There
are no running streams of water and rains are infrequent.
Corn is the principal crop and support of the Moquis. If there
is a good crop the surplus is stored away and kept to be used in
the future should a crop fail. The corn is planted in irregular
hills and cultivated with a hoe. It is dropped into deep holes
made with a stick and covered up. There is always enough
moisture in the sand to sprout the seed which, aided by an
occasional shower, causes it to grow and mature a crop. The corn
is of a hardy, native variety that needs but little water to make
it grow. The grain is small and hard like popcorn and ripens in
several colors.
It is carried home from the field by the men, and ground into
meal by the women. The sound of the grinding is heard in the
street and is usually accompanied by a song that sounds weird but
musical. The meal is ground into different grades of fineness
and when used for bread is mixed with water to form a thin batter
which is spread by the hand upon a hot, flat stone. It is
quickly baked and makes a thin wafer that is no thicker than
paper. When done it is removed from the stone by the naked hand
and is rolled or folded into loaves which makes their prized pici
bread. It is said to be only one of fifty different methods
which the Moquis have of preparing corn for the table, or about
twice the number of styles known to any modern chef.
The Moqui woman is favored above many of her sex who live in
foreign lands. As a child she receives much attention and toys
galore, as the parents are very fond of their children and devote
much time to their amusement. They make dolls of their Katcinas
which are given to the children to play with. A Katcina is the
emblem of a deity that is represented either in the form of a
doll carved out of wood, woven into a plaque or basket, or
painted on tiles and pottery. There are between three and four
hundred Katcina dolls each one representing a different divinity.
When a doll is given to a child it is taught what it means, thus
combining instruction with amusement. The method is a perfect
system of kindergarten teaching, which the Moquis invented and
used centuries before the idea occurred to Froebel.
When the girl is ten years old her education properly begins and
she is systematically inducted into the mysteries of
housekeeping. At fifteen she has completed her curriculum and
can cook, bake, sew, dye, spin and weave and is, indeed,
graduated in all the accomplishments of the finished Moqui
maiden. She now does up her hair in two large coils or whorls,
one on each side of the head, which is meant to resemble a
full-blown squash blossom and signifies that the wearer is of
marriageable age and in the matrimonial market. It gives her a
striking yet not unbecoming appearance, and, if her style of
coiffure were adopted by modern fashion it would be something
unusually attractive. As represented by Donaldson in the
eleventh census report the handsome face of Pootitcie, a maiden
of the pueblo of Sichomovi, makes a pretty picture that even her
white sisters must admire. After marriage the hair is let down
and done up in two hard twists that fall over the shoulders.
This form represents a ripe, dried squash blossom and means
fruitfulness.
Her dress is not Spanish nor yet altogether Indian, but is
simple, comfortable and becoming, which is more than can be said
of some civilized costumes. She chooses her own husband,
inherits her mother's name and property and owns the house in
which she lives. Instead of the man owning and bossing
everything, as he so dearly loves to do in our own civilization,
the property and labor of the Moqui husband and wife are equally
divided, the former owning and tending the fields and flocks and
the latter possessing and governing the house.
The Moquis are famous for their games, dances and festivals,
which have been fully described by Dr. J. Walter Fewkes in
various reports to the Smithsonian Institution. They have many
secret orders, worship the supernatural, and believe in
witchcraft. Their great fete day is the Snake Dance, which is
held in alternate years at Walpi and Oraibi, at the former place
in the odd year and at the latter place in the even year, some
time during the month of August. It is purely a religious
ceremony, an elaborate supplication for rain, and is designed to
propitiate the water god or snake deity.
Preliminary ceremonies are conducted in the secret Kiva several
days preceding the public dance. The Kiva is an underground
chamber that is cut out of the solid rock, and is entered by a
ladder. It has but a single opening on top on a level with the
street, which serves as door, window and chimney. The room is
only used by the men, and is, in fact, a lodge room, where the
members of the several secret orders meet and engage in their
solemn ceremonials. It is a sacred place, a holy of holies,
which none but members of a lodge may enter, and is carefully
guarded.
The snakes used in the dance are all wild, and captured out on
the open plain. Four days prior to the dance the snake men,
dressed in scanty attire and equipped with their snake-capturing
paraphernalia, march out in squads and scour the surrounding
country in search of snakes. One day each is spent in searching
the ground towards the four points of the compass, in the order
of north, west, south and east, returning at the close of each
day with their catch to the Kiva, where the snakes are kept and
prepared for the dance.
