Informant K in conversation. He, too, had been a clown during the Ho’ote Dance, and seemed quite willing to discuss the dance and his role in the buffoonery. He is a friendly man in his forties, with a gentle disposition. The author spent nearly three hours with this informant. The first information given the author was that Informant K had been chosen by the kachina to be a clown, that this was not something he did all the time. He said, ’ ’ Many years ago one particular society would do the clown ing and they would do it at each of the dances. But as the elders of that society had been dying, getting older and dying, it was not carrying on in tradition, and now when they do have clowning at the ceremonies they are chosen by the kachina who are going to dance.” Apparently then the clan members of a society do not choose the clowns, as was the practice earlier, but it becomes the 309 duty of the kachina personators to designate the clowns for their dances. Informant K reiterated what had been said by so many informants that it was very hard work being out in the plaza all day long for nearly two days, *'. • . trying their hardest to entertain people.*’ The interviewer men tioned that it appeared that the young boys were having fun being Mudheads. He said, **0h, yeah, the young boys enjoy it very much. That’s who the clowns should be be cause they have the strength to do all the things.*’ The interviewee had not remembered that the author was one whom the clowns had brought into the plaza and fed lunch. He said that there had been so many bahanas during the dance that it was difficult to remember them all, but he seemed to enjoy the fact that the author had suffered the brunt of one of their burlesques good- naturedly. He indicated that it was meant in fun and hoped that no hard feeling had arisen. He seemed genu inely relieved when reassured by the author that there was absolutely no animosity felt. The informant clarified at numerous times through the interview that despite the amusement and the fun at mosphere that the clown created, basically Chuku' is a very serious individual. He indicated that much of what the clown does is in way of instruction or teaching. He put it this way: ’ ’It’s showing the people the wrong way 310 is the bad way.” He indicated, for instance, that the burlesque of making or drinking alcoholic beverages by the clowns in the plaza is a direct social comment re garding the many Hopi, men and women, who are beginning to drink. His reaction to the problem of drinking, and his comment on the Negro burlesque, are recorded earlier (supra, p. 257). He summed up his attitude this way: The clowns can make the comment, the individ ual comment about the people, during their clowning in the plaza and the people can get mad or not, whatever they want, it’s up to them. We don’t need jails like the bahana [white man] does. We simply come out and show the people what they are doing is wrong, and through that, through the so cial pressure of having it done in public, we don’t need the jails as the bahana does. There appears to be great significance in this statement, and all the informants interviewed substanti ated Informant K’s admonition that the Hopi Way excludes penal servitude for social infraction. When pressed on the issue of the punishment that he and the other clowns received, Informant K expressed the idea that this was for their misbehavior and becomes a ”. . . kind of representative punishment for those in the village doing the wrong thing.” The connection be tween their whipping and any type of rain-prayer seemed quite remote. This attitude was reflected by two other informants who had been clowns at other dances. Infor mant I felt very strongly that when he was whipped as a clown it was punishment for his clownish behavior, and 311 through him, the village was being punished. He indicated that at one time it might have had more sacred signifi cance, but does not any longer. Since there seem to be divergent views on this aspect of clown behavior, the idea of whether whipping is a rain-prayer or a form of group punishment vicariously involving wrong-doers, re mains moot. Perhaps the answer lies in a psychological combination of the two. Informant K, in further discussion on his role of clown, substantiated that the trait of eating all day in dicated that gluttony is a bad habit for people. His re action to the abuse heaped upon the puppies was laughter, and said that the clowns had given them away to several young boys after the dance. He seemed to see no signif icance in the mistreatment of the pups, and felt that it ; was just to make the people laugh. There was a considerable amount of conversation during the interview with Informant K on matters extra neous to the question of clowning. Many of his thoughts reflected the problems of Hopi life suggested earlier (Chapter I, pp. 43-47), particularly a concern over fac tions within the Hopi society. He placed much of the blame for the schism in Hopi culture on the Traditional ist at Hotevilla, indicating that they themselves are con fused in their loyalties. The informant felt very strong ly that children should be sent to school to learn Eng- ! 312 lish, at the same time expressing genuine pride in his village of Shungopovi because it is the only village in the Hopi nation that conducts all the dances all year long* Briefly, Informant K represents the acculurated individual that may be encountered on all three mesas* He has the progressive attitude toward education, a strong desire to get along with the white man, and a tenacious hope to retain the traditional Hopi Indian Way of life through his conduct, his religion, his dances, and his ceremonies. The Hopi, who basked in the tranquility of a ho mogenous society for so many centuries, have been thrust into a discomfiture and heterogeneity in a handful of de cades. The extraneous cultures which they were able to meet with either passive resistance or resilient apathy have insinuated their presence onto every mesa and into each village. The internal forces that gave them seren ity of spirit and a sense of social happiness have been rent by Traditional and Progressive factions. The Hopi Way, which has been the life-bloodline of their culture, has been questioned and on occasion found wanting by the young. The Hopi roots go deep, but there appears to be on the surface, diversity and discontent that can no longer be avoided. Displeasure toward disagreeable fac tors are often displayed openly by the Hopi, and his re course is often thwarted by a governing body that is not j 313 of his own choosing* The growing pains of this society are quite real, and often magnified by the clown during the public kachina dances* Personal observation by the author disclosed many lines of ceremonial clowning extending back into the Hopi heritage. Yet even this anomolous clown character is being leavened with forces external to his cultural birth, slowly but inevitably transforming him into a transmuted personality. The public display of clowning observed by the investigator combined the traits of pure amusement with kahopi behavior patterns of gluttony and maltreat ment of animals. There were social comments made on the growing concern of drinking among the Hopi, and public ridicule of an individual woman. There were manifested many aspects of the logical and aesthetic unity that have been the traditional Hopi Way of life. And much of this behavior was measured from the inside by personal inter views of men who had participated as clowns. Thompson suggests that ". . . the psycho-socio cultural totality of the Hopi manifests a high degree 7 6 of the functional dependency type of integration.1* This1 would imply that there remains an interdependency of all the parts of Hopi society with the whole, and anything 7 6 Laura Thompson, "Logico-Aesthetic Integration in Hopi Culture,*' American Anthropologist, XLVII, No. 4 (October-December, 1945), 540. 314 that changes one part would tend to eventually affect the whole structure. This sense of organic cultural struc ture appears to be in evidence among the Hopi, and what may be construed as simple disintegration of timeless societal traits are rather interpreted here as demonstra tions of societal viability that is capable of change without losing those concepts of primeval importance. Basically this devolves into a Hopi unity in the midst of acculturated diversity, this unity often reaching its zenith during the public kachina dances. The kivas re main sacrosanct, the houses are regarded with privacy. It is at the public performances that all of the divers components that comprise the Hopi culture find a common ground. And here it is where white and Indian are in a total context of assimilation. Dramatically there could be no better position for the clown, and no better audience before whom he could appear. His burlesques can touch everyone, white or In dian, or he can single out the white for his ridicule to the delight of the Indian. The Hopi clown fits uniquely into Thompsons* logico-aesthetic integrated scheme of things where he is able to become both participating spectator and social manipulator of the Hopi Way. CHAPTER VI SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS, AND IMPLICATIONS The depth and complexity of Hopi ceremonialism have perplexed white observers since de Tovar first caught sight of these sedentary people living in the high mesa country of Northern Arizona. Previous research, in an attempt to explain the presence of a clown in the religious ceremonies, tended to emphasize the entertain ment factor. While perhaps partially correct, this ap peared to be an inadequate explanation for the continuing life of the paradoxical buffoon. Therefore this study undertook to amalgamate a diversity of viewpoints and per haps to indicate a more adequate reason for the clown's durability, function, and significance. This was deemed important in light of the rapid acculturation of the Hopi and the subsequent deterioration of the clown's role in public ceremony. Summary Restatement of the Problem.-...The problem of this study was to determine the reasons for the durability of the clown in public Hopi religious ceremonies and thereby as certain his true function and significance in Hopi so- 315 316 ciety and culture. Historical Context of the Hopi.„.A brief perusal of the Hopi indicated that they have had along history of adap tation to their physical environment; an adaptation that is manifested in their highly ritualistic life. As sed entary inhabitants of the Southwest, they have been part and parcel of a homogenous Pueblo life-style that has permeated their entire existence. Acculturation has de scended upon the Hopi from various sources. The Spanish, beginning in 1540, brought Catholic missionaries and a certain force of arms. However, the Hopi were a part of the Indian rebellion that drove the Spanish from the Southwest, and they remained the only Pueblo Indians who were not recaptured by the Spanish. The Anglo-American inundation began in the nineteenth century, and continues to the present. The Hopi are presently torn by divisive ness and social problems from within as well as govern ment pressures from without. Still a look at present Hopi life indicates both the peaceful and humorous traits of a settled people. Traditional Context of Hopi Ritual.——Historically the growth of Hopi ritual indicated that only a small portion of their ceremonies was autochthonal, and that the clown societies were probably brought to the mesas by foreign influences. The single most influential group upon the Hopi appears to have been the Rio Grande Pueblos, who 317 themselves were probably influenced by both the South and Middle American clowns, as well as the Backward and Con trary Behavior Societies of the Plains Indians. Thus the study was able to illuminate external influences on the Hopi clown. Mythological Trickster as a Basis for Clowning.— It ap peared that many traits of the primitive Trickster could be found in Hopi clowning. A look at the Winnebago Trick ster Myth, and various South American Tricksters, indi cated that the Trickster existed along a sacred/profane continuum. That is, despite his overt buffoonery, the Trickster has remained an integral element in important cultural activities of his people. His history extends back to pre-conquest Mexico and South America, and can be found throughout the Western Hemisphere today. The Span ish conquest produced new fodder for the clown's bur lesques, and satires of whites, Christianity, Negroes, and a Christian influenced devil-clown appeared. Compar ative study among the antics of the South, Middle and North American Indian clowns indicated certain parallels that manifested themselves in Pueblo and Hopi clowning. Psychological and Sociological Considerations.— To under stand the sanctified position of the clown in Hopi cere mony, it was necessary to peruse the psychological and sociological implications of clowning. Apparently the clown is allowed life in an established order where he 318 can operate as mediator between the dissident oppositions in that life. In a sociological sense, the buffoon be comes a vicarious release from social pressures, and a form of alter-ego for the disruptive forces within the individual in the audience. His public sanctification is not only tolerated, but he is enjoined to provide this social escape mechanism for his audience. Kindred to this libidinal release of tensions is the aspect of social control. Often through the clown’s antics, discipline (in the form of public ridicule) is levied. When applied to the Hopi, this aspect is seen by the clown's augmenting the teaching of the Hopi Way, often through a gross dramatization of the kahopi. The Hopi clown appears to bring entertainment to his audience, but there also appears to be deeper psychological and socio logical implications that inevitably point his audience toward correct societal behavior. Recent Observations of Hopi Clowning.-.—Original research among the Hopi Indians indicated certain distinct traits that apparently show continuity over a long period of time. These include the clown’s physical appearance, the use of symbolic colors and ornamentation, the close con nection with rain-prayers, the burlesque of the sacred, the ridicule of their "conquerors,” and the pervading trait of social control through emphasizing the kahopi. However, other factors indicate a mutation has taken 319 place in the clown’s antics; apparently the clown soci eties have disappeared, and clowning is now assigned; many overt acts of simulated copulation, fertility, and the scatologic reported by Stephen in the 1890's have been modified, reduced in number, or eliminated in public clowning; and it would appear that they burlesque fewer of their own culture's traits, and more of the white man's society. The Hopi Way vs. the Kahopi.— Hopi ideology classifies all phenomena as being relevant to Hopi life, with each individual in proper perspective with all other individ uals, as well as all facets of nature. This vast system of correspondences places the individual Hopi in a posi tion of being purposive in direct ratio to his own voli tion. The harmonious attributes of this philosophy also indicate the effectiveness of imminent justice in terms of cultural transgression. The unified pattern of Hopi culture becomes a conceptualized ideal society, with ideal man in residence. His unified code of conduct containing practical rules covering every action of the Hopi from birth to death is called the Hopi Way. By traveling this path, the ideal man should continue to exist within the ideal society. This determination for cultural cohesiveness has given the Hopi a homogeneity that, despite past and cur rent disruptive forces, remains paramount to their exis- 320 tence. Logically then the Hopi have developed a defense against the forces— internal or external— that would rend their social structure* Thus, in an attempt to prevent social transgression, the kahopi concept grew into mean ingful existence. From infancy until death, the Hopi are told and shown not only the Hopi Way, but admonished to avoid the kahopi— those actions which negate the tenets of their ideal society. Any real transgression on the part of the individual Hopi is dealt with by the group. Consequently the punishment itself becomes custom, and the people vested with the power to punish— such as the clowns— are placed on a significant stratum in Hopi society. Conclusions On the strength of the evidence gathered for this study several conclusions were drawn that indicate the reasons why the Hopi clown has remained a durable and in tegral part of Hopi ceremonialism: 1. It is the clown's function to amuse and enter tain his audience through contrary behavior, backward speech, childish actions, phallic display, and a myriad of humorous traits, so long as this is not merely humor for its own sake, but rather a means to an end. In short, amusement becomes a medium of expression for conveying deeper and more significant functions. It is one of the clown's functions to serve as a manipulator and arbiter for environmental control. Throughout his legendary history and traditional role the clown has remained one of the most sacred avenues of communication be tween the Hopi and their nature. He is whip ped and drenched to help bring rain. He in dulges in simulated copulation and phallic pranks of all description to ensure fertiliza tion, and thus serves as mediator to the gods in the Hopi's continuing struggle with their physical environment. The clown is one of several persons vested with the power to punish individuals who have trans gressed against the mores of Hopi society. This is often done in the form of public ridi cule or chastisement, an embarrassment that is tantamount to anathema to the Hopi. The clown functions as a guide for religious conduct. He helps maintain a reverence and be lief in Hopi religion by apparently transgres sing at will their sacred tenets. However, this action has a two-fold purpose; first, this provides a vicarious release of those frustra tions that religion imposes upon the individ- 322 uals in the audience; second, punishment of the clown (meted out by kachinas at the end of the ceremony) becomes a symbolic ritual indicating that religious transgressions will be met with punishment. Thus the clown becomes a communal scapegoat. 5. The clown also functions as a moral guide and social controller for his people as he helps maintain the Hopi Way. In his antics the clown infers correct behavior, often by gross display of the incorrect. He inspires or in stills proper attitudes by burlesquing the im proper. He ridicules the kahopi, and in short, forces as well as enforces Hopi moral codes and communal responsibilities. 6. Another significant function of the clown is that of helping to maintain a tribal identity by burlesquing the traits of other cultures that appear to be offensive to the Hopi. Thus other Indian, and particularly white, cultural aspects bear the brunt of much of the clown's ridicule. In this manner his audience may de termine the superiority of the Hopi Way and Hopi society over the kahopi and foreign so cieties. It is further concluded that the Hopi clown is not 323 only allowed immunity to perform his antics, but is en joined by his society to perform in this manner. This sets up a dual role that places the clown in a unique po sition of being both participant in, as well as observer of, Hopi culture. He remains both the woof and the warp of the Hopi social fabric. He has a parallelism to the kachina; yet the kachina remain locked into a spiritual stratum from which the clown may come and go as he pieases. It is finally concluded that the antics of the Hopi clown place him at the apex of disharmony where he illus trates what will happen if man's instinctual nature is given free rein. By depicting the unalterable and tragic consequences of following the kahopi rather than the Hopi Way in all things, and holding it up to public ridicule, the clown is able to enhance the instructional value of his object lesson. His audience can be warned against living such an existence, and the significance of the Hopi clown manifests itself when he acts as a homogeniz ing agent through his behavior, continuing to reestablish cultural harmony and communal identify among his people. Implications The implications of this study are that through the medium of humor, the Hopi clown continues to be a social force and an important dramatic figure. The cultural de 324 terminants that have shaped the Hopi in the past are being altered by extra-cultural pressures, and many of the clown’s traditional antics are waning or have disap peared. The traditional actions which have disappeared are largely those aspects of clowning behavior that tend to annoy or embarrass the white man. Yet other aspects of Hopi clowning remain intact, particularly where these institutionalized rites of rebellion occur within their own established and unchallenged social order. Still other clowning antics seem to be increasing, especially those burlesques and ridicules that comment graphically on the foreign intrusions into Hopi society. It can be argued further that the Hopi clown is more than an historic remnant; he currently functions as an important educative force in his society. For the Hopi, there apparently is no reason to ruminate on nor theorize about his clown, just as the Maypole or Christ mas tree presents no problem to the naive European or Anglo-American. Although the Hopi may see lingering in the clown the reflection of an earlier and more tradi tional version of their culture, this buffoon represents much more in the immediate present. The Hopi clown is able to prosper because he is neither disagreeable nor incompatible with present day Hopi society. On the con trary, the clown affords happiness, laughter, fun, and pleasurable amusement to his society, traits that are not 325 conducive to his disappearance, but rather features that endear the clown to his audience, and assure him of a continuing role. The ability of the multi-lingual Hopi clown to communicate simultaneously at several levels suggests the necessity of further research in terms of oral language as well as non-verbal actions. Whorf*s excellent work with the Hopi language^* demonstrates vividly the rela tionship between Hopi thought and language. This lin guistic approach gives added impetus to continuing study of the clown as town crier and purveyor of the Hopi Way in deed, in action, in language, and in truth. The Hopi appears to be abandoning a world-view of oneness with nature and to be moving toward acknowledging another kind of world. The Hopi is beginning to see him self being subjugated as an interloper in a world neither of his making nor to his liking. The Hopi dilemma is rather like Norbeck's conception of the psychological game of heads-I-win, tails-you-lose. If the Hopi submits to the encroachment it is because he should, according to the encroachers; but if he resists, it is explained that i this is just a reaction against a submissive role. So j the Hopi, in this emerging stage, tends to rely on the ka-j j 1 Benjamin L. Whorf, Language, Thought, and Reality, ed. by John B. Carroll (Cambridge: Massachusetts Insti tute of Technology, 1962). ; 326 chinas to help him maintain cultural integrity, and on the clowns to help sustain him in this struggle. And the Hopi clown stands, Colossus-like, astride two worlds, the Hopi and the white, spreading his scatologic diatribe over all men's folly, his phallus penetrating the vulva of hyprocrisy while, with great dexterity, pointing the way to Hopi happiness. APPENDIX A THE WINNEBAGO TRICKSTER CYCLE1 First Episode* Trickster cohabits with woman before war party; he continually leaves guests at party. Second Episode. Trickster wishes to go on warpath alone; he destroys his own boat. Third Episode. Trickster discourages his followers from accompanying him on warpath; he throws away his warbundle; he speaks to and understands all ob jects in the world. Fourth Episode. Trickster tricks buffalo into trap and kills him. Fifth Episode. Trickster’s right hand fights with his left. Sixth Episode. Trickster borrows two children from a younger brother and promises to take care of them. Seventh Episode. The children whom Trickster borrows die because Trickster breaks the rules their father imposed. Eighth Episode. The father of the children pursues Trick ster, threatening to kill him, but Trickster es capes by jumping in the ocean. Ninth Episode. Trickster swims in the ocean inquiring where the shore is; he finds that he has been swim ming next to the shore. Tenth Episode. Trickster prepares soup from fish. Eleventh Episode. Trickster mimics man pointing at him; man turns out to be a tree-stump; Trickster chas tises himself for his foolishness. 1Radin, The Trickster, pp. 3-53. 327 328 Twelfth Episode. Trickster tricks ducks into dancing with their eyes closed so he can kill and eat them; tells his anus to guard while he sleeps. Thirteenth Episode. Foxes eat Trickster*s roasted ducks despite warning gas vented by anus. Fourteenth Episode. Trickster, angered at finding ducks eaten, burns his own anus as punishment; inadver tently eats part of his own intestine; calls him self foolish again. Fifteenth Episode. Trickster puts his penis in a box which he carries on his back. Sixteenth Episode. Trickster sends his penis across a lake to have intercourse with the chief’s daughter; Old Woman stabs his penis with an awl to spoil Trickster’s intercourse. Seventeenth Episode. Trickster is out-tricked by buzzard who drops him in a hollow tree. Eighteenth Episode. Some women are tricked into helping Trickster escape the hollow tree. Nineteenth Episode. Trickster and companions (fox, jay, and nit) decide to live together. Twentieth Episode. Trickster changes into a woman and has intercourse with fox, jay, and nit; as woman, Trickster courts chief’s son; Trickster gives birth to three boys. Twenty-first Episode. Trickster’s third child cries and is pacified; Trickster is chased and loses false vulva; Trickster, fox, jay, and nit run away. Twenty-second Episode. Trickster visits wife and son, then departs again. Twenty-third Episode. Trickster eats laxative bulb, be gins to break wind; he breaks wind so greatly it scatters everything; he begins to defecate huge amount. Twenty-fourth Episode. Trickster falls into his own huge pile of excrement. 329 Twenty-fifth Episode. Trickster blinded by his own filth, bumps into trees looking for water; he find the water and washes himself; Trickster nearly died that time. Twenty-sixth Episode. Trickster mistakes plums reflected in water for plums on tree; calls himself stupid again. Twenty-seventh Episode. Trickster tricks mother racoons into seeking plums; he kills and eats their child ren; he props one child’s head on stick to fool mothers. Twenty-eighth Episode. Trickster persuades skunk to dig hole through hill. Twenty-ninth Episode. Mother racoons return and find children have been eaten by Trickster; he tricks the mothers into entering tunnel dug by skunk, and roasts them. Thirtieth Episode. Tree teases Trickster, who gets held fast in fork. Thirty-first Episode. Wolves come and eat Trickster’s food under the tree; he finally frees himself after wolves leave. Thirty-second Episode. Flies in elk's skull lure Trick ster, who gets stuck in skull. Thirty-third Episode. Trickster tricks people into split ting elk’s skull to free him; he gives them skull for medicinal instruments. Thirty-fourth Episode. Trickster lures hawk into working his head into Trickster’s rectum; thus Trickster captures hawk for revenge. Thirty-fifth Episode. Bear lured to his death by Trick ster. Thirty-sixth Episode. Mink outwits Trickster and gets bear meat to eat; Trickster, trapped under ice, gets only bear dung from mink. Thirty-seventh Episode. Trickster pursues mink in vain 330 Thirty-eighth Episode* Chipmunk tricks Trickster into probing into hollow tree with penis; Trickster loses all but a small piece of his penis. Thirty-ninth Episode. Trickster throws discarded bits of penis into lake, creating edible foods and plants. Fortieth Episode. Trickster gets coyote to lead him to a village. Forty-first Episode. Trickster tricks muskrat into turn ing ice into lilly-of-the-valley roots. Forty-second Episode. Trickster tricks snipe into sup plying him fish. Forty-third Episode. Trickster tricks woodpecker into supplying him with bear. Forty-fourth Episode. Trickster tricks polecat into supplying him with deer. Forty-fifth Episode. Trickster tricks mink (as revenge) into soiling chief’s daughter; mink runs away ashamed. Forty-sixth Episode. Coyote is duped by Trickster into being tied to horse’s tail. Forty-seventh Episode. Trickster removes obstacles on Mississippi River for future travel. Forty-eighth Episode. Trickster forces waterfall to move so people may inhabit area. Forty-ninth Episode. Trickster eats final meal on earth and retires to heaven. APPENDIX B TWO SELECTED ACCOUNTS OF PUEBLO INDIAN CLOWNS I, The Urine Dance of the Zunis On the evening of November 17, 1881, during my stay in the village of Zuni , New Mexico, the Nehue-Cue, one of the secret orders of the Zunis, sent word to Mr. Frank H. Cushing, whose guest I was, that they would do us the unusual honor of coming to our house to give us one of their characteristic dances, which, Cushing said, was unprecedented. The squaws of the governor’s family put the long living-room to rights, sweeping the floor and sprinkling it with water to lay the dust. Soon after dark the dan cers entered; they were twelve in number, two being boys. The centre men were naked, with the exception of black breech-clouts of archaic style. The hair was worn natu rally, with a bunch of wild-turkey feathers tied in front, and one of corn husks over each ear. White bands were painted across the face at eyes and mouth. Each wore a collar or neckcloth of black woollen rsicl stuff. Broad white bands, one inch wide, were painted around the body at the navel, around the arms, the legs at mid-thighs, and knees. Tortoise-shell rattles hung from the right knee. Blue woollen footless leggings were worn with low- cut moccasins, and in the right hand each waved a wand made of an ear of corn, trimmed with the plumage of the wild turkey and macaw. The others were arrayed in old, cast-off American Army clothing, and all wore white cotton night-caps, with corn-husks twisted into the hair at top of head and ears. Several wore, in addition to the tor toise-shell rattles, strings of brass sleigh-bells at knees. One was more grotesquely attired than the rest, in a long India-rubber gossamer “overall,1 1 and with a pair of goggles, painted white, over his eyes. His general “get- up" was a spirited take-off upon a Mexican priest. An other was a very good counterfeit of a young woman. To the accompaniment of an oblong drum and of the rattles and bells spoken of they shuffled into the long room, crammed with spectators of both sexes and of all sizes and ages. Their song was apparently a ludicrous reference to everything and everybody in sight, Cushing, 331 332 Mindeleff, and myself receiving special attention, to the uncontrolled merriment of the red-skinned listeners. I had taken my station at one side of the room, seated upon the banquette, and having in front of me a rude bench or table, upon which was a small coal-oil lamp. I suppose that in the halo diffused by the feeble light, and in my "stained-glass attitude," I must have borne some resem blance to the pictures of saints hanging upon the walls of old Mexican churches; to such a fancied resemblance I at least attribute the performance which followed. The dancers suddenly wheeled into line, threw them selves on their knees before my table, and with extrava gant beatings of breast began an outlandish but faithful mockery of a Mexican Catholic congregation at vespers. One bawled out a parody upon the pater-noster, another mumbled along in the manner of an old man reciting the rosary, while the fellow with the India-rubber coat jumped up and began a passionate exhortation or sermon, which for mimetic fidelity was incomparable. This kept the audi ence laughing with sore sides for some moments, until, at a signal from the leader, the dancers suddenly counter marched out of the room in single file as they had entered. An interlude followed of ten minutes, during which the dusty floor was sprinkled by men who spat water for cibly from their mouths. The Nehue-Cue re-entered; this time two of their number were stark naked. Their singing was very peculiar, and sounded like a chorus of chimney sweeps, and their dance became a stiff-legged jump, with heels kept twelve inches apart. After they had ambled around the room two or three times, Cushing announced in the Zuni language that a "feast" was ready for them, at which they loudly roared their approbation, and advanced to strike hands with the munificent "Americanos," addres sing us in a funny gibberish of broken Spanish, English, and Zuni. They then squatted upon the ground and con sumed with zest large "ollas" full of tea, and dishes of hard tack and sugar. As they were about finishing this a squaw entered, carrying an "olla" of urine, of which the filthy brutes drank heartily. I refused to believe the evidence of my senses, and asked Cushing if that were really human urine. "Why, certainly," replied he, "and here comes more of it." This time it was a large tin pailful, not less than two gallons. I was standing by the squaw as she offered this strange and abominable refreshment. She made a motion with her hand to indicate to me that it was urine, and one of the old men repeated the Spanish word mear (to urinate), while my sense of smell demonstrated the truth of their statements. The dancers swallowed great draughts, smacked their lips, and, amid the roaring merriment of the spectators, 333 remarked that it was very, very good. The clowns were now upon their mettle, each trying to surpass his neigh bors in feats of nastiness. One swallowed a fragment of corn-husk, saying he thought it very good and better than bread; his vis-a-vis attempted to chew and gulp down a piece of filthy rag. Another expressed regret that the dance had not been held out of doors, in one of the pla zas; there they could show what they could do. There they always made it a point of honor to eat the excrement of men and dogs. For my own part, I felt satisfied with the omis sion, particularly as the room, stuffed with one hundred Zunis, had become so foul and filthy as to be almost un bearable. The dance, as good luck would have it, did not last many minutes, and we soon had a chance to run into the refreshing night air. To this outline description of a disgusting rite, I have little to add. The Zunis, in explanation, stated that the Nehue-Cue were a Medicine Order, which held these dances from time to time to inure the stomachs of members to any kind of food, no matter how revolting. This state ment may seem plausible enough when we understand that re ligion and medicine, among primitive races, are almost always one and the same thing, or at least so closely in tertwined, that it is a matter of difficulty to decide where one begins and the other ends. II. An Edited Account of the Importance 2 of Koshare to the Pueblo Indian This story, retold by Bandelier, emphasizes the significance attached to the legend of Koshare and the fear that people today have of these clowns. The story was told to Bandelier by a Tehua Indian and was subse quently confirmed by some Queres friends of Bandelier. It begins with a woman who has been accused by her father 1 of ill-doing. When she demands to know who has told him, ^John G. Bourke, Scatologic Rites, pp. 4-6. 2 Bandelier, The Delight Makers, pp. 31-35. 334 her father replies: "The Koshare," . . . "What do I care for them," exclaimed his daughter. . . . "Let them do as they please." "Woman," he warned, "speak not thus. Their dis position toward you is not a matter of indifference." "What reason have they to follow my path? X am a woman like many others in the tribe, nothing more or less. I stay with my husband, . . . I do my duty. What have the Delight Makers to say that might not be for my good?" "And yet, you are not precious to them— " "Neither are they precious to me," she cried. Her eyes sparkled. Her father heaved a deep sigh. He shook his head and said in a husky tone,— "Woman, your ways are wrong. I know it, and the Koshare know it also. They may know more, much more than I could wish." . . . "My father, X do not ask you to tell me how you come to know all this; but tell me, umo, what are these Delight Makers, the Koshare? At every dance they appear and always make merry. The people feel glad when they see them. They must be very wise. They know of every thing going on, and drag it before the people to excite their mirth at the expense of others. How is it that they know so much? I am but a woman, and the ways of men are not mine," she raised her face and her eyes flamed; "but since I hear that the Delight Makers wish me no good, I want to know at least what those enemies of mine are." • . . "My child," he began softly, "when I was young and a boy like your son Okoya, I cared little about the Koshare. Now I have learned more. . . . The holders of the paths of our lives, those who can close them when the time comes for us to go to Shipapu, where there is neither sorrow nor pain, have many agents among us. Pa- yatyama our Father, and Sanashtyaya our Mother saw that the world existed ere there was light, and so the tribe lived in the dark. Four are the wombs in which people grew up and lived, ere Maseua and Oyoyaua his brother led them to where we are now, and this world which is round like a shield is the fourth womb. . . . Haatze the earth is round and flat, but it is also thick like a cake. The other three wombs are down below inside, one beneath the other. At Shipapu the people came out upon this world which is the fourth womb, but it was cold and dark. Then the great sun rose in the heavens above. In it Payatyama dwells, and on it he rides around the world in one day and one night to see everything which happens. Xt is day and light, night and dark. We have also summer and heat, win ter and cold. For this reason there are summer-people 335 and winter-people, some who like to live when it is cold and others who enjoy the heat. Every tribe, every clan, has some of both kinds. Thus they came out of the third world, and thus they have remained until this day. It was cold at Shipapu when the people came out on the sur face, and Those Above saw that they felt weak. Toward the south it was warm and bright, so Maseua and his broth er said to their children, the men of our tribe, 'Go you where there is more light;* and the summer people they directed to go along the Rio Grande; the winter people they sent south also but far around by the east over the plains where the great buffalo is roaming, where the wind blows and it is cold and dry. To both kinds of men they said, besides, 'Come together in the mountains and live there in peace, each one getting food for himself and others as you are wont to do.' But, lest the people might get weary on their long journey, Maseua and his brother commanded that from Shipapu there should come forth a man whose body was painted white and black, and who carried on his head dried corn-leaves instead of feathers. This man began at once to dance, to jump, and to tumble, so that the people laughed and their hearts became glad. This man led the summer-men southward, and as often as they grew tired he danced again and made jests; and the tribe followed him until they came to where we are now, and all met again. The summer-people never suffered hun ger in all their wanderings, for their leader was precious, and wherever they went he caused the fruits to be ripe. That man was Koshare. Since that time there have been Koshare in every tribe. Their task it is to keep the people happy and merry; but they must also fast, mortify themselves, and pray to Those Above that every kind of fruit may ripen in its time, even the fruit in woman's womb. To them is given the yellow flower from the fer tile bottoms which makes the hearts of men glad. Now you know what the Koshare are and," he added emphatically, "why you should not laugh and make merry when you are not precious to them." "Have the Koshare sent you here, father?" "No," was the gloomy answer; "but if the old men come to me and say, 'kill the witch,* I must do it. For you know I am Maseua, head-war-chief, and whatever the principals command I must do, even if it takes the life of my only child!" APPENDIX C SIX SELECTED AND EDITED ACCOUNTS OF HOPI CLOWNING I, An Early Account by Stephen of a Hopi Ceremony that Typifies the Clowning Complex^ This is an account of the Horned Water Serpent Dance performed by the Hopi, personating Navajo Kachina. It was observed and recorded by Stephen on Tuesday, Feb ruary 28, 1893, on First Mesa. It was the final day of a ceremony that had begun on the previous Friday in vari- j ous kivas. The observation indicated that the morning had| been given over to kachina dances performed by many clans, followed by the typical appearance of the clowns shortly after noon. This one example illustrates many of the clown’s antics, as well as his duties, and as such may be considered typical. The threads of continuity are nearly ; j intact from this account to the present day, with some differences only in degree of activity. This observation by Stephen is a graphic example of the following clown I behavior: j 1. Entering over the rooftops | 2. Sprinkling the kachina with sacred corn meal | 3. Aunts bringing food to the clowns ! ^Stephen, Hopi Journal, pp. 324-332. 336 337 4. Clowns building their house of ashes 5. Indulging in gluttony, rude jests, and comic play 6. Drenching with water and urine 7* Drinking urine 8. Burlesquing women 9. Indulging in the scatologic 10. Indulging in phallic humor 11. Simulating sexual intercourse 12. Combining the sacred and profane in a single performance At 12.45 from Wikwa'lobi came in a group of six Chukii * wlmkya 0=i owns] .... These came in to the court with merry shouts and shortly afterward there came from Tewa two Paiakyamu [clowns] who, instead of following the ordinary paths, came up Walpi walking over the housetops, shouting and capering. After the entry of the Chukii'wimkya, the women be longing to the clans to which these clowns belong, brought in great abundance of food, bright coloured wafer-bread, blue wafer-bread, stew, flour bread, baked squash, jerked meat, etc. As customary, two or three of the clowns gath ered a handful or two of ashes from the edge of the cliff and made a rude ground plan of a house around the minia ture spruce. This is called chukii * wimkyakita, but I can only elicit that this is the clown house, that they have always thus made it. They receive the food from the wo men and bring it within this ash outlined house, placing it around the tree, and they indulge in the usual glut tony, crack rude jests, and frolic in comic play. At 3.10, two men made up in dilapidated costume of old Hopi women, wearing grotesque masks and gray horse-j hair wigs, came up, . . . and two of the largest size ba sins . . . , full of water, were procured from the neigh boring houses. Each bearing one of these basins on her shoulder, they proceeded to Pillar court, one remaining at the north end, the other standing near the pillar. About the same time two young men wearing grotesque masks and some scanty dilapidated shred of costume came in to the court . . . and began running back and forth across the court, and each time one passed in front of the old ; women these tilted a little water from their basins on the runners. The Chuku*wimkya and the Paiakyamu also joined in this race, all shouting and anxious to be wetted as much as possible. This is called pa'shiwawa * siya, i.e. the wet runners. It is said to be a summer ceremony of the A*kokyabi (Acoma). . . . After the water was exhausted, the two personating old women went toward the Chief kiva court and very soon 338 returned with the same basins, but this time full of foul smelling urine. The two “women*1 held these basins in front of them, standing near the pillar, and the Chukii*, all of them, and one of the Pai'akyamu crowded round them and eagerly drank of the urine, rubbing their bellies af ter a draught and shouting pash kwa1nwa, very sweet! Some of the Chiiku * thrust their heads in the basins, sous ing their faces in the stinking urine and swallowing it, as I have said, with all apparent eagerness. While the Chukii* were drinking, the “women** also dipped their hands in the urine and sprinkled the drinkers, and after the vessels were about empty, the ’'women" ran among the spec tators trying to sprinkle them also, but as nearly all the men standing along the cliff edge of the court were in their gala costume, they— or most of them— ran away and avoided the foul aspersing. Most of the Chiikii * drank more than once, and as each of the basins held about three gal lons, although perhaps half or more was spilled on the ground and on the persons of the Chukii’, X am of the opin ion that between two and three gall sons were actually drunk by the seven participators. It is a good medicine (na’hii) they say, good for all internal ailments. This ended the running in the court, and about then a kachina procession came in and the Chiikii'wimkya became solemn again, and taking out a handful of meal from the pouch which they all wear hanging from the neck, they passed down the line of kachina, casting meal upon them. While the Navajo kachina of Chief kiva were dancing in the court, “their grandfather*1 made some occasional comic by-play with the Chiikii* , in the course of which he plucked off the breech cloth of We'he (one of the Pai*- akyamu) and pulled him around by the penis. We’he de clares the grandfather has almost pulled his penis off and claims a three year old horse as damages; this comic com plaint is in Navajo. The Chiikii* pluck the breech cloth from each other occasionally. By 4 P.M., as the sun gets low enough then to cast the court in shadows, it grows very cold and the merry men go round shivering and gather some fragments of fuel and some greasewood and make a fire on the edge of the cliff. While they are huddled around it, Ha’ni and an other man enter from Chief kiva, wearing grotesque masks but otherwise made up in capital imitation, Ha’ni, of an old woman with threadbare costume and brush in hand; and the other, a grotesque male in ragged gala costume, with a farrago of old rans worn as a kilt. They both go in the house of Koch’niimsi, the door of which opens from the 339 court not far from the spot where the miniature spruce is planted. Directly after them come two more from Chief kiva, made up as grotesque women, one as a girl with large hair whorls, and these two also go into the same house. This little comedy is to be a burlesque marriage. . . . Presently come in from Chief kiva, six[wedding] guests with grotesque masks, whitened bodies and old torn ragged mantles, and the bridegroom comes out from the house. One of the ' ’women" also comes out and goes to Chief kiva court, returning soon with a basin of ordure and other filth scraped up from the dirty corners, and coming behind the wedding guests who stand in a huddle near the pillar, she smears the faces of the masks and their bodies, smears the Chukiif, everyone she can come up with, and then makes among the gaily costumed spectators who quickly scatter, but she manages to overtake a few and does not spare them a liberal daubing with the horri ble stinking filth. Coming back among the six guests, she tears off their ragged mantles, revealing each of them with a large false penis made of a gourd neck, and assisted by another "old woman" from the house, she throws the guests down and daubs their penis with the filth. She pretends to stamp on the penis of one and he weeps and moans and gives up the ghost. The Paiakyamu then come and examine him and announce that he is dead. They roll and rub him and strive to revive him, but with out avail. Finally they turn him over and placing their mouths close to his anus pretend to suck at it, and he gradually revives and they thump him on the back, shout ing, and send him away restored. The "women" bring out two or three sheepskins from the house and spread them in the middle of the court, and then bring out the girl who pretends coyness, but they lay her down on the skins and cover her with her old ragged mantle and bring the groom and lay him beside her and cover them both, and all the spectators shout. There is a crowd of spectators, all the surrounding housetops are dense with them, and the cliff edge of the court is deeply lined. Fortunately there are no white people present. Men and women seem to enjoy this very broad farce alike, although there are symptoms of modesty among some of the girls who occasionally turn their heads or look down. The bride and groom pretend dalliance under the mantle and soon he surmounts her, then some of the Chuku* run up and snatch away the mantle that had been covering them, shouting to them to go ahead but that everyone wanted to see the act. Then, it is plain to be seen, the bride exhibits a false vulva and the groom a false penis, there secured in place with strings, and they explicitly perform the simulated act of copulation, and the throng 340 of spectators rend the air with their hilarious shouts. As the groom rolls over in exhaustion, the bride is picked up and put on the back of one of the guests, her back next to his; the two other burlesque women are similarly carried by others of the "guests1 * who carry them around the court, the "women** kicking their legs wide apart and their garments torn off so as to display the imitation vulva that each has fastened between the legs, and the Paiakyamu and Chukii'wlmkya pretend to suck at these vulva. The "guests" and all the other male per sonages have had their garments plucked off, all showing an imitation penis. There is an uproar of shouts and laughter, but this part of the pornographic display lasts but a few minutes. The whole time occupied by the bur lesque marriage was about forty minutes. II. An Early Account of Drenching as Seen by Stephen in 18912 Stephen reports that the men's clowning society, the Wuwuchimtu, and the women's clowning society, the Mamzrauti, carried on the aspersic exchange begun in myth-, ology. The following accounts were recorded by Stephen at Walpi in 1891. The first observation is part of the Wuwiichim or New-fire Ceremony, a religious ritual that begins the Hopi ferial calendar in November. The full ceremony lasted nine days, with most of the ritual con fined to the kivas. The public appearance of the clowns took place on the fifth, sixth, and seventh days, and each day they were thoroughly drenched. The following account records only the fifth day. About 1 P.M. the Singers, about thirty, came up out of their kiva, naked save for breech cloth, bodies 2Ibid., 978-981. entirely covered with chrome coloured clay pigment, these phallic designs /^L\ \/\/rudely done in bright red ochre on back, breast and ^ ^ arms, several had this on back, covering from shoulders to loins, some had it reversed also in front, covering the entire breast, mostly however each had several designs; from four to six inches square was the size of the designs. On the face were two red ochre stripes about two fingers wide, one across mouth from jaw to jaw, the other across eyes from temple to temple. Round their necks they wore curious tufts of rab bit skin red stained and fastened to a yucca string worn as necklace and ear pendants. The hair was drawn in front of the head and done up in a conical coil there and trim med with a tuft of corn husks projecting vertical as feather substitute, nothing else; all were barefoot, and in the right hand was an ear of corn. One carried and beat a drum of small hollow cottonwood, ten by eighteen inches. Ha’ni and another elder carried each a feathered rod. As soon as they emerged they began singing and drum beating. They gathered in a huddled group of three or four irregular lines, and used the ears of corn to point their gesticulations to the women clustered on the terrace. All the women are gathered on the roof terrace and shout back at them in assumed anger, throw water on them from small basins, and some elder women run in amongst them and pour water on individuals from a gourd. From one house the women, after throwing water and scold ing, flouting, and vituperating, threw a lot of melon rinds and pelted them with other such debris. . . . A few minutes after four, the Wuwuchimtu came up singing and beating their drum, which was considerably larger than that of the Singers. They were divided in two groups. Eighteen, clustered round the Sikya'ustiwa drum, were the orchestra and did the singing. . . . There were twelve dancers who did not sing. They went out to the dance court and remained there. The eighteen were naked, save for breech cloth. . . . [as they danced] women drenched them with water, also threw some old urine on them. They went among them and poured water over them individually from a gourd. . . . At the end of the dance, after the others had moved to the kiva, two Wuwuchimtu continued to taunt the women and gesticulate to them and were unmercifully drenched with water mostly, but also with some foul filth. The Horn [society] sentries pulled the breech cloth from these two, and still they continued their jests, till almost quite dark. The Horns threw them down with violence and women rushed down and dashed water and urine over them. . . . At dark the Horns took them back to the kiva. 342 III. An Early Account by Stephen of a Burlesque 3 of a Navajo Medicine Man The Hopi penchant for ridiculing their oppressors is seen in this burlesque of a Navajo Medicine Man. Stephen recorded this performance on April 26, 1893. About 2.20 P.M., the Chukii'wimkya from Walpi came into the village, over the house tops, shouting and romp ing. There were six of them. . . . As usual, food was brought them from time to time by the women. While the ninth Qcachina] dance was in progress, entered from Pen * - dete two grotesque characters representing a Navajo med icine or song man and his wife. He wore a grotesque whitened false face and dilapidated overalls, and at his back an old pouch, representing the fetich pouch, with a bunch of long eagle wing feathers projecting from it. The man personating the wife had also a grotesque whitened mask and ragged old skirt. This Navajo song man . . . soon spies the clowns, who are squatting and eating close to the court shrine, and crosses over to them and tells them he is a song man and has brought his medicine . . . with him. His speech is always in Navajo, and most of the clowns converse with him in the same tongue. Two of the clowns say that they are ailing, have pains in their belly and limbs. The song man says he can drive the pains away with his medicine, but first wants his fee. Some of the clowns run into neighboring houses and bring out a rifle and a silver bell, and this fee is satis factory. The song man then tells them to get a blanket for the patients to sit on, the blanket also to be part of his fee, and they find one and spread it and the two patients squat on it, seated side by side facing the east, the song man sitting behind and overlooking them. He takes off his medicine pouch . . . and produces the small chanter1s rattle . . . , Navajo rattle, which he elevates, shaking it and beginning his song which is a faithful imitation of the chanter's song. Meanwhile he has instructed one of the clowns to bring a large stone muller and a jar of water, and in the muller the wife places some grass given her by the chanter, pours some water upon it and begins grinding and rubbing the grass and water into pulp. The chanter ties a bit of string round the head of each patient and in it thrusts several 3Ibid., pp. 383-385. 343 twigs of spruce, also ties similar twigs upon their arms, continuing his song throughout, and shaking the rattle, and calling on the clowns to help them, imitating the Navajo chanter. The song ended, he takes one of his long eagle wing feathers, . . . beats the patients on the back and strokes their bodies with it, then elevates it and blows away the malign influence • • • • He then produces a short wand, painted blue, with the end of which he pres ses upon the patient*s back and other portions • . • • He then takes out of his pouch a small board to which a han dle has been fastened • . • and having rubbed some char coal on the board he imprints it on the patient’s back. • . • He next takes out a large cloth ball wrapped with string and, standing back from his patients a little way, he throws it once on each of their backs with all his strength, knocking the wind out of them and of course pro ducing a laugh from the spectators, all of whom have fol lowed his proceedings with much interest and amusement. He then made his patients lie down flat on their bellies and, stripping off their breech cloth, goes to the muller and gets a handful of the grass pulp and slaps in on the anus, and then pretends to insert an eagle feather in the anus, really thrusts the quill between their legs, leaving the feather upright. The other clowns then ask to be treated, and he causes all of them to lie down side by side on their bel lies and treats them with the grass pulp and feather, and all the people shout with laughter. And it is assuredly a most absurd spectacle, especially when one considers that of the six clowns, four of them are of the principal men of the mesa— Sun chief, Snake chief, Kachina father, Wikwa’lobi kiva chief, Horn kiva chief. The chanter then calls to his wife, who has maintained her pulp grinding, . . . to finish the treatment, and he then withdraws his eagle feathers. She then takes a handful of pulp and, beginning with the clown lying on the south side (they lie with head to east and ranged side by side from south to north), she turns him over on his back and takes down his breech cloth in front so as to expose entirely the penis, and on it she slaps a handful of the pulp, patting it, and then claps another portion of the pulp in the patient’s mouth. She proceeds thus from south to north and treats all six thus. The chanter then announces that he has fin-| ished, and they get up sputtering the pulp from their mouths and readjusting their breech cloths. The chanter gathers up his fetiches, slings his medicine pouch and gives his wife the rifle, bell and blanket to carry, and ; makes off leisurely to Pen’dete. But before leaving, the clowns all give him a pinch of meal and their thanks. The Pen’dete is used as a dressing by all the Pi’ptii. 344 IV, Two Early Accounts of Burlesque of the White Man, Recorded by Stephen The Hopi attitude toward the white man is reflected in these two burlesques observed by Stephen in April, 1893. The first account ridicules the white man's com mercialism. ^ In came a very good burlesque of an American vis itor, grotesque mask, but otherwise a close imitation, and carrying a covered lunch basket on his arm. About the same time also came in some grotesque Pi'ptii, both males and females, about three of each. These came from Chief kiva, but the American came from Horn kiva. He shook hands very effusively with the Pi'ptii maids, and when they asked him for paper money notes . . . he gen erously scribbled them. But when the Pi'ptii men asked him for anything he abruptly said, "Get out!" and pushed past them. The Pi'ptii maids brought him "dolls"5 and these he eagerly bought and gave them generous prices for them, the other Pi'ptii holding up the American paper money and calling out the amount it was for, etc. The American put his hand in the basket and brought out a lot of imitation candy, moist nodules of meal pressed into about the size of almonds and stained with bright pigment; these he threw about for the Pi'ptii to scramble for. After he withdrew, another well made-up American came in carrying a camp chair, one hand thrust in his overcoat pocket and swinging the chair in the other. He came slowly stalking along, clamping his heels firmly on the ground and gazing up at the crowded terraces and in at the windows and doorways, an eager sight-seer. Pres ently, he dropped that character and going to Koch'numsi's open doorway, became a store keeper. He didn't say any thing nor did anyone else, but it had been previously discussed in a sketchy way in the kiva, so when he went into the house, the Pi'ptii brought to him a lot of old sheepskins. Some of these he took and some of them he threw out and kicked the bringers, and every once in a while he would charge upon the crowd of Pi'ptii hanging around his door and drive them away, kicking them and 1 knocking them about roughly. Presently he made overtures to one of the Pi'ptii women and he took her inside, and ^Ibid., pp. 367-368. 345 she came out with an armful of prints. “Ho," said her husband, “there has been chomni, etc.,*1 and thereupon he fells her for infidelity, and some of the other Pi'ptii take her part and a general row ensues. The American comes out with a whip and drives them all away with ob jurgations. These burlesques, the Americans, frightened the little boy clown. Stephen recorded the following burlesque of the white man's method of schooling on April 26, 1893. This was but one of several skits that took place during the day, and was performed between the tenth and eleventh ap- 5 pearances of the kachrnas. Between dances ten and eleven, three grotesques came in. Two of these and the six clowns stood in a row and the other grotesque in American clothes and carrying a cane under his arm and a book in his hand burlesqued schooling. . . . This was very comic. They imitated school boys singing; they had only a few words, but the English accent was very fairly reproduced. The school master's mask was whitened and black whiskers attached to it. He put his pupils through sundry facings and then pulled off the breech cloth from the clowns and the trou sers from the grotesques, exposing a monstrous false pe nis in the grotesques and of course the natural penis of the clowns. He then had them perform some burlesque gymnastics. While they were in line he had them bend over to touch their toes and while in this position he inserted between the hips of each a short twig crosswise and then ordered them to stand erect. They pretended great pain and caused much laughter as they waddled around naked thus skewered. The grotesque retired, but before the ''schoolmaster*' got clear of the court the clowns caught him and pulled his breeches down, exposing a large bladder penis and made him stoop over and inserted a twig crosswise in his buttocks as he had done to them, and they led him around the court, waddling with his breeches around his ankles, and he finally waddled off to Pen'dete amid the prolonged shouts and laughter of the crowded house tops. 5Ibid., p. 385. V. An Early Account by Stephen of the Insensate Killing of a Dog by the Clowns The following incident recorded by Stephen repu diates the Hopi standard of conduct toward animals, as well as illustrating the kahopi attitude toward gluttony. This was the Ana'kachina ceremony on Wednesday, July 13, 1892. To return to the outside exhibitions: The four clowns indulge in gluttony, eating basin after basin of stew and an immense deal of wafer-bread and rolls. Dur ing the seventh act they danced on the north side of the court. Kwa'lakwai then led them round the west side with out stopping, halting them on the south side. Then Ana1 turn from left to right and again from right to left at different phrases of the song which sounds like a sailor1s chanty. Kwa'lakwai and We*we only sprinkle meal on the path when leading the Ana* out, not when they bring them in. About 3 P.M., during the eighth act, one of the clowns lassoed a large white mastiff cur and another clown beat it to death, slowly, with a stone. He sat astride of the wretched cur after the rope had nearly choked it, and then beat on its head with a stone. It was a long cruel deed but was finally accomplished. A knife being obtained:, Jose', who did the killing, cut off the dog*s head and made a longitudinal incision down its belly. Two of them pul- , led out the guts, pluck, etc. They then threw one of their number down and thrust the clotted dog's blood in his mouth. They rubbed each other's faces thoroughly and roughly with the blood. One of the four of them got an old fragment of blue mantle and with the dog's guts gir dled it around him. He took the dog's head in his hands and chased the others. When he overtook them, or struck them with the dog's head, they fell down as if dead, but presently got up again. There was much rough play in this: chase. 6Ibid., p. 554. 347 VI. An Early Account by Stephen of the Punishment 7 and Ransom Rituals m Hopi Clowning This observation by Stephen indicates the punish ment meted out to the clowns in the plaza during the MKa- china War.” This is followed by the stories sung by the clowns for their ransom. This ceremony took place on June 4, 1893. At 4.55 enter two more grotesques, naked save breech cloth, whitened bodies, whitened mask, cottonwood bough in right hand, yell the war cry as the others had done, make short but energetic announcement, and run out again. All the announcing grotesques are the war cry speakers . . . and they have been announcing the coming of the Shoyo’him kachina, who are coming in anger to pun ish the clowns for copulating with the female grotesques. At 5, enter a group of fourteen grotesques arrayed in the various costumes of the Shoyo'him kachina, but dingy and dilapidated. Each carries a bough of cottonwood and most of them have also a sheaf of yucca in hand. They pretend to lash the clowns with great severity, and do in fact give them a flogging much too earnest to be called play* This is dealt while chasing them around the court. Pres ently the Shoyo'him seize the clowns and bind them hand and foot, with strings which the clowns wore round their necks and limbs for that purpose, and, carrying them be side the tree, throw the five clowns in a pile. There they are again lashed, very little make believe in this castigation, and then from numerous vessels which the grotesques brought in, water is poured over the clowns until they are thoroughly drenched. The punishment oc cupied five minutes. Then the Shoyo'him retire to Chief kiva, and the clowns extricate themselves and shake off the water and denounce their chastisers in vehement mockery. The kachina were singing during the correction of the clowns and retired at 5.10. At 5.25, the kachina reentered and at the same time; entered the grotesque from Chief kiva, this time in very gracious mood, making friendly overtures to the clowns, and, after some display of resentment, the clowns and the 7Ibid., p. 404-405. 348 Shoyo'him shook hands with great show of cordiality. The Shoyo'him then spread two or three blankets at the base of the pillar, and made five piles of the wafer-bread and other food presents, and a clown squatted on the edge of the blanket facing each pile. Thirteen of the Shoyo'him arrange themselves in two irregular lines, facing each other and extending from the piles of wafer-bread across the court northward; the other Shoyo'him then leads the clowns, one at a time, to the north end of the double line. He must then tell a droll story in ransom for the pile of food assigned him by the grotesques, and this he proceeds to do, holding his hands up to his breast and making some sidelong hops with feet close together, to ward the food piles. As he hops thus, he shouts out: "Ahai *! Ahai * ! Pasha'nihlntaI Attend to this true story!" And then he tells it, and is usually very gross. (I suppose, however, these are of value and must be col lected. ) This is called wuni *ma chuku * wlmkya, referring to his movement. The stories done, the grotesques all retire to Chief kiva where they unmask and resume their ordinary clothes and afterwards mingle with the spectators. The clowns take their bandoleers from the tree and, unwrap ping them, take out their prayer-feathers which are folded up in corn husks, and, before the grotesques retired, the clowns gave each one of them a prayer-feather. The following are just a few examples of the sto ries that these buffoons sang as they performed their side-long dance between the rows of kachinas to gain their 8 ransom. The first clown advised the band to go to Oraibi and steal horses and ravish the women. The second told his father's amorous adventures with a Pah Ute woman at Moenkopi. 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The Journal of American Folk-lore, XLIX, Nos. 191-192 (January-June, 1936), 1-68. ________, and Titiev, Mischa. "Hopi Notes from Chimopovy." Papers of the Michigan Academy of Science, Arts and Letters, XXX (1944), 523-525. White, Leslie A. "The Pueblo of San Felipe.'* Memoirs of the American Anthropoloqical Association, XXXVIII (1932), 1-69. "The World of the Keresan Pueblo Indians." Prim- itive Views of the World. Edited by Stanley Dia mond. New York: Columbia University Press, 1960. Whiting, Alfred F. "Ethnobotony of the Hopi." Bulletin of the Museum of Northern Arizona, XV (1939), 1-12CL Wilson, Betty. "Adventures in Folk Music." Americas, VIII, No. 9 (September, 1956), 15-20. UNPUBLISHED MATERIAL Steward, Julian H. "The Clown in Native North America." Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, University of California, 1929. EPILOGUE Since the completion of this dissertation, a highly significant decision was made by the Hopi leaders of Mishongnovi. This information reached the author on August 23, 1971, and consequently has a chronologically important bearing upon the study. This decision on the part of the Hopi leaders reached the general public by radio broadcast, and in the following newspaper article that appeared in the Arizona Rasublic: call a The misbehavior of the average Anglo tourist at the Hopi ceremo nial dances has long been so shameful that museum officials and others who respect Indian tra ditions did their best to discourage visitors lfom attending. But s t i l l they came—rude tour i s t s , ugly Americans demonstrat ing their crassness and ignorance before their original American hosts. Although the ceremonials are to the- Hopi approximately what the High Mass i s to Catho l ics, many visitors dressed and acted in a manner they would nev er think of . dressing or acting in any church. As a result; Hopi leaders recent ly announced that their annual ceremonial dances at Mishongnovi would be closed to a l l outsiders. No longer will raucous tourists crowd out the Hopis who came to take part in the rain dances. No longer will the flower children and hippies, in their pseudo - Indian trinkets, be allowed to show dis respect for the sacred rituals/ No more will visitors violate the ex plicit bans on photographs, draw ings, or recordings during the ceremonials. We regret that the gentle Hcpis felt compelled to take such a ma jor step, for i t penalizes all non- H o p i s equally, including that handful of tourists who appreciat ed what they saw. But we under stand what drove the officials to their decision. And, in fact,-we ad mire their determination that their sacred ceremonies net be allowed to develop into a sideshow for peo ple who, many of them lacking reverence for their own. religions, are unable to exhibit reverence for an ages-old culture. nr; / 365 Analysis of this decision indicates an Anglo-Amer ican encroachment on Hopi life that extends beyond the governmental and social, into the basic core of Hopi philosophic and religious life. The Hopi Life Plan and I the Hopi Way are tantamount to Hopi cultural survival, and the long years of Anglo-American acculturation have subjected this survival to the crucial test of continued existence. Thus it appears that the leaders of one Hopi village have attempted to thwart a growing menace to one facet of their cultural life, an attitude that is remi- ' niscent of earlier attempts on the part of the Hopi to maintain tribal and ceremonial integrity. These leaders 1 have apparently decided that the Hopi Way is the best manner in which to revive and preserve their unchallenged and undifferentiated life-style within the context of | their culture. The implications seem clear. If the other Hopi villages follow a similar plan of action, the ceremonial life of the Hopi Indian may reverse its present state of waning and once again become a sacred outlet for the Hopi. Additionally Anglo-Americans will be able to conduct little, if any, research on Hopi ritual and ceremony.

Asset Metadata

Creator Bock, Frank George (author)

Core Title A descriptive study of the dramatic function and significance of the clown during Hopi Indian public ceremony

Contributor Digitized by ProQuest (provenance)

Degree Doctor of Philosophy

Degree Program Communication

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag folklore,Native American studies,OAI-PMH Harvest,speech communication

Language English

Advisor Stahl, M. (committee chair), [illegible] (committee member), Moore, Sally (committee member)

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-c17-688787

Unique identifier UC11342808

Identifier DP22318.pdf (filename),usctheses-c17-688787 (legacy record id)

Legacy Identifier DP22318.pdf

Dmrecord 688787

Document Type Dissertation

Rights Bock, Frank George

Type texts

Source University of Southern California (contributing entity), University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses (collection)

Access Conditions The author retains rights to his/her dissertation, thesis or other graduate work according to U.S. copyright law. Electronic access is being provided by the USC Libraries in agreement with the au...

Repository Name University of Southern California Digital Library

Repository Location USC Digital Library, University of Southern California, University Park Campus, Los Angeles, California 90089, USA