This done,
all retire to their kivas.
The Sae-lae-m[=o]-b[=i]-ya of the North, returning to his kiva, drinks
the medicine water prepared by the priest of the great fire order
(M[=a]-[t]ke-hl[=a]n-[=a] [=a]-que), who, with some of his people, is
now busy in the preparation of a sand altar. The Sae-lae-m[=o]-b[=i]-ya
again emerge from the kivas, with long bunches of Spanish bayonet in
their hands, in the ends of which grains of corn of the respective
colors are placed and wrapped with shreds of the bayonet. Any
man or youth desiring to raise yellow corn appeals to the
Sae-lae-m[=o]-b[=i]-ya of the North, who strikes him a severe blow with
his bunch of bayonets. Similar appeals are made to those representing
other colors. The sand altar is made in the Kiva of the North. It is
first laid in the ordinary yellowish sand, in the center of which the
bowl of medicine water is placed. Over the yellow sand a ground
of white sand is sprinkled. All the Sae-lae-m[=o]-b[=i]-ya and their
brothers are represented on the altar (Plate XXII). The altar
is circular in form and some twelve feet in diameter. The
K[=o]-l[=o]-oo-w[)i]t-si encircles the whole.
Throughout the day the K[=o]k-k[=o] are running around the village
whipping such of the people as appeal to them for a rich harvest,
while the curious performances of the K[=o]-y[=e]-m[=e]-shi carry one
back to the primitive drama.
[Plate XXII: ZUNI SAND ALTAR IN KIVA OF THE NORTH.]
Toward evening the ceremony for initiating the children begins.
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