They pick the
seeds from the cotton and return it. A few days later a crier announces
from the roof of a house that on a certain day the cotton for the bridal
costume will be spun in the kivas." Here the friends assemble and "the
rasping of the carding combs and the buzzing of the primitive spindles"
are heard accompanied by singing, joking and laughing of the crowd. This
cotton is then woven either by the bridegroom or his father or other male
relation, into square blankets, one measuring about 60 by 72 inches, the
other about 50 by 60 inches, also a sash with long knotted fringes at each
end. When woven they are given a coating of wet kaolin, which adds to their
whiteness.
This preparation of garments often takes several weeks, during which time
the young married couple reside at the home of the groom's parents. Now the
bride, with considerable simple ceremony, walks with one of the robes on,
and the other in a reed wrapper, to her mother's house where, unless her
husband has prepared a separate home for them, they continue to reside. In
the Field Columbian Museum, Chicago, is a fine model showing the young
bride wearing her new garment, going to her mother's home.
In their ceremonial dances, the Hopi women wear cotton blankets, highly
embroidered at the sides and edges with red, green, and black wool. Fine
specimens may be found in the Hopi House. Similar to these in style, though
long and narrow in shape, are the ceremonial kilts or sashes of the men. In
pictures showing the march of the Antelope Priests during the Hopi Snake
Dance these beautiful sashes are well depicted.
In addition to the products of the vertical loom, the Navaho and Pueblo
women weave a variety of smaller articles all of which are remarkable for
their strength, durability and striking designs.
In weaving sashes, belts, hair bands, garters, etc., the weaver uses a
"heddle frame" similar to those found in Europe and New England. None of
these have been found in places that assure us of their use before the
Spanish occupation, so we conclude that they were introduced by the
conquistadores or the early colonists about 350 years ago.
The Thlinkets of Alaska, also, are good weavers. In the Fred Harvey
collection in the Hopi House, El Tovar, and Albuquerque, the United States
National Museum and the Museum of Princeton University, fine collections of
their work are to be seen. These collections generally consist of cape and
body blankets made of the wool of the white mountain-goat. The colors are
white, black, blue and yellow. The black is a rich sepia, obtained from the
devil-fish; the blue and yellow colors coming from two barks grown in the
Alexandrian archipelago.
